Jet lag and I have been at it again this week. I had been up most of the night but at 3:30am, I closed my book and decided to go to sleep. Reading always makes me sleepy and The Autobiography of a Yogi is about the spiritual path of Yoginanada through self-realization. The calm, relaxation-inducing [...]
gratitude
I have been mesmerized with the Randy Pausch story since the first time I watched the unforgettable Last Lecture he delivered at Carnegie Melon University. There is only so much of Randy’s story that you can read before you have to stop and walk away and then force yourself to either promptly forget it all [...]
Have you ever wondered what would happen if your limitations and imperfections, your worries and anxieties, or your doubts and fears, neither mattered nor materialized as you so desperately persist that they do? Just what if …
When I was 7 years old, I wrote a letter and mailed it to America to a cousin that I adored who was now living in a country that I only dreamt about. What I would give to enter the world of the 7-year old me writing this letter from Iran during the worst revolution [...]
If it weren’t for my curiosity to find out about the real life whereabouts of Pi, Yann Martel‘s primary character in Life of Pi, I would gone on believing that this shocking tale of survival and courage, of unshakeable faith and conviction, of true desperation and uncanny desire to hold on to dear life, was [...]
“It doesn’t interest me what you do for a living. I want to know what you ache for, and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart’s longing.” ~ Oriah I saw these words a few minutes after finding out that Forbes published a story around my recent decision to ditch the corporate life. [...]
A labor of love has many hands and hearts at work. There may be one true leader for the effort but it is quite never without the support of at least a precious few others. My labor of love started over 4 months ago – with an idea. Ideas, I truly believe, are the beginning [...]
How well do you handle your interactions with customer support? Yesterday, an AT&T rep of all people put me in my place. I was completely out of line when I said she was not doing anything to help me. She was. I was also wrong when I told her it’s nearly impossible to isolate an [...]
In every space, every aspect and every part of our life, it is listening – truly and intently listening – which is our greatest offering to anyone sharing our life or crossing our path. It is only through real listening that true understanding can occur. Do you think you really know how to listen? I [...]
I looked high and low for the perfect Buddha statue to bring home from Bali; I desperately wanted to own one! My husband made an annoying observation as usual, that I am neither a Buddhist nor a Hindu, and the statue, while “very cool”, could not carry for me the intended and true significance it [...]
My first reaction is not my best one when confronted with unforeseen circumstances – even at my own doing – but to my delight, my second reaction seems to be improving dramatically over time! On a beautiful Saturday morning in August, my first reaction when I promptly locked myself out of my house was paranoia. [...]
Dear Monsieur Dumas, It is the year 2010 today, nearly 166 years since you published The Count of Monte Cristo. Your contemporaries recognized it as the accomplishment it is, which is the least we can say for the treasures which have come to us from your period. It makes me immensely happy when a society [...]
Etiquette is an accepted social behavior in a particular setting; it defines the proprieties of conduct as established in any class or community or occasion. Etiquette is not a loud and explicit rule; it is soft and subtle and yet always carries you further when you observe appropriate etiquette in the right setting. Master the [...]
Florence, Italy, May 2008 – Looking down at Arno river from Ponte Vecchio (Old Bridge), I was mesmerized by this simple sight: A young crew of Italian children hard at work, learning the concept of team work. If even one of them stops rowing, the shared momentum is lost and the camaraderie comes into question. [...]
The last time I was looking to switch jobs within my company, I focused on one factor: the people. Not the project or the organization or even the position so much as the people. I passionately believe that if I were in the company of people that I could trust and appreciate, I would perform [...]
