A “Happy” World: It’s Time for Some Meditation in This Fast-Paced Nation

Meditation

Being bombarded by technology has become an inescapable norm that has pervaded our society. Popular topics of conversation have changed quite a bit over the last decade or so. Most are being done via text messaging and e-mails on better looking, enhanced graphics, and faster processing computers.

Common discussion points include:

• Did you get the latest smart phone?
• You should download the latest app for _____.
• Find me on Facebook.  Follow me on Twitter. Subscribe to my channel on YouTube.
• I am headed to the movies tonight (at my computer, of course) to digitally download a couple of flicks and also talk to my friends on Skype.
• You want to know ANYTHING…just Google (or Bing) it! You don’t have to think.
• I don’t have time to listen to the whole song, but will preview it on iTunes.
• I don’t have a pen and pencil handy, just text me the address and I’ll put it into my GPS on my phone.
• I don’t want to get up to check on my caller ID for who’s calling. Instead, I will activate my announcement mode when the call comes in.
• … and many more!

It’s time for us, here in America, to recharge our batteries and regain control of our own mental processing powers rather than being the subject of mind control, and all of the overabundant and ecstatic amount of stimuli bombarding us from a variety of media-related and technological sources. The primary concerns in this generation of youth become the lack of sustained attention and patience to be able to learn, problem solve, and build resiliency skills for later in life. Staying behind a computer, or glued to a cell phone constantly does not promote the multiple intelligences from being fully utilized.  Recent studies conducted have shown that the practice of meditation based training has long lasting, positive alterations in brain and cognitive functions. Many of the cognitive improvements observed after meditation-based training have implications for the treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Benefits include:

• Being able to discern important information from distractions more efficiently
• Activating neural structures involved in attention
• Enhancing positive mood and reducing negative emotions
• Increasing self-regulation of overall emotions
• Promoting a state of relaxation
• Exhibiting an overall superior performance (especially in the domain of attention and executive control processing)

For more information on helping a child obtain overall SUPER HEALTH, please visit: www.doughaddad.com.

Douglas Haddad, is the author of Save Your Kids…Now! The Revolutionary Guide To Helping Youth Conquer Today’s Challenges and a full-time public school teacher in Connecticut. www.doughaddad.com.

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This post originally appeared on our November/December 2011 Magazine