Abstract for: Leveraging Mindfulness: A System Dynamics Approach to Psychological Resilience and Transformation

Mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) significantly enhance psychological resilience and well-being but lack explicit structural explanations of their sustained effectiveness. This research integrates mindfulness practices into Donella Meadows’ (1999) twelve leverage points of system intervention, articulating mindfulness processes explicitly through System Dynamics (SD). Twelve psychological steps in mindfulness—ranging from sensory input and attention to sustained equilibrium and integrated transformation—are mapped onto Meadows' hierarchy of leverage points, illustrating progressive internal restructuring from low to high leverage. Preliminary conceptual work, supported by qualitative data from participant interviews and observational studies in mindfulness-based programs, has validated this mapping, highlighting key points like emotional regulation and habit formation. Currently, causal loop diagrams (CLDs) are being refined, and quantitative validation using psychometric and neurocognitive methods is underway. Further work involves detailed SD modeling and comprehensive empirical validation to test the model’s accuracy and applicability rigorously. This project uniquely advances mindfulness literature by providing a clear, structural, and empirically testable framework, significantly broadening SD's relevance in psychological sciences and intervention design.