May 24, 2012: "The Emotional Life of Your Brain" by Richard Davidson

     Gary S. our resident scholar again came to direct a discussion of a book that we have run in to through Gary's attendance at the recent "Mindfulness in Healthcare" seminar in Madison where Dr. Richard Davidson talked about some of the premises in his new book, released March 1, 2012.

     The Emotional Life of Your Brain: How Its Unique Patterns Affect the Way You Think, Feel, and Live --  and How You Can Change Them. by Richard J. Davidson PhD with Sharon Begley.

He speaks of six distinct emotional dimensions -- resilience, outlook, social intuition, self-awareness, sensitivity to context and attention. Each person's unique combination of these dimensions make up what Dr. Davidson calls their own "emotional style" or the essence of our personality and the reflection of how we live and respond to our experiences.

Dr. Davidson remains on the cutting edge of brain research that investigates understanding our emotions and co-authored this book with Sharon Begley, the former science writer for Newsweek. She herself has written a book called Change of Mind, Change of Body. 


From the following link you can access this book and read its Table of Contents, Introduction and I think even the first chapter.

http://www.amazon.com/Emotional-Life-Your-Brain-Live/dp/1594630895

August 11, 2011: Sue presented Whatchamacallit!

     Our sched ule will be a little off from the listing in the previous post. Jean couldn't be with us last week nor will she be with us this weel. Therefore, last week Sue did her presentation. Her Whatchamacallit was a discussion of improving friendship relationships. Several readings and writings about this topic were discussed.