Those with whom we establish close emotional relationships throughout our life can both reinforce earlier emotional patterns and — when necessary — help new and more adaptable patterns to emerge. The plasticity of the human brain holds out this promise. In an adult relationship with a person who shows us attentive care and is comfortable with our feeling world, we can become more accurately in touch with our own feelings.

“The presence of a caring, trusted other person, one who is attuned to our internal world, is often the initial key.”

The Developing Mind: How Relationships and the Brain Interact to Shape Who We Are
Daniel Siegel

When we are supported by sensitive human presence — in friendship, in psychological counseling, in spiritual direction — the neural connections required for mature attachment will begin to emerge. Here the limbic brain’s adaptive capacity can be recruited for therapeutic healing.

Nourishing the Spirit: The Healing Emotions of Wonder, Joy, Compassion and Hope
James & Evelyn Whitehead

Background on James & Evelyn Whitehead

The Developing Mind: How Relationships and the Brain Interact to Shape Who We Are
Daniel Siegel
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Daniel Siegel
born 1957
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. Dr. Dan Siegel
. Mindsight Institute

Daniel J. Siegel, MD, is an internationally acclaimed author, award-winning educator, and renowned child psychiatrist. Siegel received his medical degree from Harvard University and completed his postgraduate medical education at UCLA with training in pediatrics and child, adolescent and adult psychiatry.

Siegel is Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the School of Medicine, UCLA, where he serves as Co-Investigator at the Center for Culture, Brain, and Development, and Co-Director of the Mindful Awareness Research Center. He is also the Executive Director of the Mindsight Institute, an educational center devoted to promoting insight, compassion, and empathy in individuals, families, institutions, and communities.

Books written by Daniel Siegel include:

• Mindsight: The New Science of Personal Transformation
• Parenting from the Inside Out
• Pocket Guide to Interpersonal Neurobiology: An Integrative Handbook of the Mind
• The Developing Mind: How Relationships and the Brain Interact to Shape Who We Are
• The Mindful Brain: Reflection and Attunement in the Cultivation of Well-Being
• The Mindful Therapist: A Clinician’s Guide to Mindsight and Neural Integration
• The Whole-Brain Child: 12 Revolutionary Strategies to Nurture Your Child’s Developing Mind