Mindsight: The New Science of Personal Transformation teaches us the power of focused attention and provides steps to apply it. Dr Siegel guides readers through lessons in the brain’s areas, functions, and new discoveries in neuroscience, and then walks readers through case studies where focused attention was used to boost success and happiness.
In the book written by Daniel J. Siegel, M.D., the latest “hard science” of how the brain is functioning biologically gets seamlessly fused with the “soft sciences” of clinical psychiatry and mindfulness practices, resulting in a book that is both a joy to read and a veritable wealth of useful information. The term Mindsight, coined by Dr Siegel, refers to the amazing ability we have as humans to perceive our own minds, self-awareness, and how cultivating that ability in a concentrated way allows us to gain a greater sense of emotional and cognitive well-being, and even trigger our brain’s ability to heal from past trauma and build new neural pathways for success. As the author puts it:
“Mindsight is a kind of focused attention that allows us to see the internal workings of our own minds. It helps us to be aware of our mental processes without being swept away by them, enables us to get ourselves off the autopilot of ingrained behaviours and habitual responses, and moves us beyond the reactive emotional loops we all have a tendency to get trapped in. It lets us “name and tame” the emotions we are experiencing, rather than being overwhelmed by them. Consider the difference between saying “I am sad” and “I feel sad.” Similar as those two statements may seem, there is actually a profound difference between them. “I am sad” is a kind of self-definition, and a very limiting one. “I feel sad” suggests the ability to recognize and acknowledge a feeling, without being consumed by it. The focusing skills that are part of mindsight make it possible to see what is inside, to accept it, and in the excepting to let it go, and, finally, to transform it.”
Dr Siegel walks readers through the following techniques in the book:
- Focusing on the breath – The science is clear that focusing on the breath boosts health, lowers reactions to stress and increases empathy.
- Wheel of Awareness – This is a meditation technique that Dr Siegel created and used successfully in his career.
- “Stay With That” – This is a practice of noticing and naming your feelings without judgment. Naming your unpleasant feelings works because the parts of the brain that name an unpleasant emotion is different from the parts that feel it. Naming helps ease most emotional states. As I often relay in workshops, psychologists say “name it to tame it”.
- SIFT – In this practice, Dr Siegel teaches readers to focus their attention through the simple process of deliberately accessing their Sensations, Images, Feelings and Thoughts (SIFT). This is a similar technique to “Stay With That”.
- Body-Scan – To do a Body Scan meditation, sit or lie down comfortably, find your breath, and then focus your attention on each part of your body, gradually moving from the top of your head to the tips of your toes.
- Walking Meditation – Learn about walking meditation and 3 other techniques in Mindful for a Moment: Integrating Attention into a Busy Day.
The results of these practices are supported by the case studies and stories presented in this very informative and applicable book. It’s a great read for those interested in learning more about the brain, and how to harness the power of attention to change your brain and boost your happiness.
Through his synthesis of a broad range of scientific research with applications to everyday life, Dr Siegel has developed novel approaches that have helped hundreds of patients heal themselves from painful events in the past and liberate themselves from obstacles blocking their happiness in the present. And now he has written the first book that will help all of us understand the potential we have to create our own lives. Showing us mindsight in action, Dr Siegel describes:
- A sixteen-year-old boy with bipolar disorder uses meditation and other techniques instead of drugs to calm the emotional storms that made him suicidal
- A woman paralyzed by anxiety, who uses mindsight to discover, in an unconscious memory of a childhood accident, the source of her dread
- A physician-the author himself-who pays attention to his intuition, which he experiences as a "vague, uneasy feeling in my belly, a gnawing restlessness in my heart and my gut," and tracks down a patient who could have gone deaf because of an inaccurately written prescription for an ear infection
- A twelve-year-old girl with OCD who learns a meditation that is "like watching myself from outside myself" and, using a form of internal dialogue, is able to stop the compulsive behaviours that have been tormenting her
These and many other extraordinary stories illustrate how mindsight can help us master our emotions, heal our relationships, and reach our fullest potential.
The book primarily consists of three major lessons:
- Staying calm and balanced
- Observe, objectify and accept your emotions at every turn
- Pursue a receptive perspective in relationships rather than a reactive one.
But what makes Mindsight such an interesting book to read isn’t the tour of how the brain physically is wired, but detailed descriptions of how the actual work the brain engages in as a person thinks and feels can have a profound effect on the manner in which the brain does that work overtime. The ability of the brain to re-wire, and thus effectively to re-program itself, is called neuroplasticity. And what’s so incredibly exciting about neuroplasticity is that it’s always available to us throughout the entire course of our lives.
According to the author, you can teach an old dog new tricks, as Dr Siegel proves in one particularly fascinating chapter in which he helps a 92-year-old man–via targeted mindfulness therapies that stimulate the process of neural rewiring–get in touch with his long-dormant emotions, process his repressed fears over recent health scares related to his wife, and generally come out of the treatments a more compassionate and physically “present” person. It’s not that the man’s personality completely changed, but that the parts of his personality that had essentially been shut down since childhood were allowed to reemerge, even to the point of allowing his wife to give his shoulders a massage which he never had let her done in their sixty-two years of marriage prior.
Conclusion
The book itself is absolutely inspiring and as informative as it could get. Through “Mindsight” Dr Siegel reminds readers with proof that we aren’t hardwired to behave in specific ways, instead, we all possess the ability to harness the power of our minds and resculpt the neuro pathways. In mindfulness, mental health, or even the connection between the spiritual realm and our ability as humans to think, feel, create, and communicate with each other and with our Creator, this is a must-read book.
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