1.
Meditation gives you the wherewithal to pause, observe how easily the mind can exaggerate the severity of a setback, and resist getting drawn into the abyss.
Richard Davidson
2.
The key to a healthy life is having a healthy mind.
Richard Davidson
3.
We need a different conception of happiness, more enduring and more genuine, not dependent on external circumstances.
Richard Davidson
4.
Most people still don't think of qualities like happiness as being a skill, that can be enhanced through training.
Richard Davidson
5.
Resilience is the maintenance of high levels of positive affect and well-being in the face of adversity. It is not that resilient individuals never experience negative affect, but rather that the negative affect does not persist.
Richard Davidson
6.
In meditation you experience time slowing down because you can notice more things per discreet moment and you're more open... The word 'meditation' in Sanskrit comes from the word 'familiarization' - as in familiarization with one's own mind.
Richard Davidson
7.
Our brain is continuously being shaped - we can take more responsibility for our own brain by cultivating positive influences.
Richard Davidson
8.
The Dalai Lama challenged me - he said, 'Why can't you use technological tools to study kindness and compassion?
Richard Davidson
9.
Buddhist monks have known for centuries that meditation can change the mind. Now we are inspired by His Holiness to examine with our technology the precise brain changes that occur with practice... The unique collaboration on meditation is just beginning.
Richard Davidson
10.
The best way I can mentor and lead those around me is to embody these qualities myself.
Richard Davidson
11.
Spatial working memory is impaired by stress.
Richard Davidson
12.
Happiness and well-being are actually best regarded as skills.
Richard Davidson
13.
I wouldn't consider myself a Buddhist or a card-carrying zealot at all. My first commitment is as a scientist to uncover the truth about all this.
Richard Davidson
14.
We can change the brain by changing the mind.
Richard Davidson
15.
Mindfulness - moment to moment non-judgemental attention and awareness.
Richard Davidson
16.
I think the messiness and embodied nature of modern life just produces an enhanced signal for our attention.
Richard Davidson
17.
One key point is that different people may benefit from different types of meditation, as well as other interventions. This question of optimal matching between the form of practice and the type of person has not received much scientific attention.
Richard Davidson
18.
I committed to doing everything I could to put compassion on the scientific map.
Richard Davidson
19.
We have no idea how the subjective quality of consciousness emerges from the physical stuff of the brain.
Richard Davidson
20.
There are certainly beliefs in traditional Buddhism that conflict with basic principles of scientific understanding, .. We can't make sense of those beliefs in any kind of scientific framework.
Richard Davidson