Continuing on her quest to find her voice and to speak truth to power, Meghan Markle is becoming more and more vocal. This has never been more apparent than in a recent podcast episode — the Duchess of Sussex's first-ever podcast interview, in fact — during which Markle told of the lesson she is instilling in her children as a means of teaching them about success, and instilling them with confidence.
'You watch as you're building their confidence and their self-esteem, a word that I use a lot with them is "yet",' Markle shared. 'And how to re-frame things so, you know, when they're saying "I can't do it", I say "yet." When they say, "I'm not good enough", I say "yet." And the more that you put into practice the idea of putting the word "yet" at the end of nearly every sentence and you feel like there's still hope and promise that you can do it. I'm reinforcing that for my children, but I'm also reinforcing it for myself.'
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She added, 'I don't know "yet", I'm not sure "yet".' Lima then nodded in agreement, noting how applicable that is to her now, and to adults as a whole now. 'The power of "yet",' Markle added.
Markle may well be onto something: the power of magical thinking — and its positively reinforcing practices — is a proven means of establishing a person's wellbeing as a whole. That's not to say that we ought to ignore reality as a whole, but rather re-frame our realities through a positive lens, as Markle is positing. The results, it turns out, can be transformative for our wellbeing as a whole.
Researchers from Northwestern University have discovered that individuals who have positive attitudes are less likely to experience memory decline as they get older. In part of a national study, the team monitored adults at certain time periods over a decade, each time surveying their mood in the previous 30 days and their memory recall. They concluded that having a positive attitude was associated with a less steep decline in memory.
It's not only memory decline that positive thinking and Markle's 'yet' theory has the power to transform. Another study, carried out at the University of Illinois, found that adults who were more optimistic were also more likely to have better cardiovascular health and improved cholesterol and blood sugar levels, while another study found that having a positive attitude could reduce the risk of developing heart disease by 30 per cent.
Markle's every move is dissected en masse, and it might be en vogue to critique her but before you do, consider this: Meghan Markle has launched two businesses this year and one TV series that ended up in Netflix's international top 10. The second will launch this autumn. No matter what you think about Markle, this seems to be one thing that's working for her and worth your time considering. If you've not already... yet.
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Naomi May is a seasoned culture journalist and editor with over ten years’ worth of experience in shaping stories and building digital communities. After graduating with a First Class Honours from City University's prestigious Journalism course, Naomi joined the Evening Standard, where she worked across both the newspaper and website. She is now the Digital Editor at ELLE Magazine and has written features for the likes of The Guardian, Vogue, Vice and Refinery29, among many others. Naomi is also the host of the ELLE Collective book club.
