I’ve been listening to the audio book: The Developing Mind, 3rd Edition by Daniel J. Siegel M.D.
Siegel shared the term “mindsight” which he described as focused attention on the internal workings of our mind. “Mindsight” describes “our human capacity to perceive the mind of the self and others. It is a powerful lens through which we can understand our inner lives with more clarity, integrate the brain, and enhance our relationships with others.”
From my perspective, “mindsight” is a form of mindfulness communication that I believe is a requirement for our continued human evolution. Just as we’ve had a physical, biological evolution, we are now navigating a consciousness evolution and mindfulness is a precious tool.
Much of our collective identity has been shaped by our external world, but now is the time to mindfully shape our internal world to build a sustainable source of peace and loving kindness toward ourselves and all beings. Once we build a peaceful, mindful internal landscape, we can extend this energy into our external world to affirm our collective wellbeing and prosperity – I believe this is the only future worth creating and that can sustain life.
There is so much potentiality in each of us, this is a reason for hope! Our brains are magnificently designed to support our bodies, our are minds expansive in nature once unlocked through intention. In early childhood, brain development occurs at its most rapid pace, with more than 1 million neural connections formed every second.
According to Siegel, the most accessible doorway to develop the connections that enable “mindsight” is within the first years of life through a safe and secure primary caretaker relationship.
Siegel shares that the mind is a source of energy and information flow made up of 3 aspects: relational, neural, and subjective. He then goes on to share 4 facets of the mind that support the 3 aspects.
- Regulatory: our ability to self organize and integrate information and relational context, he notes that this may be a subject of further study and is perhaps the “heart of health.”
- Aware: our internal sense of knowing, i.e. our consciousness.
- Subjective: this is our “internal texture of life known by awareness” this relates to our sense of self, relationships, and environments.
- Information processing: this is based in our cognition, ability to recognize patterns, absorb stimuli and knowledge, process and recall information.
I understand this to be a progression, starting at 4 with information processing as the basic level of cognition and advancing to 1 with a refined regulatory ability. Once the regulatory ability is established, it then further strengthens development across all aspects. For example, information processing, now with increased regulatory functioning, becomes sharpened in its focus along with the subjective and aware aspects of our mind, advancing together.
A way to improve our mental health by optimizing the 4 aspects above, can be found in mindfulness practices that help to develop Siegel’s coined term “mindsight.” There are many ways to exercise mindfulness, Siegel has shared some tools to get started here.
For children, I have shared meditation and mindfulness practices in this post. Parents and caregivers should feel encouraged to develop their own mindfulness practice solo and with children in an age appropriate way. Doing so will support a “mindsight” connection to tune into the child’s needs allowing the caregiver to create an optimal environment for healthy development.
By exercising our “mindsight,” we can integrate our internal world, our external environment, and weave in our relationships through empathy to increase our connectivity to one another.
Photo by Ana Tablas on Unsplash
Learning to Create. 