Use Your Mind to Change Your Brain

How to overcome self-defeating thoughts and actions

by Rebecca Gladding, M.D.

Don’t Believe Everything You Think or Feel

Sarah* is a 29 year-old public relations specialist who worried constantly about what people thought of her and frequently questioned her actions and worth. Whenever she interacted with someone, and he "paused, even for a second," she says, she would assume that she must have said something wrong or upset the other person in some way. Read More

Mindfulness Is Judgmental

Last night, Dr. Jeffrey M. Schwartz and I gave an exciting and informative presentation at UCLA's Mindfulness Awareness Research Center. Read More

Tips to Resist Temptation

If we've learned nothing else from the recent spate of political indiscretions, we know this: resisting temptation can be extremely challenging. None of us is a stranger to temptation, but nothing makes it clearer how powerful craving and desire can be than when you watch a person's life begin to unravel because he/she gave in. Read More

You Are Not Your Brain

When I talk to people about a central idea in our book - that you are not your brain - they tend to respond in one of two ways. The first is with some version of "Of course I am not my brain! That's obvious." The other response often is one of confusion, something along the lines of, "Well, if I am not these thoughts, impulses, urges and actions, who am I? Doesn't my brain define me?" Read More

What Drives Your Habits?

As I've been talking with people about my upcoming book, You Are Not Your Brain, I've received some very insightful and interesting questions. A recent one, which seemed self-evident but wasn't, was "what kinds of habits are we talking about and how easy is it to change them?" As I began to answer this question, I realized there really are two different kinds of "habits" we engage in. Read More