Between a Rock & a Scary Place! - Self-concept & Worldview Upgrades

     We have an aversion to, & frankly doubt we can upgrade our self-concept & worldview (SC&WW): http://healthyhealers.blogspot.ca/2014/02/if-it-aint-broke-upgrading-self-concept.html When someone else gives us advice about this critically important, yet taboo territory, we get mad at them!: http://mindfulnessforeveryone.blogspot.ca/2014/02/494-we-know-were-heading-wrong-way-when.html And our current societal tendencies of scientific reductionism, materialism, consumerism & cynicism make the wisdom traditions - the traditional gateways to SC&WW - unintelligible & virtually unapproachable.
     We're in a real pickle, because life deals all of us at least one, but usually multiple "shipwrecks", where our whole life - including SC&WW - falls apart. 

     We have only 3 options when shipwrecked: 
     1) remain cynical & miserable; 
     2) rebuild without skills; 
     3) rebuild with skills - I prefer this third option. 

     Jon Kabat-Zinn's Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program, is a widely-accepted & evidence-based way of gently, skillfully approaching, upgrading & when necessary, rebuilding our own SC&WW.  Each of us has to start - slowly - from where we are now. The learning is experiential, not theory / dogma-based.

Dalhousie University February 13, 2014

If It Ain't Broke ... ? Upgrading Self-concept & Worldview

     We may use computers constantly, but very few of us would dream of upgrading (by personally reprogramming) the operating system (OS) of our computer. Most of us are not competent programmers, making the task seem impossible. So even if the computer is working sub-optimally, fear keeps us from personally meddling with the OS.
     For human beings, the closest equivalent to the computer's OS is one's self-concept & worldview. For many (psychosocial & spiritual) reasons, including their rightfully assumed central importance, most of us fear approaching these and firmly assume that we ourselves cannot "upgrade" them.

     On the other hand, the world's mystics & wisdom traditions have always been focused precisely on systematically approaching & upgrading what has become these days a virtually taboo - our self-concept & worldview. Like computers with outdated OS's, humans also function poorly when this central aspect of their being is neglected.
     Fortunately, there is now a widely-accepted means of approaching & upgrading our self-concept & worldview - Jon Kabat-Zinn's Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program.
     We should not wait till we break down, "shipwrecked", before we upgrade our OS. It's DOABLE, and there IS an approachable, intelligent, evidence-based method.

Aperture P   www.dpreview.com