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The Earth may not be flat nor is it the center of the universe, but that doesn't mean old-world intellectuals got everything wrong. In fact, in recent years, modern science has validated a number of teachings and beliefs rooted in ancient wisdom that, up until now, had been trusted but unproven empirically.
A full 55 pages of Arianna Huffington’s new book, Thrive: The Third Metric to Redefining Success and Creating a Life of Well-Being, Wisdom, and Wonder, are dedicated to these scientific breakthroughs that often confirm the power of ancient psychology and contemplative practices. On an intuitive level, we’ve known for centuries that these lifestyle practices can help us lead happy, healthy and balanced lives. But now, with the support of hard science, we can embrace these pieces of ancient wisdom and start really living them.
Here are eight ancient beliefs and practices that have been confirmed by modern science.
Helping others can make you healthier
Acupuncture can restore balance to your body
We need the support of a community in order to thrive
Tai chi can help alleviate a variety of health conditions.
Meditation can help you reduce stress and discover inner peace
Compassion is the key to a meaningful life
Accepting what you can’t change is key to reducing suffering
All you need is love
OtherSideOfTheCoin
i would really like to see the actual science behind "compassion is the key to a meaningful life"
would really like to see the actual science behind "compassion is the key to a meaningful life", that is just way to subjective to be proven by science
Why is Compassion Good For Us?
Why does compassion lead to health benefits in particular? A clue to this question rests in a fascinating new study by Steve Cole at the University of California, Los Angeles, and APS Fellow Barbara Fredrickson at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The results were reported at Stanford Medical School’s Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education’s (CCARE) inaugural Science of Compassion conference in 2012. Their study evaluated the levels of cellular inflammation in people who describe themselves as “very happy.” Inflammation is at the root of cancer and other diseases and is generally high in people who live under a lot of stress. We might expect that inflammation would be lower for people with higher levels of happiness. Cole and Fredrickson found that this was only the case for certain “very happy” people. They found that people who were happy because they lived the “good life” (sometimes also know as “hedonic happiness”) had high inflammation levels but that, on the other hand, people who were happy because they lived a life of purpose or meaning (sometimes also known as “eudaimonic happiness”) had low inflammation levels. A life of meaning and purpose is one focused less on satisfying oneself and more on others. It is a life rich in compassion, altruism, and greater meaning.
Another way in which a compassionate lifestyle may improve longevity is that it may serve as a buffer against stress. A new study conducted on a large population (more than 800 people) and spearheaded by the University at Buffalo’s Michael Poulin found that stress did not predict mortality in those who helped others, but that it did in those who did not. One of the reasons that compassion may protect against stress is the very fact that it is so pleasurable. Motivation, however, seems to play an important role in predicting whether a compassionate lifestyle exerts a beneficial impact on health. Sara Konrath, at the University of Michigan, discovered that people who engaged in volunteerism lived longer than their non-volunteering peers — but only if their reasons for volunteering were altruistic rather than self-serving.
Another reason compassion may boost our well-being is that it can help broaden our perspective beyond ourselves. Research shows that depression and anxiety are linked to a state of self-focus, a preoccupation with “me, myself, and I.” When you do something for someone else, however, that state of self-focus shifts to a state of other-focus. If you recall a time you were feeling blue and suddenly a close friend or relative calls you for urgent help with a problem, you may remember that as your attention shifts to helping them, your mood lifts. Rather than feeling blue, you may have felt energized to help; before you knew it, you may even have felt better and gained some perspective on your own situation as well.
Finally, one additional way in which compassion may boost our well-being is by increasing a sense of connection to others. One telling study showed that lack of social connection is a greater detriment to health than obesity, smoking, and high blood pressure. On the flip side, strong social connection leads to a 50 percent increased chance of longevity. Social connection strengthens our immune system (research by Cole shows that genes impacted by social connection also code for immune function and inflammation), helps us recover from disease faster, and may even lengthen our life. People who feel more connected to others have lower rates of anxiety and depression. Moreover, studies show that they also have higher self-esteem, are more empathic to others, more trusting and cooperative and, as a consequence, others are more open to trusting and cooperating with them. Social connectedness therefore generates a positive feedback loop of social, emotional, and physical well-being. Unfortunately, the opposite is also true for those who lack social connectedness. Low social connection has been generally associated with declines in physical and psychological health, as well as a higher propensity for antisocial behavior that leads to further isolation. Adopting a compassionate lifestyle or cultivating compassion may help boost social connection and improve physical and psychological health.
We know from science that...
to flourish and thrive one must be compassionate;
being compassionate increases longevity up to two-fold;
being compassionate decreases your stress and decreases markers of inflammation;
being compassionate is what we were fundamentally designed for.
schuyler
Huffington???? All you need is love?? Wasn't the Beatles retrospective last month? I mean, I believe in acupuncture and Tai Chi as ancient and venerated techniques and all, but the rest of these are aphorisms, trite phrases of vapidity from yet another self-help book by an unimaginative author who jumps on causes like a kid onto merry-go-rounds.
Earliest documentation that refers to acupuncture procedures is The Yellow Emperor’s Classic of Internal Medicine, dating from about 100 BCE. In this book the knowledge is in the form of questions made by the Emperor that his learned minister, Chhi-Po has replied to. The book includes the detailed knowledge regarding the concepts of channels (meridians or conduits in which the Qi flows. The details of precise sites of acupuncture points however were developed later. link
Cuervo
schuyler
Huffington???? All you need is love?? Wasn't the Beatles retrospective last month? I mean, I believe in acupuncture and Tai Chi as ancient and venerated techniques and all, but the rest of these are aphorisms, trite phrases of vapidity from yet another self-help book by an unimaginative author who jumps on causes like a kid onto merry-go-rounds.
I've never heard such bitterness come out in such poetry before. But you are not correct.
I would bet countless cookies that I am a happier person than you are.
A group of scientists from the University of Graz in Austria attempted to answer that question by theorizing a possible relationship between the tattoos and traditional acupuncture points. Their findings, first published in The Lancet in 1999 and updated in Discover magazine earlier this year,1,2 purport to show that acupuncture � or a system of healing quite similar to it � may have been in use in central Europe more than 2,000 years earlier than previously believed.
The research team, led by Drs. Leopold Dorfer and Max Moser, first calculated the mummy's cun by measuring its femur, tibia and radius. They then converted the measurements of the tattoos to cun and overlaid the locations of the tattoos to topographical representations of Chinese acupuncture points.
Experts from three acupuncture societies then examined the locations of the tattoos. In their opinion, nine tattoos could be identified as being located directly on, or within six millimeters of, traditional acupuncture points. Two more were located on an acupuncture meridian. One tattoo was used as a local point. The remaining three tattoos were situated between 6-13mm from the closest acupuncture point.
Skyfloating
While its a nice acknowledgment, I`m almost tempted to say "we don't need science to confirm what we knew all along". I`ve been into Meditation and Tai Chi for a long time and ascribe most of my well-being to it.
I`d also add that there is much, much, much more than that to be learned from the ancients. And even from those hated Christians, Muslims and Jews which people love to bash.
Oooops...didn't wanna go on a rant here. Nice thread idea.
Grimpachi
Most of what I have read has said acupuncture works as a placebo.
727Sky
1. Money can't buy happiness but it's more comfortable to cry in a BMW than on a bicycle.