“Some days are diamonds, some days are rocks.” These are some of the most relative, albeit a bit simple, words of Tom Petty in one of his best, but rather unknown songs, Walls. The meaning may be simple but there is a certain soothing to the poetic nature in which the lines are constructed. I catch myself saying these lines over and over when I’m having a rough day. Sometimes I’ll say them when I’m having a good day or even a mediocre day. There is just something soothing about them. I have been saying these lines to myself for afewyears now. Maybe it’s the attachment I feel with the song to my life experiences. Maybe it’s the meaning of the lines. Maybe it’s just that Tom Petty is one of the greatest musicians ever. Regardless chanting those two lines in sync with Mr. Petty over and over has helped me progress through the rough times of my life, knowing that someday will be a diamond. Consequently it’ll also keep me grounded knowing that someday will be a rock as well. But that’s just the way life works, some days are diamonds and some days are rocks.
Little did I know though, that I have been practicing a form of Mindful-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR). Perry Garfinkel outlines the different forms in his book, Buddha or Bust. The form that I was ignorantly practicing was similar to what Easterners practice, chanting a line or sutra repeatedly, clearing your mind and letting your stress go while bowing to some Buddhist significant – dumbly put. Though it is traditionally done a bit more formally than the way I have been going about it, with bows to a Buddha statue and other ‘religious formalities.’ Westerners tend to do a more scientific based meditation, but that is getting sidetracked…
When Garfinkel was in Hong Kong he noticed that the city had gone through a boom across the board in particularly the last 50 or so years; the city was quite modern, having the highest cell phone ownership per capita, the longest covered escalator system, the worlds tallest soft drink plant and not to mention, it is a multinational corporation hub for Asia as well as the world. He also noted though, that there appeared to be a lot of stress associated with this busy city. Everyone seemed to smoke, which I can relate to because, sadly, I smoke from time to time to deal with my stress and I hate it (another nasty side affect from a failed relationship). I admit it is kind of a Catch-22. When Garfinkel talked to Dr. Helen Ma who is an expert of MBSR, particularly Eastern MBSR, she said, “People are getting richer but not happier” and that “Hong Kong is becoming hungry for something spiritual.” This may have something to do with the largest Buddha statue being erected there and completed in 1993. These people are clearly vying for something, or at least the way that Garfinkel has described them. Dr. Ma states that Minduflness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT), a variation of MBSR reduced the risk or recurrence of major depression from 78% to 36%.
This brings up the question, is MBSR a scam? People are paying a lot of money to learn how to chant formally through a ten week program, yet I chant lines to a Tom Petty song at my leisure and obtain similar benefits. The businessman would undoubtedly argue that if there’s a benefit and you can make money doing it, then why not? An ethicist might have a different opinion however. While Garfinkel may have had an open mind to this, and why the hell not, he is getting paid to do a story on it (note: in a businessman fashion), he didn’t seem sold on this style of MBSR. He had a conversation with an Indian man who was using MBSR to help him get through his rough career. The Indian was working for a multinational corporation, in a high stress environment. He learned this man’s pain and suffering and was able to relate to him through the MBSR. Garfinkel seemingly leaned to the statistics after this experience, but his attitude however, was not selling, and being an engineer I can tell you that 62% of all statistics are bogus – ha! Maybe it had something to do with the awkward experiences he had in these group type sessions.
One could argue that the entire ritual is just that, a ritual. You have to go through the motions to obtain the full effectiveness of MBSR. I have not experienced that, but it seems to me that I do essence of what MBSR is all about. I’d never pay to be able to sing or chant lines from my favorite Tom Petty song or any other song or sutra for that matter.
Some days are diamonds
Some days are rocks
