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How to Meditate: Meditation 101 for Beginners
10 Science-Backed Benefits of Meditation
What is Meditation?
How to Meditate: Meditation 101 for Beginners
10 Science-Backed Benefits of Meditation
What is Meditation?
Benefits of Mindfulness: Mindful Living Can Change Your Life
Mindfulness 101: A Beginner's Guide
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In this interview, Melli speaks with Dan and Caroline about how technology addiction and digital overload can affect our brains, along with practical tips on using the technology in your life with more wisdom and skill.
I'm your host, Melli O'Brien and I'm so
excited to be here right now with Dr.
Dan Siegel and Caroline Welch.
Dan is an internationally acclaimed
author, an award-winning educator
and clinical professor of psychiatry
at the UCLA School of Medicine.
Dan's latest book is
called the Mindful Brain.
And it's really, I think, it's a
groundbreaking book on bringing
together science and spirituality.
Caroline is the CEO of
Mind Your Brain, Inc.
And her experience in law and business,
as well as mindfulness has really
made her an expert on mindfulness
for business and mindful leadership.
Dan and Caroline, thank you so much for
taking this time out for the summit.
I know you're busy at the moment.
Thank you, Melli.
Thanks.
Thanks for having us.
I want to talk a little bit, to begin
with, about the particular challenges
that I think we face in this digital
era of constant connectivity because
I think we all know, intuitively,
experientially, that technology is
a bit addictive and that too much
exposure to it is not that great for us.
So my question to you is what do
you think we should all really know
about the way that technology affects
our brains and therefore our lives.
Well, excuse me, I just have to
answer an email before I answer that.
Okay.
Just give me a second.
No, no.
Hang on.
I just got a call.
Yeah.
You start with the brain and then I'll
talk about what it does to our lives.
Okay.
Well, I mean, you know, the, the,
there's so many things to say about it.
One is, you know, screens of all
sorts, whether it's computers or
tablets or smartphones, draw you in.
And part of that can be wonderful
and fantastic, different ways we
get involved with stories or even
connecting with people can be wonderful.
So we have to make sure not
to put things down that really
have some wonderful attributes.
The problem is it becomes so
compelling to look outward.
That we forget to look inward and the
circuitry of the brain that Caroline is
inviting us to start with is, you know,
very different when you reflect inward.
And so my concern about the brain and
technology is that people are so busy
looking outward, outward, outward,
visual stimuli, sounds, different
things that draw you compellingly to
look at these screens are not the same
as just going inward or looking at
another person in a conversation and
soaking in the seven big non-verbal
signals - eye contact, facial expression,
the tone of voice, gestures, posture,
the timing, the intensity of response.
All those are mediated in a certain part
of the brain, mostly the right hemisphere,
very different from what's usually
activated when you're looking at a screen.
So those are ways we get to feel
the inside of another person,
have mindsight to see the mind.
The mindsight circuitry, it
needs to be cultivated to
stay strong and to grow well.
And I'm just concerned that the
way things are now in the digital
world, doesn't really cultivate
mindsight circuitry in the brain.
And what I'd like to add to that is
to remind ourselves that our devices
don't come with rules and regulations.
And we all want the next iPhone or the
next iPad, but we don't necessarily
know when and how to use them.
And I think that it's up to individuals,
it's up to families, it's up to businesses
to have the, the culture that reflects
what that unit, that individual or that
company thinks is best for it its people.
And a couple of examples that come to
mind, and, and I, I often think, Dan
coined the term, the internet is really
the infinet, because you just sit down to
do a couple of emails and the next thing
you know, it's an hour and a half later.
And so it is quite a time zap.
And the other thing is that I
think some in corporate America
use it as a validation stamp.
Like at 2:00 AM this morning,
I returned your email.
And it becomes almost a contest,
like who's up the latest, and these
are people in different time zones.
They're like up at 2:00
AM, wherever that is.
And so, and, and on the other hand you
have culturesm I know for example, we, we
have a colleague who just started in a,
one of the studios here in Los Angeles.
And he made a move as a
practicing lawyer out of private
practice and he went in-house.
And his first Friday afternoon there
at his new job, he sent out an email.
And his colleagues are like,
what are you doing sending
something out late on a Friday?
And he had to learn that, well,
wait a minute, they have certain,
you know, almost sacred, but.
In private practice for many lawyers,
you send and receive emails and you
go into your office seven days a week.
And so he had to adjust his use of
email and phone during that time.
And I know I, I heard a
talk with you, an interview.
I think with Dan recently, you were
talking about the effects of how
many of us are getting more and more
sleep deprived because we're using,
staring at screens late at night.
Well, if you take Caroline's example of
this, someone writes something at 2:00 AM.
You think about what that does,
you know, your, your brain needs
to know it's getting dark outside.
It starts to secrete the, the,
the chemical called melatonin.
It gets you sleepy.
You're getting ready to go.
The lights are lower.
You slowly get ready for sleep.
But instead you have these backlit
screens that are now shoving photons
at your brain, telling your brain it's
daytime, it's daytime, it's daytime.
Well you're wide awake.
So you do emails, but the
emails make you wide awake.
So then you do more emails,
et cetera, et cetera.
And you know, we now know that
you need to sleep to clean up
the toxins out of your brain.
So while it seems like a badge
of honor, you know, honor to say,
Oh, I'm up at two, am doing this.
It's actually a bag, a badge of a
garbage can because you're just treating
your brain like a toxic waste dump.
And instead of cleaning it up
on a regular basis, you're just
allowing it to accumulate toxins
and it's just not good for anything.
Right.
And you would imagine in the long
term, that's going to make us less
productive, not more productive.
You might be up thinking that you're
getting all this wonderful stuff done,
but then you end up sleep deprived.
And the next day not thinking
straight and probably over eating
and doing all those things that we
do when we have sleep deprivation.
Yeah.
I was going to add that.
I think the more we learn about the
importance of sleep, because I think, many
of us grew up in a time when we prided
ourselves in not needing too much sleep.
And that seemed fine cause we
thought we were functioning fine.
But the more we learn about the
role, for example, of the glial
cells that Dan alluded to, in
terms of cleaning up our brains.
And the more we know that, you know,
physiologically something really
important happens when we sleep.
I think we have to pay attention to
that and really understand that it's a
very important part of our wellbeing.
And what can we do to, what can
we do to buffer ourselves of the
effects of this information age?
Obviously there's a huge upside
as we mentioned, but there's
a big downside here as well.
What can we do to use technology
with a bit more wisdom and skill?
So I think one thing is to limit
your time with technology, you know.
For example, you might set an
alarm for when it's time to turn
off your machines, you know.
So you make a conscious
decision about that.
I'm going to use it for this
amount of time and then it's...
Yeah, I mean, for myself, I actually
try not to use a computer after 8:00 PM.
You know, maybe I'll read on, you
know, a non backlit electronic
reader, if I'm going to do any kind of
electronic thing, but it's not backlit.
So I really try to honor that and I
try not to do emails after that time.
So for me, 8:00 PM, you know, is a good
time to give me an hour and a half, two
hours of really non-electronic living.
Yep.
You know, it's really, really important.
You just have to look at people you know
now going to dinner with each other.
And Caroline and I go to dinner
sometimes, we'll see people
at a table together texting.
I, I hope they're not texting each other,
but they're texting out into the world.
And everyone's just on
their screens all the time.
You get an elevator, for instance,
no one talks to each other.
It's it's really sad.
Yeah, I actually heard...
Go ahead.
No.
I was just going to say, I mean,
it's reminding me, when you sit in a
meeting, if one person pulls out their
phone, then it goes around the table.
Yeah.
Then it's, it's everybody.
It's contagious, yeah.
And I've heard now, as a little bit
of a backlash to this, all the time is
that people are now going to dinner,
parties and restaurants, and everybody
puts their phone in the middle of the
table so that nobody, it's kind of
like a way of honoring each other.
I'm actually going to be here with
you during this time where they
switched their phones off before,
which I think is really lovely idea.
Well, I have heard of some studies, I
haven't seen the study itself that said,
if you just see a phone sitting on the
table, even if you know, you're not
using it, it changes the emotionality
of the co, of the conversation.
Yeah, I read about that too.
It's fascinating.
It just reminds you, you know, that
somehow that there's a whole digital world
out there and we need to be superficial.
Yeah.
And is there anything, I'm curious
to know, knowing everything that you
know, about how technology affects us.
What are the other little, what are the
things that you both do on a daily basis?
Do you have little habits or
practices or, or other little things
that you do to kind of use tech
with more consciousness and wisdom?
I can, I can tell you that I
try to not look at my phone
first thing in the morning.
And to feel like my day starts with
a mindfulness practice of 30 minutes.
and I don't...
You're very devoted to that.
talk to anyone before that.
Including me.
Right.
And I was just going to
say if I've meditated yet.
And that feels like a blanket around me
the rest of the day cause it feels like
a really owned the day at the outset.
And the other thing that's been very
helpful to me in organizing my day is
that I don't look for email continuously.
I say, okay, maybe at 10, 12, 2,
if it can be that kind of day.
Just have a period when I look at
it and try to resist that urge we
have to be answering immediately.
And that, I think that, that leads
to a more peaceful work environment.
And less I imagine, because I feel
like technology really spreads our
attention thin a lot of the time.
You're doing an email and then there's a
text and then there's a this and a that.
And I imagine that that, that kind
of deliberacy around those processes
kind of, it's very contained.
And then you can just leave it.
So I imagine that's kind of bringing
the focus, bringing more mindfulness
into that use of technology.
Well, Caroline is very inspiring
for me because, you know, she's
been meditating for a long, long
time, decades, and I would just
see her doing this very regularly.
And I wouldn't know what in the world
she was doing, but I figured it was good.
That was before The Mindful Brain.
Good to know.
Now he can tell us what is going on.
That's right, I mean I found mindfulness
totally by accident using the word mindful
in a book for parents I wrote with Mary
Hartzell, we said be conscientious.
Anyway, people ask us when we
were meditating, the only person I
knew that meditated was Caroline.
But I didn't know why they were asking.
And they said, well, because you
said mindfulness is a fundamental
principle of good parenting.
I said, yeah, it means being
intentional and conscientious.
They said, no, it means meditating.
And I said on a meditation
app, I go, what?
Mindfulness meditation.
So anyway, I, you know, I guess
I feel very grateful to you,
Caroline, for teaching me about the
importance of a personal practice.
I, myself, you know, have this thing
I do called the wheel of awareness.
So for me, that's, that's
my regular practice.
Sometimes I really feel I need to move.
And so I've been doing some
Chi Gong lately and that's
been really, really nice.
You know, I just think it's really
important that what you're saying that
you start the day without technology.
You, you start the day with reflecting
inward in whatever way works for you in
general, or for you that particular day.
But you, you do it and you honor that.
You know, and some people say,
well, I don't have time to do it.
And I say, well, do you have
time to brush your teeth?
And they go, yeah.
I said, well, this is like
brushing your brain, you know.
This is way of developing mental
hygiene and not just dental hygiene.
Yeah.
So it's, it's all the research now.
I mean, The Mindful Brain came
out like almost eight years ago.
So and I've written a bunch of books
since then, but what's been fun about
the books that have come out since The
Mindful Brain is to look at all the
amazing science that tells you, you know,
what Caroline has been doing for decades.
And what I just learned to do recently.
You increase your immune system's
functioning, you improve your
cardiovascular profile, you improve a
level of your enzyme called telomerase,
that repairs and maintains the ends of
your chromosomes, which is really cool.
Those ends of chromosomes get
whittled down with age and stress.
So it's good anti-aging, anti
stressing to do mindfulness practice.
You also integrate your brain basically.
The differentiated parts of
the brain become more linked.
So in all these ways, you actually,
conceptually anyway, have a healthier
body that's going to live longer.
You're happier.
You're, you have more empathy
and compassion so you're more
connected to other people.
So it's, it's really something
everyone should be doing.
Yeah, I couldn't agree more.
You already know that, that's why...
I couldn't agree more.
I'm heavily biased.
But yeah, the research at this point
is, it is so compelling and that's why
actually, that's what I really love
about your, about The Mindful Brain
and so many other wonderful authors at
the moment and people who bring out like
Judson Briggs and Matt Killingsworth and
Mark Williams who are talking about, you
know, really amazing bodies of research to
show us why mindfulness is so beneficial.
You know, when it comes explaining
mindfulness and why it's really, why
it's really great for us, I think your
handy model of the brain is actually
one of the most simple and fun and, and
elegant descriptions of mindfulness.
You knew you weren't going to get
through this interview without
having to do the handy model.
I have a few of them here.
Here's one.
There's another one.
"Hello."
There's three across the world.
Yeah.
You know that the handy model
of the brain is very handy.
Our daughter says, don't
say handy dad, but anyway..
It's, it is handy.
It's it's, you know, it's, your,
your brain is oriented like this.
So you have your, your cortex on the top.
And the front most part of the cortex
is the prefrontal cortex, which links
the cortex, the middle part, the limbic
area and the brainstem along with
stuff from the body through the spinal
cord and then even the social world.
So five sources of energy and information
flow, the cortex, the limbic area,
the brainstem, the body and the
social world are all coordinated and
balanced by the prefrontal cortex.
So it allows you to engage with other
people, it allows you to engage with
yourself, it allows you to balance
your body, allows you to take your
fight-flight-freeze response of the
brainstem, it allows you to take
your emotions, your attachments,
other people and blend all that
stuff together into a coherent life.
So we we say that mindfulness creates
a more integrated brain, literally
this area of the brain among others,
is one that contributes to linking
the differentiated parts together.
In science now, we're
calling that the connectome.
It connects, interconnected body
and mindfulness increases the
integration of the connectome.
And so now we know all that.
The, the exciting thing is that when a
brain is integrated, then it's regulated.
So you regulate emotion and effect,
you regulate attention, you regulate,
thought you regulate behavior, regulate
relationships, you regulate all of these
wonderful things that come under the term
executive functions or self-regulation.
And this is why mindfulness
is good in so many ways.
As Caroline is saying, you know,
start the day that way, and you
create a state, for 20 minutes,
half an hour or whatever it is.
With repeated practice, a state of
activation of the brain that you
create on purpose becomes a trait in
your life because neurons are firing
together because of an intentionally
created state of integration, become the
trait of a, an interconnected system,
the brain, that then is literally
integrated so that you're more regulated.
So it's a win-win situation.
So if a person like Caroline, and like
yourself now, was practicing mindfulness
for over and over again, lots of
repetition, the neurons are firing
together and wiring together over and over
again, and this is going on for months or
years at a time, what kinds of changes
then would you see, would, would you
expect to unfold in that person's life?
In the brain you mean, or in?
Well, I guess in the brain
and in behavior as well.
Yeah.
So you mentioned.
Reunion and I wasn't there at
your reunion with you, but I
could see from photographs.
I mean, one thing is literally the parts
of the brain that gets thinner with
age don't get thinner in meditators.
So, you know, people can look at a person
who's meditating a long time and they can
be, they can see, decades younger than,
or colleagues at a high school reunion.
Now, that's all you need
to say to us ladies.
That's about it.
We don't need any other benefits.
So, so, so the way to think about it
is presence, you know, is a wonderful
thing for how we go through life.
To be present is a way of very
simply defining what mindfulness
is about is being aware of what's
happening as it's happening, letting
go of judgments, not getting swept
up by expectations and trying to
really be with a coal state of mind.
C O A L, curious, open,
accepting, and loving.
So that's, and then you get a glow.
Yeah, hopefully.
Though, more seriously, just the,
you know, in terms of the impact on
your life in you come to experience a
certain energy and a certain liveliness
and you come to be confident that
you can take in whatever comes.
Yeah.
You can handle it.
And that is a really reassuring and
positive attitude to have and think
that you have that kind of capacity.
Hmm Hmm.
Yeah.
That's great.
Yeah.
And that, that capacity is
really a kind of resilience,
you know, and, and a readiness.
Yeah.
And I think you touched on something that
when you said, you know, when you said it
makes you sort, I can't remember the words
you used, it makes you feel more alive.
It really, it really reminded me, as
you said that io something, something
that Jon Kabat Zinn often said,
you know, is that mindfulness is
almost like a love affair with life.
It's much more rich and
vivid and, and yeah.
One thing that there's a lot of buzz
around at the moment is bringing
mindfulness into the corporate world.
And I think it's wonderful that
there's a lot of buzz around that.
But I'm curious to know from, from
your perspectives, why you think
mindfulness in business is important?
Well, I would say it's important
because, first of all, we all
spend so much time with our work.
And we give our work, in many cases, the
best hours of our day and our best energy.
So, to combine our being present and being
mindful with that work is very important.
And I think that, as Dan mentioned,
there are so many benefits to the
mindfulness and it improves our executive
functioning and our focusing, and all
of that is really important in business.
And I think business is becoming as we
watch Aetna insurance or Starbucks, or,
you know, it's not just the tech companies
or just Google, there are many old line
firms and companies now that are rolling
out yoga and meditation, because there's
a huge interest in the whole being,
and a key part of that is mindfulness.
One thing, I think that there's
a bit of a myth still around.
I hope it's being broken already,
but the, the myth of multitasking.
I think, you know, this idea, I think it's
sort of permeated culture in the Eighties
that, you know, you could multitask
and do as many things as possible.
But I think the research is pretty
compelling now that tells us that, that
actually makes us much less productive.
And that mindfulness has, you know,
gives us that focus to do one thing
at a time and just do it really well.
Right.
So I think we've all experienced the, the
peril of multitasking because we can't
remember if we too our vitamin E or not,
because we were already in our work mode
or already making our list for the day.
So yes, I think we have our
own little studies every day...
Absolutely.
that being distracted is,
it isn't what we thought.
And it is kind of ironic because I
think there was a time in corporate
America when we thought multitasking
was a skill that you should aspire to.
Absolutely.
It was like a badge of honor.
I can do, you know, have a phone call
here and be doing this here and I'm
driving at the same time and yeah.
And you've worked in corporations.
I mean, I'm more like an academic person,
so I, I, you know, I'm more like that.
But in corporations there weren't
really many mindfulness protocols or
strategies when you were in companies.
Caroline has worked in
some interesting companies
I don't like to generalize, but I
think if you are in a, a corporate
law practice, it may not be the
environment where you'll find as
much mindfulness as in some places.
And, so that, that's the first thing.
And it's very, however as I, I gave
the example earlier of the lawyer
who went from private practice to a
studio, it's very company dependent
and it really depends upon what the
leaders have set out for the company
and what your department's lead is.
modelling.
And if you were the head of a really
large organization, like a multinational
organization, what kinds of policies and
procedures would you put in place so that
people could work more mindfully and more
focused and kind of minimize distractions?
Well, I think we, we hopefully
are working on this, even though
we don't have a big company.
We're practicing every day to bring
it here to our, our little engine
that could, but we try to give
people their own sense of their
tasks or a given day or their work.
And we have check-ins or meetings
about what needs to be done, but
then people work at their own pace.
I don't think there's any sense that, you
know, I need to stay late or I have to
work through lunch or, I mean, we really.
First, I'm a lawyer, so I'm always
following the labor laws and people
can't, you know, can't not have lunch.
So you're allowing them rest.
Yeah, rest is so important or take,
you know, fortunately our offices
are just an, a block from the ocean,
but we have a beautiful park out
there and daily, at least once, maybe
multiple times we say, take a break,
go out to the ocean, take a walk.
And I know that works for me.
I come back feeling so refreshed
or make a, make an espresso.
We have an espresso machine in
the, in the kitchen, you know.
A decaf.
But these little, little things
or, you know, also just try
to be in touch with people.
If it's a birthday or it's a something
in the family, happy or sad, just
try to hold all of that for people.
Hmm.
Yeah, absolutely.
And you know, this, when you mentioned,
the park and nature, there's some amazing
studies even on just awe, on how it is
to try to have an experience of being
a part of something more vast than your
personal private bodily-based self is.
Whether it's looking at beautiful
trees or out at the sunset, or really
getting a sense of your being part of
a much larger whole, is really for you.
It's not only you, it helps you feel happy
and healthy, but it actually, studies
amazing, studies show it has, you want
to reach out to help other people more.
Really there's a fascinating
study at UC Berkeley.
Dacher Keltner was talking about the
other day, where they had students
look at a grove of beautiful, actually,
eucalyptus trees from down under.
Nice.
And there was this gorgeous
tree there at UC Berkeley, a
set of trees, beautiful trees.
And the other set of students
were looking at a, a building.
You know, it was a fine building,
but just staring at a building.
They didn't know what they were doing.
They were aiming in that direction.
And then they had a shill, you know, a
person part of the research that no one
knew, fall down and drop their backpack
and out spill all these pens, right.
It actually calculated that the person
staring at trees was much more likely to
help the person who spilled the backpack
and pick up a lot more pens and pencils
than the person staring at the building.
Oh, wow.
The only difference in the variables.
And it just gave you a feeling like, wow,
it isn't just about me, me, me, me, me.
I'm a part of a larger whole, and
I'm going to reach out to help
people, even if it's something like
someone's dropped their backpack.
That's so fascinating.
So the, the sense of just, just
tuning into the fact that we're part
of this interconnected web of life
naturally just makes us feel more
compassionate and kind and empathetic
towards the whole, the whole circle
of life, I guess you could say.
Yeah.
That's that's what awe does.
Aww, that's lovely.
Aww.
Because you know, you know why I
said that's because I've got trees.
You're surrounded, you're
actually surrounded by a frame
of trees as we're talking.
So maybe, it's working.
That's awesome.
Yeah, it is awesome, literally.
Well, I've heard studies on the power
of green too, and looking at parked,
you know, things in the park or the,
like you're mentioning the trees.
There is a basis for that.
Yeah, yeah.
It's instant, it's, it's instantly
like a feeling of like tranquility.
That's amazing.
Yeah.
What does mindful leadership mean to you?
And, and what does that actually
look like on a daily basis?
I mean, I hear the term thrown around
a lot, but, but what is it really?
Mindful leadership to me means
that I, as the leader, model that.
And so I try, even when, or especially
when things get challenging, to take that
time to make my response, not to react.
And try to remember that we don't have
to fix and answer everything right away.
And so that, that's been very helpful.
And I think the more I do that,
the more I see my team do that.
And people feeling in, in the, in, in the
office, the space to say, I'll get back
to you on that or I'll figure that out.
So I think that modeling, I also think,
I try to, to have a balance and I try
certain days to leave at a certain time.
And that also, I think sends a message.
It sends a message of freedom, hopefully
that others can make their schedules.
And, so I think that's probably the key
is just modeling what that looks like, and
then feeling grateful when it actually is
exhibited in the people with whom we work.
Yeah.
It's beautiful.
I would just say yes.
That's great.
What I love about what you're saying
is that it's about embodiment rather
than telling other people, you
know, how to be more mindful because
that never really works anyway.
But yeah, I love that.
So it's about, it's about embodying
it yourself and allowing other people
to, to just see that and act as they
will, emulate it if they want to.
And, Hmm.
I just have one more question.
Dan, a little while ago, you did a
talk at Spirit Rock and during that
talk, you said that, and I quote,
"The only way that we're going to save
this planet is through awareness."
And I was wondering if you would
care to speak to that a little.
Yeah.
I guess it says a number
of different things.
One is an acknowledgement that the planet
is going through a lot of transitions
because of what people have done in
certain ways by being on automatic pilot.
So the opposite of everything,
Caroline, just, you described
about mindful leadership, just
sort of mindless leadership in
a way, but from each individual.
And, and also I think part of what's
happened in modern times is not only
is the population grown so much, but
people have been, all around this planet,
East and West, you know, been feeling
I think this push to be acting as if
they're kind of the only thing thatexists
in the world, is the individual self.
And that sense of interconnectivity
in modern life has not really
been acknowledged so much.
So,that and combined with some of the
things we've inherited in our nervous
system, that makes in-group out-group
distinctions where, when there's a lot of
stress and a lot of hostility, you start
treating people in the in-group better.
You're inclusive group, you
treat them with more kindness.
Yes, that's fine.
In group altruism is
what some people call it.
But the outgroup you treat
with a lot more hostility.
And we have a lot of tension in the
world today, so those innate proclivities
of ingroup, outgroup distinctions, and
racism, for example, the tendency for
the self, as Einstein would call it, to
have the optical delusion of a psychotic
belief of its separateness from others
and the world, nature and its whole,
that optum delusion is, unfortunately,
a vulnerability of the nervous system to
believe its own story of individuality
as being the only thing that's there.
So yeah.
What I mean by awareness is what's
going to be needed, is to rise
above those innate vulnerabilities.
Yeah.
You know, we need to have the
development of everything the three
of us have been talking about today
and everyone probably listening.
This is curious about or practicing
themselves, which is to drop beneath
the brain's proclivities for how
you think and feel, and react
and even have a sense of self.
And that's done through awareness.
In our view, you know, we, we were at
the Mindsight Institute, we talk about
mindset being insight into yourself,
empathy for others and integration.
And here the kind of integration I
think that's going to be called for
is a transformation of identity.
So instead of just a private self
identity as a me, and even more
than just being a we, which is
also good, a collective identity to
the integrator identity, we try to
encourage them as mwe, me-we combined.
And that allows you to take care
of your body, sleep well, enjoy
your body, you know, feed your body
well, exercise it, that's all good.
That's me, me, me.
That's fine.
We, is how we're interconnected
with each other, that's fine too.
And to bring them together, mwe,
I think is what the transformation
of human identity and human
awareness can allow that to happen.
And do you think if, if that awareness,
if that awareness was to hit critical
mass, you know, there were say, like,
let's say a couple of billion people
on the planet regularly practicing
mindfulness, really starting to build
that capacity for awareness, you
think that's the world, what kind of
a world would we create through that?
I think that we could create a world
like that if we were together and
the reason I'm so enthusiastic about
it is because I think that cultural
evolution can be intentionally
nudged in a certain direction.
We may not be able to do
everything, but I think together,
really, we can make this happen.
And I really, I'm very,
very excited about it.
I think the world is seeing that
there is no necessity for there to
be a boundary between science and
spirituality and society and schools.
So those four things can come together.
The education in schools, the media and
what we communicate with society, what
science teaches us, the spirituality,
signifying meaning and connection.
So, you know, these steps,
what we're trying to do here...
Right?
And to that, I would add that I think
we're very encouraged by the fact that
when we launched our first website, which
was probably at least eight years ago.
I think so.
So something like that, then
we launched another one.
But what we observe is that, you know, a
few years ago, almost a hundred percent
of the visitors to our site and the
persons interested in Dan's life's
work, we're mental health professionals.
And now what we're very excited by is
the fact that it's more of a Noah's ark.
It's no longer mostly mental health.
It's business, it's educators,
it's parents, it's medical, it's
every artist it's, entrepreneurs.
And so this is a very
encouraging shift, I think.
It's not just here in the US,
it's, you know, we see the
same thing when we overseas.
And so it is, it's really exciting.
And I think something we experienced
earlier this year, just to conclude, is
that we were in Myanmar and Singapore.
And the ironic thing is that the, the
business leaders there are very interested
in more meditation, in more mindfulness.
And ironically, that has been their
tradition, but now, and people kind
of put religion or put meditation
or put the spirituality to the side.
But now with the scientific studies
that no one can ignore, there's a great
enthusiasm to embrace mindfulness.
And that's really exciting.
We feel like our Institute is just
on the, on the edge and pushing,
pushing all of this forward.
Yeah.
This is a, it's a wonderful, exciting time
because now we can have an intelligent,
grounded spirituality that's about mwe.
So, yeah.
Yeah.
And it's wonderful.
Thank you.
I just want to take this
opportunity to thank you both so
much for the work that you do.
Is there anything, if people want to
know more about the work that you guys
do and what you're offering, where
can they go to find out some more?
We would encourage them
to go to our websites.
There are two, and they're connected.
The first one is DrDanSiegel.com
and that has all of the upcoming
events and it has other information
about our Institute and our team.
And the other site is the Mindsight
Institute, which hosts all of the
learning opportunities that we
have and all of the resources,
which range from free resources.
The wheel of awareness is on the Dr.
Dan Siegel site as one of our
resources and all the way through to
say, for example, a 96 hour course
where those physicians or mental
health professionals who want CE
credits, they could go there and take
a one hour or two, a 96 hour course.
Great.
Yeah, go, go see.
Go explore.
Okay.
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