{"id":2692,"date":"2024-05-07T10:25:23","date_gmt":"2024-05-07T15:25:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.med.virginia.edu\/mindfulness\/?p=2692"},"modified":"2024-05-07T10:25:23","modified_gmt":"2024-05-07T15:25:23","slug":"change-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.med.virginia.edu\/mindfulness\/2024\/05\/07\/change-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Change"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n
By John Schorling<\/strong><\/p>\n

How much can we change as individuals?\u00a0 It is common to hear that \u201cpeople never change\u201d.\u00a0 Yet change is actually inevitable.\u00a0 As humans, we are changing every moment.\u00a0 Old cells in our bodies are dying, being replaced by new cells.\u00a0 New neural connections are being made in our brains, and old ones may be pruned.\u00a0 This changing architecture and function of our brains is referred to as neuroplasticity and underlies many of the longer-term effects of meditation.\u00a0 As we intentionally direct our attention, new neural connections are made, and as we let go of certain thoughts, related neural connections decrease.\u00a0 These structural changes in the brain can be demonstrated using magnetic resonance imaging after only a few months of meditation.<\/p>\n

Despite this demonstrated capacity to change, we often still hold on to certain images of ourselves that we feel define us.\u00a0 As with many aspects of our experience, negative\u00a0perspectives often outweigh positive ones.\u00a0 If we do something that has a negative effect on another person and we feel guilty, we may view ourselves as being an uncaring or selfish person.\u00a0 If we tend to be reactive in certain situations, we may consider ourselves to be an angry person.\u00a0 In response, we often turn away from these judgments and try to repress them in order to change.\u00a0 Yet doing this often just reinforces our negative view of ourselves as we can become even more reactive as we try to protect ourselves from what we don\u2019t like.\u00a0 If we feel that we are an angry person and someone implies that they agree, we may react strongly, even with anger, as we try to\u00a0shield ourselves from that view. This can then reinforce our self-image of having difficulty dealing with anger.<\/p>\n

Meditation can help with this as it is an opportunity to move toward rather than away from what we find most difficult.\u00a0 When we are meditating, we may find that a specific memory, or an emotion, or a belief arises.\u00a0 We may notice it and choose to let it go.\u00a0 Then it may come back.\u00a0 If it seems to be particularly persistent, we may choose to make it the object of our attention.\u00a0 We may notice that a memory of getting angry arises repeatedly, and rather than letting it go we can just allow it to be.\u00a0 Then we can notice what we feel in the body- when I think of this angry situation, what physical sensations are present? Tightness in the jaw or chest?\u00a0 Discomfort in the abdomen?<\/p>\n

We can then also note what emotion is present.\u00a0 Although we might have felt anger at the time, now maybe it\u2019s shame that arises for not having controlled our anger.\u00a0 Once we have identified what we are feeling, we can notice how we identify with it.\u00a0 Do thoughts such as \u201cI\u2019m an angry person\u201d come up, or \u201cI\u2019m a shameful person for not being able to control my anger\u201d?\u00a0 If so, we can acknowledge that these thoughts are\u00a0occurring, and also know that they do not define us.\u00a0 Anger and shame arise in the emotional centers of the brain, outside of our conscious control, and are largely the result of our past experiences.\u00a0 We don\u2019t choose them, and we don\u2019t have to react to them.\u00a0\u00a0 They arise and, if we can just notice them without judging them or\u00a0trying to repress them or make them go away, they will likely pass away on their own.\u00a0 It can sometimes be helpful to repeat to ourselves \u201cnot me\u201d or \u201cnot mine\u201d.<\/p>\n

By not identifying with or reinforcing these beliefs by resisting them or feeding them, the associated neural circuits may decrease, resulting in structural changes in the brain.\u00a0 Who we were before we practiced this is not the same as who we are after.\u00a0 We tend to think of ourselves as relatively fixed entities over time when in fact we are constantly changing, and the more we pay attention to our present moment experience, the more we can influence these changes.<\/p>\n

Being with the views of ourselves that we find difficult is hard, and it is important to remember to practice self-kindness and self-compassion.\u00a0 We can start by acknowledging that doing this is<\/strong>\u00a0hard, and perhaps extend kindness to ourselves as we would to a friend in need.<\/p>\n

It is important to approach this process with care since being with really traumatic events can result in strong emotional reactions that can overwhelm us.\u00a0 If it seems that\u00a0sitting\u00a0with a difficult belief or situation is becoming too much while meditating it may be best to return to a safe anchor for the attention like the breath, or to stop the meditation and do something else. If this is the case, talking to a therapist or skilled meditation teacher may be helpful.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How much can we change as individuals?\u00a0 It is common to hear that \u201cpeople never change\u201d.\u00a0 Yet change is actually inevitable.\u00a0 As humans, we are changing every moment.\u00a0 Old cells in our bodies are dying, being replaced by new cells.\u00a0 New neural connections are being made in our brains, and old ones may be pruned.\u00a0 This changing architecture and function of our brains is referred to as neuroplasticity and underlies many of the longer-term effects of meditation.\u00a0 As we intentionally direct our attention, new neural connections are made, and as we let go of certain thoughts, related neural connections decrease.\u00a0 These structural changes in the brain can be demonstrated using magnetic resonance imaging after only a few months of meditation.<\/p>\n

Despite this demonstrated capacity to change, we often still hold on to certain images of ourselves that we feel define us.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1202,"featured_media":2695,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2692","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-monthly-musings"],"acf":false,"yoast_head":"\nChange - Mindfulness Matters<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.med.virginia.edu\/mindfulness\/2024\/05\/07\/change-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Change - Mindfulness Matters\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"How much can we change as individuals?\u00a0 It is common to hear that \u201cpeople never change\u201d.\u00a0 Yet change is actually inevitable.\u00a0 As humans, we are changing every moment.\u00a0 Old cells in our bodies are dying, being replaced by new cells.\u00a0 New neural connections are being made in our brains, and old ones may be pruned.\u00a0 This changing architecture and function of our brains is referred to as neuroplasticity and underlies many of the longer-term effects of meditation.\u00a0 As we intentionally direct our attention, new neural connections are made, and as we let go of certain thoughts, related neural connections decrease.\u00a0 These structural changes in the brain can be demonstrated using magnetic resonance imaging after only a few months of meditation. 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