FOMO is still a thing

There are some classics from the traditional meditation prescriptions for sadness.

Here’s one:

a) Notice that sadness is present. <Sadness.>

b) Without banishing the sadness in any way, see if it is possible to
also hold a moment of compassion for the human condition.

c) Without banishing the sadness in any way, see if it is possible to
feel a direct sensation from your body that indicates that you still live. The feeling of breath in the lungs is one of the options.

d) Return to the focal point of your meditation.

e) Notice what is present again. If it is sadness, without banishing the sadness in any way, notice that sadness is present. <Sadness.>

f) Continuing, re-engage with this practice until the end of your established meditation time period.

Q: So, why am I bringing this up?

A: Because I am feeling sadness.

I grew up in the Boston area and I think that some kind of Puritanical impulse towards moral work ethics fused with my DNA. It’s the best explanation I have for a regularly arising December sadness that includes a sense of failure. Not-enough-ness.

The Boston part of the name Mindful Boston goes deep, and has history. When I originally registered the URL MindfulBoston.com in 2010, some of the moral work ethic of Puritanical lineage got woven into the name. In founding this studio, I really liked the idea that this contemplative art work can counteract greed, it can counteract fears, even the Fear Of Missing Out. (FOMO)

And yet, here we are thirteen years later, and all of that negativity still exists in our world. And it even flourishes. Founding a local mindfulness studio did not succeed. <Sadness.> Well, after a reflective moment, let me re-state that “it did not succeed” if we choose to define success as conquering.

It is true that I did not conquer greed. But (rhetorical question) where did I get the idea that that was the point?

The mindfulness prescription at the top of this post was the format I followed (and regularly follow) in order to recognize, to see deeply, to be mindful that, the process of defining “success” through the constructs/lens of greed was the core seed of my moment of <sadness> this time, this particular moment of December sadness.

Once I saw that this particular thought-seed was based on an unexamined definition, I was then able to wiggle-the-roots of that thought-seed just a little. Seeing it, having my own personal map of it, gave me some freedom. Some wiggle room. It was an assistance towards taking myself less seriously and expanding my experience to include new definitions.

For this Sunday News edition, I thought I’d be overly transparent about my own practice.

Thanks for playing along,

-Gena Bean
Lead teacher, founder of Mindful Boston

Time check!

We are four weeks away from the New Year.
This edition of the Sunday News was part 5 of a count-down series of emails where I am detailing a weekly journey exploring what mindfulness is for.

More to come in part 6 for the next installment of the Sunday News, Dec 17.