Jack Kornfield's updating of Rudyard Kipling's If

If you can sit quietly after difficult news;

if, in financial downturns you remain perfectly calm;

if you can see your neighbors travel to fantastic places without a twinge of jealousy;

if you could happily eat whatever is put on your plate;

if you can fall asleep after a day of running around without a drink or a pill;

if you can always find contentment just where you are:

                                          you are probably a dog.

http://www.jackkornfield.com/live-present/

It was in the papers so it must be true - or "the dangers of autopilot"

"A few years ago, a delivery driver from Doncaster almost drove his car off a cliff. His BMW was left teetering on the edge of a 100ft precipice in Yorkshire after he had followed his satnav’s instructions, despite increasing indications that he had ceded a shade too much control to the gadget. “It just kept insisting the path was a road, even as it was getting narrower and steeper,” the chap explained, “so I just trusted it. I rely on my satnav. I couldn’t do without it for my job"

Marina Hyde writing in The Guardian  March 11th 2015

She mentions this in the context of over-reliance on technology and the England cricket team. I wonder if there are other lessons too such as
- the dangers of auto-pilot (as opposed to mindfulness)
- the pitfalls of obedience to authority
- the pros and cons of advances in technology in general

What do you think?

Seneca on being in the present

Both [fear and hope] are mainly due to projecting our thoughts far ahead of us instead of adapting ourselves to the present.

Foresight, the greatest blessing humanity has been given, is transformed into a curse. Wild animals run from the dangers trey actually see, and once they have escaped them worry no more. We however are tormented aloke by what is past and what is to come.  A number of our blessings do us harm, for memory brings back the agony of fear while foresight brings it on prematurely. No one confines his unhapiness to the present.

From Seneca Letters From a Stoic , Letter V

Book Achieve-Your-Potential-Positive-Psychology

http://blog.timlebon.com/2014/06/new-book-achieve-your-potential-with.html

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St Francis de Sales answering the question "How often should one meditate?"

Half an hour's meditation each day is essential, except when you are busy. Then a full hour is needed.

St Francis de Sales 

Remembering to be mindful is the great challenge - Christina Feldman

Mindfulness is neither difficult nor complex;
Remembering to be mindful is the great challenge

 

Christina Feldman

Keywords: Mindfulness, Meditation, Wisdom, Christina Feldman

Read On: Christina Feldman on Stillness and Insight and Dependent Origination

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