Dr. Ellen Langer

It was fun.

It was interesting.

And when it was a job, their minds wandered.

They resented doing it, even though the thing they were doing would seem to be almost inherently fun.

Right.

So, you know, I don't know that if you were doing brains or any kind of surgery at the moment you're doing it, you want to be lighthearted.

And but it should at the least be interesting.

You know, the doctors make a lot of errors, no different from the rest of us, except medical errors are very costly and cost people their lives.

And those all result to go back to your original question.

How do we fix everything by making people more mindful?

When you're more mindful, you see what's going on.

And you know that you were leaving that sponge inside the person's body before you sewed them up.

So no matter what you're doing, if you're doing it mindfully, you're going to be enjoying it.

And if you're enjoying it, that's going to be its own reward, which will probably lead to the longer life.

Is it possible to lose weight by your thinking alone?

Well, that's what seemed to be the case with the chambermaid's study.

But I think that, again, if you want to stop doing something that you're doing, the best way to do it is not to look at the result of what you've done, but to look at why you're doing it in the first place.

Can you give me an example?

Well, sure.

You know, that I've gained 20 pounds, therefore I want to take off the 20 pounds.