# Can Your Mind Change How You Age? | Ellen Langer

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-midlife-chrysalis-7361713/can-your-mind-change-how-you-age-ellen-langer
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-midlife-chrysalis-7361713/can-your-mind-change-how-you-age-ellen-langer.md
Podcast: [The Midlife Chrysalis](https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-midlife-chrysalis-7361713)
Published: 2026-06-29T10:00:00+00:00
Episode link: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/themidlifechrysalis/episodes/Can-Your-Mind-Change-How-You-Age---Ellen-Langer-e3l9vqk
Audio file: https://anchor.fm/s/105945268/podcast/play/122010900/https%3A%2F%2Fd3ctxlq1ktw2nl.cloudfront.net%2Fstaging%2F2026-5-26%2F426855054-44100-2-e49952f782b95.mp3
Processing state: not_requested
JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-midlife-chrysalis-7361713/episodes/can-your-mind-change-how-you-age-ellen-langer
Duration seconds: 2949

## Resource

Aging may have less to do with your body than you think. In this fascinating conversation, Chip Conley talks with Harvard psychologist Ellen Langer, whose groundbreaking research has spent decades challenging what we think we know about aging, health, mindfulness, and human potential. Drawing on stories from her life and her famous Counterclockwise study, Ellen explains why many of the limits we accept as part of growing older may be more flexible than we realize. In this episode, you'll discover: Why mindfulness begins with simply noticing What Ellen's Counterclockwise study revealed about aging How our beliefs influence memory, health, and performance Why uncertainty can make life richer, not scarier How questioning assumptions can open new possibilities at any age Warm, thought-provoking, and often surprisingly funny, this conversation will leave you looking at aging, and life itself, in a completely different way. Listen now and find out why Ellen believes we're capable of far more than we think. Timestamps: (01:37) What Mindfulness Really Means (04:48) Why We Live Mindlessly (08:16) Is Mindlessness More Efficient? (11:46) Mindfulness and Aging (13:06) Memory Loss or Something Else? (17:26) The Counterclockwise Study (20:00) Testing Mind-Body Unity (24:02) Can You Turn Back the Clock? (25:07) Learning New Skills at Any Age (27:45) Fixed Mindsets About Aging (28:50) Who Says So? (32:04) What Gets Better With Age? (36:03) Getting Comfortable in Your Own Skin (37:44) Will Ellen Ever Retire? (39:11) Ellen’s Core Life Lesson (40:33) The Story Behind Mind-Body Unity (43:24) Finding Opportunity in Adversity (45:25) Coming Full Circle to Mindfulness Learn more about MEA at ⁠https://www.meawisdom.com/ #EllenLanger #Mindfulness #HealthyAging #Longevity #AgingWell #PositiveAg…

## Actions

- request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-midlife-chrysalis-7361713/episodes/can-your-mind-change-how-you-age-ellen-langer/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode.
- read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-midlife-chrysalis-7361713/can-your-mind-change-how-you-age-ellen-langer.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource.

A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed.

## Transcript

Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.