A Story of Thriving... and Change.

All of my life, I remember searching for that “thriving” feeling. I felt a thirst for life. I wanted to see the world, taste the flavors of experience, and live boldly. ​

So, I worked. I put myself through College in 3 years and completed a Ph.D.  By the time I was 23 years old, I was working as an external consultant for Fortune 1000 companies. 

I eventually started working internally, leading Organizational Development and then HR teams.  

I had “made it.” I had “things” – a big house, a designer car, and all the trappings of success. Late at night, though, I was still reading and studying (with an almost feverish ferocity) the Sacred teachings of the East. In spite of my material comforts and my high-powered leadership position, I still felt a thirst for knowledge – and wholeness… I still deeply wanted to know and understand why we are here, what really made us happy, and how the Sacred teachings connected to our modern Science.

Seek and you will find.

As a VP of HR, I worked through perhaps the most difficult period in my company's history.  The economic crash combined with massive changes in manufacturing decimated our industry.  These changes were compounded by large restructuring initiatives in order to control costs and maximize efficiencies.  I was asked to plan 2-3 restructurings every year, resulting in over 7000 job losses.    Talk about karma… Going into work each day to plan restructuring initiatives and the complete cataclysm of my fellow humans’ lives and then coming home to my large house and fine furnishings, left me feeling the weight of hypocrisy.

I was a farm kid, after all, and those getting “packages” were mothers and fathers trying to support their families. Also, I knew from my scientific understanding that what happens to others deeply impacts all of us; wellbeing is not solely an individual experience, but one that has universal implications (see Harvard’s research on Interpersonal Neurobiology).

In 2011, as I was presenting a package to an employee, the employee started laughing. I thought this was a strange reaction, and checked in. The associate told me that he was laughing at the irony of life. See, he had just learned that he was terminally ill and had an estimated 4 months to live. Obviously, this conversation stopped the HR script immediately. We proceeded to have the most real human dialogue I have ever had with another human. Toward the end of the conversation, he asked me about my feelings about corporate America, life, and what I really “wanted” to actualize.

I told him that I spent most of my nights staying up late reading about Eastern philosophy, had an informal Ph.D. in religious studies, and longed to teach people the secrets of living an abundant life, which were perfectly laid out in the esoteric doctrines and in the yoga sciences. Saying this out loud was transformative. I knew, in this moment, that I needed to change my life to live my truth.

We have to be the change we want to see in the world.

And, that’s why I started the Moksha Institute. I want to help create change. For many, corporate life is making them sick.

90% of what we see the doctor for is stress related.

And, in all my experience in Corporate America, I met very few who were not stressed out. This takes a toll – on all of us. The demands of managing the day-to-day grind and balancing family life is not easy; and for many, with job cuts and the pace of innovation, work has gotten even more demanding. At the most basic level of human striving, we want to have meaning and purpose in our lives and we want to connect to the company we serve.

Progressive learning in the corporate world is often limited because of hierarchical systems and old fashioned norms suggesting how an organization or leader “should” behave or how the structure should exist. ​

There is a paradigm shift happening. If you close your eyes, you can feel it.
People want meaning in their life.
They want to contribute to their company and have their voice heard – to participate and be recognized.

The most progressive companies in the world are now discovering the new form of innovation – waking up their organization, creating mindfulness at work, leveraging the innate goodness in their associates, and empowering others to realize themselves.

This work is leading not only to dramatic decreases in healthcare costs – saving companies millions every year – but also amazing shifts in attitude, morale, engagement, and performance.

We need to stop selling our leaders on the “7 Secrets of Leadership,” and start teaching our leaders to be whole persons – real, flawed, honest – and most of all caring.

We are sold something every day – on Facebook, TV commercials, in Political campaigns, and from our leaders. But, we hunger most for authenticity – in ourselves and in others. That’s why it’s often so refreshing when a public figure is … simply honest.

This is why I started the Moksha Institute. I want to empower organizations and their people. I want to bring purpose and meaning into the lives of those organizations who hire us. I want to create bleeding edge innovation in companies so that they never have to cut their employees to cope with the changing times. And, if those companies are restructuring or merging, I want to help them create a culture that is inspiring, inventive, participative, and communicative.

And, I believe strongly that the future will be built on those companies who see the potential of people.

We are in the information age. In 1975, the S&P index reported that 17% of the market cap was “intellectual property,” and in 2005, it grew to 80%.
In 30 years, the value of intellectual property grew by 60%!
The value of corporate assets today is PEOPLE. And the measure organizational success will be the degree to which your company has captured their hearts – not their heads, and not even their wallets (if you want more information on that, look at the research on what is motivating millenials).

We are in the shift age. Yoga studios are popping up on every corner. People are starting to ask the big questions again. The paradigm shift is here… and it’s not whether or not you are ready… it’s whether you can afford not to compete with those that embracing it – those that are realizing Moksha.

​​Namaste,
Ryan

Dr. Ryan Pride is the owner of the Moksha Institute, a firm dedicated to improving the wellbeing of individuals, teams, and organizations through culture transformation and leadership development.   A profit-for-purpose company, the Moksha Institute applies Ancient Teachings for the Modern Time in order to transform striving into thriving.  

For more information, please go to: www.mokshainstitute.com

Medical Costs Increasing. Leadership Changes Could Help!

A study reported in the Epoch Times this morning cited that medical claims costs will rise by 32% in the next year.   Medical claim costs drive the cost of insurance premiums.   For those companies that are self-insured (i.e., larger companies pay for every visit to the doctor; the insurance company of record for the company is only there to issue cards and negotiate rates with doctors), every ailment, sickness, or dis-Ease is a direct cost to the business and a hit to the bottom line. 

As a former HR leader, our third largest cost - to the tune of millions of dollars every year – was healthcare.    Every dollar we saved by keeping our associates healthy was a direct increase to our earnings.

We spent over $1,000,000 a year with a company that provided biometric screenings and nutrition counseling via a web interface.    We saw no difference in our medical claims data.   Why?  Well, any doctor will tell you that 80% of what we see the doctor for today is stress related.   We can treat the symptoms, but the underlying problem is still there.

What I don’t understand, and I still don’t, is why ‘mindfulness’ at work has not been fully embraced.   At the Moksha Institute, we totally transform companies - their culture, their communication patterns, the sense of meaning people get from work, the feeling of warmth they feel at work - and also dramatically reduce healthcare costs, which is reason in and of itself to engage in this work.   We have seen the fruits of our work – in increased engagement and profitability.

The science of Mindfulness, with roots in health care, is making significant contributions to the fields of communications, conflict resolution, leadership, and cognition (among others).  When combined with what we know from Positive Psychology research, the formula for success in life, abundant health, increased energy, and strong performance is not complicated.   It isn’t a long process that requires 3 sigma’s, 6 sigma’s, or even 9.   There are no white, yellow, or black belts needed.   And, unlike TQM programs, health management initiatives, or even large, multi-focused firms like Hewitt, Aon, or McKinsey – the cost of this work is often paid for by the savings and increased performance before our contract is even up.

What it does require is a mental shift – a paradigm change.   It requires the John Wayne type that is leading your company who came up through the ranks by “taking charge,” “getting things done,” and “kicking  ass” to do a complete do a 180.   And, that’s really, really hard.  

Our signature strengths often become our leveraged limitations.   Those “Type A” attributes – the use of direct will – to get things done are catalyzing for sure, but the road to transformation requires both will and grace, fire and rain, hardness and softness, yin and yang, control and submission, pride and humility, assertiveness and acceptance, faith in self and accountability and release from expectations of perfection.   It requires the will to serve as much as to lead, the desire for profit as much as wellbeing, and the understanding that no one thing can flourish at the expense of other things suffering.   Thriving results from the whole of a person, team, or system working in oneness and synchronicity. 

We see this same pattern play out time and time again.   Industrialization wins at the cost of the environment, Investment bankers win at the cost of your brother, uncle, or cousin’s pension plan, you save time by going through the drive through, but deplete the body of nutrients and decrease your energy…   Humans are not very good at gray yet.   We will take the momentary satisfaction at the cost of later suffering.

The leadership crisis facing corporate America today is the call to answer the question – “Are you willing to let go of control?  Are you willing to release some of your Power?   Are you ready to involve your company?  Are you capable of turning inward and looking at your own self – your motivations, your actions and behaviors?  What do you stand for and where do you compromise?”   The call for leaders today is to let go.   The “story” of what it means to be a leader is and has already changed.   Your employees WANT meaning and purpose in their lives as much as they want financial gain.   Your associates want to contribute, create, and be a part of that which they are building, rather than a cog in the wheel.   They want to trust you.   They want to respect you.    And, given what has happened in the last 5 years in business, today… they don’t. 

And, when one part of your body starts to reject you, it’s called cancer.   In organizations, it’s misalignment, which is a form of malignancy.   

So much can be changed.   The time is now.   The way is not complicated.   And, doing so will impact all of us.  

Namaste, 

Ryan

 

Dr. Ryan Pride is the owner of the Moksha Institute, a firm dedicated to improving the wellbeing of individuals, teams, and organizations through culture transformation and leadership development.   A profit-for-purpose company, the Moksha Institute applies Ancient Teachings for the Modern Time in order to transform striving into thriving.  

For more information, please go to: www.mokshainstitute.com

   

Stress and Disease are now Engaged !!!

I recently saw this post by Fox News … wow, I never thought I would begin my blog post this way - ever … but here goes…

In 2009, Kristi Russo was diagnosed with colorectal cancer – Stage 3.  She went through the traditional treatments – chemo, drugs, more chemo, more drugs...   After all of this treatment, her cancer was minimally impacted and in fact, had spread to her lungs.  

She researched alternative cancer treatments.   There is so much evidence from the East in Ayurveda and Chinese medicine that is just now starting to infiltrate Western thinking suggesting that:  we are whole beings; disease is not normal, but abnormal.  Dis-Ease is a function of our life not being in balance – the thoughts we think, the stress we feel, our environment, the food we eat, etc.    And, right now, people all across the world are curing themselves of cancer by turning inward rather than outward.  

Kristi adopted holistic practices of health and wellness – as advocated by Andrew Weil, Deepak Chopra, the Moksha Institute, etc. 

Four years later, Kristi is cancer-free.  

“First, we have to recognize that self-repair is, of course, innate to our biology,” Chopra said. “We call it homeostasis. People do repair their bodies.  I think the best thing we can do today is combine the best treatments in medicine, biological treatments that are getting better day-by-day, with these integrative approaches.” – DP on FN

The heart of this is in stress management.   Learning to deal with stress is crucial for any treatment, because when stressed, adrenaline increases, cortisol increases, and a host of other hormones change within your immune/endocrine system, which directly interferes with your body’s ability to heal.  

Deepak (as reported on FoxNews) advocates the following six priorities to wellbeing.   Forgive the typos.  Deepak is Indian after all, and I strongly recommend reading the list below with an Indian accent.   It helps:

• 1. Set goals and priorities.
• “Goals to establish a baseline health status and decide where you want to be, and what it’s going to take in terms of lifestyle, also in terms of standard treatment,” Chopra said. “That’s the first thing.”
• 2. Get rid of processed foods.
• “In very simple words, get rid of anything that is processed, refined or manufactured. By large, anything that comes in a can or label. You know, she (Russo) did that,” Chopra said. “She planted her own garden and went to farmers’ markets.”
• 3. Practice meditation and visualization.
• Russo said when she got sick, she would sit outside and visualize the sun, with all her kids home and a big swimming pool – and this is what they would do when she was healthy.
• “Visualization actually changes your behavior,” Chopra said. “It motivates you to do all the things. If you visualize a healthy, energetic, joyful body, and a quiet, restful mind, then that in itself will influence how you do other things.”
• 4. Express your emotions.
• “It’s not that you have to think positively all the time,” Chopra said. “You have to get in touch with your emotions. You have to share them with somebody that you love, like (Russo) did with her husband. You have to release them. You have to express them, because if you repress emotions, that creates its own biology, too.”
• 5.   Resist alienating yourself.
• Chopra said you need to connect with peace, harmony, laughter and love – it’s as simple as that. They are healing emotions.
• “My husband and I walk every night, especially before I’m going to have a blood test,” Russo said. “(I’ll ask) ‘Do you think I’m going to be OK? I’m nervous, do you think everything is going to be alright?’ He’s like, ‘Yes, it’s going to be fine.’ I always have somebody to talk to.”
• 6. Learn the science of self-repair.
• Russo said she is a different person now – she’s more tolerant – and she does not believe her cancer will ever come back.
• “I believe that your mind has a lot to do with healing your body,” Russo said.

She’s right.   Your mind has everything to do with healing your body.   When I was a Corporate VP, our third largest cost was healthcare, behind the cost of manufacturing and payroll.   As a large company, we spent millions of dollars to provide healthcare for our associates.   And, we were self-insured.   That meant that we literally paid for every ailment, illness, and appointment.   We paid the provider for the cards and for negotiating prices.   That’s it.  So, preventing illness actually IMPROVED our bottom line.   We paid Active Health (a firm to help control these costs) almost a million dollars a year to do biometric screenings for us.   Our health care costs did not change.   Not one bit.  

 

To this day, I still don’t know why companies will spend millions of dollars on strategy consultants while ignoring the white elephant in the room – happy employees produce more, perform better, and are actually MORE healthy (and less costly).  

Our paradigm has to change.   Not for our company’s sake, but for all our sake.   Your health directly impacts me, because we know from interpersonal neurobiology that your “state of being” directly impacts my state of being through chemical and energetic transfer  – something that is no longer viewed as a hypothetical construct, but as a scientific reality.   Further, it affects my pocket book.  Wait … it impacts my WALLET.    Why?  Because healthcare costs are so high because we are so sick.   If more use insurance, then insurance rates have to go up – perhaps the only linear relationship that truly exists.

We’re all in this together.   And, the story you have been sold about your health isn’t exactly true.   You don’t have to take that pill that will make you have uncontrollable bowel movements and carries a slight risk of permanent narcolepsy.    All you have to do is meditate.   And, that’s free.   And, that’s why you DON’T see it advertised in between Orange County housewives and Jersey Shore… not that I have any clue what either of those shows are about.   

Namaste and good health!

Ryan Pride

Dr. Ryan Pride is the owner of the Moksha Institute, a firm dedicated to improving the wellbeing of individuals, teams, and organizations through culture transformation and leadership development.   A profit-for-purpose company, the Moksha Institute applies Ancient Teachings for the Modern Time in order to transform striving into thriving.  

For more information, please go to: www.mokshainstitute.com

A Dumb Moment - of Perfect Clarity

Recently, I was reading a blog post by a spiritual writer that I follow, and he posed this question, which I thought to be silly – and at the same time, informing.   He asked: “What is the distance between yourself and your screen?”  I answered, “Hmm.   About 1 foot.”   He then asked:  “What is the distance between yourself and that thought?”  I paused.   What kind of ridiculous question was that?  I paused.   I thought about it.  I thought about it.   I thought about it some more.   What?  What the hell is he asking?  But, there was a moment in between, where I sat there with a dumb look on my face in some strange space of nothingness.   He then wrote: “Congratulations.   You just experienced a millisecond of awareness – the space between thought forms.”

My mind runs like the commentators of Mystery Science Theater.    It doesn’t stop.   It analyzes.   It judges.   It critiques.   It wonders why those two are together, it comments on the appropriateness of that particular combination of clothing, it frets over my bills, and plans for the future things I desperately need to get done.   

The Tantric teachings remind us that we are one with our thoughts, feelings, and emotions.   But, it also cautions us that our true nature is the awareness behind those thoughts, feelings, and emotions.   In other words, you and I were told a lot about the world as children.  We also had a lot of experiences that created belief systems about how the world works or the way the world works.   This is what Psychologists affectionately call your “ego.”   The ego is your story.   It’s your collection of beliefs that define who you are and what you hold true.   The good news is that your ego has a purpose – it keeps you grounded in a unique sense of identity.   Those that don’t have healthy ego identities can be flighty and seem to live in the stars.   As a yogi, I have plenty of friends that sleep with crystals and feel the ‘vibrations’ of the room.  They also have trouble just being in this here and now and doing things like paying bills.  Some ego is healthy.  The bad news is that most people confuse their ego with their true (or essential) nature, which is the non-judgemental, present-moment awareness in which looks out of ‘your’ eyes, tastes with ‘your’ mouth, kisses with ‘your’ lips, etc.   If that hurts your brain, then let’s make it easy.

You are awareness.  You are not your story.   Awareness is right now.   As you sit here and look at these words.  This moment.   This is you – assuming you aren’t judging or analyzing too much.  Awareness is being.  Your ‘story’ can confuse and disrupt your experience of life.  This is because we have been hurt, we have been betrayed, we have seen loss, etc.   And, our story-brain-ego creates all kinds of thoughts that keep the story going.   The ego is like a thing living inside you, and it is very sensitive, very fragile, very willful, and definitely has a fear of abandonment.   This is why after 50 minutes of yoga or any other mind-less activity, your brain cannot wait to send you straight back to your to-do lists, your need-to-do’s, or your should-have-done’s.   The ego has a HUGE fear that someday you’ll figure it out and the gig will be up.   The ego wants to exist. 

So, here’s your challenge… start to observe your thoughts.   Start to pay attention to what you think.   Ask yourself when you have a thought, “Where does this come from?  Is this true?  What belief generated this thought?  And, where did that belief come from?  Is that belief true?.”  You don’t have to abandon your poor little ego.   But, you don’t have to let the ego run the show either.  

Rumi said, “You are not just a drop in the ocean. You are the mighty ocean in the drop.”  

Your brain is 90% water and fat.   About 7% of that which remains is made of minerals that you could buy at the hardware store for about $5 bucks.   So, 97% of your brain is just some ‘stuff’ that doesn’t really do anything, see anything, feel anything.   Your brain is just a thing that responds to heat, pH, hormones, etc.  Your ‘sense-making-ness’ or awareness is what tells your brain what to do.   You are not your brain.   You are not your ego (which is created by the brain).   You are the awareness (this present moment) using your brain and using your ego to give it a role in the “play of life.”

  
The trick, in life, is to NOT create a role in the “play of life” that you don’t really like or don’t really want to play.   And, for those of us on the path, the real secret is even more scary: you are NOT just creating a character in the play… you are creating the entire play itself.      

The universe exists inside you – it is experiencing itself through you, as you.   Your life is only limited by what you believe.   For those of us still in illusion, we cannot move beyond it while still a puppet of our experience (ego-mind).   Take the reins.   Guide that horse.  The river has a source.   It flows freely.    The river does not ask to be directed.    Recognize your truth and know that you are capable of having the life you dreamed of having.   Be the hero of your own story.  

Now is the time for us to heal.   Now is the time for us to return to our Essential nature.   Find that pause within yourself – that moment of awareness.   Hold it.   And, then move from that place, questioning everything in between.

Life is a journey.   Enjoy the ride.          

Namaste,

Ryan

Dr. Ryan Pride is the owner of the Moksha Institute, a firm dedicated to improving the wellbeing of individuals, teams, and organizations through culture transformation and leadership development.   A profit-for-purpose company, the Moksha Institute applies Ancient Teachings for the Modern Time in order to transform striving into thriving.  

For more information, please go to: www.mokshainstitute.com

An Authenticity Movement

All good revivals start with a little doom and gloom.  Sorry.  But, I need you to hear this:  

 

We are starving for meaning.   All around us is a sea of inauthenticity.   People show up to work as someone they are supposed to be and pretend to care about a company to which they are dedicating their soul’s time.  Our “reality” TV is staged and edited to be entertaining.   Most of the food we eat is made of gluten.  What is real anymore?

We live in a world that has been stripped of substance.   We bypass pain as quickly as possible.   We cope with our day through mindless television.  We work to secure our securities.  And, we work so hard.  

We relish in the tiny moments in between when we get to go on vacation and ‘check out’ of our lives for a spell.  

We hug less often.   Eye contact has become difficult for us.   Meaningful conversations about real things – you know, those “deep” things are just too heavy.  

We are allowed to have some discourse or politically correct disagreements about politics, but in all my time in corporate America, I was never asked about the meaning of life at the water cooler.    

Somewhere along the way, the human experience has been numbed in the Novocain of conformity and idealism – but an idealism that has been sold to us through marketing, rather than what feels right in our hearts.  

But, the “big questions” don’t go away.   Instead they sit quietly waiting.   Our soul is patient, resilient, and tenacious. 

So… we cope with our world.  We check out.  We pass by.   We dissolve into routine.  We wait.   Maybe when it’s over, it will get better?  Heaven is waiting on us, right?

I think it’s time for an authenticity movement.  

 

Forget the badge you wear announcing your employment position.   Who are you?  What is the fabric of your soul?  What do you want deeply inside your being?  What do you dream about late at night?  

When is the last time you danced?  Or laughed so hard it hurt? How long has it been since you have tasted that moment when the world slows into the movie reel of perfection – when you look around you and you see the purity of joy, the warmth of love, the smiles of friends, or the laughter of children.  

When is the last time you fell on your face chasing something you believed in?  Or said what was on your mind, rather than what you were supposed to say? 

You are not your job.   You are not your social role.   You are not your position in life.   You are a thriving beacon of love and hope and joy and desire to BE what you are.   A rose is not interested in being a tulip, because she lives in a tulip field.   She is a rose.  

How about we FEEL again?

• to feel intense pain – to move into the center of our own sorrow and be real with it… to acknowledge it.  
• to feel genuine gratitude – for our blessings, our health, our children, our loved ones … to really, really sit in the space of sublime grateful thinking
• to feel loved – to let ourselves be cherished, appreciated, respected… to honor all the goodness within ourselves
• to be touched and to touch one another… to feel the wrinkles and softness in our grandmother’s hands, the aching tenderness of our mother’s hugs, the unbridled squeeze of our children’s cheeks  against our faces…

We have all been hurt.   We should be hurt when we are hurt.  

We have all been in love.   We should announce it to the world when we feel it.

We have passionate feelings about life, religion, and politics.   We should share them openly and respectfully.
We hate our jobs.   Or, we love them.   If we hate them, we should leave them.  If we love them, we should rejoice in them.  

We either live on the razor’s edge of life or we shrivel in the fear of future pain.  

Today, you are human.  You have the greatest gift the universe has ever created – to be alive and to know it.  Use this gift.  Hug a stranger.   Have a conversation with that homeless guy.  Smile at the person making your lunch.   Ask her a question about her life.   Skip.  Skip in the street.   Take in the beauty of a tree.   Breathe in life.   Breathe.   Wiggle your toes.   Smile.   Truly understand the unbelievable goodness of ice cream – what an amazing human creation!

I don’t want to know your story.   I don’t care to share mine.   This is my soul.  I am a sappy romantic.  I am a dreamer.   I am an idealist.   I am a contrarian in order to be contrary.  I am in love with love.  I am playful.  I am capable of being selfish, greedy, protective, defensive, and scared.   I am light and I am shadow.   

I am beautifully human, flawed perfectly.  

And, so are you.  

I can sit alone with myself now.   And, I like the company I am keeping.   Do you?  Can you?

I love you all.  Go be yourself today.  Be authentic.   Be real.   Say what you mean.  Share what you think you are not supposed to share.   Bravely love a stranger.   Remove your invisible personal space boundaries.   Tell your partner something that scares you.   Wake up!  You are alive.   And, as my friend Tim would say… “It’s awesome.”

Namaste,

Ryan

Dr. Ryan Pride is the owner of the Moksha Institute, a firm dedicated to improving the wellbeing of individuals, teams, and organizations through culture transformation and leadership development.   A profit-for-purpose company, the Moksha Institute applies Ancient Teachings for the Modern Time in order to transform striving into thriving.  
For more information, please go to: www.mokshainstitute.com

 

 

Why am I doing this?

My body hurts.  It hurts now more than it did before I started yoga.  Apparently, I have a curvy spine.  And, a small sacrum.   Which, sounds bad to say out loud about myself, really.   Not many men would openly say this about themselves.   But, like most men, I didn’t even know what a sacrum was a year ago. 

Why am I doing this again?

I think this to myself all the time.   I think about this, and I think about the bills I need to pay.  I consider my next consulting project or speech.   I worry over the selling of my house.   I remind myself of the household duties that need more than just a good considering, but an actual cleaning or filing away.   I regret a reaction I had. 

And, then I step into yoga.   And, I stop thinking.   There is not a past.   There is not a future.   The only thing that exists between myself and this moment is my mind.   And, my mind is too busy reminding my body to breathe, move, hold, twist, or undulate.   Or feel burning.  

Our minds, the Taoists will say, are like monkeys – jumping all around in an imaginary playground of either the past or the future or the analytical now.   My mind is more like a yappy Jack Russell, I am convinced.  But the theory is all the same.   We spend a lot of time in the imaginary future that hasn’t happened.   Or we spend it in a regretful past that we cannot control.  

Sometimes, when I am meditating and my mind is monkeying around – attending to all the things I need to do or worry about, I mentally slap myself and get to the now.   I say, “that’s it.  stop.  stop all this noise!  Count to 20.”  And, then I do.   I look around.   I breathe.   I focus inward.   I count to 20.   And, while I am counting, I hear, “why are you counting?  what are you doing?  do realize that you are sitting here counting,” and I reply, “shut up. be quiet.  and count.”  And, then I do.   I count.   Somewhere along the way, the counting steps into the background and awareness emerges and takes the wheel.  

In this moment, I see everything.   The Jack Russell has stopped yapping.  I smile.  I sit in the full awareness of my soul – as my soul.   I am connected to everything.   I stand in this moment knowing that I am fully alive.  I feel peace.   And, I start to move through my world.

Ten minutes later I find myself in some imaginary future thinking about the things I need to do or worry about – the groceries  I need to buy, the upcoming event for my daughter that I need to put on the calendar.  

It’s hard to be aware and awake if you are TRYING to be aware and awake.   That’s because you are working at it.   And, that means you are engaging the mind.   See, in theory, Consciousness uses the mind like a tool.  And, when we are not awake, we are being used by the mind as a tool. 

Absolute awareness is a quiet observer.   It is not active, but is passive.   It cannot be called into being by the wants of the mind.   It exists now and always.   It is always available, but only available in stillness.   Awareness is more like a docile Lab.   

Yoga, on some level, is like counting to 20.   I remind myself to breathe.  I analyze the burning of my thighs.   I postulate how many minutes are left in the class.  Then, at some point, I stop all that mental quibbling.   And, I breathe.   I move.   I flow.   I am the Universe and all is possible in this beautiful dance with life and the perfect now. 

So… why am I doing this?  To train myself.   To train myself to spend a little more time with my true nature.   To remind my mental Jack Russell who is in charge – that relaxed, but clear eyed Labrador.    

We are all beautiful.   There is abundance everywhere.   Someone is not plotting against you or thinking bad things about you.   You didn’t say the wrong thing earlier today.   The things you fear have not happened and are not happening right now.  

So, practice finding yourself.   Find yourself any way you want.  Stop thinking about the future.   Stop thinking about the past.  Feel right now.  

Or, just count to 20 and let me know how it goes. 

Namaste! 

Ryan

 

Dr. Ryan Pride is the owner of the Moksha Institute, a firm dedicated to improving the wellbeing of individuals, teams, and organizations through culture transformation and leadership development.   A profit-for-purpose company, the Moksha Institute applies Ancient Teachings for the Modern Time in order to transform striving into thriving.  

For more information, please go to: www.mokshainstitute.com

 

Get to Work!

Almost a year ago now, I left corporate America.   I was the Vice President of Human Resources for two of the largest furniture companies in the world.   I was being groomed to be an SVP of Human Resources.   I had health insurance, a ‘designer’ dog that cost at least one paycheck, and a small estate in one of the most prestigious neighborhoods in Saint Louis.  The interior of my house looked like a copy of House Beautiful and my car had heated leather seats.   I was living the American dream.     

Since then, like clockwork, my mother asks me at least once a week when I am going to “get to work.”

I thought it best to address, then, my latest work, so she doesn’t worry so much.

Lately, I have been asking people the question, “Are you happy?”  And, I have learned something about how people answer that question.  

When I asked some of my friends who are working, making great money, and “living the dream,” the answer is explanatory.   They say something like the following:

“Well, I suppose it depends on how you define happiness.  I mean, what does ‘happiness’ mean?  I have everything I want.   I like my job.   I take vacations when I want.   I enjoy my kids.   Hmmmm.     Yeah.  I guess I am happy.  I mean, it depends what you mean, right? I have moments when I am frustrated for sure.   I wish I had more time.  I wish I got along better with my partner.   I wish work wasn’t so crazy and rushed all the time.   I wish …”   

I also have a few friends who live ‘alternative’ lifestyles… those who have traded a nicer car for one that simply runs.   These friends have homes where dinner parties take place on the floor with a plate in hand, rather than on a dining room table.    When I ask them this question, the answer is always the same.   “Are you happy?”  

“Yes,” they reply. “Yes, I am happy.”

Today, I no longer work in corporate America, I don’t have health insurance (yet), I lost the dog in the divorce, and I am selling my house, because I cannot afford the mortgage.  This sounds bad, right?  But, one year ago, if you asked me if I was happy, I would have given you a long explanation to a short question.  

Today… my answer would be a very simple “yes.”  

Now, cue dramatic music…

The state of our world is in crisis on almost every measurable scale.  We are running out of oil, minerals, usable farmland, and even water.   We have 7 billion people on our planet and that number will double in my lifetime.   We are in the middle of a mass species extinction, which has been noted by biologists on every continent.   We are losing an average of 137 species every single day.   Over 50% of our existing plant life and the source for 90% of our medicines in existence today will be gone before I die.  Our food supply is made of less “food” than filler (check those labels on the back of the product).  We are quite literally poisoning our air, land, and sea – and our bodies.   

Sorry for the sour turn there, but an acknowledgement of ‘what is’ and acceptance of truth is the first step of any transformational process that has ever been – whether it’s the 12 step program or yoga or psychotherapy.  

Our Mother Earth is not well.   She is pretty darn sick.   And, the dis-ease that she is feeling is felt through everything and every person.   Our economy is failing.  Surveys of Happiness show that we are more unhappy as a country than we have ever been - EVER.   This is not coincidence.  Everything is connected.  This truth has been known and written in all the ancient Spiritual texts.   Our best science – that of quantum physics – has proven this many times over.   Everything is connected. 

What does this mean? For me, it means looking at “my truth,” acknowledging it, and doing something about it.  

The question is this:  “Is this a world that I want to live in?  Is this a world I want my daughter to inherit?”

The answer for me: “No.”  

The next question then is “What do I want to do about it?”

In my past, I would have suggested sweeping changes to legislation.  I would have railed on the corruption of government.  I would have slapped the water bottle out of your hand and educated you on the commoditization of water and the waste of resources required to make that single bottle of water.  

As Einstein said, though, we cannot change any problem with the same thinking that created it.   And, fighting fire with fire only makes a bigger fire. 

As Martin Luther King said, “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. Hate multiplies hate, violence multiplies violence, and toughness multiplies toughness in a descending spiral of destruction....The chain reaction of evil -- hate begetting hate, wars producing more wars --must be broken, or we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation.”

The world does not need more activism.   The world needs more love.   It needs peace.   It needs teachers to demonstrate a new way to live through a new vibration.  

The best of our science has proven that we are all connected.   Every thought and every belief we hold creates a frequency that we broadcast like a radio station.  The only way that we will change the music is to change ourselves.   

After leaving corporate America, I immersed myself in myself.  I took a sabbatical from life and absorbed myself in the readings of the Ancient truths found in the sacred doctrines – that you, too, may find in your spiritual book of choosing.   I began a daily practice of yoga and started to observe my own thoughts.   I began to meditate.  I began to write again.  I began to feel again.    

For me, I realize that what we are doing as a society is not working.  And, if I choose to get up, go to work, and help produce more sofas, I do not change anything.   I may live in a better house or drive a nicer car, but at what expense?  My daughter will be the one to inherit a very sick world and perhaps worse, an unhappy dad. 

Happiness exists inside of us.   It is felt when we come into alignment with ourselves.  And, when I am unhappy, I impact not just myself, but you too.  

I can no longer pretend to be someone that I am not in the name of having “things” that I don’t really care to have.   For me, this is my truth.   This is my heart song.   Today, my vibration has changed.  

This time period is critical.   We are at a tipping point.   What you can do now is to live your purpose.   Live your truth.   Give love.   Live from your heart.   Be authentic.   Be honest.   Move toward your vibration.   Dance to your rhythm rather than the expectations of others.  

When you open yourself to yourself, you open to your inner Divinity, and God will flow into you and pave the way.   Grace will come swiftly and free you from guilt, resent, regret…  You will stand confident in your truth and in the warmth of self-love.   This will enable you to see with different eyes and the world will literally change right in front of you. 

Be the change you want to see.   Change the world, by changing yourself.  

SO… As my mom would say:  Get to work!  

Namaste,
Ryan

Dr. Ryan Pride is the owner of the Moksha Institute, a firm dedicated to improving the wellbeing of individuals, teams, and organizations through culture transformation and leadership development.   A profit-for-purpose company, the Moksha Institute applies Ancient Teachings for the Modern Time in order to transform striving into thriving.  

For more information, please go to: www.mokshainstitute.com