Proven Strategies of Mindfulness and Self-Compassion with Dr. Ronald Siegel

In this episode we examine how mindfulness practices developed independently in cultures across the world, discuss how evolution shaped our brains to focus on survival instead of happiness and fulfillment, we ask what is success? How do we define it? What is the failure of success? We go deep into how to practice self-compassion, and much more with Dr. Ronald Siegel. Dr. Ronald Siegel is an Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychology at Harvard Medical School, where he has taught for over 30 years. Ronald also currently serves on the Board of Directors and Faculty of the Institute for Meditation and Psychotherapy. He is a longtime student of mindfulness meditation having authored and co-authored several books on the topic including The Mindfulness Solution, Mindfulness and Psychotherapy, and more. We discuss: Lessons about mindfulness from the Harvard medical schoolWhy did mindfulness practices spring up independently in cultures across the world?You didn’t evolve to be happy (and why that’s super important)How evolution shaped our brains to focus on survival and not happiness and fulfillmentHow our minds are like Teflon for good things  & Velcro for bad thingsType 1 Errors and Type 2 Errors (and why our minds evolved to make way too many Type 1 Errors)How evolution sculpted our brains to be incredibly concerned about social ranking and hierarchiesWhy we focus incessantly on what other’s think about us and how we compare to other people and how that drives much of what happens in the world around usThe pain of “I, Me, My Mine” and how constant preoccupation with ourselves is a major cause of pain and sufferingWhen we are preoccupied with proving ourselves, it harms our connections with other peopleWhat is success? How do we define it? What is the "failure of success?"The major misconceptions about what will make us happyThe importance of connecting with others and engaging more fully in this momentThe dunning-Kruger effect and how it clouds our understanding of mindfulness“High-resolution consciousness” a