Posted on 08/21/2021 6:31:35 AM PDT by BlackAdderess
Mindfulness is said to do many things for our psyche: it can increase our self-control, sharpen our concentration, extend our working memory and boost our mental flexibility. With practice, we should become less emotionally reactive – allowing us to deal with our problems more calmly.
One ‘benefit’ that you might not expect to gain, however, is heightened egotism. Yet a recent study suggests that, in some contexts, practicing mindfulness really can exaggerate some people’s selfish tendencies. With their increased inward focus, they seem to forget about others, and are less willing to help those in need.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...
I can see how if you pay attention and accomplish more you can view others as the dipshits and dumbasses they are.
That’s exactly it. Altruism - and the political power that benefits from it - requires one-eye-closed delusion.
Mindfulness might also urge us to become sensitive to the plights of others as well. Mindfulness is a welcome alternative to the slug mentality of daytime television and willful ignorance. And, I would suggest, that selfishness is its own self-sufficient demon and doesn’t need any help at all from mindfulness.
Without knocking Christianity but some self-styled Christians, the ego on some of them—that they are superior and first to be saved. And selfishness? Try sitting in the regular pew seat of some of the Lutheran biddies where I once went to church and see what selfishness manifests.
Case in point. Two of the least mindful and most “devout Catholics” on the planet are Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi.
The most disturbing thing about the article was the stock photo of the otherwise beautiful woman who decided to deface herself with a nose ring and purple hair.
Ha!
Once you become enlightened, it’s hard not to look down on the Little People.
I can see that too.
I tend to do better when I focus outward, on my environment, rather than drilling down through the layers of my own psyche.
There are Christians, and there are “professing” Christians like Biden and Pelosi. Professing Christians like them aren’t actual Christians.
Biden and Pelosi express the self-esteem of modern pop religion - certain standards and doctrines don’t apply to them because they are so special and enlightened. They think the Church should bend to them.
exactly!
Stoicism is often thrown into the selfish category, but selfishness can also be a very good trait. If you do not first take care of yourself and balance your reactions to others, you cannot care for anyone else.
“Mindfulness” is a Buddhist meditation construct. It is man-centered and Pagan.
It’s almost like, focusing on God and trying to discern his will, and what he wants you to do for others is the way.
Weird... who knew?
Lol! Funny how that works
Mindfulness, at its core, is all about observing what is going on around you specifically your environment.
Buddhism, like Christianity, has been thoroughly ruined by self-centered, Western materialistic culture, which has been further ruined by marxism. If you go back to the roots, mindfulness is a practice that would solve a lot of problems generated by the mindless morons in this country. Maybe that’s why there are suddenly articles criticizing it. Calm, helpful people who exercise self control and can’t be bribed or manipulated are an enormous threat to the current tyrannical regime.
Let’s face it: every behavior that was considered a virtue in our youth now makes us: fascist, racist, sexist and homo(trans)-phobic.
Mindfulness that inner voice the reminds us somebody may be watching you.
It seems to me “mindfulness” COULD be a reaction to the loss of meaning in our current society. Increased anxiety, worry and outer chaos may send people to seek answers within themselves. It’s hard to say with certainty.
Several decades ago, I began to use a method then called biofeedback. It’s pretty simple and was not associated with any religious practice. I was having personal crises at the time- self-created as it turns out- but the biofeedback had a remarkable result for me. As my mental chatter began to quiet down, I started to pray- in earnest. I hadn’t done that except by rote and special occasions lol! I began reading the Bible (unheard of) and realized *I* was not the center of the universe! At any rate, the experience actually brought me closer to a God I wasn’t convinced was there, and to Christ as the living, saving presence of my life.
I had been living from the outside in, but gradually began from the inside out. The effect was thinking more, not less, of others, of my self-centeredness and its effect on others. That’s just my experience- there are many methods to “be still and know that I am God”.
There are two kinds of people in this world. Those that agree with me and those that are wrong.
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