Why Getting What You Want Will Not Make You Happy Look for that instant when joy arises Someone recently reached out to me for personal coaching. He is very well known in his professional circle and wealthy beyond the dreams of avarice. He has most certainly arrived. He had accomplished …
Cultivate Good Heart, Not Clever Mind
Cultivate Good Heart, Not Clever Mind Why the economists get it wrong. Dr. Robert Thurman was professor of Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Studies at Columbia University and I believe he was the first Westerner to be ordained a monk by the Dalai Lama. Subsequently, he left monk-hood but continued to …
Only a Toaster Oven But Oh! What A Lesson I Learned
Only a Toaster Oven But Oh! What A Lesson I Learned It’s Holiday Season. Try this exercise. It’s Holiday Season – or soon will be – and I am permitted to ramble. If not the season, then my years give me that privilege. Bear with me. I have an important lesson for you and I can give it to …
Your Left Little Finger Can Teach You a Powerful Lesson
Your Left Little Finger Can Teach You a Powerful Lesson The question is, “Are you ready to listen?” Sometimes, in my public speeches, I pick on a member of the audience and ask her – or him – how often she has thought about her left little finger in the last twenty-four hours. Invariably …
It is Better to Travel Hopefully … (Than to Arrive!)
The quote “It is better to travel hopefully, than to arrive” is attributed to Robert Louis Stevenson. And the other part of the quote is “And the true success is to labour.” The Buddha is quoted as having said “It is better to travel well than to arrive” though some believe this is a fake quote …
More on the Downside of Hope (But then, what is the point of life?)
More on the Downside of Hope (But then, what is the point of life?) I received a ton of feedback after my last post on why hope may be over-rated and the downside it has. It is here. I narrated the story of Kapil who was by most standards utterly destitute but who still found joy in his …
There is a Downside to Hope (& What To Consider Instead)
There is a Downside to Hope “Abandon hope” may be the clarion call that leads you to freedom! Many years – I mean decades – ago I read a laudatory article about a Western missionary who had spent most of his life in a Third World country. The writer gushed that he had ‘given hope’ to …
You Are in Prison. (You Just Don’t Know It …)
You Are in Prison. (You Just Don’t Know It ...) There are many different kinds of prison and they all keep you bound! I was thrilled to come to America which was the land of the free and home of the brave. I now realize we define “freedom” too narrowly. We equate freedom with the …
You Can Change Instantly. Here’s How …
You Can Change Instantly. Here’s How ... Does it take herculean effort and much time to make deep changes in who you are? It does and it does not! Here is a question I get often from my coaching clients and persons who enroll in my programs. They are interested in personal growth and in …