How to be a responsible steward of Democracy, Human Rights Capitalism and Planet Earth.



HOW TO BE A RESPONSIBLE STEWARD OF PLANET EARTH


Creating a better world for all through social media activism

Monday, August 20, 2012

Seeing the Roses

The Seeing the Roses  series was created by Rick Heller, the co-founder of the Humanist Mindfulness Group, which is sponsored by the Humanist Community Project at Harvard.

Rick led a meditation on Valentine's Day for a friend of his wife's who had received roses on that day. At the conclusion of the meditation, she opened her eyes and her gaze fell upon the roses. She remarked on how much more vivid they seemed to be after the meditation. As she had become mindful, her senses were temporarily amplified and she had seen the roses in a new way.


 The common expression "stop and smell the roses," is really a reminder to be mindful.This is how the series was named.

 Seeing the Roses is a series of videos about consumerism and the planet.  It promotes the practice of mindfuness as a way to increase our sensations of pleasure, happiness and love.
Americans are twice as rich than fifty years ago, but  not happier. What's going on?

Consumerism is a kind of soft addiction that overtakes the brain's reward centers. Just as people can become habituated to drugs, and require larger and larger doses in order to get high, we have become habituated to our possessions and seek more and newer possessions in order to maintain the same level of happiness.

Mindfulness can reverse habituation and help people gain lasting satisfaction from the things they have so that they don't need to accumulate more things. The less we buy, the less gets made, and the less pollution there is to damage the planet.

License:  Standard YouTube License.

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