Saturday Mornings

Saturday mornings are just perfect for some me-time. Take a walk, read, enjoy your favorite breakfast... YOU deserve it!

Mindfully Seeking is on Kindle

 

Mindfully Seeking is book of poetry about the truth in love. Get it now on Kindle. https://amzn.to/42pKcx7

Do you have a Kindle Reader? Get one today on Amazon: https://amzn.to/3ExGmss

Is there a link between spirituality and the brain?

Is there a link between spirituality and the brain? What allows one to have spiritual experiences?

In 1997,  researchers James Ashbrook and Carol Rausch Albright broke new ground in the relationship between spirituality and science. In this study, they identified a 'God spot': an area of the brain linked to religious or spiritual experiences. According to Ashbrook and Albright, this 'God spot' is at the epicenter of the brain. It determines one's spirituality and connection to a higher power or omnipotent creator. However, a more recent study in the International Journal of the Psychology of Religion, led by George (Brick) Johnstone, drew another conclusion.

Details of Johnstone and His Colleagues' Study

As determined by Johnstone, a professor of health psychology at the University of Missouri, spirituality does not link to just one area of the brain.

Johnstone and his team studied 20 people with traumatic brain injuries affecting the right parietal lobe of the brain. This area is located a few inches above the right ear. According to Johnstone, the right hemisphere relates to perception and the definition of 'self.' This side is more visual and processes randomly, holistically and intuitively. The left side of the brain, however, processes in a sequential and logical order. It corresponds with one's relationship to others.

The study determined that people with traumatic injury to the right lobe were more connected spiritually. Additionally, these individuals were more open to new activities like music and art.

Their research suggests that spiritual experiences signify “a decreased focus on the self.” Therefore, Johnstone's conclusion is that "a natural consequence of turning down the volume on the Me-Definer" in the brain's right lobe, is selflessness.

Some spiritual leaders agree with Johnstone's findings. In fact, there are individuals in the Christian community that acknowledge the connection between spirituality and selflessness. Perhaps because the Bible asserts that the goal of Christians is to embody the sacrificial love which Jesus Christ exemplified. However, some do disagree with the suggestions from these findings. They are unconvinced that a predisposed belief in God is related to a unique framework of the brain.

Is there a link between spirituality and the brain?

Johnstone's research focused on individuals with trauma to the brain. However, previous studies of Buddhist meditators and Franciscan nuns with normal brain function concluded that people can also learn to quiet the 'Me' definer. In essence, they can minimize the functioning of the right side of their brains (to increase their spiritual experience). This is with regular religious practices, like meditation and prayer.

"Love, and even charity work, can also soften the boundaries of 'Me,' " says Johnstone.

Johnstone's study, “Right parietal lobe ‘selflessness’ as the neuropsychological basis of spiritual transcendence,” is published in the International Journal of the Psychology of Religion.

Happy Sunday

God is good. Enjoy!

p.s. If this song doesn't at-least produce a shoulder move, then I guess we just don't vibe :-) Remember, never stop dancing, loving and seeking the truth. ♥

Nurturing Creativity

 "Responsibility is what awaits outside the Eden of Creativity."

- Nadine Gordimer

I always had this knowing that I could draw. For some reason, I knew, like I knew, like I knew, way before that day I actually sat down for the first time to put that pencil to the paper. I can honestly say that it was also no shock to me when I was able to actually look at my work for the very first time, several years later.

Basically, to make a long story short, I had to learn to let go of my own agenda, in order to tap into my true Christ-rooted self. Not just as an artist or a writer, but, more importantly, to embark on the transformational process that leads to a realization of the new self. In fact, now I truly understand that the Lord wanted me to be still enough to not only know what has been conceptualized as truth, but to also walk in it.

So, needless to say, God is the author of creativity. We are the mere vessels that bring forth His will and purpose. And I know I am most certainly not alone in this gracious experience, filled with growing pains...this journey of creativity. 

Now, if somehow you have never taken much time to acknowledge the vision you have been given; and find yourself existing with an untapped knowing about yourself...whatever it is, I dare you to surrender, be still and in the words of Nike, “just do it!” Because I can tell you, it is not going anywhere. It is still there, right where it has always been, just sitting inside of you...waiting...waiting for you to give Him the glory He so greatly deserves.

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. - Ephesians 2:10 (KJV)

Be well and God Bless,

Kaysha Sahai Reid