In this study, in order to facilitate personal growth in participants, we are using Vygotsky's social development theory. We would like to explore the personal growth in participants by their apparent cognitive transformational experience over a period of four weeks after the implementation of an intervention called Mindfulness into Action (MIA). This study is a continuation of previous research done with the implementation of this methodology (Vergara, 2016a). In this study, the MIA intervention was done at three universities at the same time. In two of them, the MIA methodology was done as a volunteer basis at the University del Norte in Ecuador and the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. On the other hand, at Columbia University, the MIA methodology was implemented as an action research course for masters and doctoral students. In all interventions, participants achieved what is identified as “the third head” (Vergara, Wallace, Du, Marsick, Yorks, & Tamariz, 2016b). Our research question is: How can indigenous knowledge, hourly reflection exercises, and weekly meetings, help facilitate harmony within participants? The research methodology we used to analyze the data from this action research is grounded theory. Through first and second level coding, we found that participants went through the same intra-subjective, inter-subjective, intra-objective, inter-objective dimensions (Vergara, Wallace, Du, Marsick, Yorks, & Tamariz, 2016d) and phases. The initial “reactive” state in phase one had unknown characteristics to participants who were just reacting to everyday life experiences. In phase two, participants became aware of their behaviors, but could not stop non-beneficial behaviors. In phase three, they could observe their unknown behaviors and then change their sabotaging behaviors. Other salient characteristics from phase three were love, harmony and appreciation, which are new themes that were found in this research. In the conclusion, we describe how there is a tendency to believe that change does not come easily, especially for adults, because our mental models rule our lives (subconsciously). However, in this study participants were all adults who observed their unknown assumptions (observing behaviors that were sabotaging their efforts to succeed in life) who also reported change in their lives and in perceptions of their world. The researchers implemented the MIA methodology by following its procedure (Vergara, 2016a). This shows the sustainability of the MIA methodology, as all participants were able to achieve the “third head”. In addition, during the implementation of the MIA methodology in the action research course at Columbia University, participants achieved the “third head” in person and online. Since participants were able to achieve the “third head” online this has expanded the possibilities to implement MIA globally.
Possible Discrimination in the Workspace Following Acceptance or Rejection of COVID-19 Vaccination – Opinions of Hungarian Employees
