One day, my daughter asked me a simple but profound question: “Where is God?” It’s the kind of question that sounds easy—until you actually try to answer it, especially to a child. I was reminded of a video by Swami Chinmayananda where a child asks their mother the same question. She replies, “God is everywhere.” That answer makes sense—until the child starts following the logic all the way through. “Is God in my room?”“Yes.”“Is God in my blanket?”“Yes.”“Then why do I have to go to a temple or a church?” At that point, most parents get stuck. The idea of God being everywhere is abstract even for adults, let alone for children who think in concrete terms. The challenge isn’t … Read More
Say Yes to the Obvious Yeses (and No to Everything Else)
I recently came across an idea that stuck with me more than I expected. I had heard Mohnish Pabrai talking about Warren Buffett, and it connected to a familiar saying: you are the average of the five people you spend the most time with. If your closest friends are doing well, you tend to rise with them. If they are stuck, unfocused, or unhappy, that gravity pulls you down too. This idea shows up everywhere. Jim Rohn famously articulated it, and even the old phrase “birds of a feather flock together” points to the same truth. Who you spend time with shapes who you become. But Pabrai raised a more interesting question: How do you actually choose those people? Time … Read More
Repost: It’s better to be in love, than to be loved
Naval Ravikant: Once your health is taken care of, once your material needs are taken care of… You pursue truth, love and beauty. Love I think is important because people want to be loved, because that helps them get over their mortality. It makes them feel a little safer (monkeys huddling in the dark around the campfire, scared of what’s out there in the woods). But one thing I’ve realized for myself is that: it’s better to be in love than to be loved. If somebody loves you too much—like your mom’s coming up and hugging you all the time, or some girl or some guy is obsessed with you—it can get a little clawing, right? It feels like it’s a burden. You almost don’t … Read More
Pursue your natural interests, not success
At first I had titled this “pursue excellence, not success” and I realized that this was my own conditioning and programming that was resisting a blog post about the dangers of pursuing success. When we say the pursuit of excellence, I think that they can imply an end goal a means or an aim to get somewhere and this is the problem. When we don’t know who we are, we continue to pursue external things and rewards. We start to desire, success and more success, and it’s ingrained in our culture that we should strive to be successful. After all, we have to do something we have to do some action there’s no way around it so we played games … Read More
When the ambulance drives by
One of the things I tell my daughters to say as an ambulance or firetruck or police drives by is: “Go save them!” As cheesy as that sounds, its something I do myself (or at least say a silent prayer “Om shanti” which means “Peace”) for those people who are in distress. When we don’t do things like this – acknowledge the suffering of others, the situation looses urgency, gravity, and we miss an opportunity to practice empathy or compassion. For many, we remain silent and/or annoyed as an ambulance or firetruck or police forces us to slow down and get out of the way — forgetting all too quickly that at their destination someone in need is requiring them.
Saying “Hi” practice
Often when I walk down the street, I say hi as someone walks by. And I find, others don’t always say hi! Maybe I wasn’t clear or loud? Maybe I have something in my teeth? Maybe my smile is too creepy? No. OR… Maybe they’re just rude? Thinking something, busy worrying? Think I want something from them? Who knows! I’m not sure why others don’t always say hi back. That being said, I think it’s a great practice to NOT be reactive. To not get hurt or offended. To not fundamentally change your nature and continue to be friendly and say hi. This practice can easily follow in situations in life when others don’t do as we’d like to – … Read More
Protected: Siya and Miss Loreli
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