Is mindfulness oversold as a cure-all?

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Yes it is. But it’s not just mindfulness, everything is sold as a cure-all. This is mostly because American businessmen selling you things are not interested in actually curing you, but rather in making money. Our society is based on business and the underlying mechanics behind business make it so that you can choose to or not to purchase something. If you need assistance on what to buy, then you need to seek out a professional that you can trust. You really shouldn’t put your sole trust in a businessman. Try to understand what you’re buying before you plunk down your hard-earned cash.

Be careful in trusting the person that is telling you you need something who is also selling you that thing. In the first place they can lie, and tell you you need something you don’t. But in the second, everybody requires something different, and mindfulness may indeed be a step on the way towards healing but many people already understand and have mastered the technique of applying mindfulness. Or what they are looking for cannot be found through mindfulness. Perhaps they don’t even know what they’re looking for.

There is nothing wrong with providing goods and services of a spiritual nature. For a long time there were only books, and not everybody can actually learn from books. And charging money allows them to spend the time needed to do a good job.

It is up to you to decide if products and services that promise mindfulness are worth buying. Personally I like the idea of setting a personal development budget. Set a goal for this month and see if you can buy your way to achieving that goal, with the amount of money you have set aside for the purpose. Take in your prior attempts and if they didn’t produce results, try something different this time.

I think mindfulness is a great thing to learn if you need it. But it might not be what you need right now.