B8 N THE NEW YORK TIMES, MONDAY, JUNE 29, 2020Smarter Living
If you want to steal a few minutes of Zen
and achieve something like contentment
in the face of chaos and uncertainty, you
might be tempted to download a medita-
tion app.
Studies show that meditation can
decrease stress and reduce symptoms
associated with depression, anxiety, pain
and insomnia. The vast majority of medi-
tation apps are relatively affordable and
convenient. But it can be overwhelming
to know where to start, especially if your
goal is to find one that will meet your
individual needs.
Before you download one of these
apps, however, be aware of what these
meditation apps can — and can’t — do.
What Is Mindfulness?
The content provided on many medita-
tion apps is relaxing to listen to — bab-
bling streams, lapping waves and chirp-
ing birds — but mindfulness meditation
is an active exercise. You focus on
thoughts and sensations as they bubble
up in the moment and observe them
without judgment; you don’t zone out. If
your attention wanders, you gently
return your focus to your breath. The
more you practice training your atten-
tion in this way, the more robust the
benefits of mindfulness meditation.
Meditation isn’t designed for you to
“bliss out and escape,” said Amishi Jha,
an associate professor of psychology at
the University of Miami and a neurosci-
entist who studies attention. “You might
actually unnecessarily frustrate yourself
by thinking that goal is something this
app is going to get you to do.”
For many people, feeling happy in the
midst of this pandemic isn’t a realistic
goal. In fact, you might feel worse about
yourself if you’re unable to sustain a
positive mentality when you feel like you
should. Instead, she recommends adopt-
ing a more mindfulness-based stance:
Accept that things are what they are.
This, she said, tends to be more restor-
ative.
Mindfulness meditation may improve
your attention. When your attention
span is increased, many other positive
effects tend to follow, Dr. Jha said. Filter-
ing out distracting thoughts will allow
you to be more productive. The satisfac-
tion from being able to accomplish what
you need to accomplish in a day is what
makes people feel better, she added.
Increased attention also allows us to
“notice our own mind wandering when
we’re getting into these bad ruminative
loops,” she said. Two Harvard re-
searchers conducted a study in 2010 that
found that people reported that they
were thinking about something other
than what they are doing 47 percent of
the time: things that happened in the
past and things that may or may not
happen in the future. This mind-wander-
ing typically makes people unhappier. By
interrupting that cycle, which mindful-
ness meditation aims to do, we can reap
the emotional benefits of focusing only
on the here and now.
Terrific Supplement
For those learning how to practice mind-
fulness meditation, experts said you
need personalized one-on-one instruction
to make sure you’re on the right track.
You can read about meditation and think
“it’s really simple and easy to do. But I
think what people don’t understand is
that it’s really easy to do it incorrectly,”
said Sara Lazar, an assistant professor in
psychology at Harvard Medical School
who studies the neuroscience of yoga
and meditation. However, experts agreed
that the right meditation app can be a
terrific supplement to a real-life teacher
you’re also working with, even remotely.
Experts warn that meditation apps do
not replace clinical treatment. If you
have any kind of clinical mental health
diagnosis, you should always consult
with your medical professional.Not ‘Proven’
There is a misconception that meditation
apps are widely studied and supported
by science. They’re not. “There’s proba-
bly 10 studies that have been done on
apps that are good, that actually meet
the standards of clinical trials,” Dr. Jha
said. We’re just at the beginning of
studying them for effectiveness.
There is a movement to certify and
accredit mindfulness teachers through
an independent accreditation organiza-
tion called the International Mindfulness
Teachers Association, said Diana Win-
ston, director of mindfulness education
at the U.C.L.A. Mindful Awareness Re-
search Center and author of “The Little
Book of Being.” But these important
standards have not yet made it into the
apps, so there’s an issue of quality con-
trol. “You have no idea whether the
teacher who’s leading the meditation on
the app is someone who has 20 years of
experience or someone who just started
trying to teach this and run the app a
week ago,” she said.
While there aren’t any official organi-
zations that oversee these apps, there
are a few websites that can help you
evaluate them. PsyberGuide is a non-
profit project that aims to give accurate
and unbiased reviews and ratings to
mental health apps. The American Psy-
chiatric Organization has an app evalua-
tion model as well. Its website helpswalk you through how an app is posi-
tioned: if there is scientific support, if
there is transparency about how your
data will be used, and how easy to use it
is. These tools will help make sure any
apps you download are safe, vetted and
enjoyable to use.
“Don’t be afraid of downloading an
app,” Dr. Wilhelm said. “Just do a little
bit of research on it and pick the right
one.”Choosing an AppIDENTIFY YOUR GOALJust as you’d proba-
bly head to a department store with an
idea of what you want to buy, have an
objective in mind before you wade into
the app store. Experts said some goals
could be: reducing stress, minimizing
anxiety, quitting smoking, fighting in-
somnia and cultivating mindfulness. If
you’re not sure what you’re looking for,
you could get overwhelmed with the
choices.PRIVACY SETTINGSSome apps will exploit
sensitive personal data. Your private
information could be sold to third parties
or stored in places you may not want it
to be stored. “There are very few apps
that have no risks,” said Sabine Wilhelm,
the chief of psychology at Massachusetts
General Hospital and a professor of
psychology at Harvard Medical School.
Before you download an app, review
its privacy policy. Look for transparency
with how data you input is collected,
stored and exchanged. If there’s any
confusion or an absence of a transparent
privacy policy, then reconsider down-
loading it.LIVE COACH“Inevitably, you will havequestions,” Dr. Jha said. In the same way
you talk with a trainer to make sure your
form is not off at the gym, you want
somebody to consult to see if you’re
practicing meditation properly.DIVERSE OFFERINGS Seek out a diversity
of offerings. This is helpful, Ms. Winston
said, because then you can try different
modules at different times. Some apps
offer guided meditations, breathing
exercises or even just timers and you
may appreciate the variety.WAY OUTLook for an off-ramp. Hopefully,
any app you download will be a supple-
ment to a meditation habit you’re looking
to grow. You shouldn’t think about buy-
ing this app to depend on forever, Dr. Jha
said. Over time, try to reduce the amount
of guidance you need to get to the point
where you might just have a bell ring at
the beginning and at the end.TESTINGTry a few out. Ms. Winston
recommends listening to a variety of
teachers from each app and seeing if you
connect with any of them. “No one per-
son is going to be for everybody,” Ms.
Winston said. “Different people are
attracted to different teachers.”
Dr. Lazar suggests being open to the
fact that your mindfulness preferences
could change over time. She recom-
mends articulating what it is you liked or
disliked about what you tried. That will
help you seek out which ones are a good
fit for you.Popular Apps
All of these are available on iOS and
Android devices.HEADSPACEWirecutter, a New York
Times Company that reviews and recom-mends products, selected Headspace as
its favorite all-around meditation app. In
addition to a charming interface, there’s
a robust library of guided courses and a
variety of targeted meditations to please
both beginners and experts alike. After a
free two-week trial, it costs $69.99 a year
to access the full programming.CALMThis app has more of a new-age-y
vibe, with ambient music, nature sounds
and scenery. There’s lots of individual
exercises and multiday guided medita-
tions, as well as progress tracking and
soothing sleep stories. There is also
content for kids and experts available for
subscribers. There’s a seven-day free
trial, and a $69.99 annual membership
fee gives you access to all sessions.SIMPLE HABITThis app is designed for
those who are looking to make their
meditation habit stick. After filling out a
questionnaire to evaluate your goals, the
app suggests a personalized meditation
program. Expect lots of notifications to
make sure you’re keeping on track. If
you’re not the type of person who enjoys
alerts, look elsewhere. It costs $11.99 per
month or $89.99 a year. A lifetime mem-
bership costs $299.99.INSIGHT TIMERMarketed as an app for
sleep, anxiety and stress, Insight Timer
has an immense catalog of over 45,000
guided meditations and music tracks.
Unlike other popular meditation apps,
you can access this app’s content without
creating a profile. However if you do
create an account, you can connect with
friends, track your progress and book-
mark favorite meditations. There’s
plenty available free, but after a 30-day
free trial, it costs $60 a year.Finding Some Contentment Amid the Chaos
As the pandemic swirls, pick
the right meditation app.
MARK PERNICEBy ANNA GOLDFARBIn 2010, a Costa Rican diplomat named
Christiana Figueres set out to do some-
thing that many people saw as impossi-
ble. The United Nations had appointed
her to build a global agreement to fight
climate change. She needed to get 195
countries on board, and one of the
biggest challenges was Saudi Arabia.
Its economy was dependent on oil and
gas exports, so it had every incentive to
keep profiting from that rather than
reducing its carbon footprint.
When the pie seems fixed, it’s com-
mon to panic and treat resources as
scarce. In crisis, we often do whatever
it takes to protect ourselves. That’s
especially clear today: In the past few
weeks, we’ve seen hoarders collect
thousands of bottles of hand sanitizer,
and spreaders ignore warnings to
maintain physical distance to avoid
infecting vulnerable groups. We’ve
watched policymakers withhold emer-
gency funds. “It’s give and take, but it’s
got to be mostly take,” President Trump
said in 2015, summing up his negotia-
tion philosophy. “You got to mostly
take.”
That was the art of the deal: Be a
taker. But now there’s a science of the
deal, with decades of evidence on what
separates great negotiators from their
peers. It tells a different story: Being a
giver may actually be a sign of intelli-
gence.
In one of my favorite studies, re-
searchers tested people’s intelligence
with a series of quantitative, verbal and
analytical reasoning problems. Then
they sent them off to negotiate. Intelli-
gence paid off — but not in the way you
might expect. The smarter people were,
the better their counterpartsdid in the
negotiation. They used their brain-
power to expand the pie, finding ways
to help the other side that cost them
nothing.This isn’t an isolated result. In a
comprehensive analysis of 28 studies,
the most successful negotiators cared
as much about the other party’s success
as their own. They refused to see nego-
tiations as win-lose or the world aszero-sum. They understood that before
you could claim value, you needed to
create value. They didn’t declare vic-
tory until they could help everyone win.
This isn’t limited to negotiation.
Economists find that the higher that
Americans score on intelligence tests,
the more they give to charity — even
after adjusting for their wealth, income,
education, age and health. Psycholo-
gists demonstrate that the smarter
people are, the less likely they are to
take resources for themselves — and
the more likely they are to give to a
group. I’ve discovered in my own re-
search that when success is a sprint,
givers may well finish last. But if it’s a
marathon, the takers tend to fall behind
and the givers often finish first.
But what if you’re stuck dealing with
a taker? In the midst of a pandemic,
some establishments are going to un-
usual lengths to discourage selfishness.
One store in Denmark has apparently
posted a sign under hand sanitizer with
the price for one bottle at about $4 and
the price for a second bottle at $95.
There’s a time and a place to be
tough on takers. If you’ve studied game
theory, you know the classic result:
Tit-for-tat was the dominant strategy.
But the latest science of the deal sup-
ports a different approach.
Tit-for-tat works fine in one-shot
interactions. But when ongoing rela-
tionships and reputations are formed,
tit-for-tat often loses to generous tit-for-
tat. If the other party takes a selfish
stance three times, instead of compet-
ing all three times we seem to be better
off cooperating anyway once. When we
give unconditionally from time to time,we give them a reason to change.
Believing in a fixed pie is a self-
fulfilling prophecy. When we expect the
worst in others, we bring out the worst
in others. When we recognize that
everyone feels the impulse to help
(unless they’re a sociopath) we have a
chance to bring out what Lincoln called
the better angels of their nature.
That’s what Christiana Figueres did
when she flew to Saudi Arabia to see if
she could get it on board for the Paris
Agreement. When she arrived at oil
fields and Bedouin tents, she wasn’t
trying to make a deal. As she explains
on my TED podcast, “WorkLife,” she
didn’t even go in with a negotiating
strategy — she went in with an “under-
standing strategy.”
Ms. Figueres wanted to know what
help Saudi Arabia needed from other
countries. One day on a flight with its
representatives, she asked about its
long-term interests and goals. A Saudi
official reached for a napkin and started
sketching a plan. Where it needed help
was in diversifying its economy.
Other countries were willing to give.
They stepped up to create opportunities
for Saudi Arabia to invest in other
exports, and that became a key ingredi-
ent in the Paris Agreement.Turns Out, Givers Are Smarter Than Takers in Negotiations
By ADAM GRANTDOMINIC KESTERTONEvery Monday, Tim
Herrera, Smarter Living
editor, emails readers with
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