The Ability To Handle Stress Increases With

All The Classical Meditation Traditions, In One Way Or Another, Stress Nonattachment To The Self As A Goal Of Practice. Oddly, This Dimension Is Largely Ignored In Scientific Research, Which Tends To Focus On Health And Other Such Benefits. I Suppose The Difference Has To Do With The Contrast In Views Of The Self From The Spiritual And Scientific Perspectives. Scientists Value The Self; Spiritual Traditions Have Another Perspective.

I Don't Think Focus Is In Itself Ever A Bad Thing. But Focus Of The Wrong Kind, Or Managed Poorly, Can Be.

Self-absorption In All Its Forms Kills Empathy, Let Alone Compassion. When We Focus On Ourselves, Our World Contracts As Our Problems And Preoccupations Loom Large. But When We Focus On Others, Our World Expands. Our Own Problems Drift To The Periphery Of The Mind And So Seem Smaller, And We Increase Our Capacity For Connection - Or Compassionate Action.

Reducing The Economic Gap May Be Impossible Without Also Addressing The Gap In Empathy.

When The Eyes Of A Woman That A Man Finds Attractive Look Directly At Him, His Brain Secretes The Pleasure-inducing Chemical Dopamine - But Not When She Looks Elsewhere.