The Sheer Terror of Sitting Still by Mark Morford @ SFGate, Wednesday, June 19, 2013
Pause and you get eaten…Ruthlessly forward is the only perspective, the only direction, the only proper attitude. Self reflection and mindful presence? Calm and OM and inner stillness? Sounds adorable, but holy hell have you seen the pace of the world today? Who has the time? Who has the energy? Who has the patience? And really, does meditation even work? All the hoopla, all the supposed health benefits, all the ancient Buddha wisdom, even modern science slowly coming around to the idea that clearing your mind and working the “attention muscle” is beneficial for reducing all sort of toxic things, like stress, anger, road rage…But come on. There’s so much to do! Money to make. Empires to build. Spines to slouch and hoodies to wear and souls to crush. This is America. Work is all there is. Well, work, and the Internet…Eat or get eaten, sucker…for most Americans, stillness is… how to put this honestly? Terrifying. Deep, even momentary quiet freaks people out. The hardest thing anyone can ever do in our culture is sit still for a moment. The demons! The memories! Voices! Kids! Video games! The guilt and the doubts and the FOMO, all hammering down on you like a cold rain made of fear and capitalism and shame. And it’s only been… 27 seconds. Meditation is hard. We are addicted! White noise and activity filler and lists. Do you know how many apps there are for making To-Do lists, setting alarms, organizing schedules, keeping track of appointments and tasks and urgent needs? I don’t know, either; I’m far too busy writing this column to count them all…
READ MORE including his conclusion. Worth your time. Excellent.
Image: Mark Morford Yoga. Article: SFGate – The Sheer Terror of Sitting Still. Mark Morford bio.
Live & Learn 
Wow. Period. The illusion v. the reality – to attain, and buy, and get, and compete, and find it all pales in comparison to a sunset.
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Yes, all that. Great post.
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People too afraid of the silence, of being alone, needing the television on to keep them company… all part of the modern sickness you describe.
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On point Alex. Thanks.
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Wow! That we’re so afraid of ourselves seems so funny and sad. That Greek chorus in our heads, reminding me of one of your previous posts on the mind. Reading about Gordon Ramsey exhausts me (and I’m a type-A). By the way, what is FOMO?
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Gordon Ramsey wears me out too! FOMO = Fear of Missing Out. 🙂
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Thanks!
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Awesome…we have to be alone with our self to hear the sound of our own heart beat…to know we still exist in the fast pace world…to hear our own voice…in order to grow and not be grown. Thank you for sharing…this is very powerful. 🙂
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Thank you. I too found his post to be very powerful.
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Reblogged this on This Touching Life and commented:
“The hardest thing anyone can ever do in our culture is sit still for a moment.” Loving on Mark Morford again.
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Thanks for sharing Kamela
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“Introspection is for hippies”… 🙂 We’re all lost…trying to find our way back…to something. I think we all know something is desperately wrong here, but we seem to be all trapped in this morass of craziness.
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🙂 and all this coming from a self-described hippy!
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Love this!
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Me too!
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Loved this – great way to express the difficulty of finding stillness in our modern world. I do struggle with this and I am working to improve and yes … there is an app for that. Gee Whiz.
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Me too Michael. Working on finding stillness everyday. As to the app, please do not send it to me. I do not need another app. 🙂
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Laughing! It was like as if someone is shouting out loud out of frustration but Man he is speaking the truth. Do you know how many apps there are…? Terrific, Man. Great post, Dave.
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🙂 Loved it too Sonia.
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Yes. And it’s the only answer.
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Yes. 🙂
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