I think a lot of us find value in mindfulness. I don't think that value is new; modern age or no, people have been using these techniques for a long time.
I agree with some of what you say, although I think it idealizes the past more than it deserves. My mother fled small town America exactly because it was intrusive and allowed very little divergence from small-town values. The embrace and care came with a price tag.
Being a human has always been hard. Peasants struggled with material scarcity, a system that was brutally unfair, and very constraining social expectations.
And I have suffered from depression, particularly post-divorce. I know what it is like. Mindfulness won't eliminate that, but it does help, and it's far more than a band-aid. Mindfulness is, in many ways, clarifying your thoughts... realizing that you have have a tape loop repeating things that don't seem useful or related to the circumstance. Seeing that your emotional weather comes and goes. We don't escape the weather, but to be aware of it allows us to better account for it in our thinking.
I agree with some of what you say, although I think it idealizes the past more than it deserves. My mother fled small town America exactly because it was intrusive and allowed very little divergence from small-town values. The embrace and care came with a price tag.
Being a human has always been hard. Peasants struggled with material scarcity, a system that was brutally unfair, and very constraining social expectations.
And I have suffered from depression, particularly post-divorce. I know what it is like. Mindfulness won't eliminate that, but it does help, and it's far more than a band-aid. Mindfulness is, in many ways, clarifying your thoughts... realizing that you have have a tape loop repeating things that don't seem useful or related to the circumstance. Seeing that your emotional weather comes and goes. We don't escape the weather, but to be aware of it allows us to better account for it in our thinking.