Feb 21Seven Things to Do and One Thing not to Do in a Time of Layoffs: A Mindfulness PerspectiveA workmate from many years back dropped by for a chat a couple of days ago. He’d just gotten laid off from Microsoft after nearly two decades of working there. Ashwin (that’s what we’ll call him) was very unsettled and was struggling to process what had happened. …Layoffs7 min readLayoffs7 min read
Dec 27, 2022On Mind and Mindfulness: Conversations with ChatGPT, an Artificial IntelligenceWhat better way to close out 2022 than to have a conversation with ChatGPT, the hot new AI chatbot from OpenAI that everyone is talking about (and to). I was curious to see it would respond when I asked it if it was self-aware or conscious, and discussed topics like…Mindfulness7 min readMindfulness7 min read
Nov 14, 2022Takeaways from my Google-sponsored ticket to the “Wisdom 2.0: Mindfulness in a World on Fire” EventAs a Noogler, one of the cool things I’ve stumbled across at Google is its internal gPause program which offers secular mindfulness activities, resources and community for Googlers and teams. This Sunday, I took advantage of a Google-sponsored pass to virtually attend the event “Wisdom 2.0: …Mindfulness At Work4 min readMindfulness At Work4 min read
Oct 23, 2022Seeing the Nature of the Mind: Lessons from a Tibetan Buddhist Monk’s Talk at GoogleIn late September, about 300 other Googlers and I attended a lunchtime talk at work titled “Seeing the Nature of Your Mind” by Kalu Rinpoche, a 32-year-old Tibetan Buddhist Monk. If your immediate reaction is “don’t I know my own mind and why do I need to attend a talk…5 min read5 min read
Aug 21, 2022Learning to Meditate from Movies and Milarepa the MurdererSome months back, I was trying to convey my experience at a 10-day silent meditation retreat to a former workmate and friend, Jean-Christophe or JC as he goes by. “I get all the relaxation I want from working in the garden or building stuff with my hands”, said JC, “sitting…Meditation4 min readMeditation4 min read
Aug 7, 2022Einstein, Spooky Action at a Distance, and why the Universe might be a Simulation (or Console Game!)While the esoteric branch of physics known as String Theory concerns itself with unprovable propositions like the larger 26-dimensional metaverse (apologies to Mark Zuckerberg) that our universe supposedly exists within, Einstein’s Theory of Relativity that describes the 4-dimensional nature of our own universe with profound accuracy. Multiple experiments have proven…Metaverse5 min readMetaverse5 min read
Jul 26, 2022Lucid Dreaming: The Key to Awakening from the MatrixMy recent post What’s Common to String Theory, Cognitive Neuroscience and Buddhism? described how we live in an illusory universe where all we see and know is false, the result of a conspiracy between our mind, brain and the physical reality we live in. We are caught in three traps…Mindfulness6 min readMindfulness6 min read
Jul 19, 2022What’s Common to String Theory, Cognitive Neuroscience and Buddhism?I bumped into Ram, a String Theorist by education and cognitive neuroscientist by profession, at a neighborhood party this weekend. Ram also has an interest in Eastern philosophy, which got me thinking about what each of these three fields have to say about the nature of reality. It turns out…Mindfulness4 min readMindfulness4 min read
Jul 12, 2022The Three Imps of Buddhism: Nine Months after my 10-day Meditation RetreatOver last Thanksgiving, I attended a 10-day silent meditation retreat at the Dhamma retreat center in the rural setting of Onalaska in Southern Washington (read my account here). Nine months down the road, people often ask me what residual benefits I still retain from my ten-day bootcamp. Despite my practicing…Meditation3 min readMeditation3 min read
May 22, 2022Beyond the Rational Mind: Healing from Asthma and Eczema with AyahuascaAfter his first encounter with Ayahuasca, 39-year-old Richard Doyle felt a slight but noticeable lifting of the severe asthma he had suffered from childhood. He could still hear the haunting icaros or medicinal songs that Norma, the Shipibo shaman, had sung while he lay dissected under the gaze of Mother…Ayahuasca10 min readAyahuasca10 min read
