mindfulness

To be mindful is NOT to have Alzheimers. The man who named the disease, Alois Alzheimer, discovered the it when he talked to an elderly woman. It was hard to talk with her, her answers to his question "What would you do if you had six eggs" was "brood them". But once a while she could say things like like; "In a way I have lost my self". But even if you loose the illusion of a permanent self, you don't loose yourself. You still have a will and a direction. Alzheimers is recognised as a bi loss of memory. But what you most of all loose is the capacity to be here and now and to use your brain in a adequate way.  Instead you get lost en memories and thinking. Yes, you think too much, and are too less mindful. When my mother got the disease she could remember the names of the horses that her grandfathers had in the stall - but she didn´t know where she was at the time....

Mindfulness is NOT about positive thinking. It´s not to produce fortune and wealth for your self. It´s not about suppress bad thoughts and turn them to productive thoughts. It´s not like in the film The Secret. It´s not about You at all! Since no one has an autonomous and separate self. It´s NOT about ending suffering - that  is impossible. Suffering can be a teacher. If suffering not existed, happiness would neither exist. They are dependent of each other. What you can do is not let suffering let you down, you can accept it but not let it get worse by thought. So in a way, suffering can be less powerful by mindfulness. You will not be overwhelmed by it...

Matthieu Ricard It is said he is the happiest man in the world. Anyway, when they scanned his brain, they saw big differences compared to ordinary people. Born in France, he became a doctor in molecular genetics, then he moved to Nepal, became a Buddhist monk and has practised meditation for many decades: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZwnXj0Ck1k

I read an article about a study of peoples optimism. It seems that most people tend to be too optimistic about the future - even if fact says another thing. People with a mild depression seems to have a more realistic view. For instance Shopenhauer was probably more pessimistic than what is shown by fact. But he was probably deeply depressed. Maybe this is a trick by evolution; it is better to be too optimistic at least in short term.... Other animals are not aware of death, but we are, so the brain plays tricks so we don´t think about it too often. We live as we where immortal. We live as the planet and the nature never could be destroyed.  If you are one of those who don't want to be fooled by the brain and evolution - you can  practise mindfulness....