1 / 35

Mindfulness and Emotional Intelligence

Mindfulness and Emotional Intelligence. with Timothy W. Pedigo Ph.D. Psychology and Counseling Governors State University. What is Mindfulness?. Definition of Mindfulness:. It may be best defined as awareness of one’s present experience with acceptance.

marissam
Télécharger la présentation

Mindfulness and Emotional Intelligence

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Mindfulness andEmotional Intelligence with Timothy W. Pedigo Ph.D. Psychology and Counseling Governors State University

  2. What is Mindfulness?

  3. Definition of Mindfulness: It may be best defined as awareness of one’s present experience with acceptance.

  4. Mindfulness is:intentionally directing one’s attention to the present experience without being overcome by: • judgment (rejecting experience) • internal dialogue (internal noise) • emotional reactivity (triggers) • physical reactivity (impulses) • clinging onto pleasant experience

  5. Mindfulness Meditation • Concentration, Awareness, & Diligence • Designed to strengthen mindfulness • Without trying we develop habits of escaping, distracting, and avoiding our own experience. • Meditation is less about having a wonderful experience than it is about strengthening the habit of mindfulness. • The goal of a meditation practice is to strengthen the habit of mindfulness so it is greater than our habits of escape, distraction, and avoidance. • It takes awhile before you reap its benefits.

  6. Doing Mindfulness Meditation • Sitting meditation: • sitting still (try not to move) • back straight but relaxed • focus on your breath in abdomen (in-pause-out) • maintaining awareness of internal and external stimuli (and responses?) • do not try to block out anything (sense doors are open) • return back to breath when “caught in thought”

  7. Doing Mindfulness Meditation • Walking meditation: • focus on lifting, placing, shifting feet • same directions otherwise: come back to your sensation of walking when “caught in thought” • Eating meditation: • focus on bring food to mouth, • touching and/or seeing food • putting food in mouth, salivating, and tasting • chewing and eventual swallowing

  8. Doing Mindfulness Meditation Can be done with many other activities: • Doing the dishes • Sweeping • Listening And Talking

  9. Research Findings On Meditation: • increases positive feelings and well-being • decreases anxiety, depression, & stress • reverses memory loss • increases tolerance to pain • strengthens immune functioning • Improves ability to focus • may ward off effects of ageing • Increases capacity for emotional regulation

  10. What is Emotional Intelligence?

  11. Following Gardner’s (1983) concept of“Multiple Intelligences” ,Salvoy and Mayer (1990) coined the term“Emotional Intelligence”as one of the many types of intelligence.

  12. Salovey and Mayer’s definition: “a form of social intelligence that involves the ability to: • monitor one’s own and other’s feeling and emotion (awareness), • discriminate among them (understanding), • and to use this information to guide one’s thinking and emotion (management).”

  13. Goleman’s Model of E.I. • Popularized first in his book on E.I. (1995) • Developed in his book Primal Leaderhip(2002) with Richard Boyatzis and Annie McKee • Four generic domains • Self awareness • Social-awareness • Self-management • Relationship management

  14. Mindfulness andthe Cascading Model of E.I.(Joseph and Newman, 2010) Emotional Perception Emotional Understanding Emotional Regulation

  15. Mindfulness andthe Cascading Model of E.I. Emotional Perception Emotional Understanding Emotional Regulation 1.Mindfulness helps us to be aware and sensitive to emotion 2. Mindfulness helps us to tolerate feelings, so we can “looking deeply” into our painful emotions 3. Mindfulness helps develop a larger view & heart to make wiser decisions & act with great skillfulness

  16. 1. Mindfulness andEmotional Perception (Mindfulness) Emotional Monitoring Identify Feelings (+ or -) Self Other

  17. Awareness and Identification of Feelings Four Possibilities: • Aware of self feelings but not of others. • Aware of others feelings but not of self. • Aware of neither self or other. • Aware of both self and other. • May become aware of the interaction? If so then relational awareness is possible

  18. Pleasant and Unpleasant feelings within self and/or other • The Goal of Mindfulness is be aware of all of four quadrants: “wholistic awareness”: • awareness of self and other • awareness of pleasant and unpleasant feelings

  19. Mindlessness and the Vicious Cycle Unpleasant feelings arise (return again) Another trigger Dissociate/ numb (similarity) (get rid of feelings) Avoid and stay distracted

  20. 2. Mindfulness and Emotional Understanding: the Schema Approach • Cognitive Psychology (Beck, Young) • Schemas: cognitive elaborations of the triggered experience that amplify the emotion we experience so it is more painful or pleasurable than otherwise. • Emotional Alchemy: Tara Bennett-Goleman (2001)

  21. 2. Mindfulness and Emotional Understanding schema effect original experience amplifies emotion

  22. Buddhist formulation for Suffering (dukha) Suffering Equals Pain times Resistance (the resistance begins in the schema)

  23. Schemas in Close Relationships • Abandonment: “I will be left alone, without anyone” • Deprivation: “My needs won’t ever be met” • Subjugation: “Others’ needs always take priority” • Mistrust: “People can’t be trusted” • Unlovability: “No one will ever love me”

  24. Schemas in the World • Exclusion: “I’m always the outsider, no place for me” • Vulnerability: “Something horrible is going to happen” • Failure: “I’m not worthy/smart enough to succeed” • Perfectionism: “I’ll never be good enough to succeed” • Entitlement: “Rules don’t apply to me, I’m special”

  25. Schema Attacks(Amygdala Hijacking) • Consciously we seem okay until we encounter a trigger that brings on an attack. • When the attack occurs our prefrontal cortex is disabled and we go into the emergency mode: fight, flight, freeze • Our perception is narrowed we see only the danger, we not only lose our reasoning ability but also our awareness of the surround.

  26. 2. Mindfulness and Emotional Understanding Mindfulness Interrupts a Schema attack through increased awareness of: • when a schema is affecting us • behavioral reactivity: fight, flight, freeze • intense emotional reactivity • the stimuli that trigger our schemas • consideration that another person is reacting out of a schema • the need for understanding and forgiveness of self and other.

  27. 3. Mindfulness and Emotional Regulation • With mindfulness we “contain” ourselves from the emotional and behavioral reactivity caused by schemas. • With mindfulness we can “look deeply” into our schemas and “see” the original pain from which our schema distortions developed. • With mindfulness we experience compassionate understanding for ourselves (instead of harsh judgment), feel better and more easily “let go” of our fixations. • Extending our understanding beyond ourselves, we can understand others better (increased empathy).

  28. Mindfulness and Emotional Regulation • With mindfulness we come out of the emergency mode and we can use our rational capacities much better. • With mindfulness we relax into a greater awareness of the surround: the people and contexts that affect what is happening now. • With mindfulness we are more relaxed and open.

  29. 3. Mindfulness and Emotional Regulation • Most importantly, • because our hearts and minds are open, • and because we are calm and can think, • we make better decisions, • and we act with greater wisdom and compassion.

  30. Meditation, E.I., and Neuroscience

  31. Meditation, E.I., and Neuroscience • The research suggests that greater E.I. occurs: • when there is balanced left-right hemisphere activation (Rt:rational,linear/ Lt:intuitive,spatial) • when the limbic system is not overly activated (amygdala hijacking/ schema attack) and therefore stays in communication with the prefrontal cortex. • when mirror neurons are strengthened (in frontal and parietal lobes insula limbic system). • when the brain is working as an integrated whole.

  32. Meditation, E.I., and Neuroscience • Meditation practice seems to improve all four: • Increases left-right balance allowing for rational- intuitive integration. • Decreases amygdala hijacking allowing for a larger, calmer perspective with rational thought. • Increases mirror neurons allowing for greater compassion and empathy. • long-term meditators have higher levels of gamma waves in brain suggesting total brain sychrony.

  33. Conclusion Increase your emotional intelligence by increasing your mindfulness And increase your mindfulness through mediation. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FoVuPTqj7gk&feature=related

  34. Meditation at GSU this Summer Mondays at noon with Tim Pedigo OR Thursdays at 3:30 pm with Dave O’Donnell Locations: TBA

More Related