Daniel J. Siegel is teaching during the Wisdom & Wellbeing Weeks at Blue Spirit in the Multi-Faculty Week 2, January 20 – 27, 2024 and Week 4, February 3 – 10, 2024 about the following topic:

IntraConnected as MWe (Me plus We)

In this series of immersive and interactive gatherings, we will explore the nature of “self” from scientific, Indigenous, and contemplative perspectives to address the possible ways in which a modern cultural construction of a “solo self”—an identity as separate and a constricted belonging only to those of similar background and appearance—may be at the root of many of the challenges we face today.

The pandemics of racism and social injustice, misinformation and polarization, digital addiction and climate destruction, along with how we have poorly handled the COVID-19 viral pandemic, may each be worsened, if not caused, by the modern human mind’s construction of a self that emanates from the individual body alone. Instead, a wider view of what self is extends the subjective experience, perspective, and agency of this individualized self to a more integrated experience of identity, a broader belonging, as Me plus We equals MWe. More than an inner aspect of our embodied lives, inclusive also of our inter, relational selves, we have an “IntraConnected” self that is both inner and inter.

Learning to live, love and learn from this integrated identity as MWe is how we can promote the relatively rapid cultural evolution the world needs to address the pressing challenges of modern times. MWe can do this, together!

Dr. Siegel is a clinical professor of psychiatry at the UCLA School of Medicine and the founding co-director of the Mindful Awareness Research Center at UCLA. He is also the Executive Director of the Mindsight Institute which focuses on the development of mindsight, teaches insight, empathy, and integration in individuals, families and communities.

Dr. Siegel has published extensively for both the professional and lay audiences. His five New York Times bestsellers are: Aware: The Science and Practice of Presence, Mind: A Journey to the Heart of Being Human, Brainstorm: The Power and Purpose of the Teenage Brain, and two books with Tina Payne Bryson, Ph.D: The Whole-Brain Child, and No-Drama Discipline. His other books include: IntraConnected (coming November 2022), The Developing Mind, The Pocket Guide to Interpersonal Neurobiology, Mindsight, The Mindful Brain, The Mindful Therapist, and Becoming Aware. He has also written The Yes Brain and The Power of Showing Up with Tina Payne Bryson, Ph.D. Dr. Siegel also serves as the Founding Editor for the Norton Professional Series on Interpersonal Neurobiology which currently contains over eighty textbooks.

For more information about his educational programs and resources, please visit: www.DrDanSiegel.com and www.mindsightinstitute.com