Mindsight: Brain Science and Transformation for You and Your Relationships

Posted by Dalai Lama Center - May 19, 2011

On May 10, Daniel Siegel visited Vancouver for the closing event to the Dalai Lama Center's spring Speakers Series. The theme to these events has been "Living Compassion Inside and Out" and his discussion on Mindsight was very much on key. For Dr. Siegel, once we see the mind (inside...) we can have more healthy relationships with others (...and out).

Mindsight: Brain Science and Transformation for You and Your Relationships was moderated by Maria LeRose and she begun the evening by asking Dr. Siegel to define the concept of Mindsight.

"The word 'Mindsight' was created inside of me as a life preserver," said Dr. Siegel, who had briefly left Harvard medical school disillusioned and looking for more from his education. "Ultimately, when I went back to school, I said to myself that the only way that I'm going to survive is to realize that some of my teachers are missing some kind of gear in the way their mind works in that they don't see the mind."

Dr. Siegel described this lack as a lack of Mindsight, the ability to see the mind. He would go on to seek out professors who respected the role of the mind, along with the more subjective sides of health care that deal with grief and suffering.

But before we can see the mind, first we should probably ask where the mind resides. That's one of the questions that Dr. Siegel set out to answer.

"The mind is in your body and it's in your relationships. It's not nowhere. It's not a mystery," he said. "The body is the physical mechanism through which energy and information flow. Relationships are the sharing of energy and information."

Once we've located the mind and are aware of its presence, not only in ourselves but in our relationships, Dr. Siegel says we're ready to take the next step in the Mindsight process: "monitoring and modifying".

"You need to monitor energy and information flow in your bodies and in your relationships and then modify it toward integration."

And integration, for Dr. Siegel, occurs when two people can share a connection where each sees the mind of the other. Integration leads to empathic relationships.

Throughout the event, Dr. Siegel touched on a number of topics, ranging from his education as a medical practitioner to his recommendations on how to educate children to have Mindsight. If you missed the discussion, the Dalai Lama Center encourages you to check out either of the video or audio podcasts below.