Dr. Richard Davidson's TED Talk about Mindfulness

PROJECT PART 1: Richard Davidson’s TED Talk
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Who is Richard Davidson?
He is a psychiatrist and a neurosurgeon. He was always captivated by psychological and mental processes. In particular, what interested him the most was the neural bases of emotion and emotional style and methods to promote human flourishing, including meditation and related contemplative practices.
When he began his studies, what question interested him?
The question that interested him was: Why are some people more vulnerable to life’s sling scenarios and others more resilient. And how can you nudge people along whatever these continua are to promote more resilience and well-being?
His research interests changed over time.
What did he begin studying? What changed for him? What does he study now?
He began to study the negative aspects, basically the impacts of negative experiences on the brain and how the brain adjusts to these changes. These negative experiences include stress, depression, and anxiety. He changed after meeting the Dalai Lama and being challenged by Dalai to try and study kindness in a similar breath to how he studies the negatives on the brain.
What is neuroplasticity? What does it mean to you?
Neuroplasticity is the ability of the brain to be flexible and to change throughout life based on an individual’s experiences. To me, neuroplasticity means the power of the brain to handle various challenges over time. Therefore, neuroplasticity measures a person’s mental capacity and ability to go through certain experiences and adapt to certain changes. Some changes in brain plasticity can block other changes from happening. Therefore, the human brain is too complex to elicit positive and negative effects.
What is his invitation? What does it mean?
His invitation is “Trying to dutifully honor the commitment I made to him to do this work,” about his acceptance of the request by the Dalai Lama to research kindness. This means he identifies the importance of the window of opportunity that the field opens for further research.
Discuss, in depth, the four consequences of unwitting brain changes being your default setting.
It results in depression, anxiety, stress, and lack of satisfaction.
What are the four pillars of a healthy mind? What does each mean to you?
The four are awareness, connection, insight, and purpose. Awareness is the ability to focus. Right now, people are so focused on gadgets that they lack attention. He cited research that revealed that 47 percent of American adults are not pa...