In this episode—Dr. Ellen Langer, the Harvard psychologist who has studied mindfulness and mind-body unity for nearly fifty years, joins Richard to explain why mindfulness is not meditation, what the counterclockwise study revealed about aging, why the placebo is our strongest medicine, and how a diagnosis can become a self-fulfilling prophecy. Richard shares his own recovery from two terminal diagnoses at 82.

Guest: Dr. Ellen Langer—Professor of Psychology at Harvard (the first woman tenured in the department), author of Mindfulness, Counterclockwise, and The Mindful Body. More at ellenlanger.com.

Chapters

[00:00] The mission—connection as antidote to isolation

[02:23] Welcome, Dr. Ellen Langer

[03:03] Mindfulness is not meditation

[04:30] The horse and the hot dog—everything I knew could be wrong

[06:00] How to become mindful: notice three new things

[10:00] Noticing makes others feel cared for—and it’s enlivening

[17:50] Mind-body unity since 1977

[20:15] The counterclockwise study

[30:01] Imagined exercise builds real muscle

[31:21] The borderline effect—69 vs. 70

[35:18] ADHD, labels, and pharmaceutical collusion

[40:05] Placebo, sham surgery, and “you’re making yourself well”

[45:40] Richard’s two terminal diagnoses—and recovery

[52:30] Add life to your years

[55:20] Make the decision right, not the right decision