(May 16, 2017 at 2:13 am)energizer bunny Wrote: A lot of what is described as meditation or mindfulness appears to be more about avoidance rather than awareness.
I think that's a bit of a double edged sword/fine line, at least for how I think about mindfulness. In that there's a difference between avoidance and truly letting something go... the former is repression/running away and the thing keeps coming back but the latter is more like a conclusive decision ie 'I don't want this, I don't need this'. So the way I think of mindfulness is to try and be aware of your mental state... anger, worry etc and make a decision on whether you want it or not. Given that you only have so many moments of life, you have a choice what to do with them, and if you recognise a futile mental state that only brings you down... like anger or worry about a situation you can't change... you can choose to let them go and let go of whatever keeps them going... such as feelings of pride or whatever in an argument... for the greater good. You could say it was avoidance, and maybe it is in a sense, but ultimately there's nothing obliging you to get sucked into any of those mental states except choice, sometimes more free than others... and as soon as you're objectively aware of a mental state you have a choice.
