Mindfulness Over Matter

Transcription

1 Mindfulness Over Matter Notes to accompany Dr Ellen Langer s video. Dr Langer describes the power of labels and labelling, noting that labels limit new ways of thinking. She also says that labels are how we learn about the world: Who we are, what we can do, what the world consists of. Can you think of a time in your own life where either you or someone else s thinking was limited by a label? Do you agree with Ellen, that most people are acting like robots? Expand on your thoughts. Ellen suggests that All that we think we know is wrong in at least some contexts. This is a powerful suggestion. The way she phrases it brings a laugh from the audience, especially after her example of 1+1=1. Can you think of examples where this is true; or, not true? As an extension to this exercise What s important about this thinking? What does it ask us to do? 3:16 We re oblivious to the fact that we re not there. Personally, I believe this statement to be true. How can we know what we don t know? We re blind until we see or are opened to the 1

2 possibilities through having our awareness raised. For those of us who did the Johari Window exercise, this thinking taps into a similar concept around Window #4. What do you think? 4:50 We re not there too much of the time and that is taking away from us years of our lives and vitality and a way of being. I know that I ve had tracts of my life where this statement is true to cope with where I was (and the state of mind I chose) much of that time is blank because (in hindsight) facing it, and living it was too difficult so numbing became a better option. Do you think that being mindful or mindless is the better option during times involving high stress or emotion? There is no right or wrong here, because people choose how to cope in different situations. Yet, I wonder whether managing a situation is better than coping with it. What are your thoughts? 5:57 At best, research gives us probabilities that means we do the exact same thing which we can t do this is translated in talks, in textbooks, by the media as absolute fact when it s absolute fact you lock yourself in this is a cow. In your own life, consider what is taken as fact that perhaps needs further reflection this may be around values involving money, investment, career choice, expectations within relationships, health practices (remember how low-fat diets have led to increasing obesity yet because they were often recommended by doctors they were accepted as fact), or even how children are raised and educated this list could go on. 6:13 Frequently in error, but rarely in doubt. I enjoy this line as I believe we do things thinking, we re right or that this is the way things are done yet, we would never do anything if we lived constantly with doubt. I suppose it s about risk. To me, this quote is an essential statement because it shows our resilience to continue getting up even after proven wrong it s essentially being 2

3 human, learning through error in the belief we re moving closer to getting things right or closer to the truth which we seek. What are your thoughts? Below are screen shots of the slides used during the presentation. They provide a solid definition of the key differences between mindfulness and mindlessness. 3

4 Intentionally noticing things, use rules and routines to guide what you re doing, experience the feeling of engagement because it feels good and it s what we do when we re having fun. 7:38 As we notice new things we become aware of the inherent uncertainty everything is always changing, everything looks different from different perspectives so it s a great mistake to hold it still. What do you think Ellen means by hold it still? 8:37 All of our suffering, psychological and physical, is the direct or indirect effect of mindlessness. This is a huge statement to make. Do you think it s true or not and why? 4

5 10:27 Ellen talks about musicians playing in an orchestra as being bored out of their minds playing the same piece over and over again. This is a great example of seeing a creative person trapped by their mindset. Think of an area within your own life that you could apply this thinking to and record your beforeand-after experience for example: ironing (groan), vacuuming (double groan), menial work tasks which are necessary to complete - I m sure you have your own pet dislikes. After doing a personal one, adapt the thinking of a musician in an orchestra within a work situation. If you are working or managing a team, do this as an exercise with your group and report back on the findings. 5

6 I find it interesting the different focus each group had. The control group was asked to replicate satisfaction this is very different to replicating joy, excitement, reverie I m wondering if they were asked to replicate these higher order emotions, whether the findings would be as vastly different as they were. This reminds me (yet again) the power of language to inspire or neutralise our actions. 11:37 Clinging to routines because we re afraid to try new things because of our fear of making mistakes, but it turns out that a mistake in one context can very often be a success within another context. Can you recall a time in your life that making a mistake actually led you to another path which in turn led you to another solution that you may not have found if you hadn t made that mistake? The psychology of possibility is the essence of Ellen Langer s talk. It s when we open our thinking beyond labels, beyond mindless existence that we discover boundaries slipping away. 6

7 14:40 For virtually all chronic illnesses there are moments with no symptoms. Do you still have the disease if you don t have the tumour anymore? Biological theories, the medical world can t explain these things. What do you think? 7

8 15:57 The Mind-Body Problem: How do you get from this fuzzy thing called thought to something material - this thing called a body? 16:10 I want to argue that mind and body are just words and if we put them back together then where ever we re putting the mind we re necessarily putting the body. The three studies Ellen describes with 80-year-old men, chamber maids and eye-tests are fascinating what are your thoughts on these experiments and the self-belief that arises from altering someone s mindset or perception? In relation to the eye chart, Ellen describes it as Seeing what we couldn t see before how apt is this in relation to Creative Mindfulness? 8

9 What is your overall impression of this video and the thinking behind it? 9