Are there any exercises or methods for quickly shifting perceptions? I have seen some of this with cognitive restructuring, but PP so far has been a bit quiet about perceptual shifting. Any ideas?

Thanks for bringing political debate back into pos-psych.com. (Also tks to Senia for not editing it out!)

I think as long as opposing viewpoints are honored, then pos-psych.com can comfortably serve as a place for reasonable argumentation. Plus it becomes harder and harder not to talk shop about politics because many of the potential solutions to problems of happiness are inextricably bound to solutions, although grassroots perhaps, which are political.

Besides, most newzines include an Op-Ed. It is a staple of journalism, so why not forego the censorship and see what shakes loose? Maybe we’ll get some good intervention ideas out of the mix.

I think Iris and Kat, you both are right in many important ways. Especially relevant is your emphasis on the relationship and meaning issues. Savoring probably is a big part of the answer, but I would add a caveat. Only if the savoring serves to demonstrably reduce the perceived suffering of the vets. That’s the key, reducing suffering, because I bet these vets are in some pretty bad shape, perceptually.

I can imagine two twin veterans laying in bed, each with a leg missing and the first vet saying to the second, “I lost my leg, I can’t believe how unlucky I am, I wish I was dead” and the second vet saying “I kept one of my legs, I can believe how lucky I am, I am so glad to be alive”. Shifting perceptions is vastly important.

Here are a few places to get more information about the studies as UCLA that support this observation:

Neurological reason for doing mindfulness meditation: http://www.news-medical.net/?id=26828

Putting feelings into words produces therapeutic effects in the brain: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/06/070622090727.htm

Thank you for taking the time to listen, build trust, and then expand the thinking of the young man next to you on the plane. One of the horrible things about war is that it breeds hate that leads to future wars.

I understand that meaning will be experienced in many different ways. Some veterans will have direct experiences of meaning — saving the lives of their comrades, acting as role models of what Americans can and should be by demonstrating temperance and tolerance, helping out in personal ways the population of a country that is torn by civil war. We know in our own country that the wounds of a civil war can be longstanding. What have we learned from our own 142-year healing that could give the Iraqis a jumpstart?

For others, meaning may be harder to find and much less direct. Perhaps they’ve done things that they are not proud of. Perhaps they’ve suffered debilities that seem like pointless sacrifices. But meaning can come from ‘being’ as well as from ‘doing’. Sometimes meaning comes from giving someone else a chance to serve. Life is complicated that way.

Kathryn