BOOKS

The Brain That Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science By Norman Doidge, M.D.

A few decades ago, scientists considered the brain to be fixed or “hardwired”.  In easily accessible, fascinating personal stories, Doidge explores the science of neuroplasticity, interviewing both scientific pioneers and the patients who have proven the brain has remarkable powers of changing its own structure.

How We Choose to Be Happy: The 9 Choices of Extremely Happy People By Rick Foster and Greg Hicks

Interviewing some 300 people all over the world, the authors developed the 9 choices they found in happy people everywhere.  These are not people with easy lives, but through personal stories the authors present a road map of how people create happiness. The book also provides a key to the mind-body connection.  Their model is being studied in medical schools like the Mayo Clinic, the Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and the American Heart Association because these 9 strategies are also associated with increased health and well being.

WEBSITES and VIDEOS

For Panic Attacks

SELF ESTEEM VERSUS SELF COMPASSION

Gives Me Hope offers very short stories of human generosity, love, compassion.  It’s the perfect antidote to the relentless news of war, natural disasters, human greed and violence. It’s about the full half of the glass.

Brain Plasticity

Paul Bach Y Rita was a pioneer exploring the brain’s ability to change itself. This video shows his invention of a device that helps the blind see, first through a dentist chair and huge camera.  Decades later, as technology improved, the same information is imparted to the brain through a small flat plate put on the tongue and a small camera on the head.   I recommend the first 3 1/2 minutes– to the part where the blind man explains distinguishing between clubs and spades on a deck of cards.