Let me offer at this point a big disclaimer -- I gave you only the very briefest of overviews, filtered no doubt by those sections which I found most interesting. You might read the book and find something entirely different to report on. I highly recommend you do get a copy and dive in. It's very reader-friendly and the neuroscience is so well explained you don't need a Ph.D. to get it. It's incredibly interesting and encouraging to learn that our brains CAN change and we are in charge making our own brain more alert, more content, more wise. We have this amazingly complex organ that calls the shots for us, but often those are not the calls that serve us any more, even if they once did. We can change the message! We can become who we want to be!
The last few chapters explain the idea of Mindfulness. Our brains are constantly trying to hold onto information, update awareness, and seek stimulation. Our job is to steady the mind to keep these activities in balance and focused. How? In everyday life we can prepare by slowing down, talking less, focusing on breathing, adopting a calm attitude when with other people, simplifying our lives from the familiar "too busy" state. We can literally tell our "monkey minds" -- the racing thoughts swinging from branch to branch -- to "hush". Have a little talk with your inner voice and tell it to quiet down for just a little while, sort of like the shushing the gallery at a golf tournament, tell it to whisper (or just shut up) while you are "putting" (aka meditating).
Our brains are wired to help us be mindful. We can employ the compare and contrast portions of our brain to help with setting a goal for focusing attention during meditation and gauging if we are meeting it. We can ask the language centers of our brain to count breaths. We can call on the compassion centers to help us appreciate our efforts by sending loving thoughts to ourselves. We can filter out distractions by employing our senses to attend to each and every sensation, then to watch as they eventually fade away -- itches, thoughts, cold feet, stinky socks -- it will all pass like clouds. Boredom means stimulation seeking is "up" and we can address that with a few tricks like walking meditation, mantra meditation, and pranayama (breathing techniques that require some effort and thought).
Mindfulness is a meditation but also a way of life. Finding the empty space between the thoughts in every moment of the day is an outcome of being mindful. There is no past or future, which is where our thoughts reside. There is only the vast spaciousness of now.
The very last chapter of the book deals with the idea of "apparent self"; the "I" that we think we are and identify with. This is always a difficult concept for me and I'm not going to go into much detail here. You can wrestle with it. I've read and heard from many teachers that the ego doesn't really exist; that we are all part of a vast and openhearted spaciousness that is all inclusive and not individuated. I am the tree and the tree is me. OK. Still working on that....but I'll get there.
Thanks for coming along on this journey into Buddha's Brain, where happiness, love, and wisdom abide.©
Namaste, donnajurene
Photo Credit: pixabay.com
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