A Talk from Ted on Mindfulness..

This is actually a talk from psychologist Richard Davidson, not Ted. For week six, I wanted to use YouTube to learn more about mindfulness. I love TED Talks, so naturally, I gravitated to a TED Talks video. In the video, Richard starts by discussing the four main challenges humans face and then proceeds to share the four pillars of a healthy mind that humans desperately need. I will break down what he shared below!

Four Critical Challenges That Humans Face:

1. Distractibility- 47% of the time, the average American adult is NOT paying attention to what they are doing = significantly less happy + increase in ADHD among US children
2. Loneliness- 76% of middle-aged Americans report moderate to high levels of loneliness.
3. Negative Self-Talk and Depression-Increase over the last three years in the diagnosis of depression. Increase in suicides.
4. Loss of Meaning and Purpose- People in their 60s with low purpose in life are over 2x as likely to die within five years as those with high levels.

I was not overly surprised by these four challenges. However, loneliness was not a topic that came to my mind. But once he started talking about it, it made sense. It reminded me of Jodi Carrington’s book Feeling Seen. That entire book talks about how all humans need and thrive off connection. I highly suggest reading this book if you haven’t already!

Richard made it clear that “we are not thriving… but we could be.” This is when he introduces the four pillars of a healthy mind.

Four Pillars of a Healthy Mind:

1. Awareness- resist distraction, quality meta-awareness
2. Connection- nurture relationships, compassion, positive outlook
3. Insight- the narrative we all have about ourselves- changes our relationship to it. Constellation of thoughts.
4. Purpose- having a sense that our life is heading in a particular direction

These four pillars can help strengthen mindfulness practice and are an excellent framework for implementing a mindfulness program in the classroom. If you read my last blog post, I talked about mindfulness in the school and mentioned wanting to put more thought into how I want to implement mindfulness meaningfully. These pillars will be of great use to me.

To conclude the TedTalk, Richard prompts the viewers to think about training their brains. He says it is possible; we do it all the time. However, two types of learning are needed to train our brains effectively.

1. Declarative learning
2. Procedural learning

We need both of these to experience transformation. Our brains do not have fixed wiring; instead, they are adaptable if we choose to train them.

While listening to this TedTalk, I reflected on my mindfulness journey and realized I practice mindfulness frequently during my everyday routines. I would say that I follow the four pillars of a healthy mind. That said, there is always room to grow, and I think the main area I would like to work on is the meta-awareness aspects. I want to become more aware of my thoughts throughout the day, recognize when my brain is wandering, and bring my focus back to my task. Which ultimately is why I chose mindfulness for this learning project.