John Allcock - Forty Things I Wish I'd Told My Kids

Guest: Mindfulness director John Allcock

Featured book: Forty Things I Wish I'd Told My kids.

Website: fortythingsiwishidtoldmykids.com

These include

• Don't Be Ruled by the Tyranny of Events
• The Belief That Happiness Comes from Getting What We Want is Wrong
• Pain is Unavoidable; Suffering is Optional
• We Live in a Sea of Uncertainty—But We Already Know How to Swim
• Don't Treat The Present Moment Like a Shabby Motel Room

We talk about

• Why every mind needs mindfulness
• How Smartphones are affecting the mind
• Present moment experience internal and external
• Facebook
• Leather and Pickles
• Meditation for kids
• Sea Change Preparatory School

Bio: John Allcock has succeeded big-time, many times. He’s also failed big-time. But what seemed at first like some of the worst things in his life were what began to wake him up. Those failures and difficulties helped him realize something important: although he, like all human beings, sought happiness, he actually was looking in exactly the wrong direction. The failures also led him to embark on a lifelong study of mindfulness—and to want to pass on what he learned, first to his kids, and now to the rest of the world.

John graduated from Boston College (with highest honors in philosophy and political science) and Harvard Law School (cum laude). He works as a trial lawyer at DLA Piper, where he is also the Global Co-Chair of the firm’s Intellectual Property Group and serves on its Executive Committee.