Mind Initiative

We invite you to read a new article by Enrico Benelli, Chair of the TDRC, exploring how international developments are shaping the future of Transactional Analysis 🌍. The piece highlights key trends such as Practice-Based Evidence, Practitioner-Researcher Networks, and the evolving role of TA within modern mental health systems. It also raises important questions for TA training and practice. A concise and inspiring read for anyone interested in where TA is heading ✨

Page 12&13 https://newsletter.eatanews.org/145-march-2026

Meditation: Vipassana - The Practice of Seeing Clearly (18:31 min.) 💕🙏

Vipassana, also known as insight meditation, is training in bringing a clear mindful attention to our moment to moment experience. We begin by relaxing through the body and then resting attention with the breath - or some other sensory anchor - and allowing the mind to settle. Then we open to whatever is predominant or calling our attention - sensations, emotions, sounds - meeting each arising experience with a clear, kind attention. The gift of this process is discovering balance in the midst of the changing flow, and gaining deep insight into the nature of reality.

https://www.tarabrach.com/meditation-vipassana-the-practice-of-seeing-clearly-2/

People with social anxiety scan moving faces differently than others Eye-tracking technology reveals that people with social anxiety scan moving faces more rapidly and identify faint sadness more accurately than those without the condition. Moving facial expressions may help researchers better understand the mechanics of the socially anxious brain.

Mental illness mostly caused by life events not genetics, argue psychologists Mental illness is largely caused by social crises such as unemployment or childhood abuse and too much money is spent researching genetic and biological factors, psychologists have warned.

"There is a profound existential irony in the contemporary pursuit of mental health: Adults spend years, and small fortunes, reclining on therapists' couches only to relearn what they already knew when they were four years old." This observation, which psychiatrist Eric Berne noted with clinical precision, forms the basis of a fascinating new article. Author Vinícius Sgarbe explores how the principles of transactional analysis are being used to reclaim the remarkable intuitive wisdom that children naturally possess.

The article showcases two pioneering international efforts. In Brazil, teaching transactional analysts Maku Almeida and Carolina Schmitz da Silva created a course for children at the Mentoria Integrativa Relacional (MIR) Institute, using games and contracts to foster self-regulation. Meanwhile, in Austria, psychotherapist Werner Himmelbauer and psychology student Leonardo Grundauer authored a children's book that externalizes negative internal messages as "Goblins," providing a narrative tool for building resilience.

According to Sgarbe, these initiatives do more than translate complex theory; they offer a vital psychological lifeline in a world that often suppresses a child's intuition. By empowering children with the tools to understand their own minds and the dynamics around them, these methods aim to return to the simple, powerful truth of our original innocence, proving that the existential position of "I'm OK, you're OK" is a lesson we can all relearn.

Access this and other content directly at https://www.platform.itaaworld.com. Or access the link lists available on our digital networks.

: Nobody is immune to mental health struggles; we all have good and bad days, but having a support system of loved ones and mental health professionals makes more good days possible 💙