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From Bad News to Actual Happiness

The current news is challenging us. It seems that every day bad things are happening, and that every month disasters are striking. We live in a constant state of Orange Alert — the U.S. Homeland Security designation for a high threat level. That this level of challenge is stressful goes without saying.

When I was in elementary school, we were required to follow “current events,” to stay up on the news of the day so we could become informed members of society. Doing that today can be a full-time job and keep you on twitter all day and night. Then you have to parse the real news from the fake news, identify the spin to see what the facts are, and find out if there’s any “there” there.

To say nothing of trying to fix what is wrong in the world.

How do you find real happiness within this disaster? Continue reading “From Bad News to Actual Happiness”

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My Manifesto

I studied mostly liberal and applied arts in school, as an undergrad at Georgetown University and as an art and music student at various community colleges and at Catholic University. But I technically majored in Economics at Georgetown, and I have always had my pet theories on how to make things work better. One of my current favorite podcasts, Pod Save America, raised the question of what can we really do given the current situation with today’s economy and political climate. I am glad to offer the following for debate. Continue reading “My Manifesto”

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The Genius of Leonard Cohen, In an Email

“I wanted to stand with those who clearly see G-d’s holy broken world for what it is, and still find the courage or the heart to praise it. You don’t always get what you want. You’re not always up for the challenge. But in this case — it was given to me. For which I am deeply grateful.” From Leon Wieseltier’s Op-Ed in the New York Times

 

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The First Lady

I was a Bernie Sanders supporter.

He ran an amazing campaign. Sanders pulled the Democratic discourse to the left, where it belongs. I hope he continues to do that, and that his supporters find ways to keep Hillary tacking that way. The easiest is by voting in more progressives in down-ticket races, so she is not as hamstrung as Obama was. A Democratic Congress plus a Democratic President is necessary now. This is why you need to get to the polls in November and vote in Democrats at all levels, including HRC. This is what Sanders’ revolution calls for next.
Continue reading “The First Lady”

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It all boils down to this

We tend to get very complicated. We live in the era of specialization. We think in terms of expertise. This kind of thinking tempts us to hope that there’s a special, expert, complicated magic bullet that will bring us what we want. And there are a lot of people who offer to sell us such a magic bullet. Almost always, the sales job emphasizes impossible things: eternal youth, great success, unheard-of prosperity, flawless health, better looks, waif-like weight, control.

IMG_7457Yoga proposes an alternative to all that. Continue reading “It all boils down to this”

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The Political Revolution, Working Together

Screen Shot 2016-02-18 at 8.56.20 PMA letter to my fellow Sanders supporters. (Clinton supporters, please peek.)

Hillary continues to gain votes, and delegates, and states in the primary. Many voters evidently are convinced that having the first woman president, a seasoned diplomat, and a strategic policy wonk in the White House is a good idea. I have to admit, it sounds positive.

What Bernie has done, and continues to do, is to keep the focus on the fact that the middle and poorer classes are suffering, thanks to many things, including policies that have failed to more fairly distribute the economic gains of the 80s–2010s. These policies are what Bernie has criticized throughout his career. Continue reading “The Political Revolution, Working Together”

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Quote from the Kularnava Tantra

From the Kularnava Tantra, as translated by Arthur Avalon.

Yoga is the main process. The Tantra seeks to weave it into every detail of life, give a different meaning to each of man’s activities by making all of them means for the effectuation and expression of the inner yoga of progression from the human into the divine.

This beautiful passage summarizes Tantra yoga, the transformation of one’s experience of life, pervaded with Consciousness that we alternately feel as individual and transcendent.

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Favorite Love Songs

I am just finishing the second draft of a new novel that has the theme of classic love songs running through it. Do you have a favorite? Put it in the comment section below, and if I use it, I’ll credit you in the book!

grapelli

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Smiling this week

We’ve been smiling all week in class, using the ISHTA Inner Smile meditation. Come join me in asana classes or Saturday morning for meditation. Or if you’re a guy intimidated by all the flexy girls in classes, check in on Sunday for my Man to Man: Yoga for the Average Guy workshop. You’ll be lookin’ like the Buddha!

Here’s a treat: Ron Gutman’s TED Talk on the power of the smile.