Mindfulness: Neuropsychology in Action

July 31, 2026
By Dr. Davidicus Wong

Healthwise is a monthly column by Burnaby family doctor Dr. Davidicus Wong, presented by the Burnaby Primary Care Network in partnership with the Burnaby Division of Family Practice. In this article, Dr. Wong reflects on how we continue to change throughout our lives, and how intentions shape who we become over time.

Why Learn Mindfulness?

Each of us experiences the ups and downs of life, challenging emotions, conflicts with others and troubling thoughts. To help my patients cope with their health conditions, losses and the stress in their lives, I frequently coach them to practice mindfulness.

Mindfulness teaches us a less reactive approach to our lives. We can learn to accept and experience every aspect of our lives, our experiences, ourselves and others without clinging, aversion or judgment.

It can unleash the superpower that most of us don’t realize we have: metacognition. This is the human brain’s unique capacity to self-reflect and transform our own thoughts, emotions and perceptions. You can train your mind to consciously expand your field of awareness and direct your attention. With daily practice, you will grow in your ability to control your own attention and your own conscious experience.

What is Mindfulness?

“Mindfulness is awareness that arises through paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment, non-judgementally,” says Jon Kabat-Zinn. “And then I sometimes add, in the service of self-understanding and wisdom.”

With daily practice, we learn to step outside of our immediate thoughts, feelings and experiences, reflect upon them and actually choose how we respond.

Our Brains are Thought Factories                                                            

Your brain is constantly processing information on both conscious and subconscious levels. It is constantly producing thoughts. We should think of these spontaneous thoughts as impressions, theories and hypotheses: some are accurate and true but many are not.

The thoughts that we focus and ruminate upon shape our emotions and perspectives on our circumstances.

The Brain’s Negativity Bias

Our brains emphasize the negative. This provided a survival advantage to our ancestors, allowing them to detect potential dangers that may leap out in the jungle or savannah. This evolutionary advantage turns out to be a disadvantage in emotional well-being. Mark Hansen, a neuropsychologist and author has said, our brains are Velcro for the negative and Teflon for the positive.

It has been estimated that we need to see, hear or think of five positive things to cancel out the impact of one negative. Consider this before you making a critical comment to someone at home. Can you come up with at least positive comments to balance it out?

The Story-Making Centres of the Brain

When we are not focused on particular tasks or not centred in mindfulness, the Default Mode Network of the brain takes over. This is our automatic creative daydreaming mode. We semiconsciously construct the narratives of our lives — our biased, poorly evaluated and often inaccurate mental constructions of how the world works — our stories about the past, ourselves, others and life. We adopt core beliefs that may actually be self-defeating and narrow our perspectives. These stories reinforce a false and limited sense of self, and shades the thoughts constantly produced by the brain.

Our Emotions Have Value

Emotions are not the enemy. Without motivating emotions, our ancestors would not have survived in the more hostile prehistoric world. Without anxiety, we would not recognize danger, anticipate future challenges and plan for the future. Without sadness, we would not value what is important and meaningful to us, including our most important relationships. Without anger, we would not stand up to injustice and protect ourselves and our loved ones.

However, our negative emotions can be distressing, and they can skew our thinking and motivate us to act inappropriately. When angered, we regress and aggress. When depressed, we withdraw, isolate and give up. When anxious, we either run away or freeze. Anger prevents us from thinking clearly and seeing our connection to others. Depression makes us think negatively about ourselves, others and our situation. Anxiety makes us overestimate the challenges we have before us — and underestimate our personal strengths and resources.

Your Brain’s Remarkable Ability to Learn and Adapt

The human brain also has an amazing capacity for learning. This is through the neuropsychological principle of neuroplasticity. Pioneer Canadian neuropsychologist, Donald Hebb said, “Neurons that fire together wire together”.

Neural pathways in our nervous system (including the brain) change over time. Frequently practiced thought patterns are reinforced by strengthened connections between the respective neural connections. This is the basis for all habits and the acquisition of skills such as riding a bike and learning to walk and speak. With repetition, habits of thought and action seem so hardwired that we do them semiconsciously and with little effort.

Another feature of the brain is the Quantum Zeno (attention density) effect: what we focus upon, we amplify.  Focus on a negative aspect of your life and it looms larger and takes over the experience of the rest of your life. Focus on repetitive self-defeating beliefs, and they colour your thoughts, feelings and actions.

You can use the Quantum Zeno effect to your advantage by redirecting your focus. We can do this by visualizing the goals you choose based on your deepest values; by focusing on desirable mind states (including peace, joy, compassion and love); and by actively focusing on the positive aspects of your experience, your personal strengths and empowering support.

After listening and acknowledging, my patients’ many problems, I ask them to turn things around and imagine their goals. What is the positive state they would like to see and experience?

In summary, when we understand evolutionary neuropsychology, we recognize how our brains naturally focus on the negative aspects of our lives, how emotions can take over our thoughts, and how repetitive self-defeating thoughts can perpetuate negative emotions in a perpetual vicious cycle. That’s how we get emotionally stuck.

Modern neuropsychology shows us the way out, utilizing the prefrontal cortex with mindfulness, cognitive therapy and positive visualization. When we focus on positive perspectives and emotional states, we strengthen and reinforce them. When we repeatedly practice new self-reaffirming positive cognitive and emotional practices, they become “hardwired” into new habits of thinking, seeing and experiencing our lives.

In upcoming articles, I’ll share daily practices to foster the healing perspective of mindfulness.

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