"In search of peace of mind"I remember when I decided to enroll in the Faculty of Psychology, all I wanted was to become happier than I was. It was living in joy and full life that was a strong motivator, in parallel with the desire to learn and have an interesting job. Later, this desire was veiled by mental activity, passion for scientific psychotherapeutic approaches and the entire learning process. It was great and exciting, but after many years I began to remember my original intention, discovering how far I was from it. At this point, a meeting took place between a person seeking peace of mind and a researcher passionate about his work. Later, I became interested in research in the field of neurological health, neuroplasticity of the brain and other new discoveries in this topic. And at the same time, Buddhist philosophy and psychology. As it turned out, in these two disciplines one can notice a lot in common. Opening up to new knowledge, my view of psychotherapeutic practice also changed. To begin with, I suggested that I try methods such as body-based stress reduction techniques, meditation, visualization, and body awareness. And at the same time observe how they will affect me. This fit into the task of my personal psychotherapy, where the main factor preventing me from moving towards a more authentic life was pronounced self-criticism and non-acceptance of the conditions of my life. My clients also demonstrated an unfriendly attitude and battle with the environment. This gave me a reason to think carefully and begin to look further for methods of working with a person. The topic of lack of kindness to oneself and failure to accept reality began to open up to me from all sides. Everything was theoretically clear, but there was not enough experience on how to transfer all this so well learned directly into action, into a plan for living every day. In general, this rational fuel was enough, but as a sensitive person, I needed something more... And I decided to more carefully turn to the practice of meditation and body awareness. They allowed us, as it were, to come from the other side. Otherwise, approach yourself, not on a personal level with his selfishness, but in the language of forms, images, sensations with the firm intention of establishing a benevolent perception of everything that happens to me and the world as a whole. The process of understanding and access to living what is understood does not open immediately. Working with thoughts and ideas as a method of cognitive reappraisal occurs at the level of the mind. The practice of meditation and body awareness takes a person to another level of nervous system functioning. Which is expressed in the direct experience of experience as what is and in a retreat from the usual analytical mental activity. This makes it possible to dive more into the level of the soul, or heart, where we meet our true feelings, with our authenticity. It is more like how an actor is captured in living the role of his character, different from thinking about it and copying cliches. In general, My self-therapy plans included learning techniques for emotional stability or self-regulation. This word was on the tip of my tongue, but it was still not clear how to get there. Yoga and other spiritual practices were of little interest to me. And I began a search that would satisfy my question, agreeing with myself on some kind of independent experiment, where introspection would be the first assistant. Methods of self-regulation are functional and moral. In Buddhist psychology, there is ancient knowledge about the nature of any type of suffering, based on clinging to the image of the “I” as unchanging and striving for identification with what is desired. The self-image is based on mental consciousness and limits connection with the holistic perception of oneself, events, another person and relationships with him. For example, the main obstacle to my personal peace was clinging to my experiences as something really existing. Explanation, understanding, naming the feelings experienced only hammered in nailssuffering, taking me away from reality. Emotional reactions continued to do their job. Attachment to something or someone, for example, to an object of love, affects the ability to think clearly and act, introducing distortions into perception. A certain internal observer is required who can calm and divert the sufferer’s attention to at least a short distance from himself. And this seems to me to be an excellent way of that very desired self-regulation. A good remedy for me personally is to think in the ideas of Buddhist philosophy about the absence of objective existence of everything that I experience, see or hear. Considering and understanding how emotions affect the limbic system (the part of the brain responsible for emotions), it is clear how they can distort perception. Accepting that everything changes, feelings and my conclusions are not static and exist relatively, was not easy. This is where I find the difference between Western and Eastern thinking in general. Scientists say that when a person makes conclusions captured by emotions, for example, feelings of anger, his perception is distorted by about 90 percent. The principle of interdependence from Buddhist philosophy, as a connection between cause and effect and the conditions that we ourselves create, really appeals to me. Everything phenomena are interdependent - cause and effect influence each other. Being aware of this connection and how it has affected our lives helps us avoid going to extremes. For example, stop looking for an explanation for dissatisfaction in living conditions and other people, blaming them for your failures. Also a stress factor and weakening of the activity of the frontal lobes is the habit of many people to think about themselves in ideas of deprivation, as if something is always missing for a full life. And further pursuit in an attempt to fill this lack. This can also be considered an optical illusion, just a thought that does not exist objectively. All this clearly does not bring us closer to the main goal - to live in joy and prosperity. The desire to look at yourself softly and lovingly is a benevolent alternative to battle and internal division. Scientists from different countries are conducting quite a lot of research on the functioning of the brain and consciousness. But almost none of them can describe how feelings of compassion, deep love, the ability to forgive and accept people and events as they are become available to a person. Simply because these qualities are quite difficult to measure empirically. Where their conclusions are similar is that we are all born with the ability for joy and joy, empathy, compassion and assistance. Let me turn a little to neurobiology for a comprehensive understanding. In the brain, the department responsible for generating emotional reactions, the amygdala, is involved in detecting threat and suffering from all incoming information flow, including a person’s thoughts about himself as the worst person in the world. The amygdala, or amygdala, is often associated with the experience of pain and suffering. This blocks a person’s ability to be kind and altruistic both towards other people and towards himself. The junction of the temporal and parietal lobes of the brain, this area is extremely important for perception in order to understand the point of view of another. This part of the brain helps us remain compassionate towards the people around us. This knowledge helps us notice why we resort to rote ways of coping with life's adversities, how we forget to slow ourselves down before taking action. Or turn on that notorious inner critic. The fact is that the higher the level of anxiety in the amygdala, the more difficult it is for a person to look at himself and his problems kindly, with acceptance and compassion. No matter how much you explain the situation, it is still not enough and the level of anxiety does not decrease. Because it lives in the body and in the neural chains formed in the usual way. Understanding and rational evaluation take place in the frontal lobes. Also referring to the discovery of scientists about.