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MII]DSIGHT: THE T,{EW SCIEI,{CE OF PERSI :XCIRP'|S AND IN' l ' l :RVl l :W \ / l ' l ' l I DR.

O I,{ AL TRAI/S F O RM AT I O NDANIEL SIEGEL

Daniet Sieget has accomptished a feat that no brain scient ist has before or s ince:Aworking def in i t ion that answers the quest ion What is mind?" The importance of

coming to some kind of ctar i ty about what the mind is, even as a start ing place f romwhich to assess and advance research. can not be underest imated.

His def in i t ion is s impte:Mind is a regulatory process that can be monitored, measured, ohserved and modified.

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I ran a group composed of fofi scientists and our jobwas t0 simply discuss the connection between the mind

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I n an extensive interview with Dr. SiegeL, he shared the process of coming up with

I th is def in i t ion of "mind."

II am trained as a scientist in both biological sciences and chemistry, and also in narrativesciences, the study of how we create meaning in our lives and our sense of identity of whowe are. l'm also a scientist in studying relationships and how they are involved in well-being. l'm trained through the National Mental Health lnstitute in studying attachments.ln addition to all of that, l'm also a physician. I'm a health care provider and specificallya psychiatrist for adults, adolescents, and children.

Asapsychiatrist,whatlfoundwasthatthesystemsusedtocategorizestatesofmentalillnessdidn't really make a coherent picture of how to understand people when they became ill.It was quite lrustrating to not have an overarching, conceptual framework to understandwellness or lackof wellness. 0vertwenty years ago, Ibegan by thinkingdeeply about thenature of well-being and what itmight be.

What I discoveredwas that the fields of mental health, psychiatry, psychology, social work, nursing,occupational therapy, and educational therapy, didn't have a definition of the mind. Wedidn't even have a definition of mental health. 0ver the course of the last nine years, Ihave asked almost 90,0A0 officials from every discipline of mental health around theglobe if they ever had even one lecture about what the mind is or if they ever had alecture defining what mental health is. WeII over 95o/o of professionals in the field ofmental health don't have a definition of the mind or mental health. I personally feltthis was a crisis because after all, if we are mental health practitioners, what is it weare practicing?

Eventually, I ran a group composed of forty scientists and our job was to simply discussthe connection between the mind and the brain. lhe brain was the easy part: The brainwas easy to define, But none of them could come up with a detinition of the mind. Theywere even arguing about the description of the mind.

The group was about to dissolve. I took myself for a walk and thought there must besome kind of phrasing that can serve as a working definition of the mind. I came upwith a def inition that 100o/o of the academics agreed on. This def inition revolutionizedwhat we could do as parents, as mental health professionals, as teachers. Thedefinition helped us to understand how to make the mind stronger; how the mindis working weII and when it is not working well, and it actually gives you a placeto begin to deepen the discussion even with people in various sciences as well aspractitioners, and even philosophers.

and the brain. The brain was the easy part: The brain waseasy t0 define. But none of them could come up with adefinition of the mind.

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Mindsight is a kind of focused attention that allows us tosee the internal workings of our own minds. lt helps usto be aware of our mental processes without being sweptaway by them, enables us to get ourselves off the autopilotof ingrained behaviors and habitual responses, and movesus beyond the reactive emotional loops we all have atendency to get trapped in.

In this short excerpt from his latestbook, ltindsight; fhe IUewScience olPersonal Translormation Sieg et provid esus with insight into his "over-arching

framework." His many referencesto "mindsight" inctude a[ [ forms ofmeditative and contemptative practices.

Excerpt provided with permission from MindYour Brain. Inc. @2010

ithin each of us there is aninternal mental wortd - what Ihave come to th ink of as the sea

inside - a wonderfuI r ich ptace f i t ted wi ththoughts and feel ings, memories anddreams, hopes and wishes. l t can atso bea turbutent place where we exper iencethe dark s ide of at [ those wonderfulfeet ings and thoughts - fear, sorrow,dread, regret , n ightmares.

When the innersea seems tocrash in on us,threatening todrag us downbetow to the darkdepths, i t canmake us feeI as i fwe are drowning.Who among ushas not at onet ime or anotherfet t overwhetmedby the sensat ions generated from withinour own minds? Sometimes thesefeet ings are just a passing thing . . . butsomet imes they seem to be somethingmuch more intractabte, so much part ofthe very essence of who we are that i tmight not even occur to us that we canchange them. This is where the ski t tthat I cat t 'mindsight" comes in. l t hasthe potent iaI to f ree us f rom patterns ofmind that are gett ing in the way of t iv ingour l ives to the fut test .

Mindsight is a k ind of focused at tent ionthat attows us to see the internalworkings of our own minds. l t hetps usto be aware of our mental processeswithout being swept away by them,enabtes us to get oursetves off theautopilot of ingrained behaviors andhabi tuat responses, and moves usbeyond the react ive emot iona[ loops wea[[ have a tendency to get t rapped in. l t

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lets us "name and tame" the emot ionswe are experiencing rather than beoverwhetmed by them.

Consider the difference betweenspeaking or th inking, " l arn sad" and" l feet sad." SimiLar as those twostatements may seem, there is actuattya profound difference between them. "l

am sad." is a k ind of set f -def in i t ion anda very Limit ing one. " l feel sad," suggeststhe abi t i ty to recognize and acknowtedgea feeting without being consumed byit. The focusing skitls that are a part ofmindsight make i t possibte to dist inguishbetween the feet ing over the ident i ty,accept the present moment of thatfeeting, tet it go, and then transform it.

Mindsight acts as a very special [ens thatgives us the capaci ty to perceive the mindwith greater ctarity than ever before. This

lens is something that virtuatty everyonecan devetop, and once we have it we candive deepty into the mental sea inside,exptoring our own inner l ives. A uniquetyhuman abiLi ty, mindsight at tows us toexamine closety in great detai I and depth,the process by which we think, feet , andbehave. lt also atlows us to reshape andredirect our inner experiences so thatwe have more freedom of choice in oureveryday actions, more power to createthe future, to become the author of ourown story. Mindsight is the basic ski l . t

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A uniquely human ability, mindsight allows us t0 examineclosely in great detail and depth, the process by which wethink, feel, and behave. lt also allows us t0 reshape andredirect our inner experiences sothat we have morefreedom of choice in our everyday actions, more power t0

m indsightTHE NEW SCIENCE OF

PERSONAL TRANSFORMATION

, ",.3"?,T^i,g l.Jr.l"i,: q, gil".ll r"?;" ..that undert ieseverything wemean whenwe speak ofhaving sociaIand emot ionaIinte[ t igence.

We now knowfrom the f indingsof neuroscienceresearch thatthe mentaI

and emot ional changes we can createthrough cutt ivat ion of the ski l . t ofmindsight are t ransformat ionaI atthe very physicat [eve[ of the brain.By devetoping the abi t i ty to focus ourat tent ion on our internaI wor ld, we pickup a "scatpet" we can use to rescutpt ourneuraI pathways, st imutat ing the growthof areas that are cruciaI to mentaI heatth.

But change never just happens; i t 'ssomething we have to work at. Thoughthe abi t i ty to navigate the inner sea

create the future, to become the author of our own story.

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to

of our minds - to have mindsight -is our bir thr ight , i t does not comeautomat icat ly, any more than beingborn wi th musctes makes us athtetes.The real i ty is that we need certainexperiences to devetop this essentialhuman capaci ty.

How do we devetop the abi t i ty to perceivea thought - not just have one - and toknow i t as an act iv i ty of our minds so thatwe are not taken over by it? How can webe recept ive to the mind's r iches and notjust reactive to its reflexes? How can wedirect our thoughts and feet ings ratherthan be dr iven by them? And how can weknow the minds of others so that we cantruty understand "where they are comingfrom" and can respond more effectivetyand compassionatety? The abi t i ty to lookwithin and Derceive the mind and toreftect on our experiences is essentiaI toour wett-being, can heLp us bui td sociatand emot ional brainpower, move ourl ives f rom disorder to we[t-being, andhe[p us create sat isfy ing retat ionshipsf i t ted wi th connect ion and comoassion.

ln our indiv iduat l ives, mindsight of fersus the opportuni ty to exptore thesubjective essence of who we are, tocreate a t i fe of deeper meaning with ar icher and more comprehensible internalwortd. We are better abte to batanceour emot ions and achieve an internat

SuoerConsciousness Summer 201 0

equi t ibr ium that enabtes us to copewith the smatl and large stresses of ourl ives. Through the abi t i ty to focus ourat tent ion, mindsight atso helps the bodyand brain achieve homeostasis - theinternal balance,coordinat ion, andadapt iveness thatforms the core ofheatth. Mindsightalso improvesour re[ationshipswith our f r iends,cot leagues,5p0uses, anochi tdren, butmost importantty,the relat ionshipwe have with ourown setves.

Through the ability to focus

that devetoping the reftective skil.Ls ofmindsight act ivates the very c i rcui ts thatcreate resi t ience and wet l -being andthat undert ie empathy and compassionas wett .

Wett-beingemerges whenwe createconnect ions inour l ives and hetpthe brain achieveand maintainintegrat ion,a process bywhich separateelementsare l inkedtogether into aworking whole.

helps the body and brainour attention, mindsight also

achieve homeostasis -

coordination, andadaptiveness that forms thecore of health.

the internal balance,

Creat ing wett-being - in our mental[ i fe, in our c lose retat ionships, andeven in our bodies - is a learnableski t t . When we exercise mindsight,we actual ty change the physicatstructure of the brain. Developing the[ens that enables us to see the mindmore clearty st imutates the brain togrow important new connect ions. Thisrevelat ion is based on one of the mostexci t ing scient i f ic d iscover ies of thelast twenty years: How we focus ourat tent ion shapes the structure of thebrain. Neuroscience supports the idea

lntegrat ion is at the heart of how weconnect to one another in heatthy ways,honor ing one another 's di f ferences whitekeeping our [ ine of communicat ion wideopen. l t is atso important for reteasingthe creat iv i ty that emerges when thetef t and r ight s ides of the brain arefunct ioning together.

lntegrat ion enabtes us to be f texibteand free: the [ack of such connect ionspromotes a l i fe that is e i ther r ig id orchaot ic: stuck and dul t on the one handor exptosive and unpredictabte on theother. Integrat ion comes with a sense

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of v i ta l i ty and without i t we can becomeimprisoned in behavioraI ruts - anxietyand depression, greed, obsession, andaddict ion. With mindsight, we can al terthe way the mind funct ions and move ourl ives towards integrat ion and away fromthe extremes of r ig id i ty or chaos, andare abte to focus our mind in ways thatt i teratLy integrate the brain and move i ttowards resi t ience and heatth.

Being mindfuL, having mindfutawareness, is of ten def ined as a wayof intent ional ty paying at tent ion to thepresent moment wi thout being swept upby judgments. Pract iced in the East andthe West. in ancient t imes and in modernsociet ies, mindfuL awareness techniqueshetp peopte move towards wett-being bytraining the mind to focus on moment- to-moment exper ience. Oftent imes peoptehear the word mindfutness and think"ret ig ion," but the real i ty is that focusingour at tent ion in th is way is a biologicaIprocess that promotes heaLth - as a formof brain hygiene - not a ret ig ion. Var iousret ig ions may encourage this heatth-promot ing pract ice, but learning the ski t tof mindful awareness is s impty a way ofcut t ivat ing what we have def ined as theintegrat ion of consciousness.

promotes the growth of new connectionsamong exist ing neurons and seems tostimulate the growth of myetin. the fattysheath that speeds nerve transmission-Novelty can even stimutate the growth ofnew neurons - a f inding that took a longt ime to win acceptance in the scient i f iccommunity. Neuroptast ic i ty can beact ivated by at tent ion alone, or when wepart ic ipate in an act iv i ty that is importantand meaningful to us, but i f we are notengaged emot ionat ly and the exper ienceis less memorabte, the structure of thebrain is Less Likety to change.

Dissotving f ixed mentaI percept ionscreated atong the brain 's f i r ing patternsand reinforced retationatty withinour cul tural pract ices is no simpteaccomptishment. 0ur retat ionshipsengrain our ear ly perceptuaI patternsand deepen the ways we come to see thewortd and bet ieve our inner narrat ive.Without an internaI educat ion thatteaches us to pause and ref tect , we maytend to l ive on automat ic and succumbto these cul turaI and cort icaI inf tuencesthat oush us toward isolat ion. Part of ourchal tenge in achieving wett-being is todevetop enough mindsight to ctear us ofthese restr ict ive def in i t ions of ourselves

interconnect ion, being considerate andconcerned with the [arger wortd becomesa fundamentaL shi f t in our way of t iv ing.

In a [engthy interview with Dr. DanietSieget, SuperConsciousness Edi tor-in-Chief Daniet te Graham discussedthe many impt icat ions for the humanexper ience as a whote as a whote whenwe ut i t ize Mindscope. Here is an excerptf rom that discussion:

art of the reftective practice,ironicatly, is that it makes oursenses stronger and bodity

wett-being ctearer, and increasesempathy towards others, which thenstrengthens our connect ions to peoptein our l ives. We become more open ina toving and wonderfully exciting newway. ln fact the reat definit ion of setfbecomes we, and at t of a sudden webegin to th ink that there is hope forthe planet. We begin to reat ize th is isour cottective home. There is real hopeto turn th ings around.

I am incredibty optimistic that withreftective practices there is hope for ourspecies. We have to understand the brainso that we can grasp how non-integratedthinking puts us at risk for p[anetarydestruction, but atso to harness thepower of our creativity to turn it allaround and turn this into a much moreintegrated home in which we live.

When we understand how our socialnetworks interconnect in that intimateway, we realize the potentiat is huge.The ultimate outcome of integrationis compassion. When we tatk aboutintegration within the context ofpersonat heatth, we are atso tatkingabout imptications for culturaIevolution. In that way, heatth becomesa secutar essence that att peopte have a

right to receive, and we can aU work tobring that heatthy state of integration to

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Dr. Daniet SiegeL's work can be foLlowedat http://drdansieget.com/

Photos: Thinkstock

Practiced in the East and the West, in ancient times andin modern societies, mindful awareness techniques helppeople move towards well-being by training the mind tofocus 0n moment-to-moment experience.

The brain changes physicat ty in responseto exper ience, and new mentaI ski t ls canbe acquired with intent lonaI ef for t , wi thfocused awareness and concentrat ion.Exper ience act ivates neuraI f i r ing,which in turn leads to the product ion oforoteins that enabte new connect ions tobe made among neurons, in the processcat led neuroptast ict ty. Besides focusedattent ion. other factors inctude aerobicexercise, novetty, and emot ionaI arousat.

We tearn more effectivety when we arephysicat ty act ive. Novel ty, or exposingourselves to new ideas and exper iences,

so that we can grow towards higherdegrees of integrat ion.

Seeing the mind clearty not ontycatatyzes the var ious dimensions ofintegrat ion as i t promotes physicaL,psychotogicat , and inter-personaI wett-being, i t a lso hetps us dissotve the opt icatdetusions of our separateness. Wedevetop more compassion for oursetvesand our loved ones, but we atso widenour c i rcte of compassion to includeother aspects of the wortd beyond ourimmediate concerns. With integrat ion, wesee ourselves with an expanded identity.When we embrace the reatitv of this

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