Brains On Purpose™

Back in the saddle soon: Will be blogging again--and I'm looking forward to it

One more trip for handling my family matter then back to blogging when I return. I have some great ideas for posts and am keeping a list. Thank you for all your kind e-mails!

16th Annual Northwest Dispute Resolution Conference, May 1-2, 2009

This conference is one you won't want to miss. Speakers include Leonard Riskin the guru of mindfulness in conflict resolution and the practice of law. (See some of his writings here.) Others speakers include Sam Imperati, Robert Benjamin, Kay Haaland, Kenneth Cloke, Rebecca Hiers, James Melamed, and me.

For more information, here's the brochure.

What's the brain doing during conflict?

In a book I am reading Una Vida: A Fable of Music and the Mind (more about the book here), I found a quote that beautifully describes what our brain does, whether we are in conflict or not. I hope some of you appreciate this paragraph from Una Vida as much as I.

The human brain is a creative organ — it interprets events, nor just records them. It functions more like an abstract painter than a realist. Its view of what happens is more important than what actually happened. Pain, smell, taste, touch, and fear are the visionaries of what we see. There is no pure, unmediated seer; no objective reporter. Our images are shaped by the context in which we choose to live. We see what we want to see, hear what we want to hear — or what we need to in order to preserve the image of ourselves and others that provide us with a sense of purpose.

In contrast to the brain, the mind can be an "objective reporter" but we must train it through attention and awareness before it becomes that "unmediated seer." The training process is simple but not easy; it takes discipline and, just as important, strong commitment. It's easier to let the brain run our life — and that is what most of us do.