Whatever you hold in your mind will tend to occur in your life. If you continue to believe as you have always believed, you will continue to act as you have always acted. If you continue to act as you have always acted, you will continue to get what you have always received. If you want your life to change, you have change your mind.

This is a blog about the mind and the brain. I am a neuropsychiatrist, so these are the things I deal with everyday. About 6 months ago I opened a new clinic in Portsmouth, New Hampshire called The TMS Center of New England. TMS stands for transcranial magnetic stimulation. It's a new treatment for depression (and some other conditions as well) that uses a specially designed electromagnet to stimulate the brain. I was among the first physicians in the country to begin using this treatment after it was approved by the FDA in October 2008. I was so impressed by how well it works that I decided to leave my position at the hospital where I had worked for 20 years in order to devote myself full time to TMS.

This was a major change in my professional life and one which happened at a stressful time in my personal life. It has given me an opportunity to think about things in a whole new way. Not only is the work I do with my patients very different than the work I was doing a year ago, but my whole approach to the work and to life in general has changed as well. Now I actually have the time to listen to what my patients say. I have been learning a lot. I hope that they have been learning something from me.

My hope is to share some of this with you. Although transcranial magnetic stimulation is the main focus of my work now, this blog is not just about TMS. It's really about the brain and all of those things it does, which we call the mind. It's about paying attention to the mind and learning about ourselves. It's about being mindful. I can't promise a new post everyday, but I can promise at least 2 or 3 per week. I hope you'll follow along and I look forward to your comments.

Disclaimer: My blog is called The Mindful Brain because that is simply the best description of what it is about. It is not related in any formal sense to the excellent book by Daniel J. Siegel, although Dr. Siegel's approach to understanding the mind and the brain is very similar to my own and his book has been an inspiration to me in my own pursuit of better understanding the mind and the brain. I apologize for any confusion.