Cognition

Mindfulness is not Always Good for Creativity

psyjdc 6 Comments

 

“Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn’t really do it, they just saw something. It seemed obvious to them after a while. That’s because they were able to connect experiences they’ve had and synthesize new things.” – Steve Jobs

 

Mindfulness is the ability to focus on what is transpiring in the present moment. It involves a greater emphasis on attention to the immediate stimulus environment. Mindful people generally have better attentional abilities and have fewer intrusive thoughts and less mind wandering. As a result mindfulness has been shown to be associated with differences in thought processes (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/category/research-news/cognition/). Most of the time these differences are associated with beneficial results, but sometimes they can lead to negative outcomes including a greater tendency to have false memories (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/10/15/meditation-is-not-always-a-good-thing/). Given the differences in thinking and attention the question arises as to the effect of mindfulness on creativity. Does it make the individual more creative or does it interfere with the creative process?

 

In today’s Research News article “Mind wandering “Ahas” versus mindful reasoning: alternative routes to creative solutions”

https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1122979707725954/?type=3&theater

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4469818/

Zedelius and colleagues investigate the relationship between mindfulness and creativity. They measured mindfulness and then tested creativity with a Compound Remote Associations test. In this test the participant is asked to discover a word that connects three other words. For example the individual is given “ache, hunter, cabbage.”  An appropriate response might be “head” which links the words ‘head ache’, ‘head hunter’, and ‘head of cabbage.’ This solution can be arrived at by carefully analyzing the words and recalling words that are associated with each one to find a common associate, or it can be solved with insight where the solution just suddenly appears. After a solution was found the participants were asked to identify which of these strategies they used or a combination of both.

 

Zedelius and colleagues found that when the problem was solved by insight, mindfulness was associated with poorer performance. On the other hand when it was solved analytically mindfulness was associated with better performance. In other words, mindfulness improved analytic thinking but interfered with insightful thinking. These results make sense if it is considered that analytical thinking requires focused attention which is what is promoted by mindfulness. On the other hand, insightful thinking, thinking outside of the box, often involves allowing the mind to wander in different directions bringing in new and different possible solutions. Since mindfulness is associated with less mind wandering, it seems logical that it would interfere with the process of insight.

 

So, mindfulness is not a uniformly good thing. Although we usually think of mind wandering and being off task as a bad thing to be inhibited, that mind wandering, in fact, may be the source of insightful creativity. Our schools focus on analytical thinking and many are adopting mindfulness training into their curriculum to improve attention and school performance. But, as desirable as this may be, it may come at the cost of lowering creative insights. Perhaps, there is a need to train the student to be mindful when appropriate but to let the mind wander at other times to promote creativity.

 

So, practice mindfulness but realize that it may make you less insightful.

 

“To be and to be creative are synonymous. It is impossible to be and not to be creative. But that impossible thing has happened, that ugly phenomenon has happened, because all your creative sources have been plugged, blocked, destroyed, and your whole energy has been forced into some activity that the society thinks is going to pay.” – Osho
CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

Stay Mentally Fit as you Age with Tai Chi

psyjdc 1 Comment

“What helps with aging is serious cognition – thinking and understanding. You have to truly grasp that everybody ages. Everybody dies. There is no turning back the clock. So the question in life becomes: What are you going to do while you’re here?” – Goldie Hawn

 

Aging inevitably involves declining physical and mental ability. Starting in the late twenties the body, including the brain begins a process of slow deterioration. There is no known treatment to prevent this decline. There are, however, things that can be done to slow the progression. For example, a healthy diet and a regular program of exercise can slow the physical decline of the body with aging.

 

Our mental abilities may also decline with age including impairments in memory, attention, and problem solving ability. In sum these are called age related cognitive decline. This occurs to everyone as they age, but to varying degrees. Some deteriorate into a dementia, while others maintain high levels of cognitive capacity into very advanced ages. It is estimated that around 30% of the elderly show significant age related cognitive decline. But, remember that this also means that 70% of the elderly retain reasonable levels of cognitive ability.

 

There are some indications that physical and mental exercise can reduce the rate of cognitive decline and lower the chances of dementia. Tai Chi is an ancient eastern practice involving slow mindful movements. It is both a gentle exercise and a contemplative practice that improves mindfulness. Mindfulness practices have been shown to improve cognitive processes (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/category/research-news/cognition/) while Tai Chi or Qigong practice has been shown to be beneficial for healthy aging (see links below). It would seem reasonable to hypothesize that Tai Chi practice might decrease age related cognitive decline.

 

In today’s Research News article “The Impact of Tai Chi on Cognitive Performance in Older Adults: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis”

https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1121070961250162/?type=3&theater

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4055508/?report=classic

Wayne and colleagues review the published research on the application of Tai Chi to reduce age related cognitive decline in both elderly individuals who have already demonstrated cognitive decline and those who have not. They found that Tai Chi practice significantly reduced declines in executive function, including working memory, reasoning, task flexibility, problem solving and planning and execution. Tai Chi practice was also found to reduce declines in overall global cognitive function, including learning and memory, mathematical ability and semantic fluency. In addition, these improvements related to Tai Chi practice occurred in both individuals who had already experienced cognitive decline and those who had not. Importantly, these benefits were provided without any significant adverse side effects.

 

Wayne and colleagues hypothesize that Tai Chi may be having its positive effects on cognition through a number of mechanisms. These include the exercise provided by the practice with associated improvements in agility and mobility, the learning of a new skill, the required attentional focus, shifting, and multi-tasking, the mindfulness practice, and the social context of Tai Chi. Any and all of these process involved in Tai Chi practice may be responsible for its cognitive benefits.

 

Regardless of the mechanism, it appears that Tai Chi is a safe and effective practice that reduces the rate of age related cognitive decline whether or not decline was already present. These are exciting findings as Tai Chi has been shown to have many physical benefits for the elderly (see links below). The fact that it also has cognitive benefits makes it an even better choice for practice by the elderly.

 

So practice Tai Chi and stay mentally fit as you age.

 

“Tai chi… might well be called “medication in motion.” There is growing evidence that this mind-body practice…has value in treating or preventing many health problems.” – Harvard Medical School’s Harvard Health Publication, May, 2009

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

Tai Chi and Qigong Effects on Aging Links

This and other Contemplative Studies posts are available at the Contemplative Studies Blog http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/

Age Healthily with Qigong – Soothing Stress Responses

http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/09/28/age-healthily-with-qigong-soothing-stress-responses/

Don’t get Stroked Practice Tai Chi

http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/09/18/dont-get-stroked-practice-tai-chi/

Age Healthily – Treating Insomnia and Inflammation

http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/08/06/age-healthily-treating-insomnia-and-inflammation/

Aging Healthily – Sleeping better with Mindful Movement Practice

http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/07/17/aging-healthily-sleeping-better-with-mindful-movement-practice/

 

Mindfulness Effects on Cognitive Function

 

Think Again with Mindfulness

psyjdc Leave a comment

 

“How would your life be different if…you stopped making negative judgmental assumptions about people you encounter? Let today be the day…you look for the good in everyone you meet and respect their journey.” -Steve Maraboli

 

A key aspect of mindfulness practice is non-judging, that is letting things be as they are without making value judgements about them, e.g. good or bad, safe or dangerous etc. This by itself is quite liberating allowing the individual to look at things with a completely open mind. This, in turn, can empower the people to look again at how they’ve been interpreting the occurrences in their lives and perhaps coming to a new conclusion as to their meaning. This is termed cognitive reappraisal and is simply rethinking about how you’ve been interpreting life events..

 

Incorrect or biased appraisals of everyday or unusual events and interactions with people are characteristic of a variety of mental illnesses. They will tend to interpret even innocuous events as reflective of personal weaknesses. A very effective psychotherapy, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, was developed specifically to reprogram thinking to reappraise events. For example, a depressed patient might interpret being turned down for a job as evidence of their worthlessness. A cognitive reappraisal might result in the individual rethinking this interpretation and seeing that the decision was appropriate as the job would not have been right for them and they would have been unhappy in it. Hence, cognitive reappraisal is a key process in emotion regulation and in turn mental well-being.

 

Mindfulness has been previously shown to be associated with improved cognitive reappraisal (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/07/17/rethink-your-emotions/ and http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/08/20/regulate-emotions-with-mindfulness/ and http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/09/10/take-command-and-control-of-your-emotions/). In today’s Research News article “State Mindfulness during Meditation Predicts Enhanced Cognitive Reappraisal”

https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1119180231439235/?type=3&theater

Garland and colleagues investigated the effect of brief mindfulness training on students’ states of mindfulness and their associations with cognitive reappraisal. They found that the brief mindfulness training indeed increased levels of mindfulness, particularly non-reactivity and the higher the levels of mindfulness the higher the levels of cognitive reappraisal. The more mindful the individual the more likely they were to rethink their interpretations of events.

 

Mindful non-reactivity represents the ability to experience events, including negative events, and not react to them, but rather just experience them as they are. By not reacting to events the individual is better able to look objectively at the event and reappraise their usual ways of interpreting them. In other words non-reactivity liberates the individual to rethink how their looking at things. It cannot be overemphasized how important this is for mental well-being. The individual can break out of overlearned patterns of thought that produce or reinforce negative feelings about themselves. They can then appraise things that occur with distance and logic, objectively interpreting the event. This goes a long way toward relieving worry, anxiety, rumination, depression, and low self-worth.

 

So, be mindful and think again.

 

“Successful men and women will always redirect the course of negative thoughts and situations into advantageous ones. What if you were able to start flipping obstacles into opportunities? To see breakdowns as breakthroughs?” – Thai Nguyen

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

Think more Clearly with Mindfulness

psyjdc Leave a comment

“Typically, people want to see themselves in a positive light the majority of the time. Unfortunately, we may even do that at the cost of blaming others for things that may actually be our own fault. We want to believe we are responsible for good things, and someone or something else is responsible for the bad things. These wants cause the self-serving bias.” – Harmony A Robles

 

People in general tend to believe that they are rational and unbiased in their viewpoints, particularly in regards to themselves. But research has repeatedly demonstrated that this is not true. People are overly reactive to past experience, tending to act and think in the same way repeatedly even when a more accurate or productive mode is available. People tend to overreact to negative information giving it greater value in their thinking than positive information. People tend to believe that events are more likely to occur in the future if they have recent memories of their occurrence. If a belief is commonly accepted then it is more likely to be believed by the individual.

 

People generally fall prey to the gamblers fallacy believing that if an event hasn’t happened in a while that it is more likely to occur in the present. People tend to be wishful thinkers being over-optimistic and overestimate the likelihood of favorable and pleasing outcomes. People tend to overestimate the amount of influence they have over other external events. People also have a tendency to see themselves as less biased than other people. The list is much longer, but suffice it to say that our thinking is not as rational and unbiased as we tend to think it is.

 

Mindfulness has been shown to help correct some of their biased thinking. In particular, it’s been shown to help relieve individuals of being overly influenced by past experiences that is known as task sets (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/09/23/free-your-mind-with-mindfulness/). It’s been shown to improve decision making by improving reflective consideration of the information, ability to differentiate between relevant and irrelevant information, reducing irrational behaviors, habitual tendencies, risky decisions, and overreacting to negative information See http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/09/12/make-better-decisions-with-meditation/). So mindfulness may be somewhat of an antidote for biased thinking.

 

In today’s Research News article “Dispositional Mindfulness and Bias in Self-theories”

https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1118220854868506/?type=3&theater

Hanley and colleagues investigate the relationship between levels of mindfulness and biased thinking about the self. In particular they looked at whether the individual had an even or a biased view of the permanence or changeability of intelligence and personality. They found that more mindful individuals tended to have a more balanced and unbiased view of the self.

 

These findings provide additional support for the notion that mindfulness assists us in seeing things, including ourselves, in a more rational and unbiased way and as a result to reason better, solve problems better, and be more creative.

 

So, be mindful and think more clearly.

 

“The true means of being misled is to believe oneself finer than the others.” – Francois de La Rochefoucauld

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

Develop a Better Brain Mindfully

psyjdc Leave a comment

The nervous system changes dramatically during development. It is a time when the brain is greatly affected by the environment and experiences of the individual. This is what neuroscientists call neuroplasticity. It is present in adulthood, but is particularly evident and important during development. The nervous system is molded to efficiently analyze the environment presented.

 

Studies of the development of the nervous system during adolescence have revealed marked changes occurring throughout the teen years. The brain doesn’t look like that of an adult until the early 20s. Over the course of childhood the outer layer of the nervous system, the cortex, increases in thickness and then during adolescence thins. Late adolescence is a time of brain development when the highest levels of intellectual development are being produced by refinements in the structures of the nervous system. The thinning of the cortex is thought to reflect a pruning of cortical systems making processing more and more efficient. It is making the nervous system more efficient and tuned to the environment in which it is immersed.

 

It is thought that many of the emotional and behavioral problems during adolescence occur due to the fact that the neural systems underlying emotional reactivity and expression are fully developed well before the development of the higher processes that regulate and control the emotions and the responses to the emotions. As a result, adolescent behavior can be overly determined by emotion. This can potentially explain the high rates of teen suicide, reckless, thrill seeking behavior, and social anxiety. The erratic emotion driven behavior of the teen years is reflected in the teen nervous system.

 

Mindfulness has been shown to be associated with emotion regulation. The higher the level of mindfulness the better able the individual is in experiencing emotions at a manageable level and responding to them adaptively and appropriately (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/09/10/take-command-and-control-of-your-emotions/). Hence, it makes sense to study the development of the brain, mindfulness, and emotion regulation during adolescence. Perhaps mindfulness can compensate for some of the emotional dominance of behavior in the teen.

 

In today’s Research News article “Dispositional mindfulness is predicted by structural development of the insula during late adolescence”

https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1108203169203608/?type=3&theater

Friedel and colleagues use MRI neuroimaging to measure brain structure of males and females at age 16 and again at age 19 to view the changes occurring during late adolescence. They also measured mindfulness, emotional self-regulation, attention, inhibitory control, frustration, as well as behavioral aggression and depressive mood. High levels of mindfulness were found to be associated with higher levels of cognitive reappraisal, attention and inhibitory control, and lower levels of self-reported frustration, aggression and depressive mood. In other words, the adolescents who were very mindful were in better control of their emotions.

 

Friedel and colleagues then compared the brains at 16 years to those at 19 years and observed the expected thinning of cortical regions over this period. They found that mindfulness was associated with less thinning of an area called the Insula and that this was also associated with intelligence. They also found that the higher the level of mindfulness the less thinning of the Insula occurred and the higher the IQ test score.

 

These are intriguing findings. The Insula is an area of the cortex that has been found to be associated with interoceptive awareness, that is with the individual’s sensitivity to and awareness of their internal state. This is important for regulating emotions as the first step in regulating is actually becoming aware that they are occurring. Hence, the results suggest that the improved emotion regulation that is associated with mindfulness during late adolescence may be due to improved awareness of the emotional state and that this is due to less thinning of the Insula region of the cortex.

 

So, develop the brain mindfully and develop a more in-control teen.

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

Resolve Mental Conflict with Mindfulness

psyjdc Leave a comment

 

“There is an immutable conflict at work in life and in business, a constant battle between peace and chaos. Neither can be mastered, but both can be influenced. How you go about that is the key to success.” – Phil Knight
We experience conflicting information all the time. These occur frequently in human interactions where words and body language may be presenting completely opposite messages. They occur shopping where a products quality and price may be affecting our decision to buy in opposite directions. They occur while driving a car where another driver’s turn signal may be on but the car shows no sign of slowing down to make the turn. They occur while surfing the web where interesting information and enticing ads coexist on the same page each calling for your attention.

 

These kinds of conflicts are presented to us many many times each day. It is up to our cognitive, thought, processes to resolve the conflict so that we can make an appropriate decision or take reasoned action. Mindfulness practices have been shown to help improve our cognitive processing of information (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/08/25/alter-your-thinking-with-meditation-for-mental-health/ and http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/07/17/mindfulness-improves-mental-health-via-two-factors/). Perhaps mindfulness training might improve our ability to resolve these ubiquitous daily information conflicts.

 

In today’s Research News article “Time course of conflict processing modulated by brief meditation training.”

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4490222/

Fan and colleagues employed the Stroop task to assess mental conflict. https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1099257073431551/?type=3&theater

In this task participants are asked to name the ink color of a word when the word itself names a different color. Typically it takes a lot longer to name the color when the word and color interfere than when the word and ink color are the same. They found that a brief (5-hr) mindfulness training significantly reduced the participants’ susceptibility to the interference, showing faster responding and less difference between the interference trials and the non-interference trials.

 

Fan and colleagues also measure brain responses during the task and found that neural responses mirrored the behavioral responses in that the mindfulness training produced quicker brain response and less interference. Other brain activity suggested that the training produced a more efficient allocation of attentional resources.

 

Mindfulness training improves attention (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/07/31/treating-adult-adhd-with-mindfulness/) and appears to make the brain more efficient in processing information (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/08/03/make-the-brain-more-efficient-with-meditation/). These effects of mindfulness alone or together could account for the improvement in the ability to deal with conflicting information.

 

These results suggest, but do not demonstrate, that mindfulness training may help the practitioner to better deal with the myriad of everyday information conflicts that are encountered. But, more research is needed to see if these laboratory findings translate to real world information conflicts.

 

So, practice mindfulness and be better at resolving mental conflicts.

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

See Things as They Are with Mindfulness

psyjdc Leave a comment

“What we see depends mainly on what we look for.” ― John Lubbock

 

There are two ways that we can process sensory information; top-down or bottom-up. The idea of top-down perception is that perception is an active process involving selection, inference and interpretation. In other words what we are thinking or expecting effects how we experience the world. On the other hand the idea of bottom-up perception is that perception is a simple interpretation of the exact stimuli that are present in front of us. In other words we build our world view from the stimuli present.

 

Top-down processing, sometimes known as motivated perception, results in seeing what we expect to see or what we’ve been trained to see. Hence, our perception is colored by what we’ve experienced in the past and what we expect to see in the current situation. This can produce something that psychologists term a perceptual set. It is “a perceptual bias or predisposition or readiness to perceive particular features of a stimulus“. – Gordon Allport

 

Perceptual set works in two ways where the individual focuses attention on particular aspects of the sensory data based upon his/her expectations and where the individual has learned how to classify, understand and name selected data and what inferences to draw from it. So, what we perceive is not necessarily exactly what is there. Rather it’s what we want it to be. So, if you’re expecting to see a friend approaching you may initially perceive a stranger to be your friend.

 

Mindfulness practice has been shown to make the brain more efficient in sensory and perceptual processing (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/08/03/make-the-brain-more-efficient-with-meditation/). In addition, mindfulness practice is devoted to present moment awareness; seeing things just as they are. So, mindfulness practice may be seen as practicing bottom-up perceptual processing. It also schools the individual in non-judgmental awareness which is the antithesis of top-down processing. So, it would be expected that mindfulness would increase the likelihood of bottom-up processing and reduce the likelihood of top-down processing.

 

In today’s Research News article “Be open: Mindfulness predicts reduced motivated perception”

https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1093637380660187/?type=3&theater

Adair and colleagues investigate this notion by correlating the level of mindfulness of the individual with their tendency for top-down processing. They found that the higher the level of mindfulness the more likely that the individual will perceive bottom-up and the less likely that they will use top-down processing.

 

Hence, mindfulness does what it is purported to do, helping us to see things as they are and not what our minds are telling us that they should be. In a previous post (LINK TO Free Your Mind with Mindfulness – with RN Kuo) we discussed the fact that meditation tends to free thought processes from prior training and experiences. Today’s Research News suggests that mindfulness also frees our perceptual processes. This suggests that mindfulness is liberating and puts us in closer contact with what is; experiencing the world more accurately and thinking more clearly about what is.

 

So practice mindfulness and see things as they are.

 

“In this treacherous world

Nothing is the truth nor a lie.

Everything depends on the color

Of the crystal through which one sees it”

― Pedro Calderón de la Barca

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

Free Your Mind with Mindfulness

psyjdc 1 Comment

“It took me a couple of years after I got out of Berkeley before I dared to start writing. That academic mind-set – which was kind of shallow in my case anyway – had begun to fade.” – Joan Didion
Our thinking is affected by many factors outside of the actual task at hand. Our previous training and experiences shape how we approach the problems in the present moment. Proactive interference is the psychological term for the fact that previous learning interferes with your ability to learn and remember new material. In other words, the more you know the harder it is to learn new things.

 

It has been noted that major breakthrough ideas in science and mathematics usually occur when the individual is young. For example, Einstein’s most inventive and breakthrough ideas including relativity occurred before age 26. This has been attributed to the notion that young minds have not been ingrained with established ways of thinking, so they can think in completely new and creative ways. The expression “think outside of the box” means thinking outside of the traditional established ways of thinking (the box).

 

To be a better, more creative thinker, we need to inhibit or release our learned habits of thought. These are termed our “set” in psychology. But, how do we do this? Mindfulness has been shown to improve attentional control and cognitive flexibility (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/07/17/mindfulness-improves-mental-health-via-two-factors/). Perhaps, mindfulness training could help individuals overcome their prior “set” and “think outside the box.”

 

In today’s Research News article “Reset a task set after five minutes of mindfulness practice”

https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1093121617378430/?type=3&theater

Kuo and colleagues examine whether a brief mindfulness training (5-min breath following meditation) can help in overcoming a task set. They found that the mindfulness training reset their thinking such that there was no evidence of previous set interference with a current task. “The participants were able to put aside the past event while concentrating on the present requirement.”

 

In addition, Kuo and colleagues found that the mindfulness training allowed the participants to reconfigure their mode of attentional control. That is, the previous experience created a situation wherein attention was controlled by inhibiting (restraining) responses to a particular class of stimuli. After mindfulness training the method of controlling attention established by the previous experience was absent. This suggests that mindfulness training allows attention to reset and be freed from the effects of prior experience.

 

These findings are exciting and suggest that mindfulness training may allow us to get rid of the “box” around our thinking. It should be mentioned, however, that the study by Kuo and colleagues was very short term. There is a need to investigate whether these effects of mindfulness training are enduring. It would be cumbersome to have to meditate before tackling every new task, but would be wonderful if a regular practice was sufficient to maintain an open mind. The answer to this question is, at this time, not known.

 

So, practice mindfulness and free your mind!

 

“I am thankful the most important key in history was invented. It’s not the key to your house, your car, your boat, your safety deposit box, your bike lock or your private community. It’s the key to order, sanity, and peace of mind. The key is ‘Delete.’” – Elayne Boosler

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

 

 

Make better Decisions with Meditation

psyjdc Leave a comment

11988616_1086561301367795_3815996353612160008_n.jpg

“For me, the most interesting people are ones who often work against their best interests. Bad choices. They go in directions where you go, ‘No no no nooo!’ You push away someone who is trying to love you, you hurt someone who’s trying to get your trust, or you love someone you shouldn’t.” – Paul Haggis

 

We are confronted daily with a myriad of decisions, many small of little importance; chocolate or strawberry, pass or follow, do the dishes or empty the trash, watch a movie or sports, etc.. But some have a major impact on ourselves and others; take a new job, get married, buy a home, retire or stay working, exercise or not, etc. The problem is that humans are not always good decision makers.

 

We often make decisions for emotional reasons; buying a new car, not because we need one but because it makes us feel like a race car driver, selling a stock out of fear of losses, marrying someone out of fear of being alone, etc. We also have a tendency to make decisions based upon how we’ve made them in the past regardless of whether that strategy is still appropriate. Having decided to finish high school, get a college degree, and going back to school to get an MBA may have helped our careers, but then going back to school again may not.

 

We respond to the fact that we’re already invested resources in something and hate to give up, called sunk-costs bias. So, we may continue on in a marriage even after the partner has become abusive. We often procrastinate in making decisions out of fear of making a wrong choice. We frequently fall prey to the gamblers fallacy and believe that “we’re due” for a lucky break. We take unnecessary risks because of we love the adrenalin rush and the thrill of risk. We tend to weigh negative information to a greater extent than positive information and thus respond more to the possibility of loss than the possibility of gain.

 

The marketing and advertising industries well understand the illogic and emotionality of human decision making. Ads are tailored to appeal to our emotions rather than our reason. Salesmen and telemarketers use pressure tactics because they recognize that people have difficulty with confrontation and saying no to another human. Stores are designed to evoke spur of the moment impulse buying.

 

Decisions are important to our prosperity, health, and happiness. So, how can we make better decisions? In today’s Research News article “Calm and smart? A selective review of meditation effects on decision making”

https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1086560198034572/?type=1&theater

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4513203/

Sun and colleagues review the literature on the effects of meditation on decision making and conclude that meditation practice helps to make people better decision makers.

 

They propose that meditation practice works to improve decision making in three ways. First it has been shown to improve attention, memory, and rational thought processes. (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/07/17/overcome-attention-problems-with-mindfulness/ and http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/07/17/when-are-distractions-not-distractions/). So, meditation leads to a more reflective consideration of the information, better ability to differentiate between relevant and irrelevant information, reduced irrational behaviors, reduced habitual tendencies, reduced risky decisions, and overreacting to negative information.

 

Secondly, meditation practice is known to improve emotion regulation and non-judgmental acceptance of the present moment (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/07/17/rethink-your-emotions/ and http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/07/17/control-emotions-the-right-way-with-mindfulness/). Meditators are better at sensing their emotions and controlling their reactions to those emotions. Thus meditation practice can reduce the influence of emotion on decision making and lead to better decisions. Finally, meditation practice improves empathy and compassion for others and it improves our ability to listen to the concerns of others (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/08/17/be-positive-with-loving-kindness-meditation/). This more compassionate understanding of others and attention to their desires and needs can lead to superior social decisions.

 

So practice meditation and make better decisions.

 

“We need to know how we are feeling. Mindfully acknowledging our feelings serves as an ’emotional thermostat’ that recalibrates our decision making. It’s not that we can’t be anxious, it’s that we need to acknowledge to ourselves that we are.” – Noreena Hertz

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

Alter Your Thinking with Meditation for Mental Health

psyjdc Leave a comment

 

Meditation has been shown to have significant promise as a treatment for a variety of mental illnesses, including depression (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/07/17/dealing-with-major-depression-when-drugs-fail/), obsessive compulsive disorder (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/07/17/mindfully-improve-psychological-wellbeing/), and worrying (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/07/17/stop-worrying/). It is known that one mechanism by which meditation works is by improving emotion regulation, making the individual better able to control and deal with emotions. Meditation also produces cognitive (thought) changes that appear to assist in improving mental challenges.

In today’s Research News article “Common Factors of Meditation, Focusing, and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy: Longitudinal Relation of Self-Report Measures to Worry, Depressive, and Obsessive-Compulsive Symptoms Among Nonclinical Students.”

https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1077150092308916/?type=1&theater

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4432024/

Sugiura and colleagues investigate how these cognitive effects of meditation might work to improve the symptoms of worry, depression, and obsessive-compulsive disorder. They studied five psychological states affected by meditation, refraining from catastrophic thinking, logical objectivity, self-observation, acceptance, and detached coping.

They found that detached coping was associated with a decrease in both depressive and obsessive compulsive symptoms. Detached coping is a cognitive skill involving detachment and distancing from external events. This is cultivated by meditation in developing non-judgmental awareness of what is transpiring in the present moment. This allows the individual to simply observe what is happening around them without becoming identified with the events, which then are taken much less personally and thereby have a much smaller impact on depression and obsessions and compulsions.

Sugiura and colleagues also found that refraining from catastrophic thinking was associated with a decrease in worrying. Refraining from catastrophic thinking involves cognitive skills to analyze and reinterpret negative thoughts. This effect was meditated by negative beliefs about worrying, where refraining from catastrophic thinking is associated with fewer and less intense negative beliefs about worrying which in turn was associated with reduced worrying. Worrying about worrying is a problem in that it tends to intensify worrying. By reducing the negative beliefs about worrying meditation interrupts this process disabling the worrying about worrying. In this way meditation helps reduce worrying.

These findings indicate that, of the cognitive (thought) processes that are affected by meditation detached coping and refraining from catastrophic thinking are particularly important for relief of symptoms of troubling mental conditions. Both of these cognitive processes involve distancing the individual from the events and thoughts about the events that occur. This suggests that distancing attitudes are useful for long-term reduction of various psychological symptoms. It further emphasizes the importance of the non-judgmental observing that is cultivated by meditation.

So, meditate, improve non-judgmental observing, and improve mental health.

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies