Donald Miller

Accept people for who they are

After many deeply-satisfying years in non-profit management, Donna spends her time blogging about the power of kindness, and always looks for ways to convey the power of stories. She believes that we can change the world through our stories, and through kindness. Her new book is called A Year of Living Kindly.

donna-cameron.jpg

Donna Cameron

<h4>DONNA CAMERON is the author of A Year of Living Kindly. Here she reflects on the importance of creating space between stimulus and response in everyday life, learning to master the art of the pause.</h4>“Human freedom involves&nbsp;our capacity to pause, to choose the one response toward&nbsp;which we wish to throw our weight.” —Rollo MaySome time ago, a friend happened to be looking at the huge collection of quotations I have tacked to a bulletin board covering one wall of my den. Inexplicably, she started to cry. Then she grabbed a pen from her purse and copied down this quotation from author and Holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl:“Between stimulus and response, there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.”“That’s it exactly,” she explained. “Whenever I’m tempted to take a drink, I need to pause in that space between stimulus and response. If I stop and think about it, I won’t drink. If I don’t, I slip and have a drink.” I knew my friend was in AA and that sobriety was still a struggle for her.I thought about Frankl’s words and saw how many things they applied to. Not just alcohol, but overeating, smoking, spending … any number of actions we take automatically with little or no thought. We allow an addiction or a learned response to overtake our free will. And, as Frankl describes, each time we don’t give in to the reflex response, we grow and claim our own precious freedom a little more.His wise words are just as relevant to kindness. Approaching the post office not long ago, I saw a man blast his horn at a woman whose car was blocking his exit. When she didn’t move quickly, he blasted it again, and then a third time, even louder and longer.I’d like to think that if he had paused, perhaps he would have chosen a different response. Maybe he would have shrugged and looked at his watch and said, “I’ve got time.” Or maybe he would have tried for a quick tap on the horn to alert her to his car, instead of three sharp and aggressive blasts.I know I’ve been guilty of speaking sharply in response to someone else’s rudeness or bad behavior. But that’s their behavior. It becomes mine if I let their rudeness provoke me to similar conduct. I don’t have to do that. I have a choice. When I react in kind, it doesn’t improve the situation, and it doesn’t make me feel any better.<img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/pause2_de4f673a07.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-05T10:46:21.925Z" alt="pause2">I also know that when I snap back at someone (as often as not, my spouse), it’s because I’m tired, feeling overwhelmed, inadequate, or – I admit it – hungry. A timely pause can prevent me from saying or doing something I’ll later regret. It maintains harmony. A timely pause enables me to adjust my course and be the person I want to be. It’s one of those lessons we learn and relearn over and over, until finally the pause becomes the automatic response.<hr><h5 style="text-align:center;">A pause may give way to understanding; it may silence hurtful words; it may avert a broken heart. Instead of speaking or acting in instant response, taking the time to pause and think about what I want my response to activate – and why – has been transformative.</h5><hr>There’s a reason why our mothers used to tell us to stop and count to ten when we got angry. It’s the power of the pause. There are things that need to be said and things that don’t need to be said. If we pause to think before we speak, we generally know the difference.Rotarians have the right idea. Rotary International – the service organization focused on human rights around the world – has a four-question test that helps members decide whether and how to act or speak. Before responding, they consider:Is it the truth?Is it fair to all concerned?Will it build goodwill and friendship?Will it be beneficial to all concerned?If the answer to any of these questions is no, they keep silent. Wise people, those Rotarians. Politicians could learn a lot from them.There is enormous power in something as simple as a pause. It allows us to delay long enough to decide if the action we’re contemplating will really get the result we want. Sometimes, when we hit pause, we recognize that we should make that pause permanent and simply do nothing, say nothing. The pause gives us the gift of grace.There is another time when the pause is a gift we offer ourselves – a gift of appreciation. Next time you perform an act of kindness, or you are the beneficiary of one, or you simply witness a kindness, pause and notice all the good things you are feeling. A pause allows us to acknowledge the importance of kindness in our lives, and to reaffirm the choice we have made to walk the path of kindness.I would put the power of the pause up against the power of the Hoover Dam. It’s that big. A pause may give way to understanding; it may silence hurtful words; it may avert a broken heart. Instead of speaking or acting in instant response, taking the time to pause and think about what I want my response to activate – and why – has been transformative. In the space of that brief pause, I might totally change my reaction, or perhaps decide not to respond at all. That pause has always guided me to a better place.A pause is not a vacant space. It’s a place of enormous potential and growth. It’s where we choose who we will be in this moment, and the next.Kindness in Action:Can you recall a situation where pausing before responding might have brought about a better outcome? Are there times when you know you are most likely to respond sharply or unkindly – such as when you are tired or frightened? Would a well-timed pause be welcome here? Set an intention to pause the next time your buttons are pushed. And the next time you experience or witness a kindness, pause to notice how it makes you feel.Reprinted with permission from the author.<img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/livingkindly_8f059a2c94.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-05T10:47:01.216Z" alt="livingkindly"><a href="https://ayearoflivingkindly.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">https://ayearoflivingkindly.com/</a><hr><h4 style="text-align:center;">Article by DONNA CAMERON</h4><hr>

The power of the pause

<h4>DONNA CAMERON is the author of A Year of Living Kindly. In this chapter from her book, she explores the significance of gratitude in daily life.</h4><h5 style="text-align:center;">“If the only prayer you ever say in your entire life&nbsp; is thank you, it will be enough.” Meister Eckhart</h5>Many countries and cultures have holidays devoted to gratitude. Americans and Canadians celebrate Thanksgiving, though not on the same dates. It is an opportunity for us to pause and acknowledge our countries’ heritage and all we – collectively and individually – have to be thankful for. Ideally, we should be doing this every day of our lives, but sometimes business and busyness crowd out gratitude.Throughout my year of living kindly, I noticed over and over that kindness and gratitude go hand in hand and augment one another. This is never more evident to me as when I spend time in Nature. Whether I’m hiking, relaxing on my deck with its view of the Cascade Mountains, or strolling my neighborhood, I often feel my heart opening to the nature around me – the flight and song of birds, the vast variety of trees and the way they change with the seasons, the surge of the creek in winter and its lazy amble in summer, the deer that visit our yard to nibble on the fallen apples. These things make me want to give back to the Earth and to my community.I was attending a weekend conference in Pittsburgh during my year of living kindly. It was late May, and the weather was glorious. I had a free afternoon, so I walked to a nearby park and sat on a bench with a book. I divided my time between reading and appreciating the sights around me. The park was like a living organism – children playing on the lawn, couples strolling hand in hand, squirrels, dogs, flowers, and endless varieties of trees and birds. I remember feeling the overwhelming sense of how blessed I was to be able to experience it all – the park, the conference, the travel, the people I was meeting, and the ideas I was encountering. Gratitude filled every pore.After a while, I walked to a local restaurant and ordered lunch. From my seat, I could still see the activity of the park and the bustle of Pittsburgh’s busy streets. I asked the waitress to box up my fruit salad and the remaining half of my sandwich, thinking they would make a fine dinner. Walking back toward my hotel, I felt the fullness of my life and the amazing privilege of when, where, and how I am living. A block or so from my hotel, I noticed an elderly man slumped in a wheelchair. At his side was a can with a few coins in it and a small cardboard sign with lettering that said, ‘Please help’.<hr><h5 style="text-align:center;">Throughout my year of living kindly, I noticed over and over that kindness and gratitude go hand in hand and augment one another.</h5><hr><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/gratitude_compassion2_min_cdba7ae246.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-05T11:04:48.643Z">I stopped and greeted him. Then I said, “I have half a turkey sandwich here and some fruit salad. Would you like them?” His eyes widened and he said, “I surely would.” I handed the restaurant bag to him and reached into my purse for a couple of dollars, which I also handed him. We talked for a minute or two, and I noticed how his eyes held a lively twinkle. When I resumed my walk toward my hotel, I felt even lighter and happier than I had before. My brief interaction with the man had felt good. While I’m sure he appreciated the sandwich and the few dollars I handed him, I sensed that even more, he appreciated being seen. He was used to people averting their eyes, ignoring him as they quickly walked by, even occasionally dropping some change or a couple of dollars into his can but then rushing off without a word. The gratitude I had been feeling opened me to extending a kindness and offering not just the gift of food or money, but the gift of my genuine attention. There was no question in my mind, though, that I had received the greater gift that afternoon.I saw that when I am in touch with my gratitude, kindness flows naturally and effortlessly. If kindness feels hard to summon, I’ve learned that taking a moment to appreciate my surroundings, my friends and loved ones, or little things that fill me with delight, inspires a surge of kindness.I’ve come to see that there are many ways that kindness and gratitude together produce almost alchemical results.<h4 style="text-align:justify;">SLOWING DOWN</h4>Both gratitude and kindness ask us to slow down. Slowing down isn’t always easy in our overscheduled and overactive lives. I often feel like I’m rushing from one deadline to the next, one obligation to the next, ruled by a lengthy to-do list. But slowing down is essential if we are to notice and appreciate the sunrise, the crocuses bursting forth, the birds circling overhead like ice-skaters with wings. And slowing down is essential if we are to notice the smile on the cashier’s face, the door held open for us, or the myriad opportunities before us each day to extend our own kindnesses.<hr><h5 style="text-align:center;">I’ve learned that taking a moment to appreciate my surroundings, my friends and loved ones, or little things that fill me with delight, inspires a surge of kindness.</h5><hr><h4 style="text-align:justify;">AN OPEN HEART</h4>When I experience gratitude, my heart feels open. It is a feeling of abundance and sufficiency. This is all I need. It is also a feeling of presence – what happened five minutes ago doesn’t matter, and what will happen five minutes from now doesn’t matter. I am in the moment.Likewise, the experience of kindness – whether given, received, or even just witnessed – opens my heart and allows me to feel fully present in the moment. For that brief moment, kindness is all that matters. It reminds me of one of my very favorite quotes, by Henry James: “Three things in human life are important. The first is to be kind; the second is to be kind; and the third is to be kind.”Abundance is also a companion of kindness. If we believe we are enough, we can easily believe we have enough. Both of these beliefs help us to reserve judgment and extend kindness. And that sense of abundance, whether related to gratitude or kindness – or most likely, both – inspires us to be generous with our time, our words, our deeds, and our resources.<img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/gratitude_compassion3_min_1aab042a9c.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-05T11:05:58.111Z"><h4 style="text-align:justify;">NEGATIVE EMOTIONS</h4>I’ve found that it’s difficult to be angry or fearful when one experiences gratitude. If my heart is grateful, I feel no need to summon ire if I am cut off in traffic or spoken to harshly. I’m less likely to be frightened by a new or daunting situation. Perhaps there’s simply no space for these emotions when I am filled with gratitude, or maybe gratitude has a way of neutralizing the effects of these negative emotions.This belief is often challenged when I hear about the most recent terrorist attack or the latest mass shooting. Those events spawn fear and anger, not just in the people directly affected, but in people all over the world. While there may also be gratitude that one’s family and friends were spared, and gratitude for the outpouring of support for the victims, can gratitude completely rout the fear and anger? I think not. But maybe there can be moments when gratitude at least overrides fear and lets us see that there is much to appreciate, even in the midst of terror attacks, natural disasters, or personal catastrophe. Maybe it’s gratitude that helps us recover from the worst things that can befall us.<img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/gratitude_compassion4_min_d36e8086db.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-05T11:08:22.710Z"><h4 style="text-align:justify;">SERVICE TO THE PLANET</h4>When we are grateful for something, our instinct is to protect and defend it. If we stand in awe at the edge of the ocean, or if we marvel at the canopy of trees above us as we hike through the nearby hills, our natural desire is to shield them from harm, to assure that they will always be there for us and for future generations to appreciate. Our gratitude puts us in service to life – what could be more important?Kindness, too, places us in service to life. We feel a physical connection to our surroundings and to the people around us when we engage in kind acts. Both the acts and the sense of connection are our acknowledgment that the ultimate kindness is to honor the earth and our fellow inhabitants – human and otherwise. A healthy planet and sustainable practices are the kindest gifts we can offer one another and the generations that follow us.<h4 style="text-align:justify;">GRATITUDE PRACTICES</h4>It’s lovely if gratitude comes to us frequently and effortlessly, but that is not always the case. Gratitude, like kindness, tennis, or piano-playing, is strengthened with practice. The more we do it, the more we experience it, and the better we become at expressing it. If you do an online search for ‘gratitude practices’ you will find countless suggestions, from daily meditation, to keeping a gratitude journal, to prayer. I try to spend a few moments each morning before I get up thinking about the things I have to be grateful for. Another creative approach is to create ‘trigger’ occasions that you use to establish a habit of gratitude. For example, every time you stop at a red light, use the moment to think of something you’re grateful for.<img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/gratitude_compassion5_min_d9dbd603c0.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-05T11:07:21.169Z">There’s another splendid gratitude practice that I love and practice occasionally. Physician and teacher Dr. Rachel Naomi Remen teaches this exercise that she learned from anthropologist Angeles Arrien. It’s simple and takes very little time. Here’s all you do:At the end of each day, sit down for a few minutes and answer these questions:What surprised me today? What moved or touched me today? What inspired me today?<hr><h5 style="text-align:center;">When I experience gratitude, my heart feels open. It is a feeling of abundance and sufficiency. This is all I need.</h5><hr>Your answers can be just a few words. What you’re trying to do is summon the memory of things that moved you.As Dr. Remen describes, “The most interesting thing happens, then. Often people are surprised eight or nine hours after something happens when they look back on it deliberately. But [by doing this exercise] that gap shortens until eventually they are able to see in the very moment what surprises them, what touches them, and what inspires them. And then everything changes. The world has not changed, but they have begun to be able to see the world, and they can communicate that experience. … It changes everything. It’s a question of paying attention.”It’s true. At first this is difficult. You may come up blank day after day. “Nothing surprised me,” or “Nothing inspired me.” But if you keep searching, you will think of something. “Oh, yes, I was touched when I saw those children playing in the park.” And just as Dr. Remen says, with practice you begin to notice things that touch or surprise or inspire you the moment they happen. That creates an enduring state of gratitude, not to mention presence.<h4 style="text-align:justify;"><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/gratitude_compassion6_min_2e808fe895.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-05T11:10:08.765Z"></h4>One of the greatest gifts we can give ourselves is taking the time to think about what we are grateful for – both the obvious and the small, hidden, even quirky things that enrich life. Daily recognition of the multitude of big and little things we have to be grateful for is a wonderful way to live in perpetual thanksgiving.<h4 style="text-align:justify;">KINDNESS IN ACTION</h4>Make an effort to say ‘thank you’ more often in your daily interactions, and when you say it, mean it.If you don’t already have one, think about a daily gratitude practice that will work for you – a gratitude journal, a few moments of reflection, a trigger activity, perhaps Rachel Remen’s simple exercise – then try it for three weeks. Notice whether it changes your awareness of how many things there are in your life to be grateful for. Notice also if it makes you more aware of kindness – your own and others’.If you find yourself in a situation that may provoke anger or fear, try summoning gratitude to counteract their effects. Talk about gratitude with your family. Perhaps make it a game at the dinner table, or when you’re on a long drive, to name all the things you have to be grateful for.<hr><h4 style="text-align:center;">Article by DONNA CAMERON</h4><hr>

Gratitude is a companion to kindness

<h4>DONNA CAMERON explores the beauty that vulnerability brings and its connection
 with kindness. She also shares her own personal experience of vulnerability and how it has changed her life for the
 better.</h4>
<hr class="vertical-space1">
A gift is like a seed; it is not an impressive
 thing. 
 It is what can grow from the seed that is impressive. 
 If we wait until our seed becomes a tree before we offer it, 
 we will wait and wait, and the seed will die from lack of planting.
 … 
 The miracle is not just the gift;&nbsp;the
 miracle is in the offering, 
 for if we do not offer, who will?

—WAYNE MULLER
<hr class="vertical-space1">
In high-tech parlance, vulnerability refers to a weakness or flaw that allows an
 attacker to access a computer without the owner’s permission. In human terms, vulnerability describes our
 susceptibility to being wounded or injured, and also the state of being exposed – to danger, illness, or criticism.
 For many of us, vulnerability implies weakness. It is something to be avoided.
But is it? Vulnerability may be our way of opening ourselves to the world, and trusting
 that it is not against us. It may be our way of embracing mystery and not pushing the unknown or the unseen away
 from us. It may be the truest way of saying “yes” to our lives.
In a relationship, we may be vulnerable when we are first to say “I love you,” or when
 we admit we don’t know something, or that we need help. Our comfort and security are threatened by the “power” we
 believe we have given the other person. Will he say he loves me back? Will she take advantage of my weakness if I
 ask for help? Yes, those fears are real. But another way to look at them is to recognize the strength they reveal
 and to take ownership of that strength. There is no shame in loving, even if the other person doesn’t love me back.
 There is no shame in asking for help, even if it isn’t given. The weakness is in burying our feelings or denying our
 need.
Dr. Brené Brown, research professor at the University of Houston, describes how
 vulnerability is a trait that wholehearted people share. As she explains in a remarkable TED Talk and in her
 audiobook, The Power of Vulnerability: Teachings on Authenticity, Connection, and Courage, vulnerability is
 the courage to be imperfect, to do something where there are no guarantees, and to let go of who we think we should
 be in order to be what we really are. With this willingness, we “allow ourselves to be seen,” with all our
 imperfections, in order to fully embrace our lives. Dr. Brown further explains that many of us erroneously believe
 that we can selectively numb our emotions; that we can stifle grief, shame, fear, and disappointment while fully
 retaining our joy, gratitude, and happiness. It doesn’t work that way. If we suppress the negative emotions, we do
 the same to the positive ones. Accepting our vulnerability and living wholeheartedly means understanding that the
 good, the bad, and even the ugly are what make us authentic and beautiful. That place of vulnerability, she says, is
 the birthplace of joy, creativity, belonging, and love.
<div class="text-center">
 <img alt="kindness-and-vulnerability" class="lazyload has-img-center mb-4"
 src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/Kindness2_2227d7e963.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-07T14:02:57.953Z">
</div>
Whether we’re committing to love, or art, or business, or kindness, we must have the courage to do it wholeheartedly,
 in spite of the fact that we know there will always be those who find us lacking. Knowing this is incredibly
 freeing! We can’t please everyone. Not ever. So we need to stop trying and focus instead on being who we are meant
 to be.
The more I think about it, the more deeply I see the connection between kindness and vulnerability. I’ve talked
 before about the difference between being kind and being nice. Nice does not require me to be vulnerable. I can be
 nice without risk, and without exposing too much of myself. I can be nice without making a connection, or without
 really caring whether or not you benefit from the encounter. Nice, while pleasant, doesn’t require sincerity or
 commitment. When I’m nice, I remain safe, guarded from exposure.
Kind is very different. Kind means connecting; it means being aware and intentional about the impact my words and
 actions have; it means expending energy and effort, and caring about the outcome. It means exposing my truest self
 in all my imperfections. It also means suspending judgments and accepting people as they are. Kind can be messy, and
 it may take me to places where I am awkward, clumsy, and tongue-tied. Kindness requires me to take risks. In short,
 kindness requires me to be vulnerable.
<div class="text-center">
 <img alt="kindness-and-vulnerability" class="lazyload has-img-center mb-4"
 src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/Kindness3_47c461c863.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-07T14:03:40.595Z">
</div>
Since making a commitment to living kindly, I have tried to replace nice with kind. The distinction may not have been
 noticeable to anyone but me. But my noticing it is really all that matters. Whether acknowledging someone’s
 assistance, explaining a new process, or giving a couple of dollars to someone in need, I try to make a connection,
 even if it’s only fleeting. Taking the time to make eye contact, exchange a few words, and convey that I see a
 person and recognize their value – these small actions convey our shared humanity and our shared vulnerability. It
 feels good.
My upbringing – and I suspect I am not alone in this – was one where I was encouraged to be smart. Grades were
 important to my parents, and I was rewarded for good ones. Poor grades (that is, anything less than an A) were a
 disappointment, and I dreaded the thought of disappointing my parents. Being smart and being right became important
 to my identity. School and career generally reinforced the importance of those qualities. There came a point,
 though, when I started to see that I wasn’t always smart, and I certainly wasn’t always right. At first, this felt
 threatening. If I admit how little I know about this subject or this new technology, will people assume I’m
 ignorant? Will I be giving up some imaginary advantage I have? It took both courage and a willingness to be
 vulnerable to start saying, “I don’t understand,” or “Please show me how this works.” It took even more to ask to be
 shown again when the first lesson didn’t “take.”
Rather than judging me harshly, I saw that people welcomed my questions. They appreciated the opportunity to share
 knowledge in areas where they excelled. I learned to ask questions that deepened my understanding. I breathed a sigh
 of relief that I was not expected to know everything, understand everything, or always be right. I didn’t have to
 fake knowledge I didn’t have. I was surrounded by smart people and, in aggregate, we were very, very smart. The
 other thing I saw when I was willing to show my vulnerability and admit my ignorance or inexperience was that others
 seemed more comfortable coming to me to either ask my help or admit when they needed help. 
 I think it must be very lonely to feel you must always have the answers or be the smartest person in the room.
<hr>
<h5 style="text-align: center;">To make that deep connection, 
 we have to allow ourselves to be seen. 
 That means having the courage to be imperfect, 
 to expose our flaws, 
 and the willingness to be vulnerable.
</h5>
<hr>
There is even a vulnerability to writing or speaking about kindness, and inviting people to read or hear my thoughts.
 Sharing my deepest thoughts – what matters most to me – opens me to their judgment, perhaps to criticism. Beyond
 that, am I saying too much about myself? Too little? Am I pontificating (oh, I hope not!)? Has it all been said
 before and said better? Am I missing the point entirely?
If I allow myself to be vulnerable, the answer is that it doesn’t matter. As Brené Brown eloquently explains,
 connection is why we’re all here, sharing this planet, and it’s what gives meaning and purpose to our lives.
You may feel awkward, exposed, or uncomfortable when you first start heeding the call to kindness. Good! That means
 you’ve tapped into your vulnerability. Embrace it, and keep allowing your kindness to grow.
Living our most authentic life, whatever that means to each of us, requires that we let go of our shield and lower
 our guard, and that we embrace our flaws and our vulnerability. For me – and perhaps for you – it’s choosing
 kindness. It’s scary, but the rewards of living an authentic life are beyond measure.
<hr>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Kindness in Action</h3>
<img alt="kindness-and-vulnerability" class="img-float-left has-img-center-in-mobile"
 src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/Kindness4_ba06e48490.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-07T14:04:23.353Z">Can you think of a time when you felt vulnerable? Recall the situation and your
 response.
Did you back away to “safety”? Or did you forge ahead?
Either way, try to imagine the outcome of the situation had you done the opposite of
 what you did. Maybe it feels better, or maybe worse, but can you feel the strength of your response when you
 accept your vulnerability?
Think about the you that most people see: Is that person authentic and real, or are you
 projecting only what you think they want to see, or what you feel safe allowing to be seen?
What is your relationship to perfection? Do you strive for it, or do you recognize that
 perfection is a myth that keeps us from being the interesting, contradictory, and often messy human beings that
 we all are at our core?
Are there messages you received as a child that no longer serve you but that you
 continue to hold onto?
If you’re a parent, do the messages your children receive encourage them to be
 authentic and vulnerable, or to strive for impossible perfection?
<hr>
If you haven’t seen Brené Brown’s TED Talk, make yourself a cup of tea and google it. It will be a very worthwhile
 twenty minutes!
Reprinted with permission from the author, from her book, A Year of Living
 Kindly.
<hr>
<h4 style="text-align: center;">Article by DONNA CAMERON 
 Illustrations by JASMEE RATHOD</h4>
<hr>

Kindness and vulnerability

Dorit is a German filmmaker, producer, and author, who first traveled to India to meet Babuji in 1978. She has been a Heartfulness practitioner and trainer for over 40 years.

Dorit Vaarning

<hr><h4>DORIT VAARNING first traveled to India to meet Ram Chandra of Shahjahanpur in 1978. She shares some of her experiences of being with this humble, insignificant being, who is known to many as Babuji.</h4><hr>It is a bit difficult to tell stories about Babuji, because I have the feeling that my stories tell more about myself than about him. For, after all, who is he? What I could see was only what I was capable of realizing, and what he permitted me to see.The second time I visited him, his head became transparent to me and inside I saw planets moving, following their courses according to the cosmic law. It was like looking into a watch. And though this vision was limited to the inside of his head, I was gazing, like through a window, into the unlimited universe itself. The following time I came to Babuji, I saw his head like an open bowl in which there was nothing.I remember one day he was sitting in his chair with a big flock of people around him, filling the terrace. I came late, and since the only place left was at his feet, I was ordered to sit there. Then we started to ask questions. I asked, “What is love?” Babuji created a beautiful image for us: “Love is what is alive when a flower blooms, and will never come again when the flower closes.” The second part of this definition disturbed me deeply, so I asked, “But does love have to go away? Can it also stay?” Babuji looked down at me tenderly and said softly, “Yes, it can come and stay forever.”<hr><h5 style="text-align:center;">Love is craving for Reality. Opening yourself to Reality and Divinity is love.</h5><hr>Then Babuji gave his final definition: “Love is craving for Reality. Opening yourself to Reality and Divinity is love.”After some time I asked, “What is grace?” Again those soft tender eyes met mine and he said with a smile, “Grace is sweetness of mind.” My heart melted in the love of his eyes, and I could only sigh. Babuji seemed to think over it again, and confirmed, “Yes, it is correct.”Then another question came to me: “Babuji, what is passion?” He answered as if making a rhyme, “Excitement in fashion is passion.” Then he put on a doubtful face, “It’s not correct,” he said. But then he came back to the same idea.“Babuji, what is sin?” “Improper adjustment of things.”Babuji was the most original, poetic and humorously meaningful person one can imagine. Once in Munich in 1980, I asked him, “Babuji, what about divine intoxication?” And he answered, “Well, I may not say anything against it, since I myself am a smoker!” Then after a while he asked me suddenly, “Why don’t you just jump into the infinite ocean?”One evening in Copenhagen, also in 1980, people had gathered in his bedroom to spend those cozy evening hours with him when generally he would be in the mood to talk. That evening he was sitting up in bed in front of everyone, totally ready for a conversation full of wisdom and laughter. But no word was being spoken. Babuji looked here and there, obviously up to something, but kept quiet.After some time, he looked around with an apologetic look: “No thought coming,” he exclaimed. Silence again all over. Suddenly, he rose up as if some event had happened. “That was a thought!” he exclaimed, and stared at something invisible, like gazing at a shooting star. This went on for a while, Babuji being in quite a humorous mood. Finally he remarked, with the most humble, timid look you can imagine, “A thought is a vibration from the Divine, not from such a low being like me.” And very small, with a shy smile, he lay down in his pillows.<hr><h5 style="text-align:center;">I asked him what saintliness was. He replied, “Gentlemanliness, humility. One who only gives and never asks for anything in return.”</h5><hr>During Babuji’s visit to South Africa in 1981, someone asked, “What is the correct behavior after one has hurt somebody?” He answered, “To be in yourself. That is something within.”“Should we avoid hurting others at all costs?” “Medium, moderation. Avoid giving trouble to others. That is a divine dictate. Not to hurt others is the greatest religion. I am not like a wasp that if somebody steps on it will sting. If somebody steps on me, I’ll be crushed and die. … you should never hurt the feelings of other hearts. You should play the defensive part, not the offensive one. When self is involved, defense is right.”<img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/one_who_only_gives2_img_82b97e3236.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-12T07:16:30.028Z">During those last hours with him in South Africa, I asked him what saintliness was. He replied, “Gentlemanliness, humility. One who only gives and never asks for anything in return.”<hr>Excerpt from ‘All Was Drowned in Divinity’ from the book Tears &amp; Laughter : Encounters With a Spiritual Master, 1st edition, 1990, edited by A.J. Born, Shri Ram Chandra Mission, India.<hr><h4 style="text-align:center;">Article by&nbsp;DORIT VAARNING</h4><hr>

One who only gives

DR ADRIAN COOPER

<hr><h4>A Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and author of three successful books, including Sacred Mountains: Ancient Wisdom and Modern Meanings, DR ADRIAN COOPER has been fascinated with wildlife and conservation since early childhood. Here he recounts some of the experiences of pilgrims traveling to wilderness environments, and how it helps them to grow naturally.</h4><hr>Wilderness environments have fed the human imagination since the dawn of history. Today, mountains, forests, mangroves and other challenging natural places are the focus for pilgrimage journeys for increasing numbers of people from all over the world. While traditional pilgrimage destinations such as Rome or Jerusalem may not always satisfy a pilgrim’s search for solitude and sanctuary, mountains and forests often do so in glorious abundance, with many surprises along the way.Traditionally, sanctuaries have been thought of as simply places of reflection, meditation and prayer. However, in remote natural environments, that is only part of the story. On a mountain slope or deep in a forest, for example, pilgrims learn that rational knowledge of their new sanctuary is never enough. There is a need to seek more.As humankind finds its way through this bewildering new millennium, the greatest challenge facing each individual is to find ways of becoming spiritually reconciled to the sacred inspirations within this planet’s last remaining wilderness environments.For Harriot, a teacher from Seattle, Washington, her wilderness sanctuaries are most frequently discovered on Mount McKinley, often known by its Native American name of Denali. It is the highest peak in North America, and one of the most isolated mountains on Earth: “I love to go hiking on Denali… I can tell you that it is my one and only true sanctuary. It’s where I go to find my deepest meditations; I can pray there like no other place. And it’s where I feel I can grow in the most natural and organic way.”George, a software designer from London, UK, shares a very similar experience: “Walking in the Scottish Highlands is my true sanctuary. It distances me physically and emotionally from all the hassle and hypocrisy of modern living. Out there I can breathe and feel restored. It’s a sanctuary that I crave for, and which I need in my deepest soul.”There are also times when pilgrims reconcile their spiritual search with a personal scientific quest to understand local ecosystems, and to align them within their pilgrimage. This type of reconciliation between the spiritual and scientific aspects of wilderness sanctuaries is clearly described by Lucille, an artist from Rouen, France: “For me, and a lot of my family and friends, there can never be a limit put on spiritual growth. We must always grow in any way we can. I love to learn about wildlife. I keep my own journal, which combines my mystical experiences with my notes about counting birds or sketching the grasses and other plants.”In all these ways, wilderness environments offer pilgrims life-changing lessons in the sanctuaries they discovered. Consequently, these extraordinary individuals have learned to become more than who they were before their journeys began.<hr>&nbsp;<hr><h4 style="text-align:center;">Article by DR ADRIAN COOPER</h4>&nbsp;<hr>

Sanctuaries in the wilderness

Dr Joe is a Doctor of Chiropractic, who trained in the fields of neuroscience and neuroplasticity, quantitative electroencephalogram (QEEG) measurements, epigenetics, mind-body medicine, and brain/heart coherence. As a researcher, lecturer, author, and corporate consultant, his interest lies in demystifying the mystical so that people have all the tools within their reach to make measurable changes in their lives. Dr Joe works on being the living example of everything he teaches. He also appreciates good food and wine, communing with nature, and being around highly creative people.

JOE-DISPENZA.jpg

DR JOE DISPENZA

<hr class="vertical-space1" />
<h4 style="text-align: justify">
 DR. JOE DISPENZA shares some thoughts
 on heart-brain coherence and moving from thinking to knowing through the
 instrument of perception we know as the heart.
</h4>
<hr class="vertical-space1" />

 Since our human ancestors first began etching their histories upon cave
 walls and stone tablets, like a thread through the needle of time, the heart
 has appeared as a symbol to represent health, wisdom, intuition, guidance,
 and higher intelligence. The ancient Egyptians, who referred to the heart as
 ieb, believed the heart, rather than the brain, was the center of
 life and the source of human wisdom.We know that the heart, beyond its
 obvious role in sustaining life, is not simply a muscular pump that moves
 blood throughout our body but an organ capable of influencing feelings and
 emotions. The heart is a sensory organ that guides our decision-making
 ability as well as our understanding of ourselves and our place in the
 world. It’s a symbol that transcends time, place, and culture. It’s a
 commonly accepted premise that when we are connected to the heart’s inner
 knowing, we can tap into its wisdom as a source of love and higher
 guidance.


 Every thought you think produces corresponding chemistry equal to that
 thought, which in turn creates an emotion. Therefore, you are suggestible
 only to the thoughts equal to your emotional state. We now know that when
 our students are heart centered and feel more wholeness and oneness, they’re
 less separate from their dreams.


 When they feel gratitude, abundance, freedom, or love, all of those
 emotions welcome corresponding thoughts. Those heart-centered emotions open
 the door to the subconscious mind so that you can program your autonomic
 nervous system equal to the thoughts of your new future. We also know that
 if they live in the feeling of fear or lack but try to think they’re
 abundant, they can’t produce a measurable effect, because change can only
 happen when thoughts are in alignment with the emotional state of the body.
 They can think positively all they want, but without a corresponding feeling
 or emotion equal to that thought, the message cannot be felt or understood
 throughout the rest of the body.

<hr class="vertical-space1" />

<hr />

 Heart-centered emotions open the door 
 to the subconscious mind so that you can 
 program your autonomic nervous system 
 equal to the thoughts of your new future.
 


<hr />
<hr class="vertical-space1" />

 So you could repeat the affirmation I am fearless until you’re
 blue in the face, but if it’s fear you’re actually feeling, the
 thought I am fearless never makes it past the brain stem, which
 means you’re not signaling the body and ANS into a new, specific destiny.
 The feeling is what produces the emotional charge (energy) to stimulate your
 ANS into a different destiny. Without the feeling, a disconnect remains
 between your brain and body – between the thought of health and the feeling
 of health – and you can’t embody that new state of being.


 It’s only when you change your energy that you can produce more consistent
 effects. If you sustain these elevated emotions on a daily basis, eventually
 your body, in its innate intelligence, begins to make relative genetic
 changes in the way I described earlier. That’s because the body believes
 that the emotion you are embracing is coming from an experience in your
 environment. So when you open your heart center, practice feeling an emotion
 before the experience occurs, and marry it with a clear intention, the body
 responds as if it’s in the future experience. That heart-mind coherence then
 influences your body chemistry and energy in a series of ways.


 If coherence between the heart and the brain can originate in the heart,
 and their synchronization results in optimal performance and health, then
 you should be taking time every day to focus on activating your heart
 center. By intentionally choosing to feel the elevated emotions of the heart
 rather than waiting for something outside of yourself to elicit those
 emotions, you become who you are truly meant to be – a heart-empowered
 individual. When you are living by the heart, you naturally choose love and
 innately demonstrate it through compassion and care for the well-being of
 yourself, others, and planet Earth. Through our partnership with HMI, our
 students have demonstrated that with practice, we can in fact produce,
 regulate, and sustain elevated feelings and emotions – independent of events
 in our external world.

<hr class="vertical-space1" />

 <img
 alt="living-heart-centered2"
 class="has-img-center lazyload"
 src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/living_heart_centered2_4e3c4efadc.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-11T04:59:49.344Z"
 />

<hr class="vertical-space1" />

 In our workshops around the world, through the practice of regulating heart
 rhythms to sustain elevated emotions, we teach our students how to generate
 heart and brain coherence. We then measure their abilities using HRV (heart
 rate variability) monitors. During guided meditations, we ask our students
 to surrender to the feelings of gratitude, joy, and love, and we encourage
 daily practice outside of our formal instruction, because when one chooses
 to practice sitting in a state of coherence, it becomes a habit.


 I hope that with enough practice, our students can replace old mental
 scripts of feeling unworthy, fearful, or insecure with more elevated states
 of being and fall deeply in love with their lives. We’ve seen enough of them
 demonstrate that it is indeed possible to produce positive, measurable,
 tangible effects in their lives simply by shifting the paradigm of their
 thoughts and feelings. These dedicated individuals return to their homes,
 where the positive effects they’ve produced in their own lives ripple out to
 positively affect their families and communities, continuously expanding
 their vibrational influence of harmony and coherence throughout the
 world.


 By repeatedly practicing the regulation of heightened emotional states, in
 time the constant feeling of elevated emotions creates a new emotional
 baseline. This baseline then begins to continuously influence a new set of
 thoughts equal to the heightened feelings. The summation of those novel
 thoughts creates a new level of mind, which then produces more corresponding
 emotions equal to those thoughts, further sustaining that baseline. When
 this feedback loop between the heart (body) and mind (brain) occurs, you are
 in an entirely new state of being – the consciousness of the unlimited mind
 and the energy of profound love and gratitude. The repetition of this
 process is what it means to recondition your body, rewire your brain, and
 reconfigure your biology equal to your new state of being. Now you are
 naturally, automatically, and regularly broadcasting a different
 electromagnetic signature of energy into the field. This is who you are, or
 who you have become.

<hr class="vertical-space1" />

 <img
 alt="living-heart-centered3"
 class="has-img-center lazyload"
 src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/living_heart_centered3_1f262dbb39.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-11T04:59:49.431Z"
 />

<hr class="vertical-space1" />

 Countless history books could be written through the lens of incoherent
 emotions. Whether the result is a Shakespearean tragedy, genocide, or a
 world war, survival emotions such as blame, hate, rage, competition, and
 retribution have resulted in an endless, unnecessary trail of pain,
 suffering, oppression, and death. The results have caused humans to live in
 opposition and conflict rather than in peace and harmony. This is a time in
 history when we can break that cycle. This is a pivotal moment in the story
 of humanity where ancient wisdom and modern science are intersecting to
 provide us with the technology and scientific understanding to learn not
 only how to more efficiently and effectively manage our emotions, but also
 what that means for our health, relationships, energy levels, and personal
 and collective evolution. It doesn’t require moving mountains – only
 changing our internal state of being. This allows us to alter the way we act
 with one another, replacing stressful situations with positive experiences
 that give us energy, fill our spirit, and leave us with a sense of
 wholeness, connection, and unity. The brain may think, but when you turn
 your heart into an instrument of perception, it knows.

<hr class="vertical-space1" />

 Excerpt reprinted with permission from
 Becoming Supernatural: How Common People Are Doing the Uncommon by
 Dr. Joe Dispenza. 
 It can be found online at
 <a
 style="color: #bf6b1d"
 href="http://hayhouse.com"
 target="_blank"
 rel="noopener noreferrer"
 >hayhouse.com</a
 >
 or
 <a
 style="color: #bf6b1d"
 href="http://amazon.com"
 target="_blank"
 rel="noopener noreferrer"
 >amazon.com</a
 >.

<hr class="vertical-space1" />
<hr />
<h4 style="text-align: center">Article by DR. JOE DISPENZA</h4>
<hr />

Living heart centered

Dr Nandi MD FACP is the creator and host of the medical lifestyle television show, ‘Ask Dr. Nandi’, available in syndication on the DISH Network and DirecTV, and in multiple countries around the world. Dr Nandi is also the Chief Health Editor at WXYZ (ABC) Detroit, USA, a practicing physician and a renowned international speaker.

parthanandi_pic.jpg

Dr Partha Nandi

<h4>DR PARTHA NANDI explores the relationship between a healthy lifestyle and how it affects the expression of our DNA and resulting health. He especially focuses on the benefits of Yoga and other traditions – both the meditative practices and the physical movement – in achieving a healthier life.</h4>From a young age, I knew that I wanted to create a world full of Health Heroes. These are people who make their health a priority and commit to achieving greater health and happiness. Two of the best ways to achieve a healthier life are through movement and spirituality. Each is an important tool in our fight against disease and premature death.Two of the most effective and fun ways to use these tools is through the practices of meditation and Yoga.When you make them a part of your daily routine, you’re rewarded with improved physical and mental well-being. They not only transform and strengthen your body, but also sharpen and condition your mind.This makes them powerful allies to any Health Hero committed to living a healthy and fulfilling lifeAnd it gets better. In addition to the many health benefits that we already know about, new research is showing that these mind-body practices can actually change your genes.<h4>MIND-BODY PRACTICES ARE CAUSING YOU TO CHANGE ON THE CELLULAR LEVEL</h4>The way you live affects you right down to your genetic level. Your stress levels, social surroundings, nutritional habits, physical activity and overall lifestyle all contribute to how your genes express themselves, and how your cells respond to their changing environment.How you cultivate your mind is no exception. New research findings show that the benefits of mind-body practices, including meditation and Yoga, actually begin on the cellular level. Through these practices, you have the ability and power to change your gene expression.More specifically, meditation and Yoga can change how your DNA responds to stress. And considering that stress is a silent killer that creeps up on us and significantly elevates our risk of disease and premature death, this is especially exciting.<h4>WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENS?</h4>When we’re exposed to a stressful situation, our ‘fight or flight’ response is triggered. This response increases the production of NF-kB, which regulates how our genes are expressed and causes dangerous inflammation on a cellular level. According to research published in Frontiers in Immunology, people who practice mind-body interventions like Yoga, meditation and Tai Chi have the opposite experience of the fight or flight response: there is a decrease in the production of NF-kB and a reversal of the inflammatory gene.Basically, this means that meditation and Yoga don’t simply relax you, but also might actually have the ability to reverse molecular reactions to stress in your DNA that can lead to poor health, disease and depression.<h4>YOU ARE NOT YOUR GENES</h4>Let’s mention the obvious. You can’t control everything that happens to you. You’re going to deal with stress and health challenges. But when you take advantage of the power you do have, you give yourself every possible opportunity to live your best and healthiest life. And these new findings have created a shift, putting some newfound power into your hands.<h4>USE YOUR POWER WISELY</h4>Imagine how your life could change if you took advantage of every drop of power you have to transform your health – right down to the genetic level. How might committing to 10 to 20 minutes a day of meditation change your life? What would you do differently with improved health, less stress and anxiety, more focus and a greater sense of purpose? You’d probably be able to enjoy life in entirely new ways.<h4>BE A HEALTH HERO</h4>I encourage you to take advantage of the ability to alter your genes for improved wellness. The game is now changed, and you have more possibilities than ever to transform your biology and heal your body. Take time every day to practice meditation, breathe deeply and commit to greater health and longevity.Make healthy living a part of every day.The light in me honors the light in you. Namaste.Dr NandiBook link: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Ask-Dr-Nandi-HealthHero-Well- Being/dp/1501156810/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid= 1504980266&amp;sr=81&amp;keywords=ask+dr+nandi" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">https://www.amazon.com/Ask-Dr-Nandi-HealthHero-Well- Being/dp/1501156810/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid= 1504980266&amp;sr=81&amp;keywords=ask+dr+nandi</a>In the August issue of Health Hero Magazine, we share the raw and inspiring story of how the power of meditation and Yoga changed the life of Health Hero, Nikki Panfil in ‘Healing Invisible Wounds With Yoga’ : <a href="https://askdrnandi.com/health-hero-magazinehealing- invisible-wounds-with-yoga/." target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">https://askdrnandi.com/health-hero-magazinehealing- invisible-wounds-with-yoga/.</a><hr><h4 style="text-align:center;">Article by PARTHA NANDI</h4><hr>

Yoga and meditation can change your genetics

<hr class="vertical-space1">
<h5>DR PARTHA NANDI encourages us all to make use of this new field in nutritional
 research: harnessing the power of food to change our genes and improve our health.</h5>
<hr class="vertical-space1">
From a young age, I knew that I wanted to create a world full of Health Heroes. These
 are the people who make their health a priority and commit to achieving greater health and happiness.
One of the best ways to achieve a healthier life is through good nutrition. Your
 nutritional choices play a big part in your overall health, and that’s why it is so important to nourish your body
 with healthy foods. Food is powerful. It can fight off depression, boost your mood and even help prevent cancer and
 other illnesses. Food is medicine, and when you use food this way, you’re committing to a beneficial lifestyle
 change.
This makes healthy nutrition an important tool in our fight against disease and obesity.
 It’s arguably a Health Hero’s most powerful ally in the quest for a long and healthy life because what we eat can
 actually change our genes and transform our biology.
<h4>NEW RESEARCH IS CHANGING THE GAME</h4>
Each day brings new evidence on how our life choices affect us right down to our genetic
 level. Our stress levels, social surroundings, physical activity and overall lifestyle all contribute to our gene
 expression – or how our cells respond to their changing environment.
What we eat is no exception. The nutrients in our food interact with our genes. The
 study of this interaction is known as nutrigenomics. It’s changing everything. Where we once thought we were
 powerless, we now have at least some control.
The ability of nutrition to affect our genes means that we’re no longer at the mercy of
 our DNA. This is especially exciting when it comes to fighting and preventing disease.
<h4>WE ARE NOT OUR GENES</h4>
Let’s mention the obvious. We can’t control everything that happens to us. We are going
 to face health challenges and adversity. But when we take advantage of the power we do have, we give ourselves every
 possible opportunity to live our best and healthiest life.
Nutrigenomics is creating a power shift, putting some newfound power into our hands.
 What does this mean? Think about inherited diseases like heart disease, obesity, diabetes, cancer and Alzheimer’s.

If these, or other inherited diseases, run in your family, you’re not doomed to suffer.
 The fate of your health is not set in stone. If your mother is diabetic, it’s not a given that you’ll eventually
 become a diabetic.
Again, we don’t have absolute control. If that were the case, we’d all eat healthy food
 and never fall sick. However, what we choose to eat can significantly increase or reduce our risk of future illness.

<h4>USE YOUR POWER WISELY</h4>
Imagine how your life would change if you took advantage of every drop of power you have
 to transform your health, right down to the genetic level. Would you commit to making convenient and realistic
 nutritional changes? Would you feel less anxious or enjoy a greater sense of purpose knowing that you’re stepping up
 and taking action to improve your chances of a longer and healthier life? You might find yourself enjoying life more
 than ever before.
<h4>PRESCRIPTIONS FOR BETTER NUTRITION</h4>
Make the commitment to nourish your body with good nutrition every day. Even small,
 manageable changes will put you on the right path. Your doctor can make recommendations based on your unique
 requirements, but whole and natural foods, healthy fats, lean proteins, balance and moderation, are great places to
 start. The more you practice making good nutritional choices, the greater impact you’ll have on your health.
I encourage you to use food as medicine and take advantage of the power to alter your
 genes for improved wellness. The fate of your health is not set in stone. You have the ability to transform your
 biology and change your health journey. Be your own Health Hero by taking advantage of this and prioritizing your
 commitment to greater health and longevity.
The light in me honors the light in you. Namaste.
Dr Nandi
<h6>For more information, visit <a href="https://www.askdrnandi.com/">askdrnandi.com.</a></h6>
<h6>Inspired to learn more about the super powers of foods? Receive Dr Nandi’s Superfoods Cookbook for free <a
 href="https://askdrnandi.com/cookbook/">here.</a> 
 Dr Nandi’s shares in his Superfoods Cookbook the nutritional benefits of 10 of his favorite superfoods and
 some delicious recipes to start cooking with him today.</h6>
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<hr>
<h4 style="text-align: center;">Article by DR PARTHA NANDI</h4>


<hr>

Nutrigenomics

<hr class="vertical-space1">
<h4>In the first of a series of articles, DR PARTHA NANDI shares something of his own story and why he became so
 passionate about health.</h4>
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<h4>MY LIFE CHANGING DECISION</h4>
<hr class="vertical-space1">
<img class="lazyload img-float-right has-img-center-in-mobile"
 src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/Partha_Nandichildhoodphoto_2ce70cc16d.jpg">I
 nearly died when I was six years old. I was a normal kid running wild and having fun with my family and friends.
 Even at that young age, I had a real passion for life. I loved school, sports, music and practically anything that
 engaged my curiosity and creativity. Then one day, I started suffering from joint pain bad enough that I could no
 longer do the active things that I loved. Seemingly overnight, I went from a fearless kid running wild and free to
 one who had lost interest in everything. I didn’t even want to eat.
Fast forward through time and multiple visits to the doctor, when my mother insisted on
 finding a specialist. That’s when I finally met the man (and doctor) who I will never forget.
It turns out I had rheumatic fever, a potentially life threatening disease of the joints
 and heart. During my hospital stay, this unforgettable doctor saved my life with his knowledge, skill, strength and
 compassion. He was a superhero. My parents, the way they stepped up for me and cared for me, were superheroes. And I
 wanted to be just like them. They were my very first Health Heroes.
<h4>SOMETIMES YOU HAVE TO BE YOUR OWN HERO</h4>
I was only six, but I knew what I wanted to do with my life. I wanted to save people who
 were sick and afraid. I wanted to make them strong so that they could be their own heroes. Forget the capes and
 x-ray vision. Having the power to be your own hero! This was exciting to me.
It’s what drives me to this day. I want to create a world full of Health Heroes. I want
 you to realize the power you have to take charge of your health and live your best life. That’s what being a Health
 Hero is all about. And you can do it! You can make your health a priority. It’s not selfish, and it’s not even
 difficult.
The moment you recognize that your health matters and you start to implement important
 life changes is the exact moment you start to become your own Health Hero. You just have to be willing to jump into
 the driver’s seat and take control.
You can’t control everything that happens to you. You’re going to face challenges and
 adversity. But you can take advantage of the power you do have so that you can live your best life. Make your health
 a priority. Be kind to yourself. Nurture yourself. Live the healthy, active and spiritual life you deserve. You can
 be your own hero! No cape or x-ray vision required.
Make healthy living a part of every day. 
 The light in me honors the light in you. 
 Namaste.
PS I’m releasing a book in September that I’ve been working hard (and passionately) to
 complete. I’m sharing with you my very best practices for living a healthier and happier life. I go deep
 into the five key areas on which you should focus in order to infuse your life with better health and nourish your
 soul with more joy. I hope to inspire you to become your own Health Hero. Just as my parents and one unforgettable
 doctor inspired me.
<h4 style="text-align: left;">PARTHA’S PRESCRIPTION</h4>
Recognize that your health is the most important thing. Give yourself permission to make
 your health a priority.
Advocate. Speak up and ask questions.
Don’t be afraid to have an in-depth discussion with your doctor. Be an active part of any
 decision making process. Whether for yourself, or someone you love, your involvement is key.
Become your own Health Hero.
Take action whenever and however you can. Make your health a priority so that you can
 enjoy a happier, healthier life!
<h6>For more information and to pre-order Dr Nandi’s new book, Ask Dr Nandi: 5 Steps to Becoming Your Own Health
 Hero, please visit https://askdrnandi.com/health-book/.</h6>


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<h4 style="text-align: center;">Article by DR PARTHA NANDI</h4>


<hr>

Health heroes

Dr. Athena is a Fellow at Harvard University’s Center for Hellenic Studies and teaches at the University of Toulouse. She has extensively studied Ancient Greek Philosophy, Epistemology and Consciousness, and has been instrumental in making Hellenic studies practical and applicable in everyday life.

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Dr. Athena Despoina Potari

<h4>DR. ATHENA DESPOINA POTARI shares her insights on Hellenism, the ancient civilization of the Mediterranean, the cultural cradle of Western civilization, and the birthplace of Western science, politics, democracy, and philosophy. Her insights reveal that the Hellenistic tradition is also a spiritual tradition of awakening, divine devotion, purification, virtue, non-duality, and self-realization that are usually associated with the spiritual traditions of the East. She shows us that the East-West divide is our illusion.</h4><hr>In the Ancient Hellenic language, “El” stands for the Light of Being or spiritual Light. As its root-syllable expresses, (H)El-lenism is a worldview, a civilization, and a spiritual tradition which centers around the ontology and practice of Light. The sciences and <a href="https://heartfulness.org/magazine/uniting-humanity" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">philosophy</a> are methodical routes towards self-liberation and the realization of Light. Focusing on the notions of Eros and universal consciousness, Hellenism is, in its very essence, a path of enlightenment.<h4>Hellenism&nbsp;</h4>What most people know about Hellenism is that this ancient civilization, born in the heart of the Mediterranean, is the cultural cradle of Western civilization. Its heritage is marked by an impressive devotion to scientific research and the pioneering commitment to reason or Logos. All of the above justify its status as the birthplace of Western science, along with politics, democracy, and philosophy.What many people don’t know about Hellenism is that its tradition developed over thousands of years in an ongoing co-creative dialogue and exchange with the numerous Eastern traditions of the pre-Christian world. The Hellenic sages had strong ties with their Egyptian, Persian, Babylonian, Hindu, and Buddhist counterparts. For example, Pythagoras was educated in the revered esoteric schools of Egypt, where he served as a high priest for twenty-two years, then studied next to Persian magi in Babylon for another twelve years, before becoming a spiritual teacher in Greece and southern Italy.In addition, what is also not widely acknowledged is that Hellenism’s core concept of reason (Logos), so highly acclaimed in our modern discourses and political societies, has little to do with mind-based faculties or discursive abstraction resting upon the use of purely rational and linearly logical methods. Reason as Logos, in its original sense, refers to the essence or substance of consciousness that everything is made of, which permeates the entirety of cosmic creation (like the notion of atma).Epistemologically, it is a state of consciousness beyond discursive knowledge, where individual experience merges with the all-pervasive wisdom of being. Despite its linguistic affinity, Logos is at once the defiance, the transcendence as well as the culmination of logic. Its essential meaning is most conveniently described as universal consciousness revealed to us through and as non-dual, unified awareness.<hr><hr><h4>Reason as Logos, in its original sense, refers to the essence or substance of consciousness that everything is made of, which permeates the entirety of cosmic creation (like the notion of atma).</h4><hr><hr><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/illusion_east_west2_e83b87dc2c.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-13T05:53:17.391Z" alt="illusion-east-west2"><hr>A few intriguing repercussions follow. First, if Hellenism is the cultural and epistemic landmark demarcating the West from the East, then we have stumbled upon the very exciting realization that the myth of the West-East division is severely undermined once we start delving deeper into the root-tradition of the West.A closer study into the precepts and history of Hellenism reveals that whatever we think of as the cradle of Western civilization is integrally constituted by what we consider as the sine qua non of the East – spirituality and the possibility of awakening. The Hellenistic tradition is also a fascinating variation of the spiritual teachings of awakening, divine devotion, purification, virtue, non-duality and self-realization that we find in abundance in the East. With that understanding, the East-West divide collapses.Second, since Logos, as the realization of Being or universal consciousness, dwells at the heart of science (episteme) and philosophy, then the widely held view of philosophy as a rational, argumentative, armchair vocation, removed from direct experience, appears as an outdated caricature.Therefore, Hellenism is essentially a spiritual tradition like yoga, Advaita Vedanta, or any other practice of self-realization. Hellenic philosophy, which literally means “the state of falling in love with wisdom,” is an intimate, self-transformative, experiential path of awakening to the unity of all experience and the experience of that unity as the true Self.<hr><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/illusion_east_west3_4fc0f10cd2.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-13T05:54:25.005Z" alt="illusion-east-west3"><hr>“He who has been instructed thus far in the path of Eros, and who has learned to see the beautiful in due order and succession, when he reaches toward the end, he will suddenly come to view a nature of wondrous beauty: a nature which is everlasting; which is not born nor perishes, which does not grow nor decay, which neither waxes nor wanes; a beauty which is not beautiful from one point of view and ugly from another, nor sometimes beautiful and sometimes not, nor beautiful in relation to this and ugly in relation to that, nor beautiful here and ugly there, nor beautiful for some and ugly for others. Neither will this beauty appear to him in the likeness of a face or hands or any other bodily part; nor as any form of speech, or knowledge, or science, nor as existing in any other being, such as for example, in an animal, or in earth or in heaven, or in any other place; but only it, in itself, by itself, eternal singular being, absolute, separate, simple, and everlasting, and all other things beautiful (are so because they) in some way partake in it, such that when they come- to-be and perish away, that neither increases nor diminishes, nor changes and nothing happens to it. He who from these beautiful things, ascending in the path of true Eros, begins to perceive that beauty is not far from the end. This, my dear Socrates … is that life above all others which man should live.”That is how Socrates’ teacher, Diotima, a female teacher, priestess, and well-known shaman of her time, summarizes the philosophical path – as a path of Eros, beauty, and goodness. In Greek, “kalos” means both beautiful and benevolent. Divinity, benevolence, and beauty coincide as one and the same thing (which is a no-thing) – they are the main qualities of Being itself.<hr><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/illusion_east_west4_0c26dcd215.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-13T05:55:58.805Z" alt="illusion-east-west4"><hr>The path of philosophy is a path of Eros and light.The quest of self-realization is essentially a love affair – a divine love affair (erotiki pedagogy). It is a relationship of Eros, where Eros means “merging,” and merging implies the dissolution of all separation, the vanishing of duality. This process involves an ever-increasing expansion of the radius of Eros, until that circle of love comes to include and encompass everything. The philosopher is patiently trained to be in love with everything, because the ultimate intimacy emerging from merging with everything is the realization of oneness. Through successive ascensions in the quality of Eros experienced, the end goal is reached suddenly, unexpectedly, in a lightning strike, and the spiritual seeker reaches “the view of the vast sea of beauty (the Good).”No words can really describe this experience: “We are talking about an inconceivable, indescribable beauty” (Republic, 509). Socrates’ description reminds us of the notion of the Tao “that cannot be told,” “the nameless” that is “the beginning of heaven and earth.” The experience of this view is called “theoria” in Greek, what we nowadays call a “theory,” although the meaning is different.Theoria comes from “theon oro,” which means, I see (oro) the Divine (theon). Theoria means ascending to the view of the Divine, where the veil of ignorance drops and the cosmic play is revealed as it is – the miraculous, mysterious, ever indescribable play of oneness.<hr><hr><h4>Theoria means ascending to the view of the Divine, where the veil of ignorance drops and the cosmic play is revealed as it is – the miraculous, mysterious, ever indescribable play of oneness.</h4><hr><hr><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/illusion_east_west5_71b475629b.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-13T05:57:42.954Z" alt="illusion-east-west5"><hr>Nothing around changes, nothing is gained or lost, nothing happens, but this one event, which is really a “non-event,” a perspective, a view, is simply revealed.From that view, what I experience as a form of seeing is the stripping away of all knowledge, all science, all objects. The very self, its sensations, and the objects of its sensations, all dissolve into a “a vast ocean” of “singular being” which “always is” and which feels like an “ocean of pristine beauty.” This is the view or the experience of Being, the Good, Divinity itself.Aristotle refers to Divinity (God or First Principle) as Universal Consciousness, which is in a pure state of being aware of being aware of itself. It is the pure energy of self-awareness (noesis noiseos) (Aristotle, Metaphysics, 1074Β 20-1075). He also identifies it as the prime cause or prime mover – that which perpetually sets everything in motion, in existence, in life. And why does “it” do so? What is the motivation or end goal behind Divinity’s activity as a prime mover setting into motion, thereby manifesting, existence?<hr><hr><h4>Eros is the thread that unites the outward movement of&nbsp; Being with the returning to its source; it is the thread of Unity between One and All. It is the energy of universal consciousness.</h4><hr><hr>Aristotle’s explanation is at once astonishing and completely mystical: The prime mover moves in order to be the beloved, in order to be the object of Eros (“os eromenon”). The teleology of consciousness is entirely erotic; it manifests the world in order to merge back into itself by self-realizing as pure love.The love affair of philosophy, as seeking knowledge, leads the devoted lover beyond knowledge, beyond science, beyond subject and object duality, to a view of Being as consciousness-aware-of-itself. The end of Eros is the view of and the merging within the vastness of Being. But then the end goal of Being manifesting itself is also Eros; the divine self-Eros of Divinity. Does the philosopher substantiate the teleology of cosmic manifestation? Is our urge for merging with oneness an expression of oneness’ urge for merging with – or returning to – itself? Or is perhaps our Eros for Being, Being’s Eros for itself, since we and it are one? Eros is the thread that unites the outward movement of Being with the returning to its source; it is the thread of Unity between One and All. It is the energy of universal consciousness.<hr><hr>This excerpt is printed with permission from the author.&nbsp; First published on April 21, 2021 at https://www.embodiedphilosophy.com/the-light-of-hellenism/.<hr><hr><h4>Illustrations by JASMEE MUDGAL</h4><hr>

The illusion of East and West

Gorakh is a pathologist, director of a diagnostic service, and a Heartfulness practitioner and trainer. His interests include listening, storytelling, trekking, organic farming, and just being.

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Dr. Gorakh Parulkar

<h2 style="text-align:center;">UNDERSTANDING THE KNOTS</h2><h4 style="text-align:justify;">DR. GORAKH PARULKAR shares his ideas and insights on conflict resolution. He is a pathologist by profession, and director of the Gurukrupa Diagnostic Services, Harda. Here he compares psychological conflict with his work in pathology dealing with disease, and draws some interesting parallels.</h4>You might ask, “How is pathology related to conflict resolution?” Well, “pathology” is the combination of the words pathos and logos, the study of suffering. Isn’t that what conflict is all about? It is the source of so much suffering in our lives, whether physical, mental, in relationships, at home, or in the office. First, we have to understand what conflict is.Is it a disagreement? Yes, it is. When my colleague or spouse has an opinion that does not match mine, we are in disagreement. And if my insistence gets involved, then this disagreement can escalate to a conflict. But conflict is not just a psychological thing. In our bodies, there are many systems working simultaneously. As long as they are in harmony, supporting each other, we are healthy. But when they are in conflict (when one system becomes a problem for another), we have a disease.<h4 style="text-align:justify;">Disagreement to conflict</h4>The same thing happens in families and organizations. We may disagree, and it may develop into a conflict, but is it a fight? Not yet. We have various ways to resolve it. Unfortunately, and not uncommonly, we do fight. We go from a disagreement of what is right, to a conflict of who is right, to the idea that I have to prove myself right and the other person wrong, and then we fight.And is it not painful? Is it not the cause of so much suffering in our lives?Can we try to go beneath the surface, to see if there’s any way to stop the conflict from escalating? Can we take it another way, maybe agree to disagree, or come up with a solution that includes both points of view?<h4 style="text-align:justify;">Lord Buddha and the rope</h4>Lord Buddha traveled with his disciples from place to place, and they had a routine. Every morning he would sit with them and share his insights. One day, they saw Lord Buddha coming toward them with a rope in his hands.<figure class="image image_resized" style="width:75%;"><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/understanding_knots2_1580f5fd06.webp" alt="understanding-knots2.webp" srcset="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/thumbnail_understanding_knots2_1580f5fd06.webp 145w,https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/large_understanding_knots2_1580f5fd06.webp 1000w,https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/understanding_knots2_1580f5fd06.webp 2000w," sizes="100vw"></figure>He sat and asked his disciples, “What’s this?” &nbsp; They said “Lord, this is a rope.”&nbsp; Then he tied a knot and again asked them, “What is this now?”&nbsp; They answered, “Lord, this is a rope with a knot in it.” &nbsp; He tied another knot, then another knot, then he asked, “Is this the same rope I brought with me initially?”&nbsp; They were puzzled. “Yes, Lord. It is the same rope but it has three knots in it. It is not simple anymore.”&nbsp; So he said, “Suppose if I want to get it back to simplicity and plainness, how do I do that?”&nbsp; The disciples replied, “Undo the knots.”Then Lord Buddha started pulling the rope. The disciples knew that he was trying to teach them something. When he didn’t stop, one of the disciples said, “Lord, if you pull the rope, the knots will not open, they will only get tighter.” With a smile, Lord Buddha asked, “Then tell me, how do I open these knots?”&nbsp; The disciple said, “Lord, you need to release the tension, and then closely observe the knots to understand how they were tied in the first place. Then you will know how to open them.”In Heartfulness meditation, we just do that. We relax our minds and go within to see where the knots are. We try to understand the complexities and complications that have formed in our minds in the past, and once we understand how the knots are made we can unravel them, solving our conflicts.What happens if we don’t know how to do that? We make an effort. No one really likes to be in conflict. We all want to be at peace. We all want harmonious relationships. And we try our best. Sometimes, when those efforts don’t lead to much, then we start wondering, “Where is it that I’m going wrong? Are my efforts pulling the rope tighter?” Letting go and relaxing give us that quantum of time to go beyond the rush of emotions that sometimes happens in conflict.<figure class="image image_resized" style="width:75%;"><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/understanding_knots3_c228741f92.webp" alt="understanding-knots3.webp" srcset="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/thumbnail_understanding_knots3_c228741f92.webp 145w,https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/large_understanding_knots3_c228741f92.webp 1000w,https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/understanding_knots3_c228741f92.webp 2000w," sizes="100vw"></figure><figure class="image image_resized" style="width:82.18%;"><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/understanding_knots_chart_9e46938ecc.webp" alt="understanding-knots-chart.webp" srcset="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/thumbnail_understanding_knots_chart_9e46938ecc.webp 145w,https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/large_understanding_knots_chart_9e46938ecc.webp 800w,https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/understanding_knots_chart_9e46938ecc.webp 800w," sizes="100vw"></figure>If I know what things are really important in life, then I won’t want to compromise them. When I do compromise them for the sake of something else, am I not short changing myself? All we have to do is align our efforts to what is important. Isn’t that what conflict resolution is all about?&nbsp;

The art of conflict resolution

Jack teaches holistic education and contemplative education at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto. He is the author/editor of 20 books including, The Holistic Curriculum, Love and Compassion: Exploring their Role in Education, and his recent memoir, A Holistic Educator’s Journey.

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Dr. Jack Miller

<h4>DR. JACK MILLER is a Professor with the Department of Curriculum, Teaching and Learning at the Ontario Institute, University of Toronto, Canada. His interests focus on holistic education and spirituality in education. Here he is interviewed by DR. RANJANI IYER of the Heartfulness Institute about holistic education: What is it? How can it be introduced into the curricula of schools? And what are the benefits to students and teachers?</h4><hr>Q: Welcome, Professor Miller. A lot of your research and interests have centered on exploring holistic education and the various ways it can be implemented in the curriculum. Where does the term “holistic education” come from and when did it start?JM: The term holistic education came into being in the1980s. There were two crucial events that formalized the field. First, in 1988, Ron Miller started a journal called the Holistic Education Review. Second, my book, The Holistic Curriculum, was published in the same year. And that was really the beginning of this as a field of inquiry. “Holistic” comes from “Holism,” which is the theory that “parts of a whole are in intimate interconnection, such that they cannot exist independently of the whole, or cannot be understood without reference to the whole (Oxford English Dictionary).”One of the main features of holistic education is to see that we are not separate. The first people who taught holistically were the indigenous people, because they have always focused on how things are interdependent.I’ve been connected with the Equinox Holistic Alternative school in Toronto since 2009. It’s a public school that took my book as a guide for a holistic curriculum of connectedness.<hr><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/holistic_education_2_700x788_f2c43a06fb.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-10T11:48:17.194Z" alt="holistic_education_2-700x788"><hr>Q: What do you think are the advantages of holistic education versus a more traditional approach?JM: Students become more integrated. When they go to school, they don’t feel peer pressure to act in a certain way. Holistic schools still must meet the curriculum guidelines, but the students can also find themselves and see themselves as whole human beings.In the holistic curriculum, one principle is Balance, based on the Taoist model, the Tao Te Ching. It involves the balance of two complementary energies, the Yin and the Yang, which exist at all levels of the cosmos – the universe, the earth, cultures, and within us. Our North American culture is very Yang, which is rational and materialistic. In holistic education, we try to get a balance in learning that has both Yin and Yang. When they’re in balance, then there’s harmony and well-being.Q: What strategies can we deploy in the delivery of holistic education?JM: The Inclusion idea in holistic education is that a school should not stereotype children, and that they include in their teaching strategies three basic approaches – Transmission, Transaction, and Transformation. Transmission is the one-way transmission of information to the student, either from a teacher or from a text. Transaction is more interactive, where students can think about problems, and interact with the teacher and other students. There is more dialogue and problem solving. Transformation recognizes the inner life, the soul of the child, which needs to be nurtured through the arts, contemplative practices, and the loving presence of the teacher. In the holistic classroom we use all three approaches to reach the whole child.<hr><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/holistic_education_3_700x788_107ac42832.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-10T11:49:05.750Z" alt="holistic_education_3-700x788"><hr>Q: We’ve talked about how the holistic education model benefits students. Do you think it holds any benefits for teachers as well?JM: It is important that teachers feel whole. If a teacher is in touch with their whole being, including their soul, then that will radiate to the students and ignite that inner place in the student. This deeper place is the source of creativity and compassion.Central to holistic education is that the student sees the connectedness, that they’re in relationship with the Earth, with other human beings, and with all forms of life. When this happens, students can be well and whole.A holistic, contemplative education includes being in touch with that deeper part of ourselves by using various practices to nurture the soul, the divine spark, our Buddha nature. These include meditation and mindfulness practices, which allow us to experience that inner connection at different levels, particularly the spiritual level. It is also about love. When we are in that contemplative space, we can feel the loving connection. It helps us to be more of a loving presence to our students.<hr><hr><h4>A holistic, contemplative education includes&nbsp; being in touch with that deeper part of ourselves&nbsp; by using various practices to nurture the soul,&nbsp; the divine spark, our Buddha nature.&nbsp;</h4><hr><hr>Q: As we’ve been talking, I notice that a lot of the theoretical framework around holistic education seems very similar to Heartfulness. Do you see any similarities between the two?JM: Yes. Both emphasize the importance of the heart and the soul. Both focus on developing a deep acceptance of ourselves and our place in the universe.Holistic education enables connections at various levels. Examples of connections that are internal to the individual include the thinking connections (intuitive and rational thinking), and the body-mind connection – learning to be at home in our bodies and loving our bodies. Yoga, Qi Gong and Tai Chi help us get in touch with our bodies. Lastly, we have soul or heart connections, which I mentioned earlier.Then there are external connections, which include subject, community, and Earth connections. Subject connections focus on showing the relationship between various domains of knowledge. Students can see how subjects are connected. Next are community connections, where the classroom and the school form a loving community. The idea is that students are in this loving place where they’re learning and growing. Finally, there are Earth connections, getting a sense of our place on the Earth and caring for it. For example, in Japan and South Korea, there is the school forest movement in which some schools have a small forest on school grounds. The students care for the trees and they can go there to sit and relax in a quiet outdoor space.<hr><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/holistic_education_4_700x788_f05906f86e.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-10T11:50:24.586Z" alt="holistic_education_4-700x788"><hr>I mentioned the importance of love. In my book, Love and Compassion: Exploring their Role in Education, I discuss eight forms of love,and how these dimensions of love have the potential to improve education. The first is self-love, which is deeper than self-esteem and involves developing our sense of who we are in relation to the universe. Then there’s personal love and its different forms, including friendship. There’s impartial love, which is the love for all beings, which people like the Dalai Lama talk about. Another important form is love of learning and developing curiosity. Love of beauty is another form. Seeing beauty in nature and in our lives is just such an important and wonderful thing. Then there is non-violence. Martin Luther King Jr. and Gandhi saw non-violence as a way of love in action. Being present is another form of love. For example, sometimes another person is so present to us that we feel loved. The teacher’s presence is a vital to holistic education. And finally, there’s cosmic love, where we feel connection with the universe.<hr><hr><h4>Self-love, which is deeper than self-esteem and&nbsp; involves developing our sense of&nbsp; who we are in relation to the universe.&nbsp;</h4><hr><hr>Q: Fascinating, thank you for sharing your thoughts to aspiring educators like myself, with your framework of inclusiveness and connectedness for holistic education. Do you have any final thoughts you’d like to share?JM: Holistic education includes inquiry, as both science and spirituality involve inquiry into the nature of things. While science uses more formal ways of investigation, meditation is also a form of inquiry – an inquiry into our body-mind experience. It’s very important that spirituality is seen as an inquiry into who we are, investigating our place on the Earth.Finally, this work should be joyful and come from a place of joy.Q: Thank you once again, for taking the time to share your work with us.<hr><hr><h4>Interview by DR. RANJANI IYER</h4><hr>

Balance, love, and inquiry: Holistic education

Dr. Doty is the author of Into The Magic Shop: A Neurosurgeon’s Quest to Discover the Mysteries of the Brain and the Secrets of the Heart (Avery, 2016) and is co-founder of the Center for Compassion &amp; Altruism Research &amp; Education (CCARE) at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, USA.

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Dr. James Doty

<h5>In Part 1, DR DOTY explored the evolutionary advantage of compassion in human beings and its relationship with our
 physiological responses. In Part 2, he takes us further into aspects of human behavior that relate to compassion and
 collective social issues. ...</h5>
<h5 class="text-center"><img class="has-img-center"
 src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/ritual_gold_1_992f055845.jpg?updated_at=2023-03-29T10:16:10.191Z"
 alt="stimulus-response-part-2" width="192" height="81" />
 In conversation with 
 Dr James R Doty
</h5>
JD: Another one of those
 collective social issues is this inherent desire to be tribal  in  nature, and  again, there is an evolutionary
 reason. We talked about hunter-gatherer tribes as our primary survival strategy and we know that people tend to
 gather or connect with others who look like them, act like them and share the same socio-economic status, culture,
 religion and color. Why? When you are with people who are like you, what happens? Your sense of fear, anxiety or
 threat diminishes.

<img class="w-100"
 src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/dr_doty_at_work_9cc8ea98b5.jpg?updated_at=2023-03-29T10:30:11.477Z"
 alt="drdoty_at_work" />

The problem is that this type of interaction can act as an echo chamber to reinforce
 negative behavior or a perception of fear or threat, which results in you being closed to the opinions of other
 people and groups. Or you may feel a desire to eliminate them because of this false notion that they are going to
 threaten your existence. It is often a self- fulfilling prophecy. This is a natural state of being, unfortunately;
 we know that it can be activated and we have seen this happen. You  alluded  to  the political environment, where
 you see groups stoking fear and anxiety to engage this primitive part of us that responds to fear or threat. This
 results in individuals identifying with groups that think or act like them in the false notion that this is
 protecting them.
<hr>
<h5 class="text-center">…in the context of our modern global society; 
 the reality is that what happens in one part of the world 
 can profoundly affect another part of the world.</h5>
<hr>
Politicians and others have used this reality for their own purposes for millennia. The
 problem is that it is not a long-term survival strategy, and it is certainly not a long-term solution in the context
 of our modern global society; the reality is that what happens in one part of the world can profoundly affect
 another part of the world. We are no longer in this position of small hunter-gatherer tribes where we can engage in
 conflict in small areas and have no big effect on the rest of the  world.
Frankly, our survival demands that we gain self-awareness of these issues. We need to
 understand this reality and also that, in fact, there are resources for all. If we change our behavior, look into
 ourselves, and understand the negative attributes that we have, and our biases toward others – we call these
 cognitive biases – it can actually lead to a society that works for everyone’s benefit, in which we care for those
 who look and act like us, our tribe if you will, and also care for others outside our close-knit group.
<hr>
<h5 class="text-center">
 Technology and digital technologies have had a very profound positive affect in many domains and allow us to live as
 we do today. That being said, what we do know is that for some individuals, as you point out, these types of
 technologies do not truly create a connection with others.
</h5>
<hr>
As an example if we took one week’s worth of the monies spent every year on military
 technology, we could provide education for tens of millions of children from kindergarten to year 12. And that is
 just one week. Imagine what we could do if we markedly decreased expenditure on military technology and armies! How
 many people could we feed? How many buildings could we build? How many people could we educate? This ultimately has
 to be the paradigm as we look toward the future.

Q: I am curious about the effect
 digital technology is having on human compassion. I am reading in studies that as people are looking at screens so
 much and interacting with machines more and more, they have a diminished capacity for empathy and more difficulty
 reading facial and emotional cues from others and recognizing their own emotions. What is your sense of how the new
 digital technologies are affecting human compassion?

JD: This is a two-edged sword.
 Technology and digital technologies have had a very profound positive affect in many domains and allow us to live as
 we do today. That being said, what we do know is that for some individuals, as you point out, these types of
 technologies do not truly create a connection with others. It is a reality that we as a species are profoundly
 social and when we do not connect with others we are lonely.

As an example, in the United States one quarter of people when they are suffering, hurt
 or are in pain, feel that they have no one to share that with or be comforted by. Also remember that we have an
 epidemic in the West of loneliness, isolation, anxiety, stress and depression. You simply have to look at whether it
 is digital technologies or modernity in regard to what has happened.

Two to three hundred years ago we lived in multi-generational environments and most
 people grew up in one part of the country. Often times their parents, grandparents, siblings and children all lived
 in close proximity, if not the same building.

They stayed in the same place for the entire length of their life and as a result each
 individual knew that they were part of a community and that community cared for and nurtured them. It accepted them
 for the good parts of themselves and also the bad parts and still loved them.

In modern society many of us do not have that type of environment. When growing up we
 often move from city to city, so there is no stability and acceptance in the interactions we have with others. As we
 become adults we move away to go to college and then have a job where we are separated from siblings and parents. We
 go to places where we know no one. And that creates an environment for many people of loneliness, despair and
 anxiety. When we include then the effects of digital technology, which can make this even worse, it can have a
 profound negative affect.

We also know that when a person is lonely or anxious this leads often times to
 rumination and makes the situation worse.

That being said, we also know that there are certain digital or artificial technologies
 that can have a positive benefit. Some of these are technologies that allow us to connect with people who are like
 us and share our interests, which is wonderful. Robots are being used to interact with people who are lonely or
 elderly and can potentially even perform aged care, if you will. There is evidence that we can develop a positive
 relationship with these artificial entities. But these artificial entities are artificial entities. They will never
 replace a human, even though in certain contexts they can be beneficial. So, it is a two-edged sword.

As we see the evolution of artificial intelligence and machine learning, this leads into
 another potentially very difficult issue, because who is behind all this?Who are the manipulators? If we examine the
 issues of free will, we appreciate that many of the actions we engage in are related to environmental cues on a
 subconscious level. We also understand now that we can be manipulated. And when there are terabytes of data on how
 individuals move, and we have the ability to collect and analyze immense amounts of information about an individual,
 it potentially means that the subconscious cues can be manipulated in very negative ways. These may have no negative
 effect on the savannah in Africa – in fact they were part of our survival mechanism – but in a modern environment we
 can be manipulated by a small group.

In some ways it is already happening; there is a whole field called Neuromarketing,
 which takes advantage of our biases and utilizes this knowledge to motivate us or manipulate us to buy things or do
 certain actions for the benefit of others. This has to be kept in mind, because if there are no safety checks it
 will lead to a small group of people being able to manipulate large segments of our society.

Q: I am very interested and
 concerned about what you are talking about. It’s remarkable that there is worldwide warrantless surveillance by
 governments and corporations collecting data and keeping track of people. It is well beyond what George Orwell
 imagined. It seems people don’t quite realize this is going on. With so much information generally, people seem
 overwhelmed and interested in one topic for an hour and then something else happens and they move on to the next
 item.

JD: That is probably a discussion
 we could engage in for a long time.

To be continued.

<h6>Dr James Doty is the author of Into The Magic Shop: A Neurosurgeon’s Quest to Discover the Mysteries of the
 Brain and the Secrets of the Heart (Avery, 2016) and is co-founder of the Center for Compassion &amp;
 Altruism Research &amp; Education (CCARE) at Stanford  University in Palo Alto, California, USA.</h6>
<h6>John Malkin is a journalist and musician living in Santa Cruz, California where he also hosts radio programs on Free
 Radio Santa Cruz and KZSC.</h6>
<hr>
<h4 class="text-center">Interviewed by JOHN MALKIN</h4>
<hr>

Between stimulus and response - part 2

<h3 style="text-align:center;"><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/ritual_gold_73c6861fa0.jpg" alt="qanda">In conversation with Dr James R. Doty</h3>&nbsp;<hr>&nbsp;<h4 style="text-align:justify;">In parts 1 and 2, DR DOTY explored the evolutionary advantage of compassion in human beings and its relationship with our physiological responses, and took us further into aspects of human behavior that relate to compassion and collective social issues. In part 3 he shares some cherished memories of how the compassion and unconditional giving of a remarkable woman gave him a helping hand up when he was a boy.</h4>&nbsp;<hr>&nbsp;Q: Tell me about the experience you had as a kid growing up with a father who drank a lot, where there was violence in the home; somewhat familiar territory for a lot of people growing up in America. And when you were in the 8th grade you happen to meet this woman named Ruth at a magic shop and she taught you meditation and concentration techniques. She said to you, “I know how to turn a flicker into a flame,” and “This will change your life.” Tell me about meeting her and how it changed your life.JD: Yes. There is no question about that. As I discuss in detail in the book, I grew up in poverty, my father was an alcoholic and my mother had had a stroke and was partially paralyzed, chronically depressed and attempted suicide multiple times. Neither parent had gone to college. We were on public assistance and this is not the environment for a child that is typically associated with success in life.&nbsp;<hr>She was the kind of person we meet rarely, whose presence radiates goodness and kindness. Their smile is radiant and they embrace you and you feel calm and comfortable in their presence. She was that type of a person.&nbsp;<hr>Although I was intelligent and to some degree self-aware, that actually made the situation worse. I had the insight that I essentially had no ability to change the situation, no resources and no access to knowledge. I had a sense of despair and hopelessness. I was unhappy and angry. I was angry at my situation and at my parents.So one day at the age of twelve I walked into a magic shop and there was a woman behind the counter. I describe her in the book as an Earth Mother type. I asked her about some of the things in the magic shop and she laughed and brought her head up to look at me, because she was reading a paperback at the time. She explained to me that she knew nothing about the magic in the store. She said it was her son’s store and she was simply sitting there while he ran an errand.She was the kind of person we meet rarely, whose presence radiates goodness and kindness. Their smile is radiant and they embrace you and you feel calm and comfortable in their presence. She was that type of a person. She immediately sensed that perhaps I was troubled, and she paid attention to me and asked me some questions, which was unusual for a child in my position.At the end of fifteen or twenty minutes of conversation, where she queried me about my background and interests and hopes and aspirations, she said to me, “I’m here for another six weeks and if you come every day I’ll teach you something that could change your life.” I wish I could tell you that I had some incredible insight that led me to show up, but the fact of the matter is that I had nothing else to do and she’d given me some cookies during our conversation. So I showed up.Of course if we think about a situation like that&nbsp;today, where a person offers to spend an hour or&nbsp;two with you in a backroom – an adult with a child&nbsp;– it would be frowned upon and perceived as some sort of predatory-type behavior. Perhaps it was a more innocent time in 1968. Needless to say I did show up, and in the course of that interaction it was apparent retrospectively that this woman had significant knowledge of Eastern philosophical practices. She understood from her own experience that you can change your own brain. Although it wasn’t named at the time, what she was talking about was neuroplasticity.So for the next six weeks, we spent an hour or two together every day in a back room, and she taught me what I describe as Ruth’s Tricks: one through four.The first trick was relaxing the body. It was her understanding that many of us carry around the emotions that we have in our muscles and that this distracts us from being attentive. The first thing that she taught me was this concept of relaxing the body and learning attention and focus. She did this in ways that we now know as the typical practices associated with Buddhism or meditation or mindfulness practice. To really be a success, one has to be able to attend and focus and respond to emotional states and have insight into them. So that was the first thing that she taught me.&nbsp;<hr>What I had thought were impairments to my ability to succeed, or limitations of my possibilities, were suddenly removed. And that was absolutely critical.&nbsp;<hr>The second trick was …&nbsp;<hr>&nbsp;<h4>Read the complete article in Volume 2, Issue&nbsp;2 &nbsp;</h4><h4><a href="//www.heartfulnessmagazine.com/subscribe/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">SUBSCRIBE &amp; DOWNLOAD</a></h4>&nbsp;<hr>&nbsp;<hr><h4 style="text-align:center;">Interviewed&nbsp;by&nbsp;JOHN MALKIN</h4>&nbsp;<hr>SaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSave

Between stimulus and response - part 3

<h3 class="text-center"><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/ritual_gold_73c6861fa0.jpg?updated_at=2023-03-31T06:10:11.696Z" alt="qanda" class="mw-100"/>In conversation with DR JAMES R DOTY</h3>

&nbsp;
<h4 class="p1">In the earlier parts of this interview, DR DOTY explored the evolutionary advantage of compassion, aspects of human behavior that relate to compassion and collective social issues, and shared some cherished memories of the remarkable woman who gave him a helping hand up when he was a boy. In Part 4, Dr Doty talks about how he was able to develop compassion and its impact in his work as a neurosurgeon.</h4>
&nbsp;
Q: I’d like to hear about being a surgeon. It seems so foreign to me, to regularly have such tremendous responsibility for someone’s life. How has Mindfulness affected you as a brain surgeon, in being able to be calm in stressful situations?
JD: I’m a neurosurgeon and the nature of my job requires a high level of training and technological sophistication. Interestingly, though, what I tell our students and residents is that while that may be true, the successes that I have with patients are equally touched by caring and compassion. And this has nothing to do with using a scalpel. This has to do with being present for someone and being there for them. In so many situations this is profoundly helpful for individuals because it changes the dynamic.
When people come to a doctor or neurosurgeon, many times this is the most important thing happening to them or their family and to us it’s routine. And to dismiss it as such is really horrible. To be present even though we’re doing something routine and standard to us is very, very important because it leads to this sense of calmness and the sense that they’re really being cared for. Again it shifts them from engaging their sympathetic nervous system associated with fear and anxiousness to one of calmness, and this actually promotes wound healing and also improves their physiologic state. We know that certain types of stress, such as profound acute stress, can lead to sudden cardiac death. So those types of compassionate interactions are important.

<hr>
<h5 class="p1 text-center">When you have a sense of calm about yourself 
and what you’re doing, and you don’t panic under stress, 
you are able to do much, much better … 
it is the cultivation of positive emotional states 
that we can do with certain types of mental practices.</h5>

<hr>
Remember that a neurosurgeon’s training is seven years after medical school. In the context of what I do, and this has evolved over time, I try to function with a calmness and a lightness of spirit that allows me, when something bad happens, not to respond in a negative way. You hear of surgeons who throw instruments and blame others. First of all, my first response if anything happens is: until proven otherwise it’s my fault. This limits me screaming at people. And I don’t do that, of course. When you’re calm and you don’t engage your fear response when unexpected events occur, your executive control function in your frontal area works at its best and this is associated with clear decision making, creativity and being more productive.
When you have a sense of calm about yourself and what you’re doing, and you don’t panic under stress, you are able to do much, much better. This is true whether or not you are a neurosurgeon and in all parts of your life. Negative thoughts and negative emotional states don’t benefit anybody. And it is the cultivation of positive emotional states that we can do with certain types of mental practices.

&nbsp;
<h4>Read the complete article in <a style="color: #bf8f26;" href="//www.heartfulnessmagazine.com/category/volume2/volume2issue3/">Volume 2, Issue 3</a></h4>
<h4><a href="//www.heartfulnessmagazine.com/subscribe/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">SUBSCRIBE &amp; DOWNLOAD</a></h4>
<hr>
<h4 class="text-center">Interviewed by JOHN MALKIN</h4>

<hr>
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Between stimulus and response - part 4

<hr><h4>DR JAMES R. DOTY addresses health care professionals on the capacities we all have as human beings to bring care and compassion to the field of medicine through the power of heart.</h4><hr>Caring for others is an extraordinary privilege that’s granted to very few, and sometimes we get lost with other aspects of medicine that actually aren’t related to caring. So I thank all of you who, by the nature of your profession, also care, because fundamentally that’s the core of what we really are and that very action, in and of itself, is what defines our humanity.I am an atheist, actually, but I’ve had the joy of spending time with some of the greatest spiritual leaders in the world: Amma, Sri Sri Ravishankar, the Dalai Lama, Desmond Tutu, Sadhguru, Eckhart Tolle and others. I have to tell you that the basis for who they are and, frankly, the fundamental basis for every religious and spiritual tradition is Heartfulness. This idea of opening our hearts, of having unconditional love, compassion and caring for others is really at the soul of who we are.In the modern world we are very distracted. We are a species which probably has the greatest ability to remember the past and also perceive a future, and the very nature of those two qualities fights against our desire to be present. Our true nature is really to be present. And when we are present, it allows us to connect with everyone as they truly are. But this is a challenge in the modern world.I just want to share with you a thing I do sometimes to be present. I built my house 3 or 4 years ago and in the backyard there’s a hardscape made of concrete with large squares. Between the squares there are loose stones. My wife said to me, “Why are you doing that? Every time someone comes over or the kids play, all these loose stones will get dislodged.” I looked at her and said, “That’s okay.” I’m a sort of perfectionist sometimes so she was very surprised and responded, “I can’t believe you’re saying that!” I said, “Well, I’ll show you once it is done.”The stones are always getting messed up, so when I come home every day, the first thing I do is to take control of my emotional reaction and then walk around and replace every stone. In some way, this impermanence makes me focus on the present and centers me to interact with my family again. It is similar to the purpose of creating sand mandalas in some traditions, where they spend days on these incredibly beautiful designs and, when they are done, they let go of them instantly.I also have a modern sculpture of the Buddha in my backyard, and the interesting thing about this statue is that it is headless and it sits holding a glass persimmon. The sculpture reminds me not to get lost in my intellect but to focus on my heart, because that’s what often distracts us from our true selves. Also, a persimmon can be very hard and bitter initially, but if we are patient and thoughtful, the fruit becomes soft and sweet. When we reflect on this we understand that suffering, too, is actually a wonderful fruit that allows us to understand our true selves and our true potential as human beings.&nbsp;<hr><h5 style="text-align:center;">Instead of being reactive, you now act with discernment and are able to incorporate your memories, experiences and things you’ve learned into decision-making. When you’re not stressed or anxious or fearful, you are much more creative and productive.</h5>&nbsp;<hr>Over a period of time, the idea of compassion, Heartfulness and caring for others kept coming forth, and although I always tried to act with that intention I really wanted to do a deeper inquiry. So in 2007-2008 I funded a variety of research projects with a group of neuroscientists and psychologists, to study these behaviors at a deeper level using the tools of neuroscience. It became clearly evident that compassion, Heartfulness, kindness and caring not only define who we are as a species, but they are fundamental to our health and well-being.With the right intention, practices like Heartfulness and the Compassion Cultivation Training, conducted by us at Stanford University, stimulate the vagus nerve that connects to our heart. This results in engagement of the parasympathetic nervous system. When this system is engaged, blood pressure goes down, heart function improves, immune system is boosted, genes that are typically associated with the expression of inflammatory proteins are suppressed, and cortisol levels go down to normal.Engaging your parasympathetic nervous system also allows the area of your brain that is associated with executive functions to be at its best. Instead of being reactive, you now act with discernment and are able to incorporate your memories, experiences and things you’ve learned into decision-making. When you’re not stressed or anxious or fearful, you are much more creative and productive.Viktor Frankl, a psychiatrist who was imprisoned during the Holocaust, had understood what he calls the pause between a stimulus and a response. It’s in the pause that everything happens, because during that pause you understand the nature of reality and act with discernment. Practices that promote altruism and compassion allow for such essential pauses in our lives.Thus it is evident that these practices not only benefit the individual, but also have a huge impact on a variety of domains. In the education system, they can improve attendance and academic performance. In the healthcare system where we have a crisis of stress, anxiety, burnout, these practices allow us to not be as reactive, to be more thoughtful, to calm ourselves, and to look at others and understand their suffering. In business, they can increase productivity and creativity by decreasing stress and anxiety. Studies show that this, in turn, increases the share value of the company. Incorporating these practices in the field of law and justice can decrease violence and recidivism, and shifts our attitude from policing against the law-breakers to reaching out to help them by recognizing that after all we are like each other.I hope this has given you a brief understanding of the power we have within ourselves, the power to reach who we truly are, and the power to change every life around us.<hr>Excerpts from the keynote talk given at the Continuing Medical Education conference at the Fremont Heartfulness Center, CA, USA, on 25 February 2017&nbsp;<hr><h4 style="text-align:center;">Article by DR JAMES R. DOTY</h4>&nbsp;<hr>

The power of heart

<hr><h4>In this excerpt from an interview done in August 2016, DR. JAMES DOTY speaks to JOHN MALKIN about the science of meditation, the evolutionary advantage of compassion, aspects of human behavior that relate to compassion and collective social issues, and his cherished memories of the remarkable woman who gave him a helping hand up when he was a boy.</h4>&nbsp;“It’s only when we focus on healing the wounds of the heart that there’s ever going to be peace in the world. All the science and technology are not going to do that.” Dr. James DotyQ: Tell us about the Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education (CCARE) that you founded at Stanford University. Sometimes people think compassion is internal, vague and hard to describe, and that exploring compassion is a soft science. How are you studying compassion and altruism and what are you finding?JD: There’s been a lot of interest in how the brain responds or reacts to meditation and this research has been going on for the last three decades, initially led by Rick Hanson. But what is interesting to me, and remains interesting, is that what is at the core of many of these meditative practices is compassion: compassion for yourself certainly, and compassion for others.As I looked at this area, I realized that our survival is related to nurturing and caring for our offspring. And in the human species this involves caring not only for our offspring but for others as well. As a result of this requirement – that our offspring are nurtured for a decade and a half or more after birth, unlike other mammals that just run off into the forest after birth – our offspring require us to essentially teach them, while they mirror our behaviors, so that they will survive. Yet the cost of that to our species – to the parents or the mother – is huge with regard to time, resources and energy. Without that nurturing, caring and bonding, our offspring don’t survive. As a result, deeply ingrained or hardwired into our brains is a reward system based on us caring for others, primarily our offspring of our own species, but also caring for all beings. What happens is that the areas associated with reward increase their metabolism when we actually care for others. This is a deeply ingrained part of who we are, and what we are, as a species. As we evolved from the nuclear family in a hostile environment to hunter-gatherer tribes in a hostile environment, in groups of ten to fifty, this requirement that we alleviate suffering or care for and nurture others was even more important. Because if an individual in our tribe or our group was suffering, it meant that potentially they could not do their job. If they did not do their job it could put the whole group at risk. So our ability to read emotional states, micro facial expressions, body language, and even interpret smells, was critically important as we evolved as a species. Then when we domesticated animals and plants, this led to us having more time. But it’s interesting if you look at how society and religion have functioned; at the core is this absolute requirement for cooperation, caring and nurturing others. In fact it has been shown through a variety of studies that short-term ruthlessness cannot benefit a species. For a species to survive long-term requires the cooperation of the individuals in the group. Certainly this is central to the survival of the human species.<hr><h4 style="text-align:center;">What we know is that all of us are born&nbsp; with a certain genetic potential&nbsp; for those types of behaviors, but most of us don’t maximize or potentiate them with intention,&nbsp; because we don’t know how or&nbsp; we don’t appreciate how beneficial they can be.</h4><hr>In regard to the creation of the Center at Stanford, I was at a point in my life where I started thinking about these things. As a result, from that research and interest, I realized that understanding how the brain responds to these situations, and how compassion affects our physiology, is really critically important. As it turned out, there were a few people exploring this area. I then gathered an informal group of scientists at Stanford and we began some preliminary studies looking at some of these issues. Then it struck me that it would be wonderful to have the Dalai Lama come to Stanford to speak. That was in 2007 and as a result I ended up having a meeting with His Holiness. At the end of our conversation, the Dalai Lama agreed to come to Stanford and was so impressed with the work that he wanted to make a personal donation. It was the largest donation he had ever given to a non-Tibetan cause at that time. That was incredibly overwhelming and moving, and it set the stage for others to make donations to this work and ultimately to formally create a Center at Stanford.Q: It is beautiful how that came about and evolved over time. I suppose some people might say that humans are born either with compassion or not, or that certain groups of people have it or they don’t. I am guessing that you would say that compassion is something that can be cultivated quite systematically. Is that so?JD: I think that is exactly right, and your previous statement is also absolutely correct. Essentially, we are all born with a set of genes that define our attributes. But, that being said, many of us don’t utilize those attributes or maximally cultivate them. What I mean, as an example, is that there may be an individual who has significant genetic potential to be a long distance runner, but if he is never put into a situation to run long distances then that will never manifest. Frankly, the same is true with compassion and, in fact, happiness. What we know is that all of us are born with a certain genetic potential for those types of behaviors, but most of us don’t maximize or potentiate them with intention, because we don’t know how or we don’t appreciate how beneficial they can be.The other interesting aspect of gene expression is that we also know there are individuals, for example sociopaths, who are born with a disconnection in their brain that limits their ability to understand the emotional states of others. There are individuals who have gene receptors that limit their ability to respond to those transmitters associated with nurturing and caring, like oxytocin. This leads to individuals not responding the same way to a particular situation: a “normal” person would respond empathically whereas this person would not do so, or not at the same level. Genes do play a part but we also know that we can cultivate or maximize our potential for compassion by certain practices.<hr><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/between_stimulus_response2_5a43839dca.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-11T12:33:51.210Z" alt="between-stimulus-response2"><hr>Q: Tell me about the experience you had as a kid growing up with a father who drank a lot, where there was violence in the home; somewhat familiar territory for a lot of people growing up in America. And when you were in the 8th grade you happen to meet this woman named Ruth at a magic shop and she taught you meditation and concentration techniques.JD: I grew up in poverty, my father was an alcoholic, and my mother had had a stroke and was partially paralyzed, chronically depressed and had attempted suicide multiple times. Neither parent had gone to college. We were on public assistance and this is not the environment for a child that is typically associated with success.Although I was intelligent and to some degree self-aware, that actually made the situation worse. I had the insight that I essentially had no ability to change the situation, no resources and no access to knowledge. I had a sense of despair and hopelessness. I was unhappy and angry. I was angry at my situation and at my parents.So one day at the age of twelve I walked into a magic shop and there was a woman behind the counter. She was an Earth Mother type. I asked her about some of the things in the magic shop and she laughed and brought her head up to look at me, because she was reading a paperback at the time. She explained to me that she knew nothing about the magic in the store. She said it was her son’s store and she was simply sitting there while he ran an errand.She was the kind of person we meet rarely, whose presence radiates goodness and kindness. Their smile is radiant and they embrace you and you feel calm and comfortable in their presence. She immediately sensed that I was troubled, and she paid attention to me and asked me some questions, which was unusual for a child in my position.At the end of fifteen or twenty minutes of conversation, where she queried me about my background and interests and hopes and aspirations, she said to me, “I’m here for another six weeks and if you come every day I’ll teach you something that could change your life.” I wish I could tell you that I had some incredible insight that led me to show up, but the fact of the matter is that I had nothing else to do and she’d given me some cookies during our conversation. So I showed up.In the course of that interaction it was apparent retrospectively that this woman had significant knowledge of Eastern philosophical practices. She understood from her own experience that you can change your own brain. Although it wasn’t named at the time, what she was talking about was neuroplasticity.So for the next six weeks, we spent an hour or two together every day, and she taught me what I describe as “Ruth’s Tricks: one through four.”The first trick is to relax the body.Many of us carry around the emotions that we have in our muscles and that this distracts us from being attentive. The first thing she taught me was this concept of relaxing the body and learning attention and focus. She did this in ways that we now know as the typical practices associated with Buddhism or meditation or mindfulness. To really be a success, one has to be able to attend and focus and respond to emotional states and have insight into them.The second trick is to tame the mind.This is understanding the reality that there is a dialogue going on in one’s head that we often think represents us or is us, but in fact it’s simply a dialogue that is made up of all the words, feelings and baggage that we collect growing up. And for many of us this is negative. It is a dialogue that says you’re not good enough, smart enough, or talented enough to do x, y or z. It is self-limiting.She made me realize this reality and understand that this dialogue – she used the analogy of a radio station – was like being tuned to a particular radio station that wasn’t particularly helpful. She taught me the practice of being able to notice those words and let the words flow by without emotionally responding.What many of us forget is that when we hear these words or have this type of internal dialogue, it affects our peripheral physiology, often times in a very negative way by stimulating the sympathetic nervous system and all the deleterious effects of the low-level stress hormones. Then the mind shuts off to possibilities. I learned to sit with this without having that emotional response. And ultimately she taught me to actually change the dialogue so that it was not one of criticality but one of self-compassion and affirmation. In doing so, it changed how I saw the world. What I thought were impairments to my ability to succeed, or limitations of my possibilities, were suddenly removed. And that was absolutely critical.<hr><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/between_stimulus_response3_b356398732.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-11T12:33:51.104Z" alt="between-stimulus-response"><hr>The third trick is to open your heart.Frankly, at that age, I did not take it to heart as much as I should have. And understanding that the greatest gift we can give is not only being kind to ourselves, but being of service and kind to others. And to interact with others always with this idea that the mere presence of another is a wonderful thing and everybody has something that you can learn, and everyone can give love.The fourth trick is to cultivate clarity through visualization techniques and cultivate your intention.By doing so it allows you to do almost anything. That’s not to say that when you do this practice it is a straight line from point a to point b. To get to where you want to be there may be hills and valleys and detours, but ultimately, by utilizing these techniques, it places within your subconscious this incredibly strong motivation that you are moving in the direction to fulfill that desire. Even without your knowledge. Certainly that’s mitigated by the fact that these should be desires that benefit yourself and others and not work in a negative context.Those were the four lessons Ruth taught me that allowed me to go from the mindset of limited possibilities to unlimited possibilities.Q: It’s a beautiful story that moved me a lot.JD: Engaging in positive mental states, and the cultivation of compassion with intention, changes everything. When I finished my interaction with Ruth after six weeks my personal circumstance had not changed one iota … but everything changed. And the reason everything did change was that I went from having negative emotions associated with my situation to simple acceptance of my situation. I had a different type of mental state. My mental state changed to one of happiness, acceptance and gratitude. I was able to forgive those who had hurt or wronged me. I had no anger towards my father and mother, because I understood that they had their own struggles and were dealing with their own pain.I say that situations have no power. It is us who give them power. I was able to go back to my situation understanding this, having these insights, and when I changed my mental state and took away the anger, despair and hopelessness then the world changed in how it interacted with me.What has allowed me to have the success I have had is looking at the world with gratitude, practicing forgiveness, being compassionate to myself and others, recognizing the dignity of every person and practicing equanimity and humility. I understand that my purpose is to be of service to others, to embrace others and to give people unconditional love. That allows me to walk in the word and allows the world to embrace me.Q: I’m reminded in what you just said about the statement of Viktor Frankl that is something like:between the stimulus and the response there is a space and it’s in that space that we find freedom.JD: I think that is exactly right and Viktor Frankl is one of my heroes. He had this understanding that between stimulus and response is a pause and it is within this pause that everything occurs. And it is learning how to sit with this pause, and how sitting with that pause, if you have the right intention and you have self-awareness and you have practiced the things that we have spoken about, then your response is completely different.<hr><h4 style="text-align:center;">Between stimulus and response is a pause and it is within this pause that everything occurs.</h4><hr>And it’s the response to things that changes everything. As an example, often times we are approached by people who are angry or upset about something, and our natural inclination is to give that back to them in the same fashion. Yet if we take a moment to pause and think about the reality, these negative emotions and behaviors have nothing to do with us. They are a response to a set of events that occurred perhaps before the person met with us; a negative interaction with a spouse, some negative information about something they cared about.<hr><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/between_stimulus_response4_93410768fc.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-11T12:33:51.336Z" alt="between-stimulus-response4"><hr>When we are able to pause, this decreases our reactive nature and we don’t go into a state of engagement of our sympathetic nervous system. As a result we are able to be much more thoughtful, clear-headed and creative, which leads to a better world. This is really the summation of all that we are talking about, when we talk about war, anger or negative effects on the environment; these are all conditions of the human heart.Throughout our lives many of us receive wounds of the heart. For most of us these heal quickly, but for some these wounds of the heart are deep. As a result, it is these wounds of the heart that are responsible for negative behaviors. It’s only when we focus on healing the wounds of the heart that there is ever going to be peace in the world. All the science and technology are not going to do that. It is when we go inside of ourselves and practice the things we were discussing, acting with an open heart – those are the only things that can heal these wounds.<hr><h4 style="text-align:center;">Interviewed by JOHN MALKIN Illustrations by ARATI SHEDDE</h4><hr>

Between stimulus and response

Dr. Howell is a clinical psychologist and the founder of the Institute for Conscious Being, near Atlanta, USA. He is an Enneagram Authority and author of Becoming Conscious: The Enneagram Forgotten Passageway and his upcoming book, Know Your Soul.

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Dr. Joseph Howell

<h4 style="text-align:justify;">DR. JOSEPH HOWELL is the founder of The Institute for Conscious Being in the US. During his keynote address at the Global Spirituality Mahotsav, he guided the audience through an exercise to help them find spiritual connection by connecting to their inner child.&nbsp;</h4>&nbsp;For a moment, if you will do this for me:Gently close your eyes and picture in your mind’s eye the home, the dwelling, the apartment, the house in which you spent the earliest part of your life. &nbsp;Now, look at that dwelling. You were one year old, two years old, three years old, maybe four. And as you look at it, look at the windows and the doors, look at the colors.&nbsp;Now, look at where you played the most. Was it on the grass, was it in a playground, was it in your private garden, was it in the common area of an apartment building?&nbsp;As you picture this in your mind, look at the little being who is you, playing in those places. Look at that beautiful little child with expressive eyes, with excitement, with tenderness, with vulnerability, with awe, with surprise, and only two wishes: to love and to be loved. Hold me and let me hold you. This little child with those beautiful eyes is sitting in the playground or the yard or the garden, full of hope for what life is to be. And the child radiates that hope.&nbsp;Sadly, that little child—our soul child—has to go under a crust because the demands and harshness and woundings of this world will not allow that precious innocence to survive in all its purity. So, by age five or six, sometimes seven, we have put on a layer of protection, and it is called the ego. We must have an ego. It gives us a way to move through the world. It gives us protection from the wounds that our little vulnerable self could not bear.&nbsp;And as that child grows, the ego grows with it, with you and me. At one point, we became a defensive personality that said to the world, “You can’t hurt me because I’m powerful, or because I’m okay, or because I’m right, or because I’m giving.” We decided what our ego-strategy was going to be.&nbsp;<figure class="image image_resized" style="width:75%;"><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/reconnecting_innerchild2_7c736705a1.webp" alt="reconnecting-innerchild2.webp" srcset="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/thumbnail_reconnecting_innerchild2_7c736705a1.webp 145w,https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/large_reconnecting_innerchild2_7c736705a1.webp 492w,https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/reconnecting_innerchild2_7c736705a1.webp 492w," sizes="100vw"></figure><hr><h4 style="text-align:center;">Put your hearts together, and let them beat in coherence. Join with your soul so that your life can face any shock point, and do it with dignity and compassion, and holy strength and holy faith.</h4><hr>Then, by midlife, and for some of us sooner, there was a shock point. That shock point took us into a land of pain and suffering, because we realized that the ego never did have a way to successfully block the pain, suffering, shame, anger, and alienation.&nbsp;When we were teenagers, we were searching for an identity. Instead of going back to our soul child, we found our identity in groups. And now, so many are finding their identity in social media. What a false self we are presenting for our children to embrace.&nbsp;What is it that we can be if we are not the ego? Who is it that we can be that brings hope again, that brings love again, that brings light again? The answer is our soul. The soul now has a purpose, a meaning, and a way, with the ego’s help, to be protected, because the ego can now serve the purpose of the soul.&nbsp;So, I’d like to tell you how to find the qualities of your soul again. Well, in my tradition, the great teacher Jesus Christ said, “You cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven unless you become as a little child.”&nbsp;In my opinion, we have to return to our first identity, which is our true nature. That’s found in the little being you saw in that yard or playground just a few minutes ago.&nbsp;&nbsp;<figure class="image image_resized" style="width:75%;"><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/reconnecting_innerchild3_db4df0c3e8.webp" alt="reconnecting-innerchild3.webp" srcset="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/thumbnail_reconnecting_innerchild3_db4df0c3e8.webp 145w,https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/large_reconnecting_innerchild3_db4df0c3e8.webp 800w,https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/reconnecting_innerchild3_db4df0c3e8.webp 800w," sizes="100vw"></figure>&nbsp;Close your eyes again. I’d like for you to picture that child one more time. Look into her or his eyes. See the purity, the beauty, the willingness to love and be loved. Now feel the heart of that child. And now, if you will go to that child and sit by them, and put your arms around that little being. Put your hearts together, and let them beat in coherence. Join with your soul so that your life can face any shock point, and do it with dignity and compassion, and holy strength and holy faith.<hr><h4 style="text-align:center;">Illustrations by LAKSHMI GADDAM</h4><hr>

Reconnect with your inner child 

From ego to soul

Dr. Mehta is an Indian holistic health, well-being, wellness, and fitness guru. He is a TV and radio presenter and a columnist in various publications and websites. Mickey has written a number of books, including The Shoonyam Quotient, Lose Weight, Gain Shape, and Resurrect Your Being.

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DR. MICKEY MEHTA

<hr><h4>In February 2020, MICKEY MEHTA shared his thoughts with MAMATA VENKAT at Kanha Shanti Vanam, the Heartfulness headquarters near Hyderabad, India, just before the pandemic hit. Mickey is known as India’s premier fitness guru, holistic health guru and corporate life coach. He has worked with the government, the army, the navy, the air force, and the Mumbai police. He has served many A-listers on their fitness journeys and is now associated with the Fit India Movement, partnering with the Government of India. He also does his regular rounds of workshops and consultations for the international corporate world. What keeps him motivated? Commitment to growth, introspection, and spirituality.</h4><hr>Q: Dr. Mehta, tell me a little bit more about your life and the steps that have brought you to where you are now.MM: I think the culmination of my entire fifty-eight years, sitting with you, giving this interview, has been like a flash – the entire thing. This is my journey from Harlem to Harvard. The journey, like a roller coaster, has been full of fun, joy, anxiety, pain – everything. It has been a mixed bag of ups and downs, upheavals, states of joy, moments of happiness, bliss, and, trust me, every bit of it has been fun in hindsight for the simple reason that we always grow out of it. For the simple reason that you get polished like a diamond. It is like what coal goes through. Steel has to be tempered, also, and goes through so much heat. And it’s not easy being coal, either. You need to be dug out. And there are processes before the coal becomes ready to use.Q: Everything worked out the way it was supposed to.MM:&nbsp;Yes. And who cares if it didn’t, as long as it happened.Q: My friends and I often talk about how things aren’t right or wrong, they just are.MM:&nbsp;They just are, because right and wrong becomes our perspective. Each perspective is so different. When the angle changes, the view changes completely. Like stupid people, we keep struggling to prove our point of view. And this struggle strains us, gives us pain, gives us stress. And the answer to that is Heartfulness.&nbsp;<hr>&nbsp;<img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/Purpose_of_life2_c1176ee282.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-06T06:24:19.555Z" alt="Purpose-of-life2"><hr>&nbsp;Q: Was there an event in your life that, in the moment, felt “wrong,” but ended up being “right,” the best thing that could have possibly happened to you?MM:&nbsp;As we said, there are no right and wrong moments. Nevertheless, if I were to choose some moments in life: I was supposed to be a car mechanic, a steward, and a security guy. Instead, I chose to get into fitness, martial arts, nutrition, Yoga, body building, swimming, meditation – deep into meditation and spirituality – in the last few decades. Now I am championing the cause of age reversal, challenging ailments, and bringing about success stories with terminally-ill people, adding lots of life force into them with the laws of nature.This has been a thirty-eight-year journey. I’m all of fifty eight. I still believe that I started just yesterday. And it is fun. It is exciting every day.Q: What initially led you to fitness?MM:&nbsp;Emulating my cousins doing exercise. Going home and working out. Seeing them do martial arts. Emulating them quietly in a corner. Sweating it out; a pool of sweat in the room. And I used to carry a lot of water to drink, and my mom and sister used to think that I was taking that water and throwing it on the floor to show how much I had sweated. But that wasn’t the case. I literally sweated.I have seriously given my blood, bone marrow, and sweat to this. And I think it ain’t enough yet. There’s lots more to come. We haven’t yet started.Q: Do you think that getting into fitness early on in your life taught you a work ethic, diligence, and perseverance in every other arena in your life?MM:&nbsp;Perseverance. Diligence. Sense of commitment. Sense of responsibility. I think fitness, health, wellness, and well-being gives you perfect discipline. It puts you on the path of evolution. So we have all the Ashtangas of Yoga – Yama, Niyama, Asana, Pranayama, Pratyahara, Dharana, Dhyana, Samadhi – as opposed to the forces of entropy, which kill you.So time, matter, space, life, motion, mass, causation and effect, gravity. Right from the point of time that you were a speck of life on the rim of a volcano, a few million years back, to the point of becoming a superconscious human being.&nbsp;<hr><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/Purpose_of_life3_a9efe999fa.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-06T06:27:51.594Z" alt="Purpose-of-life3">&nbsp;<hr>When animals stood upright, as chimpanzees, the forces of life went upwards to the brain, and the brain opened up.&nbsp;So humans became sensitive, humans became poets, humans became writers. Humans invented the wheel, invented fire. Humans knew what love is. And they settled from being nomads. They became sensitive. They refined. They evolved. And from cannibals, they became very refined persons. So they grew spiritually. A human became a Krishna. A human became a Buddha. A human became a Mohammad. A human became a Christ. Humans on the ladder of evolution have the potential to rise above gods and fall below animals. Humans can choose to go upward or downward, but the ladder is the same.And of course, humans became so many Devis: Saraswati Devi, Durga Devi, Lakshmi Devi, countless Devis. And I certainly endorse the importance of the feminine within spirituality. The valley who knows how to receive. The valley who knows how to surrender. The valley who can seduce with absolute subtlety, no aggression and no violence. The valley which is biologically stronger, emotionally, mentally stronger, psychically stronger – who knows how to give, knows how to forgive, knows how to bless, knows how to create, and certainly knows how to destroy.Q: It sounds like spirituality is a large part of who you are.MM:&nbsp;Yes. Philosophy and spirituality have been the main state of my being, having understood Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras, having understood Vairagaya, having understood Santara, which are about the laws of attachment and letting go in life, surrendering to life – icchamrityu, iccha jivan, iccha siddhi – and now learning more about the Seven Sins of pride, anger, lust, envy, gluttony, avarice and sloth. We succumb to them.How do we evolve out of that? After almost four decades of meditation, I understand that Heartfulness is a very good discipline of meditation, which makes a lot of sense.Q: How has the Heartfulness practice positively impacted your life?MM:&nbsp;It has brought me one good indicator in life: When we carry a lot of grudges, a lot of resentments in our heart, we can clean them and replace them with love and compassion. Remove the junk, empty the junk, and fill yourself up with love and compassion. Let go, let go, let go, breathe out, breathe out, breathe out. Settle, settle, settle. Get set like yogurt. Just settle, settle, settle. Yogurt karma.And you keep evolving. As you settle deep down inside, as you stay rooted, you start fruiting, as well.Q: If you could take a 30,000-foot view of your life, and you could take one lesson that you could share with any young adults who are trying to figure out what they want to do with the rest of their life, what would you tell them?MM:&nbsp;The only purpose of this life is to evolve, and once you evolve you realize the purpose of life. And try to understand that when nature reached its highest creativity, when God reached highest creativity, human beings were born. And when human beings reach their highest creativity, God is again born.So don’t be complacent with life. You are God in seed form. Start nurturing that seed. Wait for your blossoming. Wait for your fruiting. Become fragrant, Become sweet. Get rooted, get fruited.My message to people is this: The excellence of fitness, health, wellness and well-being is the ladder of evolution. Get energized. Get maximized. Get optimized. Get supersized. Get revolutionized. Get eternalized. Get internalized. Get hypnotized. Get mesmerized. Get regularized. Get revitalized. Get specialized. Get initialized.&nbsp;<hr><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/Purpose_of_life4_f1cd9d4a67.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-06T06:31:02.017Z" alt="Purpose-of-life4">&nbsp;<hr>&nbsp;&nbsp;<hr>&nbsp;<h4 style="text-align:center;">Interviewed by MAMATA VENKAT Illustrations by GAYATRI PACHPANDE</h4>&nbsp;<hr>

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