Two recent scientific studies folks may find interesting ...
The first present of one of the best, and simplest, explanations I've encountered for the so-called 'In the Zone' or 'Flow' state, based on brain studies. It may go far to demonstrate the important in traditional Zen practice of repeated physical actions, ranging from Chanting Ceremonies, to the ballet of Oryoki (ritual eating), to sweeping and other cleaning procedures, to ways of walking to, of course, Zazen ...
The second is about happiness and what we may be missing in modern societies ...
Good for the notion that we can live more simply and be happy.
It is not a reason to tolerate poverty in the world, however, and people deserve access to housing, healthcare, food, medicine, etc.
Gassho, J
stlah
The first present of one of the best, and simplest, explanations I've encountered for the so-called 'In the Zone' or 'Flow' state, based on brain studies. It may go far to demonstrate the important in traditional Zen practice of repeated physical actions, ranging from Chanting Ceremonies, to the ballet of Oryoki (ritual eating), to sweeping and other cleaning procedures, to ways of walking to, of course, Zazen ...
New Study Reveals How the Brain Achieves a Flow State
A study by Drexel University’s Creativity Research Lab demonstrates that achieving a creative flow state, or “being in the zone,” depends on having extensive experience in a domain and the ability to release control, allowing the brain to operate with minimal conscious oversight. This was evidenced by neuroimaging of jazz musicians improvising, revealing that high levels of experience and reduced executive control activity in the brain are key to entering flow states. ...
... [T]heir results suggest that creative flow can be achieved by training people to release control when they have built up enough expertise in a particular domain. ... [T]hrough years of intense practice, the brain develops a specialized network or circuit to automatically produce a specific type of ideas, in this case, musical ones, with little conscious effort. In this view, the executive control network relaxes its supervision so that the musician can “let go” and allow this specialized circuit to go on “autopilot” without interference. The research team said the key to this notion is the idea that people who do not have extensive experience at a task or who have difficulty releasing control will be less likely to experience deep creative flow. ... The researchers tested these competing theories of creative flow by recording high-density electroencephalograms (EEGs) from 32 jazz guitar players, some highly experienced and others less experienced.
BELOW: Inner views of the left and right sides of the brain showing areas of reduced brain activity when the high-experience musicians were in a high-flow state (compared to a low-flow state). These areas include key nodes of the brain’s default-mode network.
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Inner-Views-of-Left-Right-Sides-of-Brain-777x313.jpg
LINK
A study by Drexel University’s Creativity Research Lab demonstrates that achieving a creative flow state, or “being in the zone,” depends on having extensive experience in a domain and the ability to release control, allowing the brain to operate with minimal conscious oversight. This was evidenced by neuroimaging of jazz musicians improvising, revealing that high levels of experience and reduced executive control activity in the brain are key to entering flow states. ...
... [T]heir results suggest that creative flow can be achieved by training people to release control when they have built up enough expertise in a particular domain. ... [T]hrough years of intense practice, the brain develops a specialized network or circuit to automatically produce a specific type of ideas, in this case, musical ones, with little conscious effort. In this view, the executive control network relaxes its supervision so that the musician can “let go” and allow this specialized circuit to go on “autopilot” without interference. The research team said the key to this notion is the idea that people who do not have extensive experience at a task or who have difficulty releasing control will be less likely to experience deep creative flow. ... The researchers tested these competing theories of creative flow by recording high-density electroencephalograms (EEGs) from 32 jazz guitar players, some highly experienced and others less experienced.
BELOW: Inner views of the left and right sides of the brain showing areas of reduced brain activity when the high-experience musicians were in a high-flow state (compared to a low-flow state). These areas include key nodes of the brain’s default-mode network.
.
Inner-Views-of-Left-Right-Sides-of-Brain-777x313.jpg
LINK
New Research Reveals That Happiness Isn’t Expensive
New research finds high life satisfaction among Indigenous and local communities with minimal financial resources, challenging the notion that happiness depends on wealth. This suggests a sustainable path to well-being that emphasizes social, spiritual, and environmental connections over economic growth. ... The research, published in the scientific journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), consisted of a survey of 2,966 people from Indigenous and local communities in 19 globally distributed sites. Only 64% of surveyed households had any cash income. The results show that “surprisingly, many populations with very low monetary incomes report very high average levels of life satisfaction, with scores similar to those in wealthy countries,” says Eric Galbraith, a researcher at ICTA-UAB and McGill University and lead author of the study.
The average life satisfaction score across the studied small-scale societies was 6.8 on a scale of 0-10. Although not all societies reported being highly satisfied – averages were as low as 5.1 – four of the sites reported average scores higher than 8, typical of wealthy Scandinavian countries in other polls, “and this is so, despite many of these societies having suffered histories of marginalization and oppression.” The results are consistent with the notion that human societies can support very satisfactory lives for their members without necessarily requiring high degrees of material wealth, as measured in monetary terms. ... The findings are good news for sustainability and human happiness, as they provide strong evidence that resource-intensive economic growth is not required to achieve high levels of subjective well-being. ... The researchers highlight that, although they now know that people in many Indigenous and local communities report high levels of life satisfaction, they do not know why. Prior work would suggest that family and social support and relationships, spirituality, and connections to nature are among the important factors on which this happiness is based, “but it is possible that the important factors differ significantly between societies or, conversely, that a small subset of factors dominate everywhere. .... "
LINK
New research finds high life satisfaction among Indigenous and local communities with minimal financial resources, challenging the notion that happiness depends on wealth. This suggests a sustainable path to well-being that emphasizes social, spiritual, and environmental connections over economic growth. ... The research, published in the scientific journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), consisted of a survey of 2,966 people from Indigenous and local communities in 19 globally distributed sites. Only 64% of surveyed households had any cash income. The results show that “surprisingly, many populations with very low monetary incomes report very high average levels of life satisfaction, with scores similar to those in wealthy countries,” says Eric Galbraith, a researcher at ICTA-UAB and McGill University and lead author of the study.
The average life satisfaction score across the studied small-scale societies was 6.8 on a scale of 0-10. Although not all societies reported being highly satisfied – averages were as low as 5.1 – four of the sites reported average scores higher than 8, typical of wealthy Scandinavian countries in other polls, “and this is so, despite many of these societies having suffered histories of marginalization and oppression.” The results are consistent with the notion that human societies can support very satisfactory lives for their members without necessarily requiring high degrees of material wealth, as measured in monetary terms. ... The findings are good news for sustainability and human happiness, as they provide strong evidence that resource-intensive economic growth is not required to achieve high levels of subjective well-being. ... The researchers highlight that, although they now know that people in many Indigenous and local communities report high levels of life satisfaction, they do not know why. Prior work would suggest that family and social support and relationships, spirituality, and connections to nature are among the important factors on which this happiness is based, “but it is possible that the important factors differ significantly between societies or, conversely, that a small subset of factors dominate everywhere. .... "
LINK
It is not a reason to tolerate poverty in the world, however, and people deserve access to housing, healthcare, food, medicine, etc.
Gassho, J
stlah
)—only recently have I truly understood that material possessions do not contribute to happiness, so I'd started minimalizing/simplifying my room. I have most of my basic necessities now, besides being able to see a doctor 
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