Anderson Cooper reports on what it’s like to try to achieve “mindfulness,” a self-awareness scientists say is very healthy, but rarely achieved in today’s world of digital distractions. The following segment is from “Mindfulness” which aired on Dec. 14, 2014 (CBS News – 60 Minutes):
- Interview & Transcript: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/mindfulness-anderson-cooper-60-minutes/
- Video: http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/mindfulness/
Jon Kabat-Zinn
Mindful
Everyday
I see or hear
something
that more or less
kills me
with delight,
that leaves me
like a needle
in the haystack
of light.
It was what I was born for —
to look, to listen,
to lose myself
inside this soft world —
to instruct myself
over and over
in joy,
and acclamation.
Nor am I talking
about the exceptional,
the fearful, the dreadful,
the very extravagant —
but of the ordinary,
the common, the very drab,
the daily presentations.
Oh, good scholar,
I say to myself,
how can you help
but grow wise
with such teachings
as these —
the untrimmable light
of the world,
the ocean’s shine,
the prayers that are made
out of grass?
— Mary Oliver from Why I Wake Early.
See also:
Dispatches from the Edge: A Memoir of War, Disasters, and Survival
Mindfulness for Beginners: Reclaiming the Present Moment–and Your Life
Full Catastrophe Living: Using the Wisdom of Your Body and Mind to Face Stress, Pain, and Illness
The Mindful Way Through Depression: Freeing Yourself from Chronic Unhappiness
My Soul In Silence Waits 