Spiders are Not Your Biggest Fear

Exactly two years ago, my sister gave birth to twins in the middle of the night. They arrived a couple of weeks early. When I got to the ICU ward in the hospital, my sister’s vital signs were high and she asked me to lead a meditation to help her calm down. I stood in corner of the tiny space, partitioned by a curtain, and gave my brother-in-law the only chair while my sister lay in bed. Five minutes into the meditation, I suggested rising above the hospital and imagining looking down to give all the souls in the hospital  who are suffering the light of peace. That’s the last thing I remember standing. The next scene was a lot of doctors surrounding me, checking to see if my neck was broken. I was put on a stretcher and the cut eyelid was stitched up in the emergency room. I had a broken sternum, which the doctor could not much about expect recommending rest till it healed. Apparently I fainted and fell upright, like a tree chopped from the bottom, with the chest landing on the floor and my head on the bottom of the IV stand. My brother-in-law, bless his heart, was now running between the newborns in the nursery, the ICU and the emergency room.

The Power Of Appreciation Guided Meditation Commentary

 This 6-minute meditation on the power of appreciation is an essential habit to cultivating happiness in your life. It is not just for the Thanksgiving holiday but highly recommended to make it a daily practice.

Lessons from a Construction Crew on a Morbid Morning

It was 6am this morning. The sky was filled with the first light at the crack of dawn. I was standing outside on the upstairs balcony sipping my hot beverage. There was not a soul to be seen. Understandably, my community was reeling from the shock that was handed to us in the wee hours this morning. I assume most people were up, like me, until 1am to witness Reality TV turn to real life.

A construction truck fully loaded with street repair equipment drove up. It pulled up by another truck parked in front of my neighbors and the two drivers, seemingly Latino, started talking in Spanish. Why were these men up so early on a day like this? They had to have been on the road since 5am to get into San Francisco at this hour. A dozen reasons for why they were justified to show up late for work crossed my mind. I bet the boss is not going to show up for a few hours. They had a few more things to be concerned about the latest news than me.

The Three Things You Should Know About Karma

Several years ago, I bought a motorcycle to get around San Francisco. It was the best decision I made as I could zip through choked streets. One afternoon, I cut through the middle of two lanes of vehicles stopped at a traffic signal. When I was almost at the very front, my handle bar touched a car stopped on the left. I thought it was a mild touch and continued forward to the white line. Shortly thereafter that car started honking. As it was a mild contact, I thought the driver was looking to pick a fight for nothing. As soon as the light turned green, I sped away. A mile down the street, I noticed the driver was still following me and honking.

Lucid Planet Radio Podcast: Bringing Peace to the Park and Finding Calm in a Chaotic World with Jay Chodagam

END GAME - Stanford Scientist Estimates 35 years. What are YOU doing about it?

You know life on earth is precarious, but I bet you have no idea how serious it is. 

Earlier this week, I heard a talk by Dr Elizabeth Hadly, Stanford professor, White House Advisor, a regular speaker at COP summits and advisor to Governor Jerry Brown. Based on her research on history of human behavior, she predicts that human life on earth as we know it, could end by 2050. If anyone makes it past that, they will have the unsought privilege of witnessing 85% of all mammal life on earth disappear by 2100. This is not new information, she says, her research has spanned over 30 years. But it is only in recent years that governments, organizations and individuals are noticing her team "shout from the rooftop" of the dangerous signs. In the Oscar-winning An Inconvenient Truth 10 years ago, Al Gore gave us a wake up call to the gravity of the situation. This talk was an update on the State-of-the-World. 

'Five Questions to Soul Consciousness' Meditation Commentary

This short meditation is one of the most effective ways to disconnect from the mundane and reach a state of soul consciousness. It is a very methodical way to engage the mind and intellect to turn within. In a matter of 5 minutes, you will come away calmer, clearer and reset.