Thursday, March 27, 2008

"Think Positive" does work!

Apparently it at least is possible to improve one's attitude - actually making changes in the brain! I just spotted this article in US News & World Report which reports on research apparently showing that meditating on the positive can produce changes in the area of the brain in charge of empathy.

Now if we can just get some of those extremists to try this...

Friday, March 21, 2008

Love and Disappointment

One of the harder things in everyday life is coping with the disappointments of a loved one. My Most Loved One had some life-altering, disappointing news a few weeks ago and - not surprisingly - was in a real funk for several days.

I was helpless. If he is unhappy, I am unhappy but powerless to employ any of my own tricks for getting myself out of a funk. I simply had to wait for him to work his way through it on his own, while trying to avoid 'helping' by being either too solicitous or too cheerful. I found myself channeling my frustration at being unable to do anything to help him into maintaining a zen-like attitude for myself. I was so occupied with doing that, I did not have a chance to be too depressed by the actual disappointment.

As expected, this too did pass. He has regained his own balance. We are back on the track of exploring practical options to deal with changed expectations. Our lives not any less perfect than they were, we just have an altered set of circumstances within which to find our happiness.