Jon Kabat-Zinn is a professor of medicine and the creator of the Center for Mindfulness. Kabat-Zinn was a student of Buddhist teachers and Zen Master and a founding member of the Cambridge Zen Center.

His practice of yoga and studies with Buddhist teachers led him to integrate their teachings with scientific findings.

He teaches mindfulness, which he says can help people cope with stress, anxiety, pain, and illness.

His program mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR), is offered by medical centers, hospitals, and health maintenance organizations.

Life is a serious business … a business that is far too serious for us to take too seriously.

And yet you do. Starting with yourself. You are driven more and more to do so by marketing and social media.

You are so immersed in the social media culture that it is hard to see this happening … and even harder to see the price you are paying in increased stress and lack of happiness.

And then there is the Selfie Stick. You memorialize your life for others and create a story, an identity, which you share on Facebook for others to see.

People have been taking photos of themselves for generations, still the Facebook phenomenon of self-documentation and of investing so much of yourself in growing and sustaining these online extensions of yourself is taking this to new levels.

The Facebook person you work so hard to create and manage reflects this in its artificial and superficial happiness.

Life is a serious business … a business that is far too serious for us to take too seriously.