Workshop Resources

Here you'll find supplemental resources that support or expand on content used in the workshop Difficult Conversations: The art and science of working together.

THE NEUROBIOLOGY OF BELIEF

• Neural correlates of maintaining one’s political beliefs in the face of counterevidence

• Why we believe obvious untruths

• Why facts don’t change our minds

• Your brain is outdated

UNDERSTANDING THE “AMYGDALA HI-JACK”

• Understanding the “amygdala hijack”

• Amygdala Hijack and the Fight or Flight Response

• The Backfire Effect/Part 1 (podcast)

• Flipping your lid: A scientific explanation (Video)

• 9 Functions of the mid prefrontal cortex

• Hand model of the brain (Video)

  • Newer and more detailed version

• The amygdala-prefrontal cortex connection is crucial (video)

• Calming your brain during conflict

• What happens to the brain when we “lose it”

CHANGING THE BRAIN: MINDFULNESS, MEDITATION & NEUROPLASTICITY

• 7 ways meditation can actually change the brain

• Self-awareness, self-regulation, and self-transcendence (S-ART): a framework for understanding the neurobiological mechanisms of mindfulness

• Mind the bump - Mindfulness and how the brain works

• Hack your brain’s default mode with meditation (Video)

• Neuroscience of mindfulness: Default Mode Network, meditation, & mindfulness

• The neuroscience of mindfulness and anxiety

• The science of slow, deep breathing

• Dan Siegel: "Name it to Tame it" (Video)

• Hawn Foundation interview with Dr. Dan Siegel (Video)

• The brain: Malleable, capable, vulnerable

• Neuroplasticity and Technology: Facilitating meaningful change

• Does mind-wandering make you unhappy?

• LSD may chip away at the brain’s “sense of self” network

• What can the organization of the brain’s Default Mode Network tell us about self-knowledge?

• TPN vs. DMN: Neural Mechanisms and Mindfulness

• MIT scientists discover fundamental rule of brain plasticity

• Neural Plasticity: Rewiring your brain for optimal learning

• The neuroscience of changing your behavior

• A truly connected life (Dr. Dan Siegel - video)

• Free guided meditations (UCLA Mindful Awareness Research Center)

• Free guided meditations: Tara Brach

• Guided meditation (Tara Brach): Reflection: Waking Up from Limiting Beliefs

• Guided Mindfulness Meditation by Dr. Dan Siegel (Video)

• Greater Good in Action: Science-based Resources for Living a Meaningful Life

• How thoughts and emotions affect health (article)

• Spending 10 minutes a day on mindfulness subtly changes the way you react to everything

• 7 ways meditation can actually change the brain

• Meditation experience is associated with differences in default mode network activity and connectivity

• The window of tolerance

• Effects of Long-Term Mindfulness Meditation on Brain's White Matter Microstructure and its Aging

The science of empathy, awe, gratitude

• We are built to be kind

• How to train your brain to see beyond us versus them

• Social connection makes a better brain

• The neuroscience of empathy

• Small acts of generosity and the neuroscience of gratitude

• Neural correlates of gratitude

• How awe transforms the body and mind (Video)

• How awe sharpens our brains

• Empathy, neurochemistry and the dramatic arc (Video)

• The broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions (PDF)

• How expressing gratitude might change your brain

• The science of gratitude (podcast)

• The neuroscience of gratitude

• Discovering the health and wellness benefits of gratitude

• The neuroscience of flow

• Flow states and creativity

The science of perception

• Perceiving is believing