I just finished a novel about the pandemic that brought back waves of memories from that time. It remains surreal to me that on March 11, 2020, the world simply stopped. One day to the next, schools closed, businesses shuttered, and airports emptied. We couldn’t find toilet paper and scrambled to buy dry goods, just in case. Remember the bidet … Read More
A friend who is prone to depression asked me a question that is difficult to answereasily. It’s a common question: How do we get through a difficult loss without becomingdepressed when depression is our conditioned response?The uneasy part of the answer is that no easy answer exists. In truth, it is going toinclude a dose of even more difficult news … Read More
I am of a “certain age,” as they say, when memory becomes less reliable. This can be hard to gracefully accept and adjust to. I can recollect in my youth having almost photo recall, when I could bring all kinds of information from storage to speech in an instant. Not so today. I depend more on writing notes and lists, … Read More
Love is the cosmic glue which holds this universe together with its interplay of countless swirling celestial bodies, and multitudes of hearts and minds. Paramhansa Yogananda’s own guru Swami Sri Yukteswar Giri was a stern yoga master who yet knew this wisdom of love. He wrote that “The first and most essential thing on the spiritual path is to uncover … Read More
Have you noticed how often you fight with yourself? It’s usually over wanting to do what know that you shouldn’t, or should do and really don’t want to. If you step back and watch from a neutral corner, the battle that ensues can get pretty amusing. “I really want to do this.” “But you should be doing that other thing … Read More
Life is a dance. You’ve heard that before. Every moment offers a new set of rhythms and flows to interpret. Sometimes the dancing is done with beauty and grace, and sometimes not. The question is, in this tango of the intertwined, who is the one who leads when the tune is called? Is it I or Other? In the ballroom … Read More
There is a place on this earth where friends come together, live side by side, and support each other in their individual search for God. Not a cloistered monastery or ashram only for those who renounce the world, a place for everyone. In fact, there are several such places. I have the great good fortune of being born into one … Read More
In my early life lexicon, the term “custodian” referred only to the janitor at my elementary school. Later, in my early adult life, I read perhaps one of the greatest spiritual books ever written, The New Path by Swami Kriyananda. In Part II, Chapter 33: Original Christianity, the author emphasizes and expounds an important message from Paramhansa Yogananda: “The saints … Read More
The greatest joy and growth, pain and sorrows in this world all relate to our connection with others. And the highest form of connection is friendship. True friendship is a spiritual relationship of love, support and respect. Paramhansa Yogananda wrote “Friendship is God’s trumpet call, bidding the soul to destroy the walls which separate it from other souls, and from … Read More
