Implicit Bias, Brain Change and Being a Better Listener: Q and A with Americorp and Educators

Want to change your brain?  Be more compassionate?  Listen better to others?

Check out these resources based on the Q and A from Mindful Compassion and Connection, a training I facilitated in conjunction with the Educational Service Center of Central Ohio for Americorp volunteers and teachers.

What are more strategies or resources to help with implicit bias?  

Implicit bias is defined by the Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity as, “The attitudes or stereotypes that affect our understanding, actions, and decisions in an unconscious manner. Activated involuntarily, without awareness or intentional control. Can be either positive or negative. Everyone is susceptible.”

In addition to the Narratives of Inclusion activity (which we did in the workshop), here are a few additional resources I would suggest as helpful tools to mitigate the effects of implicit bias.

Harvard Project Implicit has published online quizzes you can take in order to discover your specific implicit bias.

Facebook has made public their implicit bias training called “Managing Unconscious Bias.”  You can go through the entire course here.

Lastly, Loving Kindness meditation is a tool that has been shown through research to mitigate the effects of implicit bias.  In addition, it increases general compassion for others.

What are more strategies and resources on brain change?  

One resource I would recommend if this is a strong area of interest would be Bouncing Back: Rewiring Your Brain for Maximum Resilience and Well Being by Linda Graham.

Neuroplasticity, or the science of brain change, shows that we can change our brains in many different ways- for better or worse; this is a very broad question with many answers.

My suggestion would be figure out what you think you would like to change, and then start from there.  In addition, this book by Graham is an excellent resource to begin pondering what change is helpful and how it can be accomplished.  I learned so much from reading it.

I would also recommend the work of Dan Siegel.  I am reading his book Mindsight now and have seen him speak; he changed the way I think about mindfulness and how it transforms the brain.

What are more tools for becoming a better listener?  

Here is an article published by Scientific American called “How to be a Better Listener.”  Very apropos, and affirming of some of the things we discussed.

In addition, if you want to review the mindful listening skills we discussed, here is a blog post I wrote for The Wonder Jam that has all of the information I shared on mindful listening.

______________

Have any other resources or suggestions for these topics?  Please share and comment below!