One of the things I wish to do in this blog is to present a number of “functional mindsets” or “functional metaphors.” These are states of mind, ways of viewing and interacting with the world around and within us that are more optimized for our individual goals than other, culturally inherited paradigms. I could talk around this for pages, so let me give an example to demonstrate first.

I suspect most of you have heard the somewhat smarmy platitude “have an attitude of gratitude” before. As poetry, it stinks. As useful lifestyle instructions, however, it excels. Positive psychology research (the field of psychology that deals not with pathology and dysfunction, but the social and neurological dynamics of happiness and satisfaction) indicates that conscientiously adopting gratitude as a mindset by doing exercises such as writing down 5 things you’re grateful for every day is strongly positively linked to an experience of life that is happy, content, and joyful.

Mind-body research shows that expressing gratitude before eating (to God, the farmers who grew your vegetables, the animals that died for your meat, the company you’re in, the good day you’re having, whoever and whatever you feel like) actually increases nutrient absorption. This makes sense at the least because it will increase your appreciation of what you’re eating, and therefore likely decrease the speed at which you’re eating it, though who knows what tricky processes might be invoked on a metabolic level when you’re saying grace? Practicing gratitude makes you physically and emotionally healthier.

Gratitude is a highly functional mindset.

Sharing functional mindsets can be a powerful way of cooperatively and collaboratively growing with friends and family. Viewing concepts like gratitude, detachment, and contemplation (to name a few) as functional mindsets makes it easier to simply experiment with them, notice what results you get, notice when you’re using them, when you’re not, and what you get out of adopting them, and then make informed decisions about how you’re living your life.

It all comes down to choice. The easiest definition of a functional mindset, then, is a state of mind or way of viewing the world that either brings you new functionality, or one that increases your conscious awareness of having a choice in how to respond to your environment. A functional mindset is one that helps you feel more powerful.

For more on positive psychology and happiness research, I heartily recommend checking out:

• The Happiness Hypothesis, by Jonathan Haidt and
• Happier, by Tal Ben-Shahar