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The link you provided is to material from the Pali Nikayas, purportedly the recorded version of orally passed down material from several hundred years before, and first written down in 29 B.C. This is thoroughly a part of the Buddhist tradition and the cultural heritage of Southeast Asia that it is impossible to see it as reasonably characterized, as in your OP, as "Pop" or "trendy."
Thus, I have to say, I don't think you know what you are talking about, and that the topic thread consequently has dubious merit. You might better reword it and put it in the Religion forum as a proposition to debunk Buddhist doctrine and tradition.
I presumed, incorrectly, from your choice of words that you were talking about a current crop of self-help books perhaps, or various current speakers at "therapy workshops." It would clearly seem that you are not.
You consistently assume that anyone who questions your understanding of the supposed topic, is wrong. But you have made zero effort to find out if these people have or had not had traumas in their past, and what personal experience they might have relating these to the idea of "living in the now." Futhermore, you simply reject any idea of what "living in the now" might mean that does not agree with you own assertions.
Thus, you have effectively made your position something close to a solipcism.
I think living NOW is about letting go of past regrets & finding a way to move on. Healing takes time. Learn from past experiences & move on rather than hanging on to grudges that would spoil your mood or attitude right 'now'. We are shaped by our past so its impossible to forget the hard hitting experiences. Meditation helps a lot in the healing process & living in the moment. If you feel unhappy because of some memory rush from the past, take a few minutes to calm yourself & focus on something else until the feeling passes.
Bad memories could be triggered by seeing a person from the past or facing a familiar dilemma. Find a way to overcome the rush of bad feelings & try to get back to the feelings you had before the rush. For example you wake up with a good mood & you hear some bad news on tv that brings sadness. Try to switch to something that makes you happy like reading a joke or watching a funny video that will bring back the good mood you woke up with in the morning. Take a mental 'vacation' to a sunny beach to escape the dark storms of negative feelings. If you dwell in the storm too long chances are you would get hurt or get carried away by it. So take a vacation to a cool, calm place until the storm passes.
I use this site a lot for quick & calming (free) guided meditations to calm my nerves:
fragrantheart.com
I think mindfulness isn't forgetting the past. I've mainly seen it suggested when panic or anxiety attacks are overwhelming someone. In that case, I think focusing on controlling the symptoms of the attacks so one can function is the first prirority.
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It's late and I'll come back to read this thread (hopefully I won't forgot), but basically, the thinking is, the present and the past is all there really is. The past has already happened, so don't waste time or energy dwelling on it, and the future well, like the speed of light we are forever approaching it but we never quite get there. So one shouldn't try too hard to plan for the future because whatever happens happens.
I think living NOW is about letting go of past regrets & finding a way to move on. Healing takes time. Learn from past experiences & move on rather than hanging on to grudges that would spoil your mood or attitude right 'now'. We are shaped by our past so its impossible to forget the hard hitting experiences. Meditation helps a lot in the healing process & living in the moment. If you feel unhappy because of some memory rush from the past, take a few minutes to calm yourself & focus on something else until the feeling passes.
Bad memories could be triggered by seeing a person from the past or facing a familiar dilemma. Find a way to overcome the rush of bad feelings & try to get back to the feelings you had before the rush. For example you wake up with a good mood & you hear some bad news on tv that brings sadness. Try to switch to something that makes you happy like reading a joke or watching a funny video that will bring back the good mood you woke up with in the morning. Take a mental 'vacation' to a sunny beach to escape the dark storms of negative feelings. If you dwell in the storm too long chances are you would get hurt or get carried away by it. So take a vacation to a cool, calm place until the storm passes.
I use this site a lot for quick & calming (free) guided meditations to calm my nerves:
fragrantheart.com
some offenses are simply too great to put behind you , no one chooses to let something consume them, if it happens , then its simply a reflection of how profoundly they were wronged , some offenses are so great that people go to unimaginable lenghts in order to find closeure on the matter , its one of the reasons many people end up taking other peoples lives and we all know that occurences like this are quite common
It seems like there is a trend in pop psychology to focus on NOW. A person is not supposed to look back at their past, nor are they supposed to go too far into the future. The only thing that matters is NOW.
So what is NOW? Is it a minute, an hour, a day, or a week? I think this is a veritable crock of "feel good" nonsense. I think people have to understand, and work through, their pasts to move forward. What one has done in their past largely explains where a person is today. While people can stake out in new directions, there are usually some parameters that the past levies on this effort.
Your thoughts?
I think what you may be referring to is 'mindfulness therapy'. Basically, it's learning to become aware of our own thoughts, feelings, reactions in the present so we can slow ourselves down enough to use the rational part of our brain (pre-frontal cortex) rather than react quickly using our limbic system (amygdala, hippocampus etc).
The way we react in the present is because of the way our brains were wired by past experiences - especially trauma. When a person has had a lot of traumatic or negative experiences their brains have been 'wired' for the fast-track 'fight, flight, freeze' automatic response of the amygdala instead of the slower track path via the pre-frontal cortex. Because of the advances in neuroscience using brain imaging (fMRI scans etc) we know more about the 'plasticity' of the brain and that it can be 're-wired' to some extent.
You are right that we are formed by the events in our past and it's beneficial to understand why the events and experiences in our past make us feel and react the way we do in the present. But constantly rehashing the past over and over actually reinforces the 'wiring' or neuronal connections of the limbic system.
You could try looking up 'mindfulness therapy' 'taming the amygdala' or 'brain based therapy' used in trauma or PTSD.
You might also find this article interesting as it explains why therapists are now looking more and more to neuroscience:
Any experience cause neurons in our brains to fire. Repeated experiences cause neurons to fire repeatedly. Neurons that “fire together wire together,” strengthening neural connections. Strong neural connections become neural pathways and neural networks. This experience-triggered neural firing is how ALL neural pathways become patterns of response
I think what you may be referring to is 'mindfulness therapy'. Basically, it's learning to become aware of our own thoughts, feelings, reactions in the present so we can slow ourselves down enough to use the rational part of our brain (pre-frontal cortex) rather than react quickly using our limbic system (amygdala, hippocampus etc).
The way we react in the present is because of the way our brains were wired by past experiences - especially trauma. When a person has had a lot of traumatic or negative experiences their brains have been 'wired' for the fast-track 'fight, flight, freeze' automatic response of the amygdala instead of the slower track path via the pre-frontal cortex. Because of the advances in neuroscience using brain imaging (fMRI scans etc) we know more about the 'plasticity' of the brain and that it can be 're-wired' to some extent.
You are right that we are formed by the events in our past and it's beneficial to understand why the events and experiences in our past make us feel and react the way we do in the present. But constantly rehashing the past over and over actually reinforces the 'wiring' or neuronal connections of the limbic system.
You could try looking up 'mindfulness therapy' 'taming the amygdala' or 'brain based therapy' used in trauma or PTSD.
You might also find this article interesting as it explains why therapists are now looking more and more to neuroscience:
Any experience cause neurons in our brains to fire. Repeated experiences cause neurons to fire repeatedly. Neurons that “fire together wire together,” strengthening neural connections. Strong neural connections become neural pathways and neural networks. This experience-triggered neural firing is how ALL neural pathways become patterns of response
Thank you for your informed post. That is what I was talking about - mindfulness therapy. I know trauma survivors who have done this AND the technique with the eye movements, and haven't made much progress. Past events still haunt them. The "now" is very fleeting. The future is uncharted. In many instances, the bulk of their lives is behind them.
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