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Comment by hellodude129 | Hacker News Reader

In my experience people who are very much into meditation are those people who are still seeking the holy grail of how to feel better about life and about themselves, people who have experienced a lot of pain in their lives or periods of depression. Meditation won't solve that.

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- In my experience this isn't the case at all. Everyone I know drawn to meditation wasn't due to periods of depression nor pain in their lives but for a variety of other reasons which pretty much all come down for personal development.

- Meditation is used in clinical situations specifically for paid and stress reduction. If you want sources for this there's of citations on the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meditation

Stress reduction? I have a novel idea for stress reduction: Stop stressing. Are you going to die tomorrow? No? Then settle down and stop worrying.

I tell this to everyone I know who "suffers" from stress, and I get some variation on the same response, "it's not that easy for me".

Actually, it is easy. It's 2011. Predators aren't chasing you across the savannah. You're not more than 3 days away from a source of potable water. You're not more than 7 days away from safe, nutritious, calorie dense food. You aren't in immediate danger of being washed away in a flood or dying of heatstroke in the desert or freezing to death.

Realize that your "stress" is so far removed from its genetic origins as to be laughable, realize how good you really have it, and enjoy life.

This is genuinely a terrible approach for anyone suffering from depression/anxiety.

If we could all pull the Louis CK approach ("everything is great but no one is happy") we would. Unfortunately those mired in depression/anxiety cannot see the forest for the trees...otherwise they wouldn't be dealing with their problems.

EDIT: shit, totally meant to downvote you. Enjoy the free karma.

> Realize that your "stress" is so far removed from its genetic origins as to be laughable,

Realize that your "diagnosis" is based on absolute rather than relative terms; it's laughable.

This really isn't the place to try to dissolve a complex psychological subject in to such flippancy as "well life is so much better than back in hunter-gatherer days". If you wish to try to trivialise mental illnesses with unsourced off-the-cuff remarks then take it elsewhere; I've no interest in engaging you in the conversation.

Ever thought of writing a book? You could call it "Stop it!" Stressing? Stop it! Eating too much? Stop it! Procrastinating? Stop it!

It's 2011, your brain should do everything you command!

hmmmm - perhaps if one indeed had to worry about the next drink of water etc... one wouldn't "stress" in the modern sense.

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