The Elastic Mind: The Skill We Should All Train
Albert Einstein said that the true potential of our intelligence is in the ability to change. Being able to take on new perspectives and ideas, banishing concepts that no longer serve us is one of our best virtues. Thus, it is not surprising that within the field of psychology, and also of art, a new concept has emerged with force, the “elastic mind.”
A few years ago, at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, MoMA, an exhibition was held that represented this very idea. Our society and the human being live a moment where everything is in constant change. Science and technology are increasingly important in our way of processing reality, working, relating and even understanding the world.
Thus, in such interesting books as Design and the elastic mind , by the architect Paula Antonelli, director of research at MoMA, he speaks to us precisely of the need to develop more elastic thinking. Only in this way will we be able to survive and give the best of ourselves in a constantly changing environment, in which we are almost forced to improvise, to react quickly to solve more than one challenge.
Achieving it is not exactly easy, the brain is usually very resistant to change and lives very attached to its comfort zones. However, teaching our conservative mind to be more innovative and flexible can help us generate very positive changes.
The characteristics of the elastic mind
If we had to talk about a mental quality that we should all train, develop and apply in our day to day, it would undoubtedly be cognitive flexibility.
On the opposite side, we would have that fixed mentality that gets hit and frustrated almost continuously when it realizes that things are not always the way one wants and expects. They are people who do not admit criticism, who do not handle failures or mistakes well and who also tend to avoid challenges for fear of failure.
Knowing this, we should reformulate the concept of talent. Thus, although it is true that there are those who have a natural disposition towards certain competences (music, art, engineering), this advantage will not allow them to achieve success or well-being if they do not also have an elastic mind. Being able to open ourselves to new paradigms and apply a series of very specific processes are what really mark the advantage. Let’s see what this is about.
Get used to ambiguity
Things are never black or white. Our reality unfolds in a range of unattractive grays that we must get used to. In this way, the elastic mentality gets used to the uncertainty that defines many of the things that surround us : the work that you take for granted today you can lose tomorrow, that person who is betting on us today can withdraw their support, etc.
The elastic mind goes beyond the conventional
Conventionality is that safe space that is so easy to get used to. It gives us a feeling of permanence, of stillness and rootedness. However, if there is something we must understand, it is that life is not static, it flows, varies, changes and often moves with frenetic rapidity. One way to survive these changes is by being able to innovate, to go beyond the conventional.
Thus, to develop innovative thinking, we must begin to trust our creativity and intuition. Something like this is only achieved by observing, but being able to see beyond, perceiving needs, new perspectives and applying proactive behavior.
Tolerance for failure: a mistake is a learning
Tolerance for mistakes and how we deal with them says a lot about us. While the fixed mind is blocked and tends to avoid those situations where it does not feel competent, the elastic mind applies another view. Understand, for example, that failure is not a reason to give in to certain things, it is a learning opportunity and a forced step back is often a way to gain more momentum.
A brain that never stops questioning itself and feeds on curiosity
If we had to give an example of a figure who knew how to apply the elastic mentality throughout his life, we would highlight Leonardo da Vinci. The Renaissance man par excellence investigated knowledge through observation, experimentation and daring like no one else.
He was, as we well know, ahead of his time in many subjects and, something like that he achieved, thanks to that gift that we all possess and that usually has its greatest luminosity in childhood: we talk about curiosity. The elastic mind not only does not fear change, but seeks it because it is motivated by a constant need to know.
To conclude, as the psychiatrist Robert Cloninger points out, if we are receptive to news and changes in our daily lives, and accept them fearlessly and creatively, our personality will be strengthened. The elastic mind that dares to extend beyond its comfort zone is never the same again.
