The last letter talked about one contributor to personal success as being less personally and emotionally involved with what is happening around us. An agitated heart interferes with our clarity of sight as well as our cognitive ability. So the question becomes, how do we do that without simply closing our hearts?

You know how small fish tend to congregate in very large numbers? They do this when a bigger predator fish shows up. The little fishies all twist and turn in a large group and the bigger fish gets confused, not knowing which one to focus on. Sound familiar? There we are trying to deal with a complex situation and every aspect of the situation is swimming around in our minds, confusing and distracting us from what we actually need to do next.

Well, we have entered a time of dark news, indeed. No sooner does covid seem to be winding down (finally!), than we have a war in Europe, a huge spike in inflation, and continued supply chain problems. I had a few thoughts to share (surprise! :-)) that may be helpful to some folks…

I am sorry to report that Michael Bisbiglia has passed away. He was a reader for many years at East West, and was really a part of our family. He was a real light, and was always with a smile, a kind word, and an attitude of service. Though he was not at East West the past couple of years, I will personally miss him, knowing he is gone from this world.

I work with a lot of people and have done so for many years. It might be as a public speaker, a counselor, an employer, or a friend. I have learned something that I felt to share here, in the hope that it can be of use to others. It is also a major principle I try always to remember: People are more important than things.

I wanted to repost a note I wrote shortly after the Capitol Riot of last year. I was feeling much tension in the people around me, and got many positive comments about this post. It seems as appropriate today as it was a year ago, and given the recent anniversary, I thought it might be good to share again.

Originally posted January of 2021
Well, can we say that 2021 has not started yet? Riots in our nation's capital to start the New Year is not what we were hoping for. That said, while I am not normally a Pollyanna, I'd like to share some positives that have come to me out of this current mess.

A woman was in her living room with her husband. She looked out her window and saw that her neighbor had recently hung out laundry to dry in the sun. The woman said to her husband, “Just look at those clothes! They are filthy. I need to talk to her and tell her how to wash clothes properly. I can't believe at her age she still doesn't know how to do that simple task.”

Just a brief note to wish everyone a marvelous Holiday Season. Take a moment (right now!) to pause and reflect about how much goodness there is in the world. The press and social media focus almost exclusively on what is agitating and disturbing because cultivating those emotional states captivates eyeballs. It’s like having a large white sheet in front of you that has a black dot on it. You stand right up to the black dot, and think everything is black. A step back gives perspective and, while not denying the existence of that dot, helps us to see the whit

We have just entered the Holiday Season. Thanksgiving—Christmas—New Year's. It’s a really packed time of year. It is easy to get lost in the details, but we each ought to do our best to remember what it is we are acknowledging and celebrating.

Thanksgiving: Gratitude has actually been shown to boost your immune system!…

My, how the world has changed! My career the past 25-plus years has been stress management training for corporations and government agencies (you can see my work here). A part of what my wife and I teach is meditation. When we started, I had to put out a fair bit of energy just convincing people that though I was from California and was teaching meditation, I was not a flake nor a reconstituted flower-child. Now, however, when people hear I teach meditation they usually explain how they used to meditate but no longer do—and feel guilty about it! As I said, the world has changed.

First… ahem… forgive me… but Christmas is coming. Can you believe it’s mid-November already? Please do come by and see the store. It is more beautiful than I have ever seen it, and we have been very busy bringing in a lot of new items. If you have not been here in the past month or so, you will see much that is different. We saw the supply chain problems coming back in April, so we have been ordering up and are overstuffed with wonderful inventory. Feel free to come and help us out with that! :-)

Serving the planet and our fellow humans is a wonderful thing to do for many reasons, not least of which is that it takes us out of ourselves. Being self-preoccupied is a recipe for being unhappy. But feeling that our worth comes from what we do or accomplish is an error with lasting and damaging consequences.

I bet you do not fix your car yourself. I bet you do not fix your plumbing yourself. I bet you seek expert advice on complex tax situations. I bet you seek advice from a physical therapist if a muscle or joint problem persists. Why then are people so terribly hesitant to seek advice or guidance about something much more important: The spiritual life or even life in general?

I find it fascinating that almost everyone knows that it is wholly inappropriate to be judgmental, critical, dismissive of others, and negative. Yet how often I find people harbor and easily tolerate those toxic attitudes to those nearest and dearest to them: namely themselves!

The world is simply what it is, but our minds can run wild with expectations and assumptions. Having a million dollars is great, but if the person with a million dollars had three million last year, he feels broke. If he had only ten thousand last year, he feels wealthy and has a spring in his step. So is having a million dollars good or not?

What is true freedom? The unexamined answer is: “having the ability to do what you want.” But is that really freedom?