“I can’t think of anything that excites a greater sense of childlike wonder than to be in a country where you are ignorant of almost everything. Suddenly you are five years old again. You can’t read anything, you have only the most rudimentary sense of how things work, you can’t even reliably cross a street without endangering your life. Your whole existence becomes a series of interesting guesses.” – Bill Bryson   There is something beautifully humbling about not knowing. Ab

“Man learns through experience, and the spiritual path is full of different kinds of experiences. He will encounter many difficulties and obstacles, and they are the very experiences he needs to encourage and complete the cleansing process."  - Sai Baba   There is something about being in India that gently insists you look inward. Perhaps it is the rhythm of the chants drifting from temples, the scent of incense curling through the air, or the sacred silence that follows a cr

“The only Zen you find on the tops of mountains is the Zen you bring up there.”  Robert M. Pirsig     There it is—the teaching we all need to hear, remember, and practice daily. This quote landed deeply in my heart. It arrived not as a gentle whisper, but as a clear, loving truth. I have experienced more peace here in India over the last month than I have felt in a very long time—perhaps even since the early days of my spiritual journey under the guidance of my beloved mentor

“Sometimes you ask God for something and you don't know what you're asking.”  Mahalia Jackson   There is something timeless and soul-stirring about the voice of Mahalia Jackson. Even now, I can play her songs for hours and feel the depth of devotion, courage, and faith woven into every note. Her voice carries prayer. It carries truth. It carries an unwavering belief that what is spoken in faith will be answered in Divine time. I recently read more about her life and was remin

“I slept and dreamt that life was joy. I awoke and saw that life was service. I acted and behold, service was joy.”— Rabindranath Tagore   In my younger years, I thought joy lived on sandy beaches, in long weekends free from school or work, in moments of rest and escape. I never imagined that at this stage of my life I would be on a peace mission, traveling the world in service to humanity and the planet. Truth be told, I never even imagined I would live this long—but God had

“Golf is the closest game to the game we call life. You get bad breaks from good shots; you get good breaks from bad shots -- but you have to play the ball where it lies.” - Bobby Jones.   Some of my best friends are golfers. I’ve never quite understood the appeal—why isn’t mini golf enough? I can manage that just fine. Yet the metaphor of golf as life feels right. Whether we enjoy the game or not, we are all playing. We live with what we have, where we are, and what shows up

Be unapologetically you! “Do not seek for things to happen the way you want them to; rather, wish that what happens happen the way it happens: then you will be happy." - Epictetus   I have never considered myself a stoic. And yet, in a heartfelt conversation with a dear friend today, she gently reflected back to me the way I move through life’s challenges. Her words lingered. Being a researcher at heart, I turned to good old Google and found this description: A stoic person r

“Remain calm, serene, always in command of yourself. You will then find out how easy it is to get along.”  Paramahansa Yogananda     Today was a banner day—not only here in India, but in the landscape of my entire spiritual journey. When I first picked up Autobiography of a Yogi over thirty years ago, I read it with three companions: awe, skepticism, and hope. I questioned the miracles. I wondered about the sages. I asked if the astonishing stories he told—stories that defy t

“You must be a lotus, unfolding its petals when the sun rises in the sky, unaffected by the slush where it is born or even the water which sustains it!”  Sai Baba   There is something undeniably magical about seeing a lotus in bloom here in India. It feels like a sacred reminder rising right out of the earth—pure, radiant, and utterly unconcerned with the mud it springs from. In Hinduism, the lotus is so much more than a flower. It is enlightenment. It is purity. It is the qu

“Happiness is not something ready-made. It comes from your own actions.” — Dalai Lama   There are a handful of spiritual teachers whose words have shaped the very fabric of my life, and two of them have been on my heart so tenderly these days. I deeply miss the serene presence of Thich Nhat Hanh and his simple, elegant view of life. And now, as I walk through India—the land of sages, saints, and seekers—I can feel how close I am to the Dalai Lama, whose laughter alone could l