If you are uncertain about the value of actively curating your thoughts, a study of breast cancer survivors conducted at Canadian cancer centers should increase your certainty. The study, led by Dr. Linda E. Carlson, showed participants who regularly practiced mindfulness activities “had longer telomeres, part of the chromosome thought to be important in physical health”. Mindfulness isn’t… Continue reading Mindfulness Activities Measurably Fights Disease
Category: Positive Thinking
Balancing “F**k You”
It seems silly to have to defend the value of an emotion, but anger often gets a bad rap. The value of anger is wonderfully illustrated in Mike Hrostosky’s piece, Fuck You Spiritual People For Using Gratitude As A Bypass To Your Anger.
On Saying No to the Adventures Life Presents You
Joseph Campbell on refusing the call that life presents you (a.k.a saying no to life, emphasis mine): “When this refusal of the call happens, there is a kind of drying up, a sense of life lost. Everything you knows that a required adventure has been refused. Anxieties build up. What you have refused to experience… Continue reading On Saying No to the Adventures Life Presents You
Mind Over Milkshake: How Your Thoughts Fool Your Stomach
Alex Spiegel over at NPR quoting Alia Crum regarding the findings in her recent study indicating that our beliefs about food effect how our bodies metabolize that food: “Our beliefs matter in virtually every domain, in everything we do,” Crum says. “How much is a mystery, but I don’t think we’ve given enough credit to… Continue reading Mind Over Milkshake: How Your Thoughts Fool Your Stomach
Religion, Science, Intuition, Analytical Mind; Dangerous Conflations
Science emerged in a time when superstition led to attributing causes to unrelated things and religion was abused to promote suppression/oppression of ideas. Whenever people organize, organization can magnify our undesirable tendencies; religion and science are no exceptions. No institution is immune from human failings.
Positive Thinking; Harmful for Some?
Jeremy Dean’s (PsyBlog) recent nuance-light headline caught my attention: Why Positive Thinking May Be Harmful for Some A recently published study1 by researchers at Michigan State University revealed that habitual worriers’ (Dean calls them “natural worriers”, a specious phrase) brains ‘backfire’ when trying to put a positive spin on a scenario that seems negative. Lead study… Continue reading Positive Thinking; Harmful for Some?