Do you ever think to yourself when you're having strong, persistent, unpleasant feelings, "What's wrong with me?"
You're in good company if you do.
What's wrong with us is being human.Our brains have evolved over millions of years and the 'wisdom of the ages' is carried there--from the base of our brain stems to the top of our prefrontal cortices--from the slyness of our lizard selves right up to the fullness of our better angels.
Neuro-scientists are discovering more and more about how our brains work. I only retain (in my older brain) little bits of the details they report, though I regularly read what they write. And though I can't seem to master the facts, I do usually come away encouraged and even chuckling, because I do 'get' a 'something' that seems important and wise and full of grace.
What follows are a few snippets from Rick Hansons's book, The Buddha's Brain. Just enough to keep us curious about why we experience such insistent impulses--and how mindfulness helps us understand and work more wisely with how our brains actually work.
Your brain evolved from the bottom up and the inside
out, along what is called the neuroaxis (Lewis and Todd 2007; Tucker,
Derryberry, and Luv 2000), which is one way to conceptualize the organization
of the brain.
With equanimity, you see into the transient and imperfect nature of
experience, and your aim is to remain disenchanted—free of the spells cast by
pleasure and pain. In this—rather Buddhist—sense of the word, disenchanted, you
are not disappointed or dissatisfied with life; you simply see through its
apparent charms and alarms and are not knocked off center by either.
Understanding and intention are both grounded in the prefrontal cortex. The
intention to remain equanimous relies in particular on the anterior cingulate
cortex (ACC) hub in the neuroaxis.
Equanimity also involves remaining aware of the passing stream without
letting any bit of it hook you. This entails anterior cingulate oversight,
especially in the beginning stages of equanimity. As equanimity deepens,
meditators report an effortless continuity of mindfulness, which presumably
correlates with reduced ACC activity and self-organizing stability in the
neural substrates of awareness.
The limbic, HPAA, and sympathetic nervous systems react to each other in
circular ways. For example, if something frightening occurs, your body will
tend to become activated (e.g., increased heart rate, sweaty palms) and those
bodily changes will be interpreted by the limbic system as evidence of a
threat, which will trigger more fear reactions in a vicious cycle. Through
activating the parasympathetic nervous system (PNS), you prevent the
stress-response system from reacting to its own reactions. This is one reason
why the training for equanimity in contemplative settings involves considerable
relaxation and tranquility.
Over time, equanimity deepens into a profound inner stillness that is a
defining characteristic of contemplative absorption (Brahm 2006). It also
becomes increasingly woven into daily life, bringing great benefit. If you can
break the link between feeling tones and craving—if you can be with the
pleasant without chasing after it, with the unpleasant without resisting it,
and with the neutral without ignoring it—then you have cut the chain of
suffering, at least for a time. And that is an incredible blessing and freedom.
