6 ms·

I rewired my brain in six weeks

45 points by dabinat 3y ago

jj999 3y ago
I had brain trauma. No amount of new-age brain rewiring bullshit will unfuck me. This is /r/thankimcured material, not HN.
- ddorian43 3y ago
  What damage if I may ask?
- Loocid 3y ago
  I don't think they were claiming it would undo brain trauma.
- mdp2021 3y ago
  Of course there is little margin against a shotgun wound, and of course even light damage can leave some scars. This is a matter of margins. The article seems to stick to that.
- sooheon 3y ago
  In other news, exercise benefits thoroughly debunked after quadruple amputee points out “that doesn’t help me”.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- syncbehind 3y ago
  Then obviously this isn't for you. There will always be edge cases where things don't work. Even if you take away "new-age brain rewiring bullshit" and turn to trusty ol' western medicine, it doesn't work for everyone. You may as well be a bald person complaining about a hairstylist's article - "Ah! but I'm bald! No amount of styling will give me hair!"
corn13read2 3y ago
tldr on this?
- moscoe 3y ago
  Practicing mindfulness/meditation is good for the brain
  - isaacfung 3y ago
    It seems to me the interesting thing is that they showed there was some measurable change in the brain scan after six weeks. Her amygdala has reduced in size while the cingulate cortex has increased in size, although they didn't say by how much.
    - DoreenMichele 3y ago
      And we don't actually have any means to prove those brain changes were caused by mindfulness. It could be coincidence. I'm not dismissing it, but we have no means to go back in time, split her in two and examine a copy of her brain after six weeks without mindfulness as the control.
  - bsder 3y ago
    I thought that there has also been some research that these kinds of "mindfulness" exercises can enhance existing tendencies toward mental illness--depression, dissociation, paranoia, etc. Of course, that doesn't get reported in every new age social media channel.
    - DoreenMichele 3y ago
      Probably should say it "can be" good for the brain.
  - hellotheretoday 3y ago
    *maybe
- 3y ago
smokel 3y ago
> A final note of caution – it is important to acknowledge that any brain changes we had seen could also be random. The brain is constantly changing anyway. Well, at least they're honest about that :)
guntherhermann 3y ago
I took a 'mindfulness' course a couple of years back, and the biggest benefit for me was learning to be grateful. It sounds riduclous typing it out but there it is. Practicing gratitude daily, e.g. giving myself reasons to be thankful for my lot in life is 1) really easy to do, and 2) takes about 5 minutes. The rest of it felt like new-age hippy trash, if I'm completely honest.
- igor47 3y ago
  Ugh this is so dismissive. I'm glad learning gratitude helped you. How would you feel if, instead, I said "your gratitude practice is actually new age hippy trash"? Different people derive benefit from different things. Why not just leave it at, "the other stuff didn't work for me"?
  - sooheon 3y ago
    I guess gratitude != generosity
  - bheadmaster 3y ago
    > Different people derive benefit from different things. Why not just leave it at, "the other stuff didn't work for me"? Different people have different opinions. Why not leave it at "I think the other stuff is not new age hippy trash"?
    - igor47 3y ago
      Your correction wasn't my point. I would prefer to live in a kinder world. I explicitly appealed to the parent's likely desires for same. If you prefer to live in a world where people are casual dicks to one another, then I guess there's nothing to take away from my original comment.
      - bheadmaster 3y ago
        And I would prefer to live in a world where people can say what they mean, without having to censor or sugarcoat their speech because someone else prefers not to hear their words. Different people have different preferences. Can't you just leave it at that? Why do you have to go around telling people not to say stuff you dislike in a public forum?
atoav 3y ago
I can't help but feel that obsessively mindful people always seem to have some deeper underlying issues that they need to cope with. I know a guy who for years went into all kind of new-age seminars, practised mindfulness constantly and then in a moment he told me about his traumatic event that has plagued him since childhood. All the mindfullness was practised because deep down he felt at unease. Don't get me wrong, it is good to be observant and mindfull, but it is unnatural to be it all the time. Our minds also need daydreaming, dull phases, excitement, the whole package.
- mdp2021 3y ago
  > all the time In order to correct a bad tendency, you have to exercise effort (as resistance) in all the spans in which the tendency may show. Suppose for example you are standing: you have consolidated the function and the effort is optimal - but if you tended to fall you would have to spend more.
  - atoav 3y ago
    I don't think so. If you want to be more sporty, because you are overweight the lasting solution isn't going to be to try to be sporty all the time, because that is a too big jump. It is going to be to move more when you can and have make a small sustainable habit of doing a sport acrivity — and you do this on top of adressing other root causes of your overweight, which may be psychological and have to do with the food you're eating. Don't fet me wrong, I have nothing against mindfulness, as I said it can be very good to be mindful. But as I said I have met quite some people who talk about practising it who do not come across as the balanced individuals they believe themselves to be. I still don't believe being mindful all the time is good. Maybe being "meta-mindful" — so to be aware when it is also good to tap into other modes of perception — is better.
    - mdp2021 3y ago
      > If you want to be more sporty, because you are overweight Then you would be in a very different context from that which I was mentioning: you brought to topic two, that of some discipline and that of "people with issues". I was explaining why discipline can be a full time job. > Don't fet me wrong You are probably getting me wrong, because I never said I am defending proposals from Harvard. > who do not come across as the balanced individuals Where is the surprise? Already since students are not qualified teachers by definition. (And there are evident reasons even before that, about the different categories called by some interest.) > I still don't believe Are you sure you understood what should be understood with an imprecise expression "all the time", with reference to what I wrote in the parent and which may have little to do with the practice that the people with issues described to you?
throe37848 3y ago
[flagged]
Karrot_Kream 3y ago
Here's a timely article. I've been meditating regularly for a little bit now (not that long), in a mindfulness/insight ("vipasana" maybe?) style. I had a spill on my bike today and got some obnoxious road rash, took some fall trauma, and had to wfh; nothing I couldn't dress at home, but enough that my arm has been pussing and stinging and I've had to cover it all up in gauze for a lot of the day. It's "known" among medidators that focusing the attention on pain can cause its displeasure ("suffering") to decrease. Sure enough, I spent a bit of time focusing my meditation on the pain and it caused me less displeasure. I mean, of course I'm also cleaning the road rash, airing it, and then covering it up and using all the tools modern medicine gives us, but it's a cherry on top to be able to be able to decrease the displeasure from the pain. Cool stuff! Now to work up to being able to hold this state at will...
absrec 3y ago
Just the simple practice of regularly inquiring where your focus is has helped me a lot. Helps to detect when you're too tired from work and when you're not really relaxing in your downtime.
rockbruno 3y ago
I think it's really sad that despite all of the evidence that meditation is good for you, people still treat it as some kind of pseudo-science hippie non-sense. It makes sense why people would think that since this started as a religious exercise (and also because to this day there are still lots of people who connect the two in their practice), but you can simply not do that. I treat it simply as an exercise to make my brain calm down from stress and anxiety and it has been extremely helpful for me.
- anon84873628 3y ago
  Most people are allergic to any sort of effort, so having excuses not to do something beneficial yet challenging is very convenient.

45 points by dabinat 3y ago

I had brain trauma. No amount of new-age brain rewiring bullshit will unfuck me. This is /r/thankimcured material, not HN.

ddorian43 3y ago
What damage if I may ask?
Loocid 3y ago
I don't think they were claiming it would undo brain trauma.
mdp2021 3y ago
Of course there is little margin against a shotgun wound, and of course even light damage can leave some scars. This is a matter of margins. The article seems to stick to that.
sooheon 3y ago
In other news, exercise benefits thoroughly debunked after quadruple amputee points out “that doesn’t help me”.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
syncbehind 3y ago
Then obviously this isn't for you. There will always be edge cases where things don't work. Even if you take away "new-age brain rewiring bullshit" and turn to trusty ol' western medicine, it doesn't work for everyone. You may as well be a bald person complaining about a hairstylist's article - "Ah! but I'm bald! No amount of styling will give me hair!"

corn13read2 3y ago

tldr on this?

moscoe 3y ago
Practicing mindfulness/meditation is good for the brain
- isaacfung 3y ago
  It seems to me the interesting thing is that they showed there was some measurable change in the brain scan after six weeks. Her amygdala has reduced in size while the cingulate cortex has increased in size, although they didn't say by how much.
  - DoreenMichele 3y ago
    And we don't actually have any means to prove those brain changes were caused by mindfulness. It could be coincidence. I'm not dismissing it, but we have no means to go back in time, split her in two and examine a copy of her brain after six weeks without mindfulness as the control.
- bsder 3y ago
  I thought that there has also been some research that these kinds of "mindfulness" exercises can enhance existing tendencies toward mental illness--depression, dissociation, paranoia, etc. Of course, that doesn't get reported in every new age social media channel.
  - DoreenMichele 3y ago
    Probably should say it "can be" good for the brain.
- hellotheretoday 3y ago
  *maybe
3y ago

smokel 3y ago

> A final note of caution – it is important to acknowledge that any brain changes we had seen could also be random. The brain is constantly changing anyway. Well, at least they're honest about that :)

guntherhermann 3y ago

I took a 'mindfulness' course a couple of years back, and the biggest benefit for me was learning to be grateful. It sounds riduclous typing it out but there it is. Practicing gratitude daily, e.g. giving myself reasons to be thankful for my lot in life is 1) really easy to do, and 2) takes about 5 minutes. The rest of it felt like new-age hippy trash, if I'm completely honest.

igor47 3y ago
Ugh this is so dismissive. I'm glad learning gratitude helped you. How would you feel if, instead, I said "your gratitude practice is actually new age hippy trash"? Different people derive benefit from different things. Why not just leave it at, "the other stuff didn't work for me"?
- sooheon 3y ago
  I guess gratitude != generosity
- bheadmaster 3y ago
  > Different people derive benefit from different things. Why not just leave it at, "the other stuff didn't work for me"? Different people have different opinions. Why not leave it at "I think the other stuff is not new age hippy trash"?
  - igor47 3y ago
    Your correction wasn't my point. I would prefer to live in a kinder world. I explicitly appealed to the parent's likely desires for same. If you prefer to live in a world where people are casual dicks to one another, then I guess there's nothing to take away from my original comment.
    - bheadmaster 3y ago
      And I would prefer to live in a world where people can say what they mean, without having to censor or sugarcoat their speech because someone else prefers not to hear their words. Different people have different preferences. Can't you just leave it at that? Why do you have to go around telling people not to say stuff you dislike in a public forum?

atoav 3y ago

I can't help but feel that obsessively mindful people always seem to have some deeper underlying issues that they need to cope with. I know a guy who for years went into all kind of new-age seminars, practised mindfulness constantly and then in a moment he told me about his traumatic event that has plagued him since childhood. All the mindfullness was practised because deep down he felt at unease. Don't get me wrong, it is good to be observant and mindfull, but it is unnatural to be it all the time. Our minds also need daydreaming, dull phases, excitement, the whole package.

mdp2021 3y ago
> all the time In order to correct a bad tendency, you have to exercise effort (as resistance) in all the spans in which the tendency may show. Suppose for example you are standing: you have consolidated the function and the effort is optimal - but if you tended to fall you would have to spend more.
- atoav 3y ago
  I don't think so. If you want to be more sporty, because you are overweight the lasting solution isn't going to be to try to be sporty all the time, because that is a too big jump. It is going to be to move more when you can and have make a small sustainable habit of doing a sport acrivity — and you do this on top of adressing other root causes of your overweight, which may be psychological and have to do with the food you're eating. Don't fet me wrong, I have nothing against mindfulness, as I said it can be very good to be mindful. But as I said I have met quite some people who talk about practising it who do not come across as the balanced individuals they believe themselves to be. I still don't believe being mindful all the time is good. Maybe being "meta-mindful" — so to be aware when it is also good to tap into other modes of perception — is better.
  - mdp2021 3y ago
    > If you want to be more sporty, because you are overweight Then you would be in a very different context from that which I was mentioning: you brought to topic two, that of some discipline and that of "people with issues". I was explaining why discipline can be a full time job. > Don't fet me wrong You are probably getting me wrong, because I never said I am defending proposals from Harvard. > who do not come across as the balanced individuals Where is the surprise? Already since students are not qualified teachers by definition. (And there are evident reasons even before that, about the different categories called by some interest.) > I still don't believe Are you sure you understood what should be understood with an imprecise expression "all the time", with reference to what I wrote in the parent and which may have little to do with the practice that the people with issues described to you?

throe37848 3y ago

[flagged]

Karrot_Kream 3y ago

Here's a timely article. I've been meditating regularly for a little bit now (not that long), in a mindfulness/insight ("vipasana" maybe?) style. I had a spill on my bike today and got some obnoxious road rash, took some fall trauma, and had to wfh; nothing I couldn't dress at home, but enough that my arm has been pussing and stinging and I've had to cover it all up in gauze for a lot of the day. It's "known" among medidators that focusing the attention on pain can cause its displeasure ("suffering") to decrease. Sure enough, I spent a bit of time focusing my meditation on the pain and it caused me less displeasure. I mean, of course I'm also cleaning the road rash, airing it, and then covering it up and using all the tools modern medicine gives us, but it's a cherry on top to be able to be able to decrease the displeasure from the pain. Cool stuff! Now to work up to being able to hold this state at will...

absrec 3y ago

Just the simple practice of regularly inquiring where your focus is has helped me a lot. Helps to detect when you're too tired from work and when you're not really relaxing in your downtime.

rockbruno 3y ago

I think it's really sad that despite all of the evidence that meditation is good for you, people still treat it as some kind of pseudo-science hippie non-sense. It makes sense why people would think that since this started as a religious exercise (and also because to this day there are still lots of people who connect the two in their practice), but you can simply not do that. I treat it simply as an exercise to make my brain calm down from stress and anxiety and it has been extremely helpful for me.

anon84873628 3y ago
Most people are allergic to any sort of effort, so having excuses not to do something beneficial yet challenging is very convenient.