Rewire Your Brain: Think Your Way to a Better Life

Rhythmic breathing:
Deep, deliberate, and focused breath-
ing allows you to slow your heart rate and to calm down.
2.
Focused attention:
By widening your attention, you can 
focus on the here and now. This activates the PFC and 
enhances its ability to inhibit the overreactivity of the amyg-
dala and the sympathetic nervous system.
3.
Quiet environment:
This will give you an opportunity to 
focus attention without distractions. Later, when you cannot 
be in a quiet environment, you ’ ll have a head start in learn-
ing to feed your brain because you ’ ve already practiced in a 
quiet environment. This prepares you to avoid distractions 
later.
4.
Accepting and nonjudgmental attitude:
By shifting away 
from narrow and rigid expectations to an accepting attitude, 
you ’ ll appreciate reality as it is rather than what you fear 
it could be. Consequently, you ’ ll have greater resiliency in 
adjusting to whatever happens.
5.
Relaxed posture:
This can be achieved by sitting or by 
stretching.
6.
Observation:
By widening your focus and observing instead 
of worrying about each detail, you can detach from stress 
while not denying its existence. As you observe events and 
situations nonjudgmentally, you can simply note what is 
occurring at any given time. When you take the vantage 
point of an observer, you are no longer the victim, and you 
are able to detach from stress.
7.
Labeling:
Your experiences activate your left frontal lobe 
and its positive emotions. Labeling works if you remain 
in an accepting and nonjudgmental attitude as a detached 
observer and practice all the previous steps.
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Mindfulness 
A popular type of meditation derived from Buddhism is referred 
to as mindfulness, Vipassana, or insight meditation. Mindfulness 
has been used in the treatment of anxiety, depression, and other 
psychological problems. This technique does not utilize a mantra 
or prayer phrases. The focus is on breathing, observing, accepting, 
and cultivating a nonjudgmental attitude. Generally, mindfulness 
embraces the seven principles described above. 
Mindfulness involves observing and accepting your thoughts, 
your physical sensations, and your emotions as they enter and 
exit your awareness. By maintaining a nonjudgmental attitude, you 
can take a step back from these things. You can observe them arise 
and fall back, like the tides on a beach. This is what I mean by a 
detached and nonjudgmental attitude. 
Mindfulness can be practiced any time throughout the day or the 
evening. You can practice it even now, as you ’ re reading this book. Sit 
back and feel the weight of the book in your hands. Feel the texture 
of the cover. As you breathe in and out deeply, feel the temperature in 
the room on your skin. Is it warm or cool? Random thoughts might 
come to mind. Simply observe and accept them as they pass by, as if 
they are cars going slowly by. You don ’ t have to stop any of the “ cars ”
to examine them; just let them pass by. Another one will soon follow. 
By practicing this type of observance and acceptance, you can detach 
from your worries and concerns. They can simply drift by, not sticking 
around long enough to take root. 
By being in the moment, you can cleanse yourself of the nuisance 
worries and anxiety about what to do about something in the future 
that might not even happen. Being present in the here and now 
brings the present moment alive and allows your brain to experience 
the vibrancy and rich multidimensionality of the now. 
You can develop a nonjudgmental attitude by maintaining an 
observing perspective. As you simply observe rather than react to 
what is occurring at any given time, you delay reacting to the situ-
ation until all the information is put in perspective. The enlarged 
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200 Rew i r e
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perspective is consistent with the open - focus state. In contrast to 
the all - too - common narrow, rigid, and reactive state, the mind-
ful or open - focus perspective allows you to detach from stress-
ors because you are taking a step back and observing instead of 
immediately reacting to them. Mindfulness meditation develops the 
ability to resist automatically reacting to any stressor. Instead, you 
can mindfully observe and appreciate the rich complexity of each 
experience. 
Because the mindfulness meditation and the open - focus biofeed-
back techniques help you to resist reacting to worries or discomfort, 
they have been used to treat general medical problems such as 
chronic pain. The highlight of these methods contains an interest-
ing paradox about how to apply attention to pain: instead of trying 
to keep pain out of your mind, your task is to accept the pain. This 
might seem bizarre. Why accept the pain? Won ’ t that make you 
feel it more? The answer is no; you ’ ll actually experience less pain. 
Mindfulness training can alter how your brain works to lower your 
reactivity to pain. By observing and accepting the pain, you para-
doxically detach from the intensity of the pain. 
Mindfulness is also effective with stress, anxiety, and depression. 
I teach mindfulness in my anxiety class because the research sup-
ports its effi cacy. Here is a brief summary of how it works: 
•
The process of labeling your emotions activates your left PFC, 
which reduces anxiety.
•
There is a strong relationship between a high level of mindful-
ness and the neural activity in your left PFC, which tames your 
amygdala.
•
These positive effects seem to correlate with enhancements in 
your neural emotional regulation pathways.
Mindfulness practice has been shown to have a positive infl u-
ence on the immune system and on the reduction of anxiety and 
depression. It has been used successfully with people who have 
a great deal of diffi culty controlling their emotions, people with 
OCD, and people with general medical problems such as chronic 
pain. 
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The benefi ts of the kind of detached observing that mindful-
ness provides can help you to cope with a wide range of potential 
irritants. It is no wonder that people who practice mindfulness on 
a regular basis have strong coping skills and are resilient in the face 
of adversity. Cultivating these skills can help you to rewire your 
brain.
The Mindful Brain 
The Dalai Lama has said that if scientifi c discoveries confl ict with 
Buddhist doctrine, the doctrine must evolve with these discoveries. 
Indeed, he has taken a big interest in neuroscience and has invited 
the major researchers to present their discoveries. The research on 
meditation has consequently fl owered and has shown how mindful-
ness positively affects the brain. 
The quality and form of attention appears to be the central issue. 
I have stressed throughout this book that attention is a necessary 
prerequisite for neuroplasticity. Mindfulness is also all about atten-
tion. Mindfulness meditation mentally engages one ’ s concentration, 
which alters the connections between the thinking (cortex) and the 
emotional (amygdala) parts of your brain. 
The parts of your brain that make it possible for you to be fully 
present, with reverence for each moment, have been identifi ed by 
researchers at the University of Wisconsin, led by Richard Davidson. 
The cortical networks that involve the front of the cingulate cortex (the