Three levels of empowerment
To have options is empowering; To have the intelligence to know which options are good for us is even more empowering; And to have the [...]
When losing peace of mind is good
Lessons that disturbed our peace of mind may well take us toward peace of the heart. Sometimes, we may value peace to such an extent [...]
When people behave strangely…
Just because some actions are inconsiderate does not necessarily mean that they are unwarranted or inappropriate. When someone behaves in a way that does not [...]
Feeling unsettled: Good or bad?
To be unsettled is unhealthy when we are living a life of values and purposes. But it is healthy when we are settling for complacency [...]
The secret of effective devotion
Devotion is not just emotion, it is emotion expressed through dedicated action. Some people dismiss devotion as simply expressive and sometimes ineffective emotion. However, devotion [...]
Why people think we are disrespectful
Just because something is obvious to us doesn't mean that it has to be obvious to everyone else. To use the word 'obviously' can come [...]
See beyond harsh language
Just because we don't endorse someone's language doesn't mean that we can't empathize with their feelings. Sometimes some people express their concerns in language that [...]
Enthusiasm vs over-enthusiasm
When we find that our enthusiasm is overriding our manners, that is when our enthusiasm is becoming over-enthusiasm. We all are enthusiastic about certain things; [...]
Why relationships are so difficult
Difficulties in relationships are caused not so much by INCOMPATIBILITY as by INFLEXIBILITY. Sometimes when two people cannot get along with each other, a common [...]
Unnecessary inner baggage
What some people considered to be essential luggage, others considered to be dispensable baggage. When we are traveling, we often pack a lot of things [...]
How to develop deep friendships
To help someone in their moment of need is to be a friend and to make a friend for life. Sometimes we wonder: How can [...]
When to forgive but not forget
Suppose someone has done something hurtful. We may be told by others, just forgive and forget. And that is good advice if that person has [...]
Why words hurt
What some people consider friendly banter, others consider to be beastly torture. In this world, different people perceive things differently. And sometimes someone who might [...]
Might we be narrow-minded?
Narrow-mindedness means to think that what matters to us must matter to everyone else. Most of us, if asked, would not consider ourselves to be [...]
Two problems with forced compliance
Maintaining discipline is not about crushing people who have opposite opinions, it is about communicating how we all have a shared interest that subordinates our [...]
Why people see the same thing differently
What some people consider as clarity of vision, others consider as lack of vision. The Bhagavad Gita talks about how our vision of the world [...]
Why we fail in improving ourselves
Why we often fail in our attempts at self-improvement is because we are tricked by our mind into aiming for instant improvement and then we [...]
Same metaphor opposite interpretations
Ocean metaphors for liberation are used by both impersonalists and personalists, but in significantly different ways. Impersonalists hold that our consciousness is like a drop, [...]
Think ocean think big
An ocean metaphor for meaningful life and successful death is given in the Bhagavad Gita 11.28 and 29, where it states that the death of [...]
Seeking guidance from Krishna
Bad situations can explain bad decisions, but they don't excuse bad decisions. Life sometimes puts even the best of us in bad situations. That means [...]
Resisting the mind’s myopia
The mind has a myopia with regards to other's point of view, especially when that point of view challenges the mind's comforts and desires. Myopia [...]