Power of “The Pause”

Viktor Frankl was a Psychologist who served three years in Auschwitz and later on wrote his famous book, “Man’s search for Meaning”. One of his many famous quotes talks about the power of pausing.

The “Good Girl” Syndrome

I was born and raised primarily in South India. I belong to an elite class of South Indians, affectionately nicknamed “TamBrams” (Tamil Brahmins). Tambrams in general, are brilliant intellectual snobs with severely repressed emotions, especially the sensual ones. It is understandable, after all we…

Fierce Grace

One of the pitfalls of organized religion is the incomplete notion of Grace. We believe that just because we have tried our best to be good people, that life will work out for us since that is what all religions teach us. If you are good, you will go to heaven or accumulate good karma. If you are bad…

The Calling

If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you. If you do not bring forth what is within you, what you do not bring forth will destroy you. — Gospel of Thomas

“Where do unspoken thoughts and unsung songs go? Are they laid to rest in mind’s graveyards…

Effortless Effort

How can a man’s life keep its course
If he will not let it flow?
Those who flow as life flows know
They need no other force:
They feel no wear, they feel no tear,
They need no mending, no repair
 The Way of Life According to Lao Tzu, by Witter Bynner

Sherman’s Sermon

I recently visited Sequoia National Forest during the raging Northern California Fires. Standing under the Giant Sherman tree — the largest living tree in the world and under the General Grant Tree which is named a Living Shrine was truly awe inspiring. These trees are anywhere between 1700–2400…

Stories

The Spiritual teacher Byron Katie asks a poignant question: “Who would you be without your stories?”

The Hippocampus in our brain is a puzzle piece assembler and it is always trying to make sense of what is happening to us. It does that by assembling whatever information it can infer…

RESISTANCE IS FUTILE

The Spiritual Teacher Byron Katie, calls herself “Lover of Reality”. According to her, Reality is God as we are all powerless against it, no matter how rich and powerful we might be. The current Pandemic is case in point. After having spent over two decades studying and practicing various…

The Sacred Feminine

Today Indians begin their celebration of the “Festival of Nine Nights” (Navrathri) to venerate the Sacred Feminine. In very ancient civilizations, there was a sacred balance between the masculine and feminine energies: Yin-Yang, Anima-Animus, Prakrithi-Purusha and so on. Over the past 2500…

The Victim

A couple of blogs ago, I talked about the power of story-making ending with the question “Who would you be without your stories?” In that regard, one of the most powerful stories that can keep us stuck in life is the story of feeling like “The Victim”. The Victim archetype is very powerful and can sometimes…