- Got a lot of research done. I have scrolled through all 5000+ hits for "mindfulness" on the PsycInfo database and collected a sample of the ways in which it's being used. Some themes:
- Benefits of mindfulness: health, attention, positive psychological functioning, sex...
- Mindfulness changes the brain
- Mindfulness is a tool
- Mindfulness & compassion
- Mindfulness-based everything (stress reduction, cognitive therapy, eating awareness...)
- Mindfulness helping with psychopathology (depression, anxiety, substance abuse, addiction, psychosis)
- Mindfulness as part of a "new wave" of therapy (the "third wave")
- Issues in defining mindfulness, and how much the Western usage reflects the original Buddhist concept
- How effective is it?
- How much mindfulness do you need to make it effective?
- Mindfulness with youth and in education
- Mindfulness for so many populations (cancer patients, teachers, HIV patients, college students, parents, prisoners)
- Integrating Buddhist ideas with Western psychology
- Teaching mindfulness through internet/apps/phone programs
- Another use of mindfulness, headed by Ellen Langer's research, which was popular around the 1980s - 2003ish, and is now rarely used. Her concept is of mindfulness as active distinction making, kinda more to do with creativity and openness to novelty.
- Cooked a healthy meal that actually tasted pretty good! Veggie + tofu + noodle stir-fry with peanut sauce. I have discovered the power of cooking with sauce!!
- Got a nice email from someone I met at the mindfulness conference, sharing resources and generously offering to connect me with people in the future.
- Someone shared their password with me for something, and it made me laugh. Obviously I can't share what the password was but it was highly amusing :)
What did I learn?
- Why haven't I learned (still!) that I should just take a nap when I'm fading? I mindlessly wasted an hour or so before giving in. Listen to the body...
- How to put together a Consent Form for a research study.
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