Rick Hanson - The Enlightened Brain

Hi, I'm Rick Hansen. This program, The Enlightened Brain, explores the intersection of three circles, psychology, brain science, and contemplative practice, especially the contemplative practice I know best, which is Buddhism, and which is the contemplative practice that's had the most intersection with Western science because both Buddhism and Western science share a great interest in the facts, in particular the facts of causes and conditions. What I've tried to do in this program is something that I at least think is really interesting and important, which is to ground both suffering and inner peace in biology, in other words, in evolutionary neuropsychology, in how your brain has been shaped over time to lead to either suffering and harm for yourself and others, or deep states of well-being, unshakable happiness, emotional balance, and even the higher reaches of human potential and spiritual practice. I'll present basic information about what to me is this extraordinary and fascinating organ with 1.1 trillion cells. It's literally the most complex object known to science today, and in particular, how you can use what's called experience-dependent neuroplasticity to gradually sculpt your brain for the better over time. Then, with growing skill and precision, you can reach into your brain to calm down and gradually weaken the neural substrates of suffering and harmfulness for yourself and others, and reach into your brain with your mind alone, with simply how you use attention and what you do with what's in the field of concentrated or focused attention to gradually stimulate and therefore strengthen the neural substrates of wholesome states of mind. We'll be getting into my all-time favorite method for personal growth and spiritual practice, which is to say, deliberately internalizing positive experiences. In other words, weaving the little everyday good experiences of daily life, not million-dollar moments, just the ordinary little pearls that are all around us, weaving them gradually into the fabric of the brain, and therefore the being, so that you have more resources inside that you can take with you wherever you go in life for more resilience, more well-being, more capacity to deal with the tough things in life, more capacity to take good care of yourself and those you love, and more capacity for spiritual practice. So, as you can see all together, I'm very excited about this material. I'm really happy about it. I think it's great stuff. I use it personally, and I really wish you the best and hope you have access to this information as you move yourself further and further, step by step, toward your own enlightened brain.