On July 6, Mind & Life will honor the Dalai Lama’s birthday with the release of “Evolution of the Heart.” The 36-minute film chronicles conversations between the Dalai Lama, evolutionary biologist David Sloan Wilson, and social scientist Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela.
Topic Archives:
From Awareness to Action: Mind & Life’s Response to Anti-Asian Violence
The horrific treatment of Asian-Americans continued this week with the brutal attack of a 65-year-old Filipino woman on a New York City street. In the wake of such attacks comes the analysis of our collective paralysis, and the recognition that the news that makes it to the headlines fails to account for the pervasiveness of …
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Engaging Differences: How Learning Communities Can Help
Mind & Life periodically invites guest writers to contribute their perspectives and experiences to the blog as a way of deepening dialogue and understanding around key themes related to our mission. In 2018, I found myself facing a new entanglement in my research. I had been researching and facilitating the use of dance to transform …
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The role of the contemplative ecological education system in the development of social-emotional competencies during early childhood
In today’s world problems of low attention span, impulsivity and hyperactivity are affecting 2-7 % of children, with India reporting a higher than global estimates at 11%. Disturbances in regulating attention is believed to have a detrimental effect SEL competencies. Traditionally, the educational setups of ancient India were located in natural surroundings. Contemplative practices, and …
A Whole Trait Theory Account of Mindfulness in Adolescence
Parallel streams of research show that adolescents’ social ecologies and contemplative practices both play roles in the development of trait mindfulness, but these lines of inquiry rarely intersect or enrich one another. This project draws from whole trait theory to propose and test a framework that bridges these two streams by offering a broad account …
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Community engagement in contemplative training and research with law enforcement
There is a desperate need for novel approaches to stop violent and unjust police treatment of communities of color, and to reduce the othering and disconnection between police and community members. Our previous research suggests benefits of mindfulness and related contemplative practices for police well-being and mental health, but due to the centering of police …
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Aware, awake, woke: How a brief mindfulness intervention fosters prosocial/ethical attitudes
Buddhist and psychological models of awakening often propose that ethical sensitivities that encompass “peace, compassion, mindfulness and more justice” (Dalai Lama) can be fostered through mindfulness. The literature and our own previous work (Verhaeghen & Aikman, 2020) suggest that increased trait mindfulness is indeed associated with stronger endorsement of care and fairness/justice as moral values, …
Making PEACE, one moment at a time: Mindfulness-Based Trauma Recovery for Refugees
We theorize that mindfulness and compassion training tailored to forcibly displaced refugees will have significant salutary pro-social effects. By means of a randomized (active) control design, we will test whether Mindfulness-Based Trauma Recovery for Refugees (MBTR-R) has restorative pro-social effects on traumatized Eritrean asylum seekers. Pro-social outcomes include (i) Trust, (ii) Compassion, (iii) Pro-social inter-personal …
Calling on Our Shared Humanity
As we all navigate the current moment of uncertainty surrounding the U.S. Presidential election, we recognize that many of the challenges in today’s world have roots in the mind—and that there, too, lie solutions. Through bringing science and contemplative wisdom together, we seek to foster insights that can contribute to individual, collective, and planetary flourishing. With this in mind, I would like to share five kernels of wisdom, gleaned from members of Mind & Life’s expanding community, to help guide the way forward.
Inspiring Minds – October 2020
Join Mind & Life for our monthly online series that brings together thought leaders and contemplatives to engage with one another and the audience in exploring the role of the mind in human flourishing. At a time of profound global crises, we’ll be looking at how science and contemplative wisdom can inform efforts to build a more just, compassionate, and inclusive world.
