Have you tried meditation, and it really wasn’t your thing? Are you ever overwhelmed with negative or depressing thoughts? Or maybe you can’t see your life changing for the better because you have old perceptions of yourself stuck in your head? With story as your superpower, you can learn to positively project new futures, and perhaps this future even includes less medication for those with depression.

Today we get answers and insight into how we can reclaim our lives as we struggle with low moods or even just the blues. I talk with Dr. Norman Farb, a professor of psychology at the University of Toronto, where he studies the neuroscience of human identity and emotion. He is co-author, with Zindel Segal, of the new book, Better in Every Sense: How the New Science of Sensation Can Help You Reclaim Your Life.

This research is illuminating and potentially a game changer, particularly for those with treatment-resistant depression. At the crux of Dr. Farb’s research is how the act of sense foraging improves our mental health. And it’s not traditional mindfulness via meditation. From exercise to gardening, you can find the right access point for you.

With a toaster analogy, we learn about what’s going on in the brain of someone under stress or with depression and how we all operate primarily with a neural network in the brain, called the Default Mode Network or House of Habit--the epicenter of our idea of self, judgement, and what habituates us for survival. And it gets ramped up with sadness and anxiety.

Dr. Farb discusses research done with functional MRI’s which show how sadness inhibits a region in the brain that takes in sensory information. fMRI’s have proven that by tuning into sensation, the brain can change over time, which can then be a predictor of someone staying out of depressive episodes.

We learn how you can listen closely to your inner monologues and crack down on the negative loops. And how to strengthen connections with others.

There’s an amazing study we discuss that proves through practices like sense foraging, some patients were able to discontinue their medication for depression.

Resources below:

Better In Every Sense: How the New Science of Sensation Can Help You Reclaim Your Life by Norman Farb and Zindel Segal.

What is MBCT and How to Find it: Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy

Mindful Noggin: Evidence-based, digital courses will teach you how mindfulness can help you achieve greater emotional balance and resilience in everyday life.

UCSF Medical Center In-Person MBCT Courses

Take a Journal to the Self class with Janine on Zoom – begins April 24, 2025

Music composed and performed by guitarist, JD Cullum
Recorded at Modern Tone Studios the highest ranked recording studio in the San Francisco East Bay.
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