The Power of Mindsight

Our childhood shapes our brain in many ways -- and so it determines our most basic ways of reacting to others, for better and for worse. According to UCLA psychiatrist Daniel Siegel, if parents consistently fail to acknowledge and discuss the connections between a child's behavior and her emotions, the child won't gain any insight into her own thoughts and feelings, nor will she appreciate other people's emotional states. Siegel, who founded the field of "interpersonal neurobiology" -- explaining the brain basis for our habits of bonding with others -- calls this ability "mindsight." Siegel maintains that mindsight serves as the basis of self-awareness and empathy, while also predicting what kind of parent that child will grow up to be. However, Siegel points out that actual childhood experiences are less important than how we make sense of those experiences.

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