The psychologist and neuroscientist Richard Davidson from University of Wisconsin at Madison has been researching mindfulness and its effect on the brain and emotional regulation. He states that emotions and the states of well-being are strongly connected to physical health.

He describes four main components of well-being: the resilience or the capacity of recovery from adversity or stressful conditions, the positive outlook, or the capacity of finding goodness in one self, in others and circumstances, the skill of attention and being in the present moment, and the generosity and altruistic behavior.

One of his books “The Emotional Life of your brain” (2012) presents results of his extended research studies and teaches tools of training the mind in acquiring these components of well-being.

His studies are around cultivating kindness and compassion through meditation that actually increase state of resilience, attention, self control, generosity, happiness and well-being.