Whats been going on In Possibility's Mind? (Part 1)

There have been a few ideas floating around my mind in my scant quiet moments. I’ll mention them briefly and I encourage YOU to POST YOUR THOUGHTS.

1) The self-improvement and development communities have been expanding rapidly as of late. The most popular undergraduate class in Harvard is ‘Positive Psychology’, which in short is a class about learning to feel good and get a stronger grip on life. ‘Positive Psychology’ is also exploding across different continents. CNN recently described Yoga trips, yoga oriented vacations to enhance spiritual and physical quality and well-being. (Story HERE: http://www.cnn.com/2007/TRAVEL/09/13/yoga.vacations.ap/index.html?iref=newssearch) Anecdotal evidence implies certain therapeutic models and new age ideas are becoming increasingly mainstream.

Why now? My entrance into these communities and belief systems was predicated on a then dissatisfaction that I was not fulfilling my potential. At the time I thought I was an exception. It is readily becoming apparent however, that its far from exceptional.
Is it because the world is perceived as so much more a dangerous place in the last few years? Is the cognizance of loss, pain, and suffering, causing people to relate it to their own lives and determine they want more? They want control?

Is it perhaps a cycle? There were the 60s of course, and sometime over a century ago there was another ‘spiritual’ and self improvement movement. Is it just a natural progression of events, which too will soon find its demise as our expansion in thought meets the inexorable decay of the mundanity of our repetitive existence? I freely admit that it is a concern of mine that I too may eventually fall victim to this subtle oppression, and so I remain ever vigilant.

Is it something else?

If it is a cycle, why so fast? The unbelievable change in our communication, not only in the last two decades but in the last three years with the onset of facebook, youtube, wikipedia, have hyper-accelerated our transfer of ideas. If, lets say, that the specter of conflict in this new millennium is the driving force for our growing trend of happiness/self mastery seeking individuals, then our response has been of unbelievable speed. If the 60s countercultures took a decade to fully form because of the onset of the Cold War (unsubstantiated opinion of one of the big factors), then in half a decade we’ve achieving something in a third of the time. Is it then that we are on some hyper accelerated learning track? Information has never been more accessible and learnings that once were outside the means of all but the few have been packaged and repackaged into easily consumable forms, so much so, that the average person is overwhelmed by its extent. Rather than scarcity, we have an overabundance and it may be far more paralyzing.

Or not. Feedback is welcomed.