Week Ninety-Eight: Science on Compassion

The June 2003 issue of a magazine called “Spirituality and Health” reported on what they call “The New Science of Happiness”, and I wanted to pass along the message conveyed in the article. Three years ago, the Dalai Lama gathered together a group of Western scientists to “talk about the effects of meditation on destructive emotions.” After that meeting, an experienced lama came to the West to participate in experiments carried on in a laboratory.
Here’s the part of the report I specifically want to share with you this time: “The meditation on compassion showed a large increase in activity in the lama’s left middle frontal gyrus, the region of the brain associated with happiness, joy, enthusiasm, energy, and alertness, as opposed to the right prefrontal area where activity correlates with sadness, anxiety, worry, and even clinical depression. Shifting into compassion put the lama into an extremely good mood, indicating that concern for others creates a sense of well-being.”

Toward the end of the article, there was the following paragraph: “The neuroscientist Richard Davidson also tested 23 employees from a local biotech firm who received mindfulness meditation training for eight weeks, two and a half hours a week. After eight weeks and at 16 weeks, tests of the new meditators showed a leftward shift in brain activity compared to a control group. The meditators also reported rediscovering the joy in their work. That quick shift toward happiness is certainly something to meditate on.”

As I read the article, I was excited and delighted to know that scientific research can now support the benefits of compassion and mindfulness. For this week’s experiment, I invite you to visit the Meditations page on this website and explore the Lovingkindness meditation. Notice what happens if you do this meditation thoughtfully a couple of times in the coming week. Choose a time when you can sit quietly and really connect with the meaning and experience of the meditation and notice how you feel as you go through a day that you’ve begun with the lovingkindness meditation.

Also, if you haven’t done so already, check out the books on mindfulness listed under Recommended Readings. If you’re someone who isn’t comfortable sitting for meditation, or who gets anxious when you spend too much time focused on your internal world, take a look at the books of Thich Nhat Hanh, as he offers many ways to be mindful in everyday life without having to do an official sitting meditation.

I can tell you, without reservation that learning to live mindfully and practicing compassion and lovingkindness have changed my life in ways I wouldn’t have been able to anticipate. And so, I offer you the above information and experiment with a full heart and great enthusiasm for the gifts you may discover as you explore these practices.

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