Perhaps Love!

Through a series of stories, Rev. Catherine speaks about the recent findings of neuroscience and brain research and how it can relate to our spiritual practice. In his research, Dr. Dan Siegel tracks where in the brain our emotions sit, and how information travels throughout our body. His work has shown that we can change our brain, our brain can change our mind, and our mind can in turn change our brain. Meditation can increase brain mass in the areas of the brain that carry loving-kindness, and can decrease brain mass in the areas that carry pain, anxiety, and worry. When we feel ourselves begin to be triggered by an unwanted event, we should take a few deep breaths and open ourselves up to this uninvited guest. Soon, our brilliance will take over. But if we instead react to the event, we either numb-out, leave, or fight. Emotional intelligence is to learn to go inside, experience our emotions, to sit quietly, to learn about our own intuition, and to be mindful. It's part of a healthy mental toolkit of things that we need to know how to do. In building up our emotional intelligence, we will create a life outlook of positive energy, of knowing that all is well.