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Sunday, September 24, 2006

attention to intention (and vice versa)

In these Days of Awe between Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur, I'm thinking a lot about what kind of year I want to have -- and finding inspiration in some reporting I've been doing.

While working on the recent story about Buddhism for Psychology Today (you can find it on the Mommy Brain home page), I came across this quote by William James:

"The faculty of voluntarily bringing back a wandering attention over and over again is the very root of judgment, character and will. An education which would improve this faculty would be the education par excellence."

More recently, researching a story on neuroplasticity, I read about how UCSF neuroscientist Michael Merzenich and students, in 1993, repeatedly exposed monkeys to particular sound frequencies. When the monkeys were trained to pay attention to the noise, the result was clear in the reorganization of their auditory cortexes. But when they were distracted, there was no such neuroplasticity. This led Merzenich and his student, R. Christopher deCharms, to write: “Moment by moment we choose and sculpt how our ever-changing minds will work. We choose who we will be the next moment in a very real sense, and these choices are left embossed in physical form on our material selves.”

We create ourselves, and our reality, by what we decide to pay attention to. This implies we have to be the kind of people who make good decisions. So how do we start?

One breath at a time....

3 Comments:

Blogger The New MBA said...

I just finished The Mommy Brain and wanted to say 'Thank You'! I had read so much on how difficult being a working mother is. Reading this book prompted the thought that perhaps being a mother was making me a better boss. Once that idea sparked my attention, it did sculp how I thought, felt and acted. I agree whole heartedly with Mr. Merzenich and his students on this one.

How do we create ourselves? I encourage mothers to start by reading works like The Mommy Brain.

7:53 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Wow this is a great resource.. I’m enjoying it.. good article

1:33 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

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10:25 AM  

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