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>I think clarity there generally helps people change their conditions more than it urges them to just accept them. It can work either way. Any mental approach can be used for clarity and motivation or as an opiate - or something worse (justification for harm, etc.). It depends on what you emphasize. For kids in school, they're probably not going to be able to change their own conditions, particularly at school. I've experienced both in myself. Meditation, discovery, and self reflection helped me deal with very bad work situations, but it also eventually made it clear where balance was lacking and the motivation to find better balance, which is very difficult in the US (and I'm sure most of the world). I also think there's a big difference between wanting it for yourself and having it pushed on you. If I didn't seek it out but instead had school or work force it down my throat, I doubt I would have benefited much from it. I'm sure there are kids and adults who were ready for it anyway, so when it was forced on them, they scooped it up and ran, but I doubt that's the typical experience. Balance is different for different people, because we're all off balance in different ways, so I might need to learn a little this way or a lot that way to find balance, and you may need to lean in the opposite directions. Mindfulness is vague enough to give people room to adjust according to their needs, but in an institutional setting, it will be filtered through the balances of whoever is presenting it. Because some of these approaches helped me, I'm inclined to want other people to experience them, but I also understand that different things work for different people and that I shouldn't expect my experiences to translate to everyone else. |