Counter-Clockwise: The Psychology of Possibility

 A Guided Encounter with Langer: Counterclockwise

Robert Greenleaf in Servant Leadership claimed that "prophetic voices of great clarity and with quality of insight equal to that of any age" are speaking in our time. It is very important for servant leaders/followers to discern and affirm those prophets.

Ellen J. Langer (Wikipedia) is a social psychologist who was the first woman to be tenured in Harvard's psychology department.  This is her website.  She certainly has a high quality of insight into mindfulness and the psychology of possibility, especially in regard to aging, and health problems.

Her first major book, Mindfulness (The 25th Anniversary Edition, is rather abstract and technical, but very helpful in understanding her concept of "mindfulness" as applied to all aspects of life.

Her most influential work Counterclockwise: Mindful Health and the Power of Possibility deals with aging and health deterioration. Most of us have experience with those topics either directly or indirectly. It is the better book to begin to understand the concept of "mindfulness" and therefore the subject of this guided encounter with her work.

On Becoming an Artist: Reinventing yourself through Mindful Creativity is a step toward a spirituality in which mindful creativity is not the rare gift of the few but a part of everyone's daily life. 

Author's Note:
This book could be read as anti-established medicine.
It is therefore important to state that
if I personally were to experience extreme health symptoms
I would go to my doctor, but there is little else that I would do that is traditional.

This book is a challenge to all establishments whether medical, educational or religious where mindless and uncreative thinking about ourselves and our environments are often pervasive.  

Understanding "Mindfulness"