When you see the research on Emotional Intelligence, it is no surprise that meditation has become an increasingly popular practice amongst the C-suite elite (such as CEOs Rupert Murdoch, Bill Ford/Ford Motor, Rick Goings/Tupperware, and Marc Benioff/Salesforce.com.)
 
“Studies have shown that people with high EI (Emotional Intelligence) have greater mental health, job performance, and leadership skills.” For example, Daniel Goleman, in his book Working With Emotional Intelligence, indicated “that EI accounted for 67% of the abilities deemed necessary for superior performance in leaders, and mattered twice as much as technical expertise or IQ.”

Dr. Goleman states that there are four competencies of emotional intelligence that are required for effective leadership: 
1.   Self-awareness
2.   Self-management (positive outlook, achievement orientation, self-control, adaptability)
3.   Social awareness (organizational awareness, empathy)
4. Relationship management (inspirational leadership, conflict management, teamwork, mentor, influencer)
 
In the last 10 years, much research has been published showing how meditation provides foundational support for these skills.  Of course, meditation alone will not produce these skills.  But, with a foundation of a regular practice, these skills can more readily develop as old stresses are set aside and new capabilities allowed to flourish when certain areas of the brain develop. 
 
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Self-Awareness and Self-Management is supported by the prefrontal cortex which is associated with body regulation, communication, emotional balance, response flexibility, empathy, insight, self-knowing awareness, and fear modulation. The prefrontal cortex also releases an inhibitory neurotransmitter (GABA) that actually counters the impulses of the amygdala which helps to modulate fear. In a study of regular meditation practitioners, the left side prefrontal cortex activation tripled after four months of practice.
 
“Feeling fear but not acting on it" is a physical, chemical process, even if it is experienced subjectively as purely mental in nature. Over time, with meditation, activity in the reflective, regulatory, mind increases.  A common experience among regular meditators is that rather than immediately reacting to a stimulus, as they may have in the past, they find a new “spaciousness”. 
 
Meditation strengthens the connection of the insula (what monitors the body sensations and gut feelings) to the Medial prefrontal cortex (Me Center of the brain that constantly references back to you, your perspective and experiences.) which increases in Social Awareness and Relationship Management.
 
Before one begins a regular practice, if you were to look at a person’s brain, you would likely see strong neural connections within the Me Center and between the Me Center in regards to bodily sensations. For odd body sensations (e.g., a tingling, pain, itching, whatever), a non-meditator would begin to feel anxious, scared or assume that there is a problem (related to you or your safety). This Me Center activity, unchecked, is what causes the repeated loop, “There is something wrong….” and can begin the cascade of the fight/flight chemicals.
 
Because meditation strengthens the connection of the insula to the medial prefrontal cortex, it increases our capacity to understand where another person is coming from and put ourselves in their shoes. It also helps regulate the over-stimulated Me Center created thoughts, so that the anxiety related feelings settle down. 
 
In the Art of Ascension, the three-fold structure of the Ascension Attitudes causes each of the three primary aspects of our personality -- our hearts, our minds, our bodies -- to move in the direc­tion of growth. This process unwinds or loosens the deeply held judgments and beliefs that keep us bound to fear and restric­tion.

The Ascension Attitudes are designed to clear out past beliefs and behavior patterns which inhibit full mental and physical function­ing. This process is primarily one of effortlessly uncovering ever more expanded states of awareness.

When the pattern of thinking and desiring is orderly, the result is health, happi­ness, joy, progress, creativi­ty, and fulfillment.

Almost every tenth person in the population has symptoms associated with hyperactivity also known as ADHD or ADD. The currently accepted practices to treat children with ADHD are medication (mostly stimulants) and behavioral treatments. However, both have limitations. Medication works only short-term and children often have side effects. 

Studies of teenagers in 2008 and 2011, after 3 months of meditation practice showed results in:

• improvements in brain function measures associated with hyperactivity symptoms,
• improvements in five ADHD-symptoms:

1. Ability to focus on schoolwork,
2. Organizational abilities,
3. Ability to work independently,
4. Happiness,
5. Quality of sleep.

Multiple studies have been conducted showing that utilizing meditation regularly and also using techniques throughout the day to “check-in”, help with ADHD symptoms.

Dr. Lidia Zylowska and her team of researchers released a study in 2008 on adults.  Results stated a 30% reduction in ADHD symptoms among 78% of the participants in the study. As a bonus, anxiety and depression symptoms also showed improvement. Participants who completed this study reported extremely high satisfaction levels, giving the program an average score of 9.

Unlike medication, meditation develops the individual’s inner skills. Through regular use, it strengthens the ability to self-observe, to train attention, and to develop different relationships to experiences that are stressful.  It can be very helpful in teaching you to pay attention to paying attention, helps you to be aware of your emotions, and therefore it can help you to be less impulsive or reactive. That’s often a real challenge for people with ADHD.

Just as an aside, a 2012 study showed that ADHD is most often a highly subjective diagnosis.  ADHD, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder increased 381% between 1989 and 2001 most often being applied to boys unable to sit still or pay attention rather than through a clear diagnostic standard of testing.   

Dr. Edward Hallowell, a Massachusetts-based psychiatrist who specializes in the treatment of attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder and has written a book with the self-explanatory title CrazyBusy. In his book he calls multitasking a “mythical activity in which people believe they can perform two or more tasks simultaneously.” He describes a new condition, “Attention Deficit Trait,” which he claims is rampant in the business world. ADT is “purely a response to the hyperkinetic environment in which we live,” …“Never in history has the human brain been asked to track so many data points.”
 
A new study out of Princeton University showed that students who constantly checked on their own levels of attention performed with fewer mistakes and were better at focusing. This proved that our brains possess attentional plasticity — or the ability to improve focus when checked on. 

In this era of distraction through our use of cell phones and social media, whether one is diagnosed with ADD or ADHD, the benefits of learning to “pay attention to attention” is going to become an ever more important skill for everyone.  

The Art of Ascension cultivates the skill of paying attention to attention, which can begin at a level of being aware of your train of thought in this moment. However, through continued regular practice, can lead the awareness to ever deeper levels of the mind, into higher consciousness.

Have you ever considered that what we identify with determines our experience of life?

What used to be called “Multiple personality disorder” has been renamed “Dissociative identity disorder”.  It seems the human being can identify with all kinds of things. In the disorder, the mind chooses an identity to the exclusion of other parts of the personality.  However, it is considered normal to identify with characteristics, with ideas, beliefs, etc.  It is just in a smaller degree than the disorder.  Psychological sites note that it is normal for people to change their personality traits in order to “identify with” people or groups of people they admire. 

A famous case mentioned frequently in medical literature cites a person with one personality who is deathly allergic to oranges, but when they switch personalities, oranges are the favorite food of the other personality. Another case showed that a drunk person instantly became sober when he changed personalities. Some people have had tumors appear and disappear as they change personalities.  Another amazing feat of the mind is shown when a person reconciles their various personalities into one, he or she can make these physical changes at will.

Maharishi Sadasiva Isham (MSI) said, “In the Waking State, we identify with our thoughts and do not experience consciousness as it is.”  We get caught in the identifications and miss the most important experience of a lifetime! MSI said, “If we identify with the constantly rising and falling waves of the physical world, we will alternately enjoy and suffer.”

Ascension retrains the mind. With the cumulative effects of the tools of Ascension, the more power we have to make choices. Each choice we make becomes more and more powerful. We can continue to look toward the manifest world of phenomena and identify with that.  Or, we can bring the Ascension Attitudes more and more into our day to day lives to expand consciousness.  A by-product of a higher state ofconsciousness is to identify with the Ascendant Self, the unbounded, unlimited One.

With that as a priority in your life, what are the possibilities for your life?