18.66 When loyalty becomes self-destructive…
Loyalty is a glorious virtue— unless it is disastrously weaponized by the vicious. A tragic example of this is the Mahabharata character Karna. He was [...]
2.14 We can’t change our destiny–and we can.
When something bad happens in your life due to factors beyond your control, have you ever wondered: Was this destiny? Could I have done anything [...]
4.39 When loyalty becomes slavery
Loyalty is noble—until it starts choking our conscience. There’s a moment when standing by someone stops showing strength and starts showing weakness. In the Mahabharata, [...]
Don’t run away from fear
Fear is like a bully. When someone is scared of a bully, the bully becomes more and more menacing and troublesome. However, someone who faces [...]
When fear paralyzes do THIS …
When we are driving, a good car requires both a brake and an accelerator, and both complement and counterbalance each other. Similar are the roles [...]
Change the question we ask ourselves
Whenever we are strongly attached to something and we keep doing that thing, even though we have decided we won't do it, frequently we ask [...]
Three things we can do when we feel helpless
Suppose life puts us in a situation where we just feel that there's nothing in our control. Rather than giving into the feeling of helplessness, [...]
Destiny determines our situations, but we determine our decisions in those situations
Whenever we are put in a sudden unexpected and unfavorable, even unbearable situation, we may resent and even condemn either God or ourselves for having [...]
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 [...]
Hopeless not to be helpless
We may be helpless, but we don't have to be hopeless. Sometimes life puts us in situations where there is absolutely nothing we can do [...]
To guide effectively focus on others’ potentials not their problems
To help others, focus on their potentials, not their problems. Whenever we are in a position of guiding others, it is natural that we will [...]
Self mastery through leverage not through age
Self-discipline becomes easier not by growing in age, but by gaining leverage. Some people think that when they are trying to battle their lower desires, [...]
Fear paralyzes faith energizes
Whenever we are overcome by fear, we often get paralyzed, not knowing which way to move. We end up unable to move at all. That [...]
The key to lasting confidence
Base our confidence not on who we are but on whose we are. Whenever we face some difficult challenge, we often try to boost our [...]
When we feel powerless …
The world may make our power less, but it is our mind that makes us feel powerless. Sometimes, the world may put us in situations [...]
How humility empowers amid difficulties
Amid difficulties, our mind tends to propel us between extremes, akin to the extremes of a pendulum. For example, when we are faced with a [...]
Beyond stereotypes of a wrathful God
Some religious groups portray God as a mighty and scary entity who sits above the clouds and casts thunderbolts to punish sinners. According to them, [...]
Is our need to nurture aiding or impeding those whom we nurture?
We living beings have a deep need to nurture. That noble need is what inspires us to become parents, even if caring for infants sometimes involves sleepless [...]
How the Krishna-Arjuna duo demonstrates the dynamics of divine empowerment
In the Bhagavad-gita (11.33), Krishna essentially assures Arjuna that he will be empowered by divine arrangement. To understand the dynamics of such divine empowerment, let’s [...]
Equality that is imposed doesn’t raise everyone up, it brings everyone down
Equality that is imposed doesn’t raise everyone up it brings everyone down We live in an age where equality is celebrated. Any discrimination, based on [...]
We may be victimized but we don’t have to be victims
We may be victimized but we don't have to be victims We may sometimes be victimized. How can we deal with the resulting devastation? By [...]