Finding Our Awakening!
Bo Shao shared with me his thoughts on mindfulness in relation to mental health in China when I interviewed him for an article I wrote for Forbes a few months ago. The below is adapted and edited from the original article, which can be found by clicking “Read More” at the bottom.
China today has gone through an industrial and tech revolution compressed into only 3 decades, and so everything is happening very fast. Despite rapid economic progress, many Chinese people are scrambling for meaning in their lives – the anxiety and depression is only the tip of the iceberg, and many are not living fulfilled lives.
Many Chinese are suffering, and it is not a happy place to be. They do not want to face their loneliness, boredom, and anxiety, so they use their phones to cover it up, and so you see people sitting next to each other at the dinner table, all engrossed in their phones.
People are also worried about their future, and this has seen increase in mental health issues (about 15 million in China). This has increased several fold over the years. So I would like to help people out of their plights, and one of the most effective ways is to play with kids and feel their joy.
I think people like us, who have been through these challenges and come out on the other side, have a responsibility to help others. This is why I have set up an independent venture fund with mu own money, The Conscious Accelerator, to encourage self-awareness.