The Higher Life Summary

The article “The Higher Life” featured in The New Yorker, by Lizzie Widdicombe, confers the ideas of mindfulness and meditation. Buddhism derived the idea of mindfulness and the act of meditation. In today’s society, the concept of mindfulness is prominent. Andy Puddicombe, a Buddhist monk, and other meditation enthusiasts initiated the spread of their beliefs and abilities through the creation of iPhone apps, various courses, and guided lessons. These creations have made understanding and experimenting with meditation easily accessible. The Buddhist idea of mindfulness, the array of apps, courses, and lessons offered, even the pure idea of stress relief makes not feeling intrigued impossible. Today, life revolves around materialism making stress and distraction inevitable. Issues that are both experienced by the majority. According to a Harvard Study, “Forty-seven percent of our life is spent lost in thought. Distracted!” Puddicombe in reply stated that “If we meditate a lot, ‘it’s almost like there’s a little more room, a bit of space in the mind.’” Although
Meditation is also not impossible. Widdicombe stated that “it is any method used to train the mind or to achieve a special state of consciousness.” Emphasize on “any method” is important because everyone has to find their own way to meditate. There is no universal way to meditate. Coming from experience, meditation is difficult. During Puddicombe first meditation session he admitted that “everything went kind of quiet for a few minutes.” This is completely accurate when meditating. You suddenly become aware of the silence. At this point it is easy to become distracted with other thoughts but, each time you must bring your attention back to the silence. Puddicome stated “the different physical sensations… the weight of the body, the contact between the body and the chair.” All of these sensations are mindfulness in the purest