On my forays into the audiobook section at my local library, I recently stumbled into the book “Counter Clockwise: Mindful Health and the power of Possibility” by Ellen J. Langer. As I listened, I was more and more intrigued by the findings.
The Romans already declared that there is a healthy mind in a healthy body (mens sana in corpore sano), some believe in “Mind over Matter”, and the researchers are looking into the relationship between mind and body.
The subject of Ellen Langer’s book explores this relationship, and she does so from an interesting angle. Henry Ford observed quite correctly: "Whether you believe you can, or you can't, you are right", and it appears that this statement extends well beyond academic accomplishment.
Ellen Langer demonstrates in an experiment that it is possible to turn back the clock. She took nursing home residents and placed them into an environment reminiscent of a time many years earlier, and – in a way – people were told to role play for the duration of the study. And – guess what – at the end of the study, the participants had many significant improvements on a vast array of measurable parameters.
Ellen Langer also looks at language and how it can empower or disempower. This struck a chord for me because – as a trainer – I always like to challenge my clients to do new and different things even though I am careful to only pick things that are within their reach. I sometimes encounter clients who initially will state that they do not believe that they can do it. Usually they then proceed to do the ‘impossible’, and this budding believe into their own abilities then feeds on itself.
It is not possible to do this book justice in just a few paragraphs. I want to encourage you to read it for yourself. You may just end up being several years younger at the end of it.
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