Mindfulness Essay

Mindfulness is key to having an adventurous, exciting life. Not only does it allow many alternative views to how one looks at an experience, it also allows one to go beyond the capabilities of someone who is mindless. Life without mindfulness is no life at all. Throughout this paper, I’ll explain a few of the major concepts Langer discusses in his book, use those concepts for application purposes, and incorporate “Mindfulness and Psychological Process.”

One of the most common views in education is that in order to learn a skill one must practice it until it occurs without though. Performing skills over and over again only result in mindless interaction with that skill, and mindlessness is a limitation to discovery. Discovery frequently arises because of a variance of the basics. As I have tried to learn to play the guitar, I have noticed myself using this mindfulness concept. I have discovered that no matter how hard I try, I am not able to play as it was second nature to me. I originally thought of this being a problem; but, after reading Langer’s book, I have realized that it allows me to be mindful during my practices.

Langer discusses how the standard approach to teaching new skills relies on either lecturing to instruct students or using direct experience to instruct students. Langer offers a third method which she calls "sideways learning". It involves maintaining a mindful state that is characterized by alertness to distinction, openness to novelty, sensitivity to different contexts, awareness of multiple perspectives, and orientation in the present. Sideways learning makes it possible to produce limitless distinctions, and these distinctions are essential to mindfulness.

Many times, as Langer points out in his ...

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...nvironment. Those who are able to cope with their environment better are more intelligent. Being in honors, I always thought of intelligence as cramming as much information in my mind as possible. I have taken what Langer suggests and applied it to my life. Although I may not know quantum physics, I have an understanding with my environment that goes beyond that.

A mindful person has unlimited possibilities to how they handle situations. Mindfulness allows us to be in control of our every move. It increases our capacity to learn, boosts our likelihood of success, increases our happiness, and, basically, improves our lives in a way that would be impossible otherwise. I believe Langer would agree that mindfulness is essential to reaching one’s true capacity as an individual, and it means that we implicitly know that there is no one absolute standard for action.