Oh great stuff @*Beth*. Sounds like you've been on your journey of the mind for quite some time. Awesome.👍

Thank you m.o.s. Actually, I went to my first "rap group" in 1977. I was in high school and there were a bunch of hippies sitting in a huge circle on the floor of an old house. I was by far the youngest and felt very self conscientious Everyone was talking about *whatever*. I don't think I said a word. But that group opened a world for me. Next was a TM group, I was 17, and that led to meditation. My friends teased me and called me "hippie!"

So, yeah. I've been at this for a very long time. One would think I'd "get it" by now.

I've not heard of that book at all tbh, but I have wondered, from time to time, how mindfulness made it's way into the mental health field. Now I know. Would be an interesting read.👍

Please do give it a read. I believe it would bring meaning and "aha's!" to your own practice. (btw, Amazon's description of it (should you read that) is horrible. The book is quite spectacular. Jon K-Z is absolutely no BS.)

I discovered mindfulness and started practicing it when I became interested in Buddhism and meditation etc, around the year 2000 - twenty-two years ago, wow.🤔 Then around 2005 I found out, to my joy, that it was known about in mental health. Because I felt Buddhism in general could be a valuable mental health tool, and when you look at it, the mental health field is really all about helping people to overcome their mental and emotional pain - and so is Buddhism. The two are united across the expanses of time (in many ways).🙏

It is GREAT that you're involved with Buddhist philosophy and meditation. I truly believe they are so healthy for the mind, body, and soul.

It took a long, long time for the western world to accept eastern philosophy. A lot of that had to do with the Vietnam war, just plain bigotry against anything Asian. Even in "liberal California" eastern spirituality didn't become mainstream until the 1990's - when Kabat-Zinn, who wasn't in any way threatening and had the right credentials, came onto the scene and brought mindfulness meditation along with solid statistics with him.

Prior to that, wow. Not something to be talked about outside of certain groups of people, seriously. I could list examples of the fear so many people had. It was ridiculous, but so real.