Overview Your survival reactions are meant to be deeply unpleasant, since they are protective danger signals. You have absolutely no control over them. Resisting strengthens them and fires up unwanted thoughts. As you train your brain to be less reactive to these unpleasant sensations, they will lessen. Creating “space” allows … Read More
Watching others suffer is a powerful way to alleviate one’s pain (schadenfreude). So is altruism – giving back with no expectations of a return. Why don’t we gravitate to Schadenfreude? Because your neocortex (thinking brain) has to come back online In 2019, Dr. Wang conducted extensive research, documenting that altruism … Read More
Schadenfreude—the pleasure derived from another’s misfortune—is biologically rooted in the brain’s reward system. Brain imaging studies reveal that when we witness the downfall of someone we envy or dislike, the ventral striatum activates—the same reward center associated with pleasure, food, and financial gain. By the way, remember that this is merely a sensation … Read More
Dr. Doug Garland writes this post with some contributions by me. He is an orthopedic surgeon who was one of my mentors during my second year of orthopedic residency. Although I trained in Honolulu, HI, one of my rotations was at Rancho Las Amigos in Downey, Southern California. It is … Read More