Did you know that you can tie mindfulness into your moral focus?
In a 2016 article, Matthew Brensilver, Ph.D presented research from two psychiatrist out of the University of California San Diego and then linked it to mindfulness. The psychiatrists research was on the Neurobiology of Wisdom. In his article, Brensilver broke down the six components of wisdom and linked each to mindfulness.
The 6 components of Wisdom:
1. Prosocial attitudes and behaviors
2. Emotional Homeostasis
3. Self-Understanding
4. Value Tolerance
5. Acknowledgement and dealing effectively with uncertainty and ambiguity
6. Social Decision-making
The first tenant of wisdom is prosocial attitudes and behaviors, Brensilver states that mindfulness is defined by prosocial values, such as heartfulness. Jon Kabat-Zinn, who is seen as the father of modern mindfulness, states that heartfulness and kindness are woven deep into the fabric of mindfulness. A prosocial value is kindness and Kabat-Zinn states that mindfulness begins and ends with kindness.
As we explore wisdom this month we can link the kindness of mindfulness to wisdom.
Research again and again presents examples of mindfulness enhancing emotional homeostasis.
Last week we talked about purpose and how a purpose helps us maintain an emotional homeostasis. Purpose can be seen as a kind of mindfulness. Mindfulness at its core is being present in the moment and aware of the moment. When we are present we can create and follow a purpose. Our purpose helps balance us and creates an emotional homeostasis.
When we practice mindfulness we are better able to gain a deeper sense of self-understanding, which is the third part to wisdom. In recent years neuroscientist Michael Posner, and others, have begun to discover that the more mindfulness is practiced the more self-aware we become and we gain a deeper sense of self-understanding.
As I introduce mindfulness to students I explain that mindfulness is; being present in the moment, without judgment. When we are better able to live without judgment toward ourselves we are then better able to build the wisdom skill of value tolerance. Value tolerance is the ability to see, accept, and embrace the ideas of others values.
Uncertainty happens and is out of our control. How we acknowledge it and react to it, is within our control. The wisdom value of handling uncertainty can be supported by the practice of mindfulness. Learning to accept our feelings and situations as they occur helps to gain wisdom regarding what we can and cannot control and how to handle the things we cannot control.
The last part to wisdom is social decision-making. Research shows that our lives are mostly social and thus filled with social decision-making. Studies also show that when we engage in a 5-minute daily mindfulness exercise we increase our self-understand and gain a better ability to understand others. When we are able to understand others and their emotions we are better able to make wise choices regarding interactions with others. Mindfulness increases positive social decision-making.
If you'd like to read the full article the link is below.
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