Some clues about brain mastery and conflict resolution: How mindful are you? Want to find out?

From Stephanie West Allen’s blog on Neuroscience and conflict resolution .

Because of its role in both brain mastery and conflict resolution, several times in the past I have posted here at BonP about mindfulness (click to see mindfulness posts). If you want to gauge your mindfulness, some mindfulness instruments or scales have been designed. One of them is the Mindfulness Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS). Here are the first seven MAAS questions—with a link below to the other questions and the test instructions:

1. I could be experiencing some emotion and not be conscious of it until some time later.

2. I break or spill things because of carelessness, not paying attention, or thinking of something else.

3. I find it difficult to stay focused on what’s happening in the present.

4. I tend to walk quickly to get where I’m going without paying attention to what I experience along the way.

5. I tend not to notice feelings of physical tension or discomfort until they really grab my attention.

6. I forget a person’s name almost as soon as I’ve been told it for the first time.

7. It seems I am “running on automatic” without much awareness of what I’m doing.

Click to see the rest of the MAAS questions and scoring instructions on page 826 here (pdf). You will probably need to move your viewing up to 100%.

I have blogged before four reasons why I am not a big fan of self-report tests. Nevertheless, I think they can provide clues and thought experiments. What did you learn if you took the MAAS? Does mindfulness help you in conflict resolution? If so, how?

Hat tip to Gretchen Rubin for reminding me of this assessment.

                       

Stephanie West Allen

Stephanie West Allen, JD, practiced law in California for several years, held offices in local bar associations, and wrote chapters for California Continuing Education of the Bar. While in CA, Stephanie completed several five-day mediation training programs with the Center for Mediation in Law, as well as a two-year intensive… MORE >