GENERAL CONFERENCE AND THE TETRIS EFFECT

 This is how Shawn Achor describes the "Tetris Effect" in his book THE HAPPINESS ADVANTAGE:

   “In a study at Harvard Medical School’s Department of Psychiatry, researchers paid 27 people to play Tetris for multiple hours a day, three days in a row. . . .For days after the study, some participants literally couldn’t stop dreaming about shapes falling from the sky. Other couldn’t stop seeing these shapes everywhere, even in their waking hours. Quite simply, they couldn’t stop seeing their world as being made of up sequences of Tetris blocks. . . .

    This isn’t just a vision problem, playing hour after hour of Tetris actually changes the wiring of the brain. Specifically, as subsequent studies found, the consistent play was creating new neural pathways, new connections that warped the way they viewed real-life situations.”

(pp. 88-89)

Achor goes on to write an entire chapter on how we can use the “Tetris Effect” to improve our lives. He explains that we can train our brains to search for either positives or negatives and that “when our brains constantly scan for and focus on the positive, we profit from three of the most important tools available to us: happiness, gratitude, and optimism.” (p.97)

I’ve been thinking about the Tetris Effect and General Conference. I have noticed that when I have programmed my brain to pounce on flaws, then I will hear many flaws in the Conference sermons. If I’m looking for sexism, I will find it. If I’m looking for cliches, they will be there. If I’m looking for a political bias, I’ll probably find that too.

On the other hand, when I approach a Conference talk with some humility and a prayer in my heart, then I have a very different experience. And I have found the most powerful prayer to be: “Lord, what do you want me to learn from this message?”

I believe this is what Moroni was talking about when he warned us about being too critical of the golden plates: “And now, if there are faults they are the mistakes of men; wherefore, condemn not the things of God . . .” (Cover page of the Book of Mormon)

Of course, sometimes it is imperative to bring a critical approach to a situation. I belong to a writing group; once a month we each submit a chapter to be critiqued. I would learn very little if my submissions were always returned covered only in praise. I need criticism! I need to know what is going wrong in my writing. In fact, as Achor points out in his book, many professions require an employee to use negative thinking all day long.

The problem is when we transfer that skill into a situation where it doesn’t belong--where a negative, critical approach will warp the experience.  (The example Achor gives is when a lawyer goes home from work and puts his family on trial.)

I have found that General Conference is not a good place to bring a negative mindset that is primed to pounce on mistakes.  That attitude does not put me in touch with the Divine. And the only way to hear the word of God is through the presence and power of the Holy Spirit.

Last Conference, although I was trying to listen with humility and grace, I still heard something that I didn’t like at all. When I prayed about it, I received a very quick and loving answer that felt something like this:  “I know, Lynnell, and I will take care of it.”

Listening with the Spirit does not mean I will never notice anything negative. It does make it more likely that I will be blessed with the insight I need to deal with a sermon that I don't like.  And much more likely that I will hear the unique message that the Lord has prepared just for me.