Richard Davidson Quotes

Our brain is continuously being shaped – we can take more responsibility for our own brain by cultivating positive influences.

I wouldn’t consider myself a Buddhist or a card-carrying zealot at all. My first commitment is as a scientist to uncover the truth about all this.

Mindfulness – moment to moment non-judgemental attention and awareness.

Spatial working memory is impaired by stress.

The key to a healthy life is having a healthy mind.

In meditation you experience time slowing down because you can notice more things per discreet moment and you’re more open… The word ‘meditation’ in Sanskrit comes from the word ‘familiarization’ – as in familiarization with one’s own mind.

We need a different conception of happiness, more enduring and more genuine, not dependent on external circumstances.

The Dalai Lama challenged me – he said, ‘Why can’t you use technological tools to study kindness and compassion?

Resilience is the maintenance of high levels of positive affect and well-being in the face of adversity. It is not that resilient individuals never experience negative affect, but rather that the negative affect does not persist.

There are certainly beliefs in traditional Buddhism that conflict with basic principles of scientific understanding, .. We can’t make sense of those beliefs in any kind of scientific framework.

Buddhist monks have known for centuries that meditation can change the mind. Now we are inspired by His Holiness to examine with our technology the precise brain changes that occur with practice… The unique collaboration on meditation is just beginning.

I think the messiness and embodied nature of modern life just produces an enhanced signal for our attention.

I committed to doing everything I could to put compassion on the scientific map.