We’ve all heard the little saying “mind over matter,” and while it’s a nice sentiment to get you to finish the 10th rep in an exercise in your barre class, it seems a bit far-fetched to think that your mind can do much more than that, like age you backwards or help with adverse reactions of your job. But psychologist Ellen Langer’s research tries to prove just that, as “The Good Life” podcast reported in 2024.
In an interview with Langer about her 2023 book, The Mindful Body, they wrote that she had conducted over four decades of research proving “that how you think, feel, believe and expect is just as important, if not even more so, than what you do…” And our quote of the dayby Langer shares her insight into the world of possibilities when you just open your mind to them.
Per Langer’s website, she has “written extensively on the illusion of control, aging, stress, decision-making and health without meditation” in “over 200 research articles and 13 books…” She earned her PhD at Yale University in Social and Clinical Psychology, and joined Harvard University’s staff in 1977. And according to Harvard, she became the first woman tenured in Harvard’s Department of Psychology. She’s also received many accolades, including three Distinguished Scientist Awards, the Staats Award for Unifying Psychology, a Guggenheim Fellowship and the Liberty Science Genius Award.
They call her the “mother of mindfulness” on Harvard’s Department of Psychology website, and that’s thanks to all of her work within the psychology of possibility and her research on mindfulness and the power of thought. And The New York Times dubbed her the “mother of positive psychology.”
She is still doing speaking engagements and continues to write, having published a book as recently as 2023. She is also still doing research, looking to “explore, extend and refine mindfulness theory across multiple domains.” She is also a gallery-exhibiting artist, per her website.
And today’s quote again dives into Langer’s essential theory regarding the possibilities available to us if we allow ourselves to be open-minded.
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Quote of the Day by Ellen Langer
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“We should open ourselves to the impossible and embrace a psychology of possibility.”
This quote appears in Langer’s 2009 book, Counterclockwise: Mindful Health and the Power of Possibility. The book basically poses the question, “If we could turn back the clock psychologically, could we also turn it back physically?” per its description.
It focuses a lot on Langer’s research, including her experiment in the 1970s where she took a group of men in their 70s and 80s and had them live as though it was 1959. They had decor, music, shows and more that were from 20 years prior, making them live and think like a younger version of themselves. They came out of the experiment with better memory, dexterity, appetite and overall well-being.
As the Harvard Magazine reported in 2010, the experiment hoped that the study would show what she hypothesized: “that our fixed ideas, internalized in childhood, can affect the way we age.”
She’s also done speeches and lectures on the psychology or “study of possibility,” which is “the study of what might be rather than a mere description of what is,” per The Care Side.
Related: Quote of the Day: Norman Lear on Why Everyone Has Something to Teach You
Deeper Meaning of Ellen Langer’s Quote—Open Yourself up to the ‘Impossible’
Even though Langer’s most famous experiment involved “reversing” the physical and psychological effects of aging, she has done other studies that also touch on this concept of opening your mind to the impossible, such as the chambermaid study. In this one, she looked at hotel maids, and with just a tweak in how they viewed their work (as exercise as opposed to a laborious job), they had positive results such as weight loss, improved blood pressure and more.
And Langer lives this quote as well. In an interview with James Whittaker for his podcast, “Win the Day,” he asked Langer if there are things she believes to be true even though it hasn’t been verified by science or research yet.
“The way I keep my mind open is by recognizing all we don’t know about the things we think we know,” she said. “And when you realize you don’t really know the things you think you know, then it’s easier to say, ‘Well, I don’t know this either, maybe there’s some way that it might be true.’”
While we don’t want to get into the realm of wishful thinking or fantastical elements, Langer’s work has shown that there is a very clear relationship between keeping an open mind to things, even if you deem them not possible.
So when looking at today’s quote, Langer is saying that when you close yourself off to things because you don’t think you deserve them or you just don’t see a way they can happen, you are really cutting yourself off at the knees, so to speak. If you do that, you’re stopping yourself from achieving things that might feel a little out of reach or “impossible.”
But when you believe in the psychology of possibility, and open yourself up to “the impossible,” more things can come your way. It’s all about being open and receiving gifts that might fall in your lap from that open-mindedness.
Related: Quote of the Day: Sandra Bullock on Why Worry Is Time You Never Get Back
More Quotes from Ellen Langer
- “Knowing what is and knowing what can be are not the same thing.”
- “What we have learned to look for in a situation determines mostly what we see.”
- “My ideas sometimes get the better of me. Before I clearly explain one, another comes to mind and seizes my attention….”
- “In the perspective of every person lies a lens through which we may better understand ourselves.”
- “Not only do we as individuals get locked into single-minded views, but we also reinforce these views for each other until the culture itself suffers the same mindlessness.”
- “Certainty is a cruel mindset. It hardens our minds against possibility.”
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