Is the internet your brain's friend? I was asked a question by someone who was in a discussion about the internet and its influence on our brains. Specifically, they were talking about whether there is any truth to some recent work showing that the internet, and how we (you, your children) are using it, is making us dumber. So the question posed to me was.... Wondering if you have any thoughts/insights on the changing nature of the brain, with increased internet commnunications, and the prevalence of tools like Google to locate information? My answer was:    more »

Sorry to go missing for the summer - I seemed to have taken a writing-free vacation! But I"m trying to ease myself back into communicating with the outside world . So let's get (re-)started.... There has been a lot of talk about mindfulness this days and lots of expensive courses to teach you "how to do it". Why is this approach so popular and is it worth the time to learn and practice it? I'm going to suggest that yes, it is. And that's because practicing mindfulness gives your brain a chance to allow old, less useful/unproductive "thought ruts" to weaken and change. That means you're less likely to just automatically go down the same old thought and feeling-roads you may be taking that cause you distress. I've had a couple of posts on this topic in the past, but I recently received an email about a free introduction to mindfulness -- and since courses can be so darn expensive -- free looked like a good thing to share with you. It's soon, but there's still time to let the presenters know you're interesed. I'm (with their permission) just going to share the exact content of their notice. Since I'm not affiliated with these folks, please do get back to them directly if you're interested. (But do feel free to say you found out about it here!) Here we go...   more »

This is 52 minute television program from Dan Rather that covers a wealth of information about the brain, its plasticity, its connections with meditation and other ways we can change our brain's functioning. A bit of commitment...but worth it for the overview on brain plasticity....   more »

Imagine yourself sitting back for a nonlinear neurofeedback session.... That means that your brain is going to have a "conversation" with itself (which I recently described in my newsletter, Not Just Neurofeedback, as the brain looking at itself in a mirror - let me know if you want to be on the list and have access to back copies like this). Your conscious mind doesn't really have anything specific to do in order to "make" something happen on purpose". In fact, the best thing you can do is to get out of the way. ;- ) But what does "get out of the way" mean, exactly? How do you "get out of the way"?   more »

Here is an interesting and accurate pair of YouTube videos of how memory works and how you can train yourself to use it better. First, let's watch them - they'll take about 8 minutes (part 1 and 2 -- it was a bit long for just one video)   more »