One of the most frustrating things in my life was my dad’s recitation of a poem. It had nothing to do with my dad and everything to do with what the poem said. The essence of the message is that the ultimate truth is as wonderful and kind as it is scary. I hated the idea […]

Introduction We very often judge people. It feels natural. I try to refrain from doing it, but I usually end up doing it. The way I thought of judgment completely changed after listening to the audiobook – Elon Mask by Walter Isaacson.  After reading the book, I realized that holding onto our judgment is an

Why should I care? Why should I read the article? I want to show you that your mind is running you. It is taking advantage of our fears and basic instincts. It is holding us hostage, and we are unaware of it. I hope to show you the possibility of an authentic life. This article

Why do I care? Why should I even read this article? There is a promise in the universe that may not be apparent. The article shows you the promise and makes you aware of a possibility. This article is a reflection on the implications. What is the meaning of life? Has this question come to

Introduction I was discussing his plan for the future with someone who has joined the workforce. We were discussing what it is that he would like to do. He mentioned that his goal was to make money. He felt that once he had money, he would have many choices.  This led me to reflect on

Introduction What if I told you that you eat giant donuts with 20 grams of sugar daily, drink two glasses of alcohol, and a lot of fries and red meat? You might be cringing by now. We take care of our health. We are mindful of the food we eat. We talk about hygiene. Yet,

“Don’t jump”. She said she heard. She was depressed and alone in the bridge. Her addiction and her life pushed her to the limits. As she stood on the edge of the railing of the bridge to take her life in the middle of the night – she heard the voice from a passing car;

Just focus on enjoying life. This is what my Dr said when I asked her for advice on ways to stay mentally fit for the rest of my life. After that discussion, I am trying to make enjoyment a priority in my life. Once I seriously started thinking about ways to implement it in my

Introduction I like to think of our desires like a deck of cards, except that the number of cards is infinite and not 52. You see only one card. Once you remove the card, the next card shows up, and so on. Two major experiences From my high school days, I had developed a fascination

Inevitability of life One of the things I try to think about often is the big-picture life. One day I wanted to spend some time reflecting on this. I wanted to find out what it means and what truth may be hidden there. What I found out was quite interesting. Let us take a close

I was talking to my sister over the phone one day. I was standing in my backyard. It was a beautiful Sunday morning. My sister lives in the heart of a town with very little touch of nature. During our talk, I suddenly heard her calling her daughter. In an excited voice, she was telling

I have a list of experiments that I want to do. One such item is actively trying to love someone whom I deeply disliked. A day came when I was forced to do it. It started one day when I got a call from a friend of mine. Within a minute of exchanging pleasantries, he

Loving my Fridays, I hate Mondays I look forward To Fridays I end up Hating Mondays I enjoy Good health Disease Depresses me I celebrate Child’s success His failure Causes me heartbreak I get Attracted by eternal youth I recoil from wrinkled skin I work hard To be champion My pride creeps In my heart

A thought experiment Let us start by doing a thought experiment. Let us think of all the things that we want to want, the missions we want to accomplish, and the goals we want to reach. Now visualize that you have got everything. Try to now visualize your life. Stay in this place.  What will

We have all seen greatly successful people with no family life, extremely talented artists unable to make a decent living, or someone very rich but with nothing else in his or her life. I think they are the symptoms of one phenomenon. Falling for the trap of extreme. Whenever I see words or phrases like

I was watching the beautiful spring flowers in the valley during my hike sometime last year. The whole valley was flooded with the bright yellow color of California poppy flowers. The air was crisp. I was enjoying every breath as my eyes feasted on the glorious vista. At that time, it struck me.   What

A few years back, I seriously started thinking of retirement. I started to find out about the things that I needed to focus on. I wanted to come up with an actionable plan for me to start working on. As I started to research and identify those items – I realized that the list missed

The Pandemic has changed so many things. One of the areas where I felt the most significant change is my work life.  The pandemic has done another major thing for me. It has taught me a lesson on contentment. When the pandemic started, I started working remotely. My commute including the time to prepare takes

Introduction For this article – I will not make a strict distinction between need and want. This will help us to focus on the general theme of the article. When TV first came, they were confined to only big cities.  In one small village, one day one of the villagers bought a TV from town.

  Introduction “Think of the ten things you regret about your life. Now think of a time ten years in the future. Consider some of the things you may regret. Use this to plan your action now. “ This is what I heard recently in a Youtube interview. The context was planning for the future.

We are all different. Our stories, our backgrounds our experiences may be different. Yet – we are all deeply connected. I think we are closer to each other than we think. At the level – just beneath our ego and apparent experience of separation – we have no difference. Here we can connect with others

  My objective is to show you that nobody cares for you. It may sound counterintuitive. Yet it is a profound truth. I will share some examples to show why I am saying that. Finally, and most importantly I want to show you the implication and how we can use this knowledge to transform our

 Everyone wants to help I think a lot of people – genuinely –– want to make the world a better place. They want to help others. They are serious and feel inspired by others. Given the opportunity and situation, they would engage in activities that would allow them to make a difference. I do not

Introduction We discuss time management. We talk about managing our to-do list. We talk about prioritizing our tasks. Could we make our life about Service? How would life be; – if everything we do is viewed as service? The key idea is to make service the focus. We do everything to accomplish a result or

  One thing fascinates me a lot. When we plan something or invest in or commit ourselves to, we often, neglect some of the most important things. The difficulty for us is that these are invisible. These are such integral parts of our life that we do not think of them.     Assumptions /

Gratitude – thoughts, some practices, and loss of precious thing(s) in life Introduction One day in a talk on gratitude, I heard the speaker mention that we can be grateful for small things in our life. For example – having readily available water. The vast majority of people in the world – do not have

What happens, when we drive under influence of alcohol or special substance? Our pre-frontal cortex (pre-fontal cortex is the part that helps us in rational decision making) gets affected. Our judgement gets impaired and at this state people often behave in a way which they often regret later. I wanted to call this blog –

I think Our default mode is survival. Each and everything we do is from the survival instinct. Urge to save is to protect our way of life. We want to stay healthy fit and do not want pain and suffering to protect ourselves to ensure our survival. We are social animals. This has been one

Living in the moment is now a cliché. I am sure you have heard it many times. It came as a piece of good news to me. I figured that all I need to is to live in the moment. If I can do that, life just becomes a matter of being present. So, I

Most of the time we read about stress – we talk about how to handle stress, how stressful modern life is , and what we can do to manage stress in our lives. Let me share with you a couple of stories.  I am sure you have seen or heard stories of people who are

I am sure you have heard yourself or others say “in a perfect world ….” I have always wondered, what it really means when we use “if everything were perfect…… “ Is there no death or birth? Where there is no teacher or nobody needs to learn  Where is no shortage of food or is

We try to free ourselves from the suffering whose seeds we plant ourselves Does superiority or inferiority complex have any place in your life? For me it has. Maybe a lot less than it used to have. I spent a lot of time introspecting on this. Why association with certain people would make me feel

Have you ever been captured in a traffic camera? Well, I have been. I made a right turn on red which was illegal at the junction. My first reaction was to take out my phone. The fine was $500. For the next few hours my head was filled with sentences beginning with – “ If