Most people are drawn to Mindfulness when they find life overly stressful. Their usual coping mechanisms are simply inadequate to the burden that today's pace of life imposes. So at least initially, their interest tends to be focused on Mindfulness "as a self-regulation strategy in addressing stress & pain management and enhancing relaxation & physical health."
Shapiro DH. A preliminary study of long-term meditators: Goals, effects, religious orientation, cognitions. Journal of Transpersonal Psychology 1992; 24(1): 23-39.
So why so much stress in a time of plenty? Is it possible that many of us have lost - or never found - our bearings, spending most of our time & energy chasing after relatively meaningless things? Before we reach meaningless goals, we ride the anxious energy of the chase. But after achieving them, profound disappointment quickly sets in. We sense we're wasting our precious life. After repeating this chase-&- catch routine too many times, the pattern becomes obvious, and hopefully we can stop "doing more of what doesn't work!"
"Man's search for meaning is the primary motivation in his life." Viktor Frankl
The beauty of doing meaningful work is that daily life becomes & feels worthwhile, significant. In the process of doing something of value, we live meaningful lives. Instead of stressed, we feel engaged, energized to contribute. But to know what is meaningful for us as individuals, we must first discover who or what we are. To help accomplish this intentionally, sitting quietly and observing the pattern of our thoughts & emotions is exceptionally useful. Welcome to mindfulness meditation!
See also: http://mindfulnessforeveryone.blogspot.ca/2013/11/432-i-try-and-i-try-but-i-cant-get-no.html
"'I am alarmed when it happens that I have walked a mile into the woods bodily, without getting there in spirit. In my afternoon walk I would fain forget all my morning occupations and my obligations to Society. But it sometimes happens that I cannot easily shake off the village. The thought of some work will run in my head and I am not where my body is - I am out of my senses.... What business have I in the woods, if I am thinking of something out of the woods?' Henry David Thoreau
'Shake off the village' - what a great way of expressing a vitally important human need. Since Thoreau's time, the village has grown exponentially bigger and become more intrusive and seemingly intimate - giving us the semblance of connection without any of the real benefits of connection. Technology has enabled the village to become exceptionally good at not allowing us to shake it off. With the advent of the smartphone, getting away from it all is no longer as easy as simply getting up and walking away. And, increasingly, people are making the choice not to even try to shake off the village - surrendering to a life of distractions, with the result that, as Thoreau put it, we are living much of our lives out of our senses. Wayne Curtis calls them 'the digital dead, shuffling slowly, their eyes affixed to a small screen in their hands.'" Arianna Huffington
The whole article is well worth reading:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arianna-huffington/hemingway-thoreau-jeffers_b_3837002.html
We've all been stressed-out – feeling like a fearful little kid,
alone, lost in a big dangerous world. We’ve also seen young children
crying like their world has collapsed because they broke a favorite toy.
This brings out the wise loving grandparent
in us, as we smile at the child’s minor temporary upset and console
them lovingly, knowing that everything will be fine. In this mode we feel centered: peaceful, relaxed, loving - radically different from stressed.
As adults, we can be in either mode. Most stressful situations today only threaten our ego, not our survival, so we can usually allow ourselves to become lost children for a while - or even for life. But in life-or-death emergencies, we become instantly, automatically centered because we simply can’t afford to be anything less than calm, clear, focused, effective, and efficient.
Many of us mistakenly believe that being stressed-out, multitasking,
sleep-deprived, running on caffeine, etc is unavoidable, even normal
throughout life for responsible hardworking adults. While being stressed-out is indeed common, it’s mostly unnecessary, inefficient, ineffective, and compromises everyone’s quality of life - ours, our loved ones’, colleagues’, even the quality of our physical environment.
Developmental psychology models of healthy adult maturation
involve: leaving behind stressed-out (egocentric) states, and
progressively maturing toward a centered (hypo-egoic, allocentric &
ecocentric) way of being.
Is there a way I can ensure that this healthy adult maturation process (evolution of consciousness) happens for me, in a timely manner? Can I learn to intentionally switch to a centered way of being? Can I let go of being stressed-out and all the negative
things that go with it, and establish an increasingly stable
home base in this centered state?
Mindfulness practices eg mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR), started at UMass Medical Center by Jon Kabat-Zinn PhD in 1979, are secular, evidence-based mind-body exercises, specifically designed to facilitate this journey for anyone interested in a profound improvement in quality of life.
See also: http://mindfulnessforeveryone.blogspot.ca/2013/04/311-fearful-child-wise-grandparent-were.html
