About the Book
For centuries, spirituality has told us that the answer to life's problems lies within us, if only we would realize that we are more than what we imagine. Now, scientific understanding is showing us the way. For humans, anxiety is the background "fever" that never breaks but can often get much worse. Whether the causes are individual, relational, cultural, or pandemic problems, when they occur, they affect our ability to live a joyful and creative life. This often means getting mired in uncontrolled mind loops and incessant circular thinking, making us feel helpless and stuck. In this book, Jaime Pineda shows how the dynamics of anxiety and incessant rumination reflect uncontrolled creativity, and how using simple, time-tested techniques we can learn to control the chaos and recover our creative nature.
The key to the solution is to understand that the intellect only helps to some extent, but by itself cannot solve its own problem. What we need is a mind that can, in a nonjudgmental way, distance itself from the thought patterns that trap us. We are born with an incredible, original mind that quickly becomes obscured by the fever of fear and anxiety. But we can recover this mind quickly. Pineda teaches us how to recognize the basic problem and find the solution through a series of steps and techniques that help bring us out of the loops and recover a cleaner mindset that enables us to move beyond the static of anxiety.
About the Author :
Jaime A. Pineda, PhD, is professor of cognitive science, neuroscience, and psychiatry at the University of California, San Diego. For 28 years, he directed the Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory where he explored the relationship between mind and brain. He is the author of many widely cited papers in animal and human cognitive and systems neuroscience. He is the editor of Mirror Neurons and author of The Social Impulse: The Evolution and Neuroscience of What Brings Us Together. He residesJaime lives in San Diego, California with his wife Jane.
Review :
Dr. Pineda utilizes not just professionally backed statistics for his insights. He also principally utilizes the personal -- an effective blend humanizing the flinty, removed nature of the standard business and leadership advice book.
-- "Medium"
According to Pineda, a professor of cognitive science, neuroscience, and psychiatry, we are born with an "original mind" that is open, eager, and without preconceptions. But life experiences have a way of disrupting this natural flow. Gradually we begin to overthink, analyze, and worry, creating a monkey mind that leads to obsession and unease. The mind turns from without to within, the world becomes smaller, focus centers on the future and the past instead of the present, and we lose creativity. Pineda blends years of scientific study with the tenets of Zen Buddhism to create a plan to reset the mind and return to our original thoughts. He includes exercises intended to raise questions, prompt self-love, and reduce ruminations and detailed instructions on practicing mindfulness and setting boundaries on our thoughts. Pineda combines case studies and his personal experiences with scientific studies to illustrate the process. Change isn't easy, but under the author's guidance, readers will learn to welcome insights, clear out the chatter, and find balance in their thoughts.
-- "Booklist"
To call Controlling Mental Chaos a self-help book is a misnomer that sells it short. Dr. Pineda has made it no less than a guide to improving your quality of life through education of how your brain works, how your history and present experiences impact day to day functioning and, most importantly, providing a deep dive into how you can reshape the lens through which you view and live your life. During my own three decades of private practice as a clinical psychologist, I can only wish that I had had access to this book for referral to clients, especially to those countless bright, motivated Millennials who find themselves buffeted by the specific stressors of today's modern world.
--Julia M. Stroud, PhD, Clinical Psychologist, Editor, Consultant
Dr Pineda has written a readable book that proposes a highly original approach, unorthodox in a manner that is rarely encountered in this era. Dr Pineda's book will encourage readers to stray beyond conventional boundaries.
--Vilayanur Ramachandran, MBBS, PhD, DSc, FRCP, professor of psychology and neurosciences at UCSD, adjunct professor, Salk Institute
Using clear language and real-life examples, Dr. Pineda blends new neuroscientific findings with ancient ideas. The resulting synthesis describes how imagination, resilience and joy can overcome anxiety, chaos and confusion.
--Dorothy L. Parker, PhD, Rosebush Professor and Professor Emeritus in Biology, University of Wisconsin Oshkosh
For those of us on the journey to more joy, creativity, and peace in life, Pineda is the perfect guide and very good company. As a neuroscientist and practitioner of Zen Buddhism, Pineda shows us how to reduce our fearful and uncontrolled monkey minds and find the wisdom of the Original Mind. Written in a very easy-to-read and accessible style, the book is full of excellent practical tips and exercises on how to achieve this transformation. Readers will find their lives enriched and ready to widen their horizons.
--Arne Dietrich, PhD, Professor and Chair, American University of Beirut Department of Psychology, bestselling author of How Creativity Happens in the Brain
Pineda's narrative reflects exactly the positive qualities it seeks to develop in us. The message of self-acceptance and growth is echoed in his compassionate guidance of the reader and his revealing personal and historical examples of working to uncover the "good monkey mind." And in promoting a mindset of curiosity and creativity, he demonstrates it with pertinent, engaging accounts of discovery and wonder from the realms of philosophy, psychology, and neuroscience.
--David S. Leland, PhD, Associate Professor of Psychology, UW Eau Claire
Whether you are a student of spirituality or science, Buddhism or brain, you have likely encountered the tensions between the 'materialistic' and 'mystical.' Pineda not only reconciles this age-old conflict by showing how these seemingly separate epistemologies are one-and-the-same, but guides you on the path of finding this 'oneness' in yourself. Best of all, Pineda's expert background as both a scientist and Zen practitioner allows you to trust that you're being guided by a master of the craft.
--Matthew S. Goodman, PhD, Clinical Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and the Behavioral Sciences, Keck School of Medicine (USC), author of Simple Stress Reduction: Easy and Effective Practices for Kids, Teens, and Adults
