We often hear these days that the current climate in America is that of a “me orientation” versus a “we orientation”.  We see signs of this throughout our lives regularly. People rarely seem to have time for anyone but themselves and their families, but I think if we dig a little deeper, evidence that many people are living with a focus more on us than me exists. We-focused people are not as readily in the spotlight as those who are more me-focused. Mindfulness and a we focus are beginning to set roots quietly without press or fanfare.

Let’s face it: there are many quacks, pretenders, so-called healers, and flakes out there touting meditation and mindfulness after one or two years of practice, claiming all kinds of things. You know, the folks I am speaking about, we all do. It is about time we begin to discern the people who have put in the time and practice to speak and train others in meditation and mindfulness that we can trust. Unfortunately, those who fall closer to the quack and wannabes are much louder and more marketing savvy in branding and promoting than the practitioners who quietly do their work and train others in meditation and mindfulness. They give those of us who have committed our lives to this work embarrassing and untrustworthy reputations. We all need to be mindful about who we get involved with mindfulness.

“Mindfulness is everywhere at the moment. If you don’t know someone who has done a course, downloaded an app or read a book, you will soon. Based on centuries-old Buddhist meditation practices and breathing exercises, it is prescribed to thousands of patients on the NHS each year to help prevent anxiety, depression and stress. Even more pay for private classes believing that they improve the quality of their lives and relationships. And over a million people looking for mindfulness on-the-go have downloaded apps such as Headspace. The mindfulness industry is vast, and growing weekly.So can an approach so deeply rooted in eastern spiritualism, and which at times comes close to sounding like new age waffle, really work?” David Derbyshire from Should We Be Mindful of Mindfulness?

Mindfulness and A We Focus is about reframing our lens to see the big picture beyond my own little, self-centered needs, at least for a bit. When we see the world from a Mindfulness and A We Focus, we carry the intention of letting go of “looking out for #1” and stand for your friends, family, neighbors and the global populations a whole.

Mindfulness and A We Focus: Stepping out of a Me Orientation

“The value of mindfulness is that it teaches us a way to be less caught up in the endless buzz of our own thoughts and worries. The discipline of meditation, particularly mindfulness meditation, gives us practice in stepping out of ourselves a bit, which we can then use to gain perspective on our situation. This is a useful skill to have when facing the frustrations and problems life throws our way. Brewer sums it up nicely: “MT helps us step out of me.” Being able to look at your thoughts and feelings in a nonjudgmental way, without reacting or caving into them, puts you in a much better position to deal with stress. Using mindfulness, says Brewer, “Your life improves. You can learn to tolerate all sorts of distress.”

By helping us tolerate distress, meditation and mindfulness-based stress reduction aim to put people back in control of their experience, reducing anxiety, and increasing resilience. More and more studies provide evidence that mindfulness meditation – and other forms of meditation – really does affect the brain and body in a positive way. Western medicine is just beginning to integrate alternative techniques like mindfulness into conventional treatments. Clearly there is something to mindfulness; it’s been practiced by millions of people for thousands of years. We Westerners may be a little late in jumping in, it certainly benefits us to research it scientifically. As we come to understand it more thoroughly, we just may find it is even more useful than we suspected.” Alice G. Walton

Mindfulness and A We Focus: We Vs, Me and The Art of Balance

 In fact, a feeling of “we” is easier to stir when team members believe that all are being treated the same, and the sense of “we’re all in it together” is often enough to transform straying cats into eager bees. As anyone with kids knows, people the world over have a natural fascination with “fairness” and easily resent a sense that any individual has special privileges or advantages. This is part of the mentality of groups, Kesebir says, because a sense that all members are treated the same evokes that feeling of shared destiny, that the fate of one is the fate of all. This intense interest in fairness makes group members eager to punish anyone they perceive to be cheating. Self-centered as we often are, when we see a conflict between our interests and those of a group to which we belong, we tend to prefer the interests of the group. David Berreby

Read the rest of We versus Me and The Art of balance.

Mindfulness and a We Focus: Are you ready to join us as we move forward as a collective force, thinking about we versus me or even we and me? I invite you to share your experiences shifting from a me focus to Mindfulness and a We Focus.

Other posts you may enjoy:

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I Am Not A Healer

Blindness – A Spiritual Teaching in Seeing

The Art of Knowing is Knowing What to Ignore

Spiritual Training on Humility – The Janitor Part I

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Michael Swerdloff

Providence Holistic Counseling Services