Incline to Joy

Seven Facts about the Brain That Incline the Mind to Joy
Rick Hanson, PH.D.

Rick Hanson, PhD. is a clinical psychologist, author, and teacher. He has written and taught extensively about the essential inner skills of personal well-being, psychological growth, and contemplative practice - as well as about relationships, family life, and raising children.

1. The Mind and the Brain are Mainly a Single System
a. Everything we are aware of, including our own sense of self, is considered to have a on-to-one correspondence with the underlying physical brain structures and processes.
b. This integration of mind and brain has three profound implications
i. As your experiences changes, your brain changes
ii. As your brain changes, your experiences changes
iii. You can deliberately use your mind to change your brain to benefit your whole being and everyone else whose life you touch

2. “Neurons That Fire Together, Wire Together”
a. Learning is EVERYTHING
b. Most learning is nonverbal, emotional or sensorimotor
c. Neurons with synapses to each other, which fire at the same time, become more responsive to each other. Every time one activates as a whole, the connections within it are reinforced

3. Fleeting Experiences Leave Lasting Traces Within the Brain
a. Since the mind and brain are one, the flow of information in the mind causes a corresponding flow of electrochemical activation through the neuronal circuitry of the brain
b. Your experiences are important: not just due to their brief effects on your momentary, subjective quality of life, but also because they produce enduring changes in the physical structures of your brain. And these alterations in your brain will then affect your well-being, functioning, and sometimes your physical health for days and decades to come.
c. Your experience really, really matters. Which is a scientific rational for being kind to yourself.

4. Most Changes in the Tissues of the Brain are in Implicit Memory
a. Explicit memory: Recollections of specific events and factual knowledge
b. Implicit memory: Emotions, body sensations, relationship paradigms, sense of the world, and behavioral strategies
c. The inner atmosphere of your mind (what living FEELS like for you) depends greatly on what is stored in implicit memory
d. We are what we remember because memory becomes woven into the self

5. Unfortunately, the Brain Emphasizes Negative Experiences
a. It’s the negative experiences that signal the greatest threats to survival
b. The amygdala is the switchboard that assigns a feeling tone to the stimuli flowing through the brain and initiates a response, is built to look for the bad
c. The hippocampus compares current perceptual information to memories of previous threats and whenever it discerns a match it sends a message—BOO! and alarm bells start sound throughout the body
d. When this happens the hippocampus and the amygdala store the experience for future reference and future alarms
e. The negative generally trumps the positive
f. The minds of most people render verdicts about their character, their life, and their future possibilities that are profoundly unfair

6. You Can Help Emphasize and Store Positive Experiences Through Conscious Attention
a. You remember something best when you make it as vivid as possible and then give it heightened attention over an extended period
b. Help positive events become positive experiences
i. Pay EXTRA attention to the good things in the world and in yourself
ii. Focus on the sensations and the FEELINGS in a positive experience since they are the pathway to emotional memory
iii. Deliberately create positive experiences for yourself
c. Savor the experience, keep your attention in it for many seconds while letting it fill your body and mind
d. Sense that the experience is soaking into you. Imagine that it’s sinking into your chest and back and brainstem, or imagine a treasure chest in your heart
e. Everyday there are many opportunities for noticing and absorbing good experiences
f. Because “Neurons that fire together, wire together” momentary states become enduring traits
g. These traits become the cause of more similar traits

7. Positive Experience Have Many Important Benefits
a. Positive FEELINGS and their related body sensations, thoughts, and desires have global effects
b. Positive experiences lower the stress response
c. Positive experiences increase psychological resilience
d. They lift mood and protect against depression
e. Over time, positive experiences help counteract the effects of trauma or other painful experiences.
i. If you recall an event repeatedly with a dour, glum cast of mind, then your recollection of it will be INCREASINGLY negative
ii. If you recall it repeatedly with a realistically upbeat state of being, then it will gradually come to mind more and more with a neutral quality (you will not forget the facts of whatever happened, but the emotional charge will slowly fade)
f. Positive experiences highlight key states of mind so you can find your way back to them in the future
g. Positive experiences reward you for doing things that aren’t always easy and thus support your ongoing motivation
h. All the above benefits apply to children as well
i. Positive experiences promote steadiness of mind
j. They support the deep states of absorption that are both blissful and profoundly insightful
k. They build confidence in the fruits of one’s efforts
l. They crowd out and replace negative ones