#489 Attending to Just This, Right Here, Right Now

     We currently live in an age of distraction, yet we come from a long line of humans who successfully survived by being acutely attuned to environmental cues of danger, as well as opportunity to flourish.
     Many of us realize that today, there's just too much information coming at us 24/7 from all directions, so we need to improve our currently diminished abilities to prioritize, focus attention & stabilize awareness. Mindfulness meditation is a healthy, intelligent way of achieving this.
     We simply sit still, attend directly to the physical feel of the breath in our belly, letting go of words eg stories, plans, worries, etc. This is how we start sitting practice, whether a novice or if we've been practicing for many years.

     See also: http://mindfulnessforeveryone.blogspot.ca/2012/01/6-awareness.html
     and: http://mindfulnessforeveryone.blogspot.ca/2012/10/200-narrative-vs-experiential-attention.html

Elena Shumilova  http://www.flickr.com/photos/75571860@N06/11874722676/

#360 Technology MUST be Balanced with Timeless Basic Human Skills

     Google's director of research interviewed Nicholas Carr, author of the article "Is Google making us stupid?" and the book "What the Internet is Doing to our Brains - The Shallows." Carr argued that regular use of the internet, computer games & smart phones thoroughly & effectively remodels our thinking, behavior patterns & our brains physically (neuroplasticity), with the corresponding very real danger of disuse atrophy of the neural networks that enable us to reflect deeply AND THUS weaken our ability to behave wisely - "Use it or loose it!"
     "If you look throughout the history of culture, you see that many of the great monuments of culture - whether we're talking about art, science, literature, whatever - come from people who were able to think attentively, deeply, and be contemplative, meditative, and be reflective. And if we devalue those things, and practice those things less, I think we not only get less interesting as individuals, we face a culture that is flatter, not as vibrant, and not as interesting as it used to be.
     ... inundating (oneself) with new technologies, with new information, has to be balanced with being attentive, reading, backing away from technology, even backing away from friends sometimes. It's great to collaborate, but there's also a role in the world for solitude, and I think we should encourage our kids, and ourselves, to practice that as well."
http://fora.tv/2010/06/23/Nicholas_Carr_Is_Google_Making_Us_Stupid

     Speed, quantity, meaningless fun, fast food etc must be BALANCED with - and as we mature as individuals & as cultures, progressively REPLACED by - slowing down, quality, meaning, food that's slowly prepared with love & other quality ingredients etc. Our lives have meaning; technology has no inherent meaning. We make tools / technology to improve - not distort - the quality of our lives.

     See also: http://mindfulnessforeveryone.blogspot.ca/2012/07/146-time-to-re-engage.html

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