Week 5

MINDFULNESS
&
PEAK PERFORMANCE
 Mindfulness
• Ellen Langer (1989) – centers on awareness
• The quality of attention that we bring to
everyday experiences
• Langer found that a certain style of attention
was related to increased well-being and
better adaptation termed
MINDFULLNESS
 MINDFULNESS
• Ellen Langer’s investigations of mindfulness
began with one of the more interesting and
simple experiments in the psychology
literature.
• Langer and her colleague Judith Rodin (1976)
went to a nursing home and provided a small
investigation in order to investigate the sense
of control
 MINDFULNESS
• Some residents were given a small houseplant
to care for and were given minor increases in
decisional control over the daily lives.
• A year and a half later those who had given
the responsibility for the plant were more
cheerful, alert and active than other residents.
• Less than half of the decision-making
plant-minding residents had died compare to
others.
 MINDFULNESS
• Langer & Rodin- the difference btw the two
grp to pay attention to their environment, to
notice what was happening around them, and
to be more mindful of their own experiences.
 Mindfulness
“paying attention in a particular way;

On purpose, in the present moment,

and non-judgmentally”
(Jon Kabat-Zinn, 1994, pg4).

Intention

Attention Attitude
 MINDFULNESS
• Is paying attention to one’s own on-going
experience in a way that allows openness and
flexibility.
• It is being fully present and aware during our
daily activities.
• When ppl are mindful they are open to new
experiences and points of view, able to create
new categories for information processing &
pay attention to process and outcomes.
 MINDFULNESS
• Ellen Langer says well-being is not associated with
moving through life on automatic pilot but actively
participating in the ongoing experiences of life with
openness and creativity.
• Ppl go through life waiting for something important ,
significant or meaningful to happen and all the time
that they are forget to notice their real lives.
• Mindfulness – gives us the opportunity to experience
our world with fresh eyes and ears.
• It helps us to create new categories of experiences.
 MINDFULNESS
• Mindfulness- helps us to be open to new
information and to allow us to see more than
one point of view.
• -It can help to break down the rigid categories
that we use to make information processing
easier at the expense of understanding and
complexity.
• -Mindful approach to life can help us focus on
the process of living our lives rather than the
goals and hoped for accomplishments.
 MINDFULNESS
• John Lennon remarked that our life is what
happens while we are waiting for our “real
life” to begin.
• The old saying that we have to “stop and smell
the roses” is a reminder that we must pay
attention to the journey as well as the goals.
 MINDFULNESS
• In order to feel better for what mindfulness is,
it is helpful to describe its opposite-
mindlessness.
• When we are in a state of mindlessness, our
thoughts wander, we are not paying attention
to what is going on around us;
• Difficult to actively process all of the
information that comes to us every moment
of the day.
 MINDFULNESS
• When we live in a chronic state of
mindlessness, we are on automatic pilot and
respond habitually to our world without
thinking about we are actually doing or saying.
Buddhist Approach to Mindfulness
• Eastern Psychology –Buddhism meditation practices
mindfulness.
• Mindfulness is defines as an open or receptive
awareness in which attention focused on one’s
ongoing immediate experience.
• Two components involves 1.) self regulation of
attention- a person sustains attention to immediate
experiences. (eg. attentional switching). 2.)
Openness to experiences encompassing curiosity,
acceptance and reduction in strategies normally used
to avoid the unwelcoming aspect.
Buddhist Approach to Mindfulness
• Applications to Buddhist style mindfulness to Western Psychology came from Jon
Kabat-Zinn Medical Center.
• He took on the difficult task of treating chronic-pain patients, many had not
responded well to traditional pain-management therapy. –Teaching people to deal
with pain by helping then to become more aware of it.
• Important –to help people let go of the constant tension that accompanies their
fighting of pain a struggle that actually prolongs their awareness of pian.
• Mindfulness meditation allows many people to increase their sense of well-being
and to experience a better quality of life through the principle that we try to ignore
or repress unpleasant thoughts or sensations will only end up in increasing their
intensity.
• Three core elements in Buddhist-style mindfulness meditation
• 1.) Intention
• 2.) Attention
• 3.) Attitude
 12 Elements of Attitude in Mindfulness Meditation
• 1.) Nonjudging- observing present moment without evaluation.
• 2.) Nonstriving –non-goal-oriented, remaining unattached to outcome or
achievement.
• 3.) Nonattachment-Letting go of grasping and clinging to outcom and allowing the
process to simply unfold.
• 4.) Acceptance-Seeing and acknowledging things as they are in the present moment.
• 5.) Patience- Allowing things to enfold in their time.
• 6.) Trust- Developing a basic trust in your experience.
• 7.) Openness- Seeing things freshly as if for the first time.
• 8.) Curiosity-A spirit of interest, investigation and exploration.
• 9.) Letting Go- Nonattachment, non holding on to thoughts, feelings and
experience.
• 10.) Gentleness- A soft, considerate and tender quality (not passive, undisciplined
or indulgent)
• 11.) Nonreactivity- Ability to respond with consciousness and clarity instead of
automatically reacting in a habitual and conditioned way.
• 12.) Loving-kindness- Friendliness, benevolence and love.
Is It Just Distraction?

“Meditation is not an escape from

life … but preparation for really
being in life”

Thich Nhat Han

 Savouring
• Most ppl have had the experience of pausing to really
experience something that is pleasurable.
• It could be taking time to really taste ice-cream on a hot
summer day or absorbing all the sensations while sitting
quietly on an isolated beach at sunset.
• Fred Bryant and Joseph Veroff refer to these moments as
savoring- an awareness of pleasure along with a quite
deliberating attempt to focus attention on the sensation and
relish it.
• They belief is four basic types of savoring: Basking, marveling,
luxuriating and thanksgiving
• They believe there are also five ways to enhance savouring -
Absorption, sharpening the senses, memory building, sharing
with others and self-congratulation.
 Savouring
• Bryant and Veroff -Basic types of savoring:
• 1.) Basking-Receiving praise and congratulations
• 2.) Marveling- Getting lost in the wonder of the moment
• 3.) Luxuriating- indulging in a sensation
• 4.) Thanksgiving- expressing gratitude
• Suggested 5 ways to enhance savoring by absorption,
sharpening the senses, memory-building, sharing with others
and self-congratulation.
What Keeps Us Stuck in Distress?

ot ions Painful
ful Em Though
Pain s
ts
orie
Mem
n ful nsation
s
Pai Painf u l S e
 PEAK PERFORMANCE
• Gayle Privette describe those moments when we
perform at a level that is beyond our normal level of
functioning.
• Conceptualized as behavior that is “more efficient,
more creative, more productive or in some ways
better than the ordinary behavior and may occur in
any facet human activity: intellectual, emotional or
physical.
• Eg. Almost every one can recall at least one incident
of how they performed miraculously far better than
they normally do.
• Eg. Superior performance on an exam
 PEAK PERFORMANCE
• Eg.Unusual courage or perseverance or an episode quoted
above of an athletic performance beyond what the person
believed they were capable of.
• Gayle Privette defines peak performance as behavior that
transcends or goes beyond predictable functioning to use a
person’s potential more fully than could be reasonably
expected
• It is an especially high level of functioning
• It can occur in any activity
• It is the full use of any human power
• Almost everyone couldshow peak performance under the
right conditions (Privette & Landsman, 1983)
 PEAK PERFORMANCE
• Privette’s investigations into peak
performance found that it can be described by
four parameter:-
• 1.) Clear focus on self, object and relationship
• 2.) Intense involvement in the experience.
• 3.) A strong intention to complete a task.
• 4.) A spontaneous expression of power.
 PEAK PERFORMANCE
• People will train for years to master a specific skill and may
make a conscious effort to induce a moment of peak
performance.
• This type is associated with sports performance, athletic
competition or creativity.
• Peak performance in sports- Sport
psychologists have eagerly adopted Pivette’s
idea of peak performance and applied it to
sports and athelics (Williams, 1993)
 Training for Peak Performance
-Sports psychologist Susan and Mihalyi offer several practical hints in athletic
performance.
-Their suggestions :
1.) Move beyond your comfort zone and challenge yourself
2.) Focus on process or moment-by-moment activity
3.) Be self-aware
4.) Believe in your skills and stop nagging self-doubt
5.) “Set a stage” or do necessary preparation before competition
6.) Practice a simple meditation exercise to help focus on the present and help
control unnecessary and distracting thoughts.
•Thank you