Episode # 22
Dr. Ellen Langer is a professor in the Psychology Department at Harvard University. Her numerous academic honors include four Distinguished Scientist Awards and The Liberty Science Genius Award. Her books written for academic and popular readers include:
Counterclockwise: Mindful Health and The Power of Possibility
On Becoming An Artist: Reinventing Yourself Through Mindful Creativity
Dr. Langer your work changed my life at at time in my sixties, when I needed it most. I based my book and workbook, Take Back Your Outside Mindset on your mindfulness and mindset studies.
What is your definition of Mindfulness?
Mindfulness as we study it, is the simple process of actively noticing new things. That’s all it is. It is amazingly simple, but the consequences of this are enormous. So when you are noticing new things, that puts you in the present, makes you aware of context, and that active noticing is the essence of engagement. So we find that when people are actively noticing, they become more energized, and this active noticing is literally and figuratively enlivening.
Many people think when they hear the word mindfulness, that it is meditation. Meditation, while fine, is not mindfulness. Meditation is a process that you go through to achieve post meditative mindfulness. Mindfulness as we study it is much more direct – not better or worse – just more direct.
We have done research on this active noticing for over forty years and we find that it is, as I said literally and figuratively enlivening, that when you are actively noticing and being mindful, people find you more attractive, see you as charismatic, see you as trust worthy, the products that you produce bear this imprint of mindfulness ….so it’s good for your health and your relationships. Forty years is a long time, so there are very few outcomes that we haven’t assessed. It is amazing because it is so simple.
Transcript: Treesmendus.com