Elevator Archives - World of Psychology

Mental Floss: How Meditation is Like Brushing Your Teeth A colleague challenged me the other day while we were waiting for the elevator about the value of meditation. She gave me a very hard time.

“I don’t understand why you positive psychologists get your undies in a bunch about meditation,” she said, “I tried it and I think it is the stupidest thing in the world. Stop your mind — and breathe.”

“Well,” I began, “it really isn’t just about trying to stop your mind. Often it is about breathing, but I really think if you believe it is stupid it probably isn’t going to work.”

“See — you have an answer for everything. So if I think it is going to be stupid, then it is going to be stupid. You always put it back on the person. If meditation is going to work, why do I have to believe in it? Why doesn’t it just work?”

“How often have you tried to meditate?” I asked, trying to keep from responding.

When Your Husband Isn't Like a Wall -- He Is a Wall “The Great Wall of China’s attractive, but he’s too thick — my husband is sexier.”
— Eija-Riitta EklÃ¶f-Berliner-Mauer, The woman who married the Berlin Wall

Do objects have souls?

A few weeks ago my laptop’s battery was in trouble and I had to bring it in for a checkup. While the computer was being fixed my Blackberry simply stopped operating. I was frantic.

I felt betrayed by the objects I rely on, â€˜love’ and care for. “Why is this happening to me?” was my new mantra.

One of my friends suggested that Mercury was in retrograde; another asked if I had done something to offend my favorite objects. We laughed, recalling a Woody Allen routine where his appliances are on the fritz and he hits them, and when he goes into the elevator the elevator asks if he was the one who roughed up the toaster.

We all have a connection to objects. The more contact we have with them, the more intimate our relationship, the more we ascribe to them human feelings and gender attributes. “The car died – she won’t turn over” and “I love my new phone” are common examples.

But where does it end?

Elevator

Mental Floss: How Meditation is Like Brushing Your Teeth

When Your Husband Isn’t Like a Wall — He Is a Wall