Ellen Langer

I want to be clear that I am not arguing against medical tests. I am arguing against mindless reliance on them and the mindless state that they can lead to.

The mindlessness of our approach to our health is remarkable in its backwardness. We ignore our health until we think we need to become health experts. Instead, we ought to attend to our bodies mindfully while being health learners.

While we object strenuously to people trying to control our minds, we too easily give up control of our bodies. It is time to take back control, to become more mindful—to notice subtle changes in our bodies, in our circumstances, and in our relationships, and to help those we care about do the same.

Over time I have come to believe less and less that biology is destiny. It is not primarily our physical selves that limit us but rather our mindset about our physical limits.

When the will to act is thwarted, it atrophies into a wish to be taken care of.

Noticing differences is the essence of mindfulness. Don’t imagine, however, that all this noticing need be exhausting and leave little time for anything else. Mindfulness is actually energizing, not enervating.

With language placing the experimental groups’ minds in a healthier place, their bodies followed suit.

Too many of us believe the world is to be discovered, rather than a product of our own construction and thus to be invented.

Mindlessness is pervasive. In fact I believe virtually all of our problems—personal, interpersonal, professional, and societal—either directly or indirectly stem from mindlessness.

Virtually any task can be made pleasurable if we approach it with a different attitude. If we have long held a mindset that a particular activity is arduous, changing to a mindful attitude may be difficult, but the difficulty stems from the mindset not the activity.

The most effective way to increase our ability to pay attention is to look for the novelty within the stimulus situation, whether it is a story, a map, or a painting.

When faced with something that hasn’t been done before, people frequently express the belief that it can’t be done. All progress, of course, depends on questioning that belief.

How would things be different if we viewed all disease as psychosomatic? If this were the case, it might seem unreasonable and perhaps irresponsible not to try to heal ourselves.

The rigid mindsets we hold about ourselves affect our performance.

Because rigidly following set rules and being mindful are, by definition, incompatible, this book will not offer prescriptions.

How do we know if we do not ask? Why should we ask if we are certain we know? All answers come out of the question. If we pay attention to our questions, we increase the power of mindful learning.

Many of us, as students and teachers, are still in search of the one right answer. This belief in a single right answer rests on a view of intelligence that emphasizes outcome and expert authority.

Mindfulness lets us see things in a new light and believe in the possibility of change.