Ever had a boss berate you for showing up late to work on the day your dog died? How about a brother who refused to attend your aunt's funeral because it was the same day as a Steelers game?

We all know a few people who could use some intensive training when it comes to compassion – but instead of sending them off to expensive psychotherapy, your best bet might be to buy them some meditation mats and books on Buddhist mantras: According to a recent study, the act of meditation may help people learn how to be kinder and more compassionate to their fellow human beings.

In the study, researchers at University of Wisconsin-Madison's Waisman Center for Brain Imaging scanned the brain waves of a group of Tibetan monks and other people who practiced meditation, as well as a group who were not experienced in meditation practices. While reading each subject's brain waves, the researchers played a variety of recorded noises, including a woman's scream and a baby's laughter. A region of the brain called the insula, which is associated with the sensation of emotion, was far more active in the meditators' brain scans than the non-meditators. The meditation experts' brains also showed more activity in the right temporal-parietal juncture, which is associated with empathy.

These results provide possible evidence that, through meditation, individuals can train themselves to become more responsive to other people's emotions. The finding offers a range of possibilities: "Can this type of training be used for depression?" the study's lead researcher, Antoine Lutz, asked in Scientific American. "Another question is whether this form of mental training and empathy can have an impact for education. We don't know yet."

The jury's still out on whether meditation can definitively increase kindness, but we do already know that it can improve attention, lower blood pressure, and even increase happiness exponentially. Apart from the celibacy aspect, life in a monastery sounds pretty tempting, doesn't it?