The Blink: Recent Episodes
David Romanelli
Short daily meditations that are raw, real, and straight to your heart.
To subscribe and receive The Blink everyday, visit: www.thebl.ink or www.theblinkmeditation.com
www.DavidRomanelli.com
What if there was a road-map that your soul could follow to feel maximum purpose, and joy?
Some would say such guidance is available in the ancient texts and intuitive prompts. Here's the big challenge for most of humanity: if you do not like yourself, you will be incapable of feeling and trusting your intuition.
To receive a meditation like this every single day and join me on a 6 month journey to the vibrant inner life, subscribe today: https://intothemystic.davidromanelli.com
We keep hearing about the anxiety and pressure kids are facing in our world. My 7 year-old son had an idea...to share his own meditations...in his voice. This one is for kids...by kids.
If you enjoy it, please learn more: https://kids.davidromanelli.com
It happens to be the subject of one of my favorite Neil Young songs, "Cortez The Killer."
The year was 1521.
The leader of the Conquistadors, Cortez, came dancing across the ocean with his galleon from Spain.
He was seeking to meet Montezuma, the leader of the glorious Aztec empire.
What happened next is a battle still taking place in each of our lives...500 years later.
Join me everyday and explore a style of a meditation that plays like a podcast but creates space for peace and relaxation...my brand new 6 month meditation journey, Into the Mystic, begins today: https://bit.ly/into-the-mysic
On April 10, 1912, the Titanic went down in the icy Atlantic. You know the story...1,500 went down with the ship
But one story you might not know, is a man who survived in the fridgid water for more than 2 hours, before he was rescued.
It's virtually impossibile to survive when the water temperature was -2 Celsius.
And yet, it happened and this is the story.
When you finish, if you are feeling an urge to turn ON your meditation practice, check out my new 6 month meditation journey: https://bit.ly/into-the-mysic
According to one of the great sages in recent history…there’s a defining moment between being stuck to the earth…and lifting off into a transcendent life.
After walking my 3 year old daughter through treatment for leukemia, I was struggling with some intense PTSD. I was always worried. But just as suddenly, I was healed.
On my birthday last year, I experienced a macro dose of psilocybin (aka magic mushrooms) under the guidance of a therapist. I found it to be the most profound mental reset, and it endured long after the experience.
One year later, this past Thursday, I went back for another psychedelic therapy session. This episode is about my experience.
It felt like 25 years of wisdom and healing...in a matter of 5 hours. A Mach 10 trip to another dimension...and back in time to have birthday cake with my wife and children.
It happens all the time. A fork, a choice, a shift:
An epic future awaits you. So does a bleak one. You choose.
This is a 3 minute podcast that might just set you on an epic path!
What stands between you and the light of a trillion stars? Here's my story of going camping with my family for the first time.
You might have heard how The Beatles got to be so good…but it’s worth 3 minutes to remember their most relevant secret.
Subscribe now to receive The Blink everyday: https://bit.ly/the-blink
The 11th century poet and mystic Ujetsun Milareupa is a legend because he breached the laws of physics. There's "proof" in a cave in the territory we used to call Tibet. This is a short meditation on expanding what you know to be real and possible. Are you game?
If someone would have made a joke about my daughter when she was bald from her cancer treatment, I would have hoped to not react. But I might have been just like Will Smith. It's not right. But I'm just being honest.
There are a lot of ways to explore your time on earth. This way might be the very best of all.
At 28 years young, Billy Strings is already a living legend. I'd heard the buzz and this past weekend, finally show the live show. It was absolutely mesmerizing...and a reminder of what's possible when you contribute from the heart...to the heart!
From atop my apartment in NYC, there was a light reflecting brilliantly off the Freedom Tower.
To some, it's just a light. To others, it's so much more.
This episode is tuned to the LIGHT of 9-11...
PS: to meditate with me every single day: https://join.davidromanelli.com
Some amazing things happen to people who finish last. We're talkin' the kind of things that ultimately allow you to finish first. If you've ever felt like you're way back there in business, love, parenting, health...this is your reminder to own it, embrace it, and engage it.
If you enjoy these episodes, subscribe to my daily meditations and receive a brand new episode...every single day. https://happy.davidromanelli.com
He was the most famous man in the world. We knew him for his strength. But it was his moment of weakness, in front of a global audience, that sealed his legacy. To anyone who is trembling right now, on the inside, or the outside, this is a reminder...it's ok, it's human. It might feel weak, but when all is said and done, it's making you STRONGER.
To meditate with me every single day, and fill your mind and heart with joy, in a time when joy is elusive: https://bit.ly/meditate-on-joy
It may seem like traveling on private jets is something to dream about...for another lifetime. But wait...don't count it out. Your private jet is waiting...
Join me on your private jet...every single day. Subscribe to my daily meditations and let's soar above the chaos and into a realm of peace: https://join.davidromanelli.com
It might feel like mankind is destroying nature, but just wait. There's hope. Nature is SMARTER. Here's proof!
To the watch the video mentioned in today's episode: https://bit.ly/3keVoqy
If you want these positive reminders and short reflections every single day, I'd love to be your meditation wingman. Join me for 7 days, my gift to you: https://bit.ly/3qw1eop
My hometown has 1,400,000 million people. And something super rare is happening right now. EVERYONE is on the same page, riding the same wave!
As our 12 year-old dog Gibson took his last breath, I told him, "Let me know when you get there."
I truly believe...he let me know!
***For a style of meditation that is raw, real, and straight from my heart to yours... here is a 7 day invitation to explore this journey...together: https://bit.ly/3qw1eop
I'm very excited because I have finally found a way to get rich. I'm hoping you'll invest with me. HINT: IT DOES NOT REQUIRE MONEY.
If you enjoy my podcast, subscribe to my daily meditations. I create them just a few hours before you listen...so it feels connected to the pulse of life...every single day: https://bit.ly/3gFXCwU
It's a word I'd never really heard before. But I LOVE everything about it. Truly, it's a word that heals. And if you enjoy the messages in my podcast, check out my 21 day meditation series...it's my gift to you: https://bit.ly/meditate-ON
Without a proper "ending," it's impossible to celebrate a true beginning.
If YOUR BEST IS YET TO COME... join me for 21 straight days of meditation... straight from my heart to yours.
All you have to do is say YES: https://bit.ly/meditate-ON
One of the most fascinating wise elders I interviewed is World War II hero Joe Pietroforte. Want to know how he celebrated his 102nd birthday?
If you enjoy my podcast, check out my FREE 21 day series of meditations. This is meditation that feels raw, real, and straight from my heart to yours: https://bit.ly/meditate-ON
You may have heard that all the COVID particles on the planet could fit in a single Coke can.
Let's talk about the unseen forces.
Some, like a virus, can be massively destructive.
While other unseen forces... have the power to heal the whole planet.
My daughter continues to kick cancer's ass! In her latest prolonged stay at the Phoenix Children's Hospital, she discovered...LOVE. Absolute PURE love.
9 months into my family's journey of walking our daughter through cancer treatment...I'm leaning on a super powerful Native American lesson for strength and vitality and bravery!
Welcome to a place where politics are not allowed. This is a place that will set your straight and remind you what it's like when red vs blue is not ever on your radar. This place exists in every city in America. Let me give you a tour.
The hard edges that we associate with masculinity have worn thin. It's time for the women to be in charge. We're seeing it with Kamala Harris. We're feeling it with Amanda Gorman. Are you going to step into it?
August 15, 1977. It was a random Monday…when many believe this was the closest we ever came to contact with an extraterrestrial civilization…and nobody even knew it was happening. To receive a meditation like this every single day, subscribe here: https://bit.ly/meditate-on
You've probably seen the photo of the rioter, inside the Capitol, with the Confederate flag. That person and that flag is all around you...and within you. Subscribe to receive these meditations everyday: https://bit.ly/2VjwZT6. Enter the code: CALM
When chemotherapy collides with the holidays and a birthday, therein lies the MOST BEAUTIFUL BREAKTHROUGH!
Begin 2021 with maximum gratitude. Join me on the journey and receive one of these meditations every single day: https://bit.ly/2VjwZT6
There are many ways to heal...but I believe this is how healers are healed.
I invite you to join me on a journey...and let's meditate together every day. This is meditation that feels human, vulnerable, with heart and soul: https://bit.ly/2VjwZT6
One thing I've learned in my conversations with elders, when you're in your 90's, living in an old age home, you've got NOTHING TO LOSE...and you'll say whatever is on your mind. It can be painful on the receiving end, and yet it's so refreshing. This is a story of 90 year old lady who shared with me some of the most honest wisdom...in just 3 words. PS: to subscribe to my daily meditations: https://bit.ly/3qVdYVs
It's been a bit since my last episode. My whole family came down with COVID. My wife and I got hit pretty hard...on top of the fact that our daughter is overcoming leukemia and has a compromised immune system. She tested positive too. WHAT A YEAR!
But we got through it, and we are stronger than ever. This episode is a taste of my daily meditation program, Looking UP. To subscribe: https://bit.ly/3qVdYVs
If you enjoy my podcast, I release one of these episodes everyday to subscribers of my daily meditations. You can subscribe today. The new journey begins December 1: https://davidromanelli.podia.com/looking-up
We are all standing in the middle of an impact crater from the year 2020.
Over these next few months, you’ll have plenty of time to read bad news about the mental health challenges of being in lock down…again.
It’ll be easy to ruminate on the burning fire of all that's been lost.
But you can make an entirely different choice to build a temple in the midst of it all, and honor the seeds of growth and change and rebirth.
It’s a fine line between destruction and creation.
You can't be sensitive to pleasure unless you are also sensitive to pain.
It's especially true for long-term relationships.
In your journey to find your way home and follow the yellow brick road…
...there are times and years when we need move into the most intense emotions.
That's only possible when you're all in...brain, heart, and GUTS!
It's the one real superpower.
Dr. Dean Ornish said, “I am not aware of any other factor in medicine that has a greater impact on our survival than the healing power of love and intimacy. Not diet, not smoking, not exercise, not stress, not genetics, not drugs, not surgery.”
Love may be all-powerful, but it does not always come easily. When we are really sick, mad, jealous, or stressed, it takes a lot of strength to make a loving choice. We need a method, a means by which to draw from the heart when we would just as soon cuss our fate.
A few years ago, my friend Ian got me the gift of a daylong session with Sean Stephenson. It was supposed to be about becoming a better public speaker
Sean was a world class speaker. I mean… he was RIVETING to watch on his massively popular TedTalk.
So I showed up and thought Sean was going to give me tips on projecting your voice, how to command the stage, etc.
But over the hours we spent together that day, I spilled my beans to him. Told him everything. He kept asking questions. I kept sharing and sharing.
At one point, I said to him, “Isn’t this supposed to be about becoming a better speaker?”
He explained how his background was in therapy, and you can’t be a great speaker until you are true to yourself.
He said,
“Being a world class speaker means being a world class human.”
Remember the days of Grace Kelly?
I don't as she was before my time. But she embodied a kind of glamour that Hollywood tried to stretch into the modern day.
With Hollywood imploding along with so much of the pre-COVID era, glamour is changing.
Forget clothes and jewels.
There is a new embodiment of style and grace.
Much has been said about Ruth Bader Ginsburg, but what’s HEALING about her legacy...
...she knew there was someone deeper and more important than politics.
She became super close with her polar opposite, Justice Scalia
They bashed each other in their opinions and dissents.
But they got together on multiple New Years Eves...
To anyone locking horns with the other political party right now, which I think is almost everyone, this is a podcast dedicated to healing the divide!
I have a friend who is generous to the point of making you think..."is he a little nuts?"
But somehow, he is ALWAYS in the flow.
It's a reminder, and a lesson, generosity is a skill, a strength, a practice.
Whatever day of the year you happen to stumble upon this podcast, I believe it's just the right moment.
The memories 9/11 are embedded in the psyche of NYC.
One experience in particular changed me forever.
I invite you to take a few minutes that will awaken you to the appreciation and respect for life...in its most bare essence.
Maybe you heard about that couple in Ecuador that just set the world record.
Julio Mora and Waldramina Quinteros have been married longer than most people have been alive.
He is aged 110 and she is 104 - and they've just been awarded the Guinness World Record for the world's oldest married couple.
They’ve been married for 79 years. that’s a long time. They’ve been through a lot. What are their secrets? How did they hang in there?
We all know how sometimes the hardest people to be nice to are the ones you live with.
Is there a language by which nature communicates with humanity?
Are there overwhelmingly powerful "signs" or are we making it all up in our heads?
Sometimes we need a little perspective to feel lucky and grateful and blessed.
I got a strong dose of that perspective when we were recently in the Children's Hospital for 18 nights.
That's a very long time to be cooped up with an active 3 year-old.
This episode has some intense moments but a very happy ending...
To be a great storyteller is a huge gift.
Whether it's telling the story of your life or your business, story is HUGE.
Joseph Campbell lays out one of the most important attributes to a great story...
Rising from your ashes.
He calls it death and resurrection.
It's not for the faint of heart.
But if you are game to be the hero of your life, today's episode is essential...or so I'm learning.
First COVID, now the election, personally my daughter is overcoming leukemia...
What more can we expect in the year 2020?
Now the NY Times is reporting the United States' governments program researching UFOs. And that we have in our possession a "off-world craft" clearly not from our planet.
Given everything we've all been through so far this year, would you even be surprised?
Eventually, these winds are going to blow down your house.
You can fight it...
...or surrender.
From near-death experiences to psychedelics journeys, much has been said about consciousness as a means of travel.
This is the real travel, the distant travel, the healing travel...
David Romanelli
PS: To receive a meditation like this every single day, check out www.DavidRomanelli.com and my daily meditation journey, Better Together.
The most legendary meteorologist, Gary England, saved countless lives in Oklahoma City with his severe weather forecasts. People say he had special powers.
But Gary England's great regret is not seeking the wisdom of the surrounding Cheyenne people.
What is their relationship with Mother Nature? Do they know something modern science does not?
PS: I'm launching a new experience, The Fly Private Meditation Club.
If you are curious, reach out: info@davidromanelli.com
When things are especially dark during a pandemic, when it’s all too convenient to turn on the news and hear what’s going down in our communities, our country, the entire world...
...this is just the moment when I like to turn on the Grateful Dead.
Our world has changed, but our scale of emotions is very much the same.
Our anxiety and fear and uncertainty might be stronger than ever.
But so are those songs and poems and people who make you feel AWAKE AND ALIVE.
If you enjoy my podcast, I have a daily meditation program called Better Together. https://bit.ly/3dMdyd6
You will receive a meditation just like this…every single day.
You can learn more at my website…www.davidromanelli.com
...or my instagram @wiseelders and check the link in my bio.
This is my first episode since April 30. That's because on May 1, my life changed DRAMATICALLY.
We received the call from the pediatrician that no parent ever wants to receive.
We went through the worst fear and have come out of it closer and stronger than ever.
I don't have a lot of bandwidth to create podcasts right now, but I do have a daily meditation program that begins on June 20.
It's a 6 month journey where I send you a brand new guided meditation every single day.
It's about you and I going through the ups and downs of life...and getting Better. Together.
Visit here to learn more: https://bit.ly/3dMdyd6
or
visit my website: www.davidromanelli.com
The sciences has proven, "compared with their grandparents, today’s young adults have grown up with more affluence , less happiness and much greater risk of depression and social pathology."
Maybe this simpler world we are all living in is much better for your happiness.
Actually forget "maybe."
This is truth!
Are we willing to embrace it?
Dennis Rodman was a super successful basketball player in the 80's and early 90's, but seemed to go off the rails. He partied hard, changed his hair color everyday, had piercings and tattoos out the wazoo
How could this guy fit into a highly successful organization like the Chicago Bulls?
The Bulls coach Phil Jackson was schooled and steeped in Native American tradition.
He knew about the Heyoka which is a kind of sacred clown or backward walker in the culture of the Lakota people of the Great Plains of North America.
The Heyoka creates levity, and balance, when there is tension.
We need that in our culture right now.
What was Michael Jordan's secret to success? And what does that have to do with meditation?
In those 6 seasons that ended in Michael Jordan-led championships, his coach, Phil Jackson never gave the team pre-game speeches that got them fired up and sent them screaming their way onto the court.
Rather, Phil Jackson brought everyone together for a pre-game meditation.
It was their way to feel present and grounded and centered.
As Jordan said in an interview, "It helps so much having Phil as our coach. He goes around and burns sage in front of our lockers, and when we're playing bad in practice he'll beat on a war drum to wake us up.
"He believes it, the Zen, the poise. It comes from his meditating, gaining the ability to stay in touch with your body and your inner self, calming yourself when tension is all around.”
In 1988, I was 15 years old.
My dad took me to Game 1 of the World Series at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. (Even if you're not a sports fan, you'll love this story.)
You'll just have to hear where I was sitting in the moment LIGHTNING struck!
I live in the desert, land of the cactus.
Two things about the cactus.
- Don’t let the spiky nature deceive you. Beyond that is something profound and beautiful.
- Cacti only bloom once a year and when they do…it is gorgeous.
We all hope to walk down the path of hope...
But for some reason, fear has a strange pull.
We need meditation to break free…a little more everyday.
***Check out that video from Hong Kong:
https://nypost.com/2020/03/24/video-of-teen-ignoring-coronavirus-self-isolation-in-hong-kong-sparks-outrage/
I think it’s helpful to know the individual stories not just in big cities but in small town america.
One lady in michigan reached out to share her story.
"I'm in SE Michigan, in my little neighborhood (of 16 houses)…a nurse friend was pulled out of the pediatric hospital, only worked with children - for 33 years!, never intubated anyone ever, and now has to work the COVID ward.
"Another nurse in our neighborhood was pushed to come out of retirement to work in the tent ward for COVID .
"(Imagine being the patient of a nurse or medical professional that's scared out of their mind!)
"A friend's mom of 94 yrs died of covid after taking her to the hospital...no repsirator available, she died whithin hours.
"My husband saw that there were to be layoffs - so contacted his boss right away to put in for a furlough to let someone younger with a family keep working. We've purchased groceries for neighbors scared to go out, tiny kids at home, laid off. "
People are being asked to use their skills in ways that aren't for them…but for others.
Here's the question. Can you experience a kind of joy and light that is not for you, but for others?
Dotte is an 84 year-old elder who lives alone in East Texas.
During the pandemic, she said she's lucky if she sees 1 person each week.
Nonetheless, she reached out with a text message that said,
“Imagine surviving all that unprotected sex just to die from an unprotected handshake.”
Let's explore...
Yesterday was a tough day.
A family member lost someone close to them.
And the world lost singer/songwriter John Prine.
I felt that deeply because Prine wrote a song called "Hello in there." It’s a song about the loneliness of growing old.
My recent book was about the stories of old people and what we can learn from our elders. The opening quote in the book was from John Prine’s song, Hello In There.
The words go:
"Ya' know that old trees just grow stronger
And old rivers grow wilder ev'ry day
Old people just grow lonesome
Waiting for someone to say, "Hello in there, hello”
As we are mostly confined to our homes, the trees and rivers are growing stronger and wilder everyday.
And many of us are growing lonesome.
But there is a way through this, a path to healing.
How can you trust during a pandemic? It seems like everything we know has been called into question. There is so much uncertainty.
I spoke to a friend from high school who has COVID and described the physical pain she is enduring. Her husband is a front-line medical worker, so along with her physical pain comes anger and fear for her husband's safety.
And yet, she is finding a way to get a beautiful place in her mind and heart.
I have a friend in NYC with shortness of breath, loss of smell, aches, fevers. I've been following her stories and messages of healing, hurting, praying.
She shared what distinguishes human beings from animals...our ability to heal what is broken.
As one Hopi healer said, "When you take care of one, you take care of everything else. This begins by looking at yourself. taking care of your body, your home."
Remember that movie The Matrix?
Keenu Reeves is pulled from the illusion of his boring life, and finds himself AWAKE in another world.
Being Awake is not comfortable.
This is a moment in history when everyone is temporarily awakened from life in the matrix.
Most of us will fall back to sleep, once the relative comfort of reality returns.
A few people will remain AWAKE. And those people (maybe you) will be powerful beyond measure.
During World War 2, Winston Churchill was the only European leader to stand up to Hitler.
Even in that darkest moment, Churchill took time to paint, and get the reset he needed to in order to charge his batteries.
It seems counterintuitive. When so many people are suffering, how could you possible take time to paint or relax or feel good?
To be a force for healing in this world, now more than ever, you need to paint, to relax, to turn UP the music!
It's no longer about keeping up with the demands of the booming economy, building your business, your platform. your following.
It's about building each other.
To "feel happy" was so pre-COVID.
Now it's...DO HAPPY.
I have a cough. Naturally, that makes you wonder and worry…could be this…should I be…
We are all so susceptible to WORRYING...about ourselves, about an elder relative, about the economy.
Walking around like a sad sack of worries is no good for your health.
To anyone out there burdened by worry, this a moment and a meditation to bust FREE!
And if you are wondering, "Oh no, he has a cough." I actually feel great. Please don't worry (;
In the days and weeks to come, we will be faced with the kind of decisions we've never had to make before.
Is it safe to go back to work? Is it safe to send your kids to school? Is it safe to get back to normalcy?
The President says YES!
The infectious disease expert says NO!
Who are you supposed to trust?
In the pre-COVID world, it felt safe to be part of the collective.
But now, we are back to the Wild West.
Now more than ever, your intuition is a vital force.
When you talk to the elders, every single one was hit hard by World War 2.
How did they get through that moment in history and what can we learn from them?
I spend a lot of my time interviewing elders in their 80's, 90's and 100's and it almost always come down to one common message of how to get through the hardest times in life.
We had our own type of march madness in my home this weekend.
5 cocoons hanging form the lid of a jar in our home...hatched and 5 butterflies emerged.
It’s a great lesson because as we are all settling into this cocoon state, figuring out social distancing, the world out there is becoming a very different place.
How are we going to put the pieces back together again?
Last year I met this 77 year old wise elder who told me an unforgettable story about hitting rock bottom and how she got through it.
Hint: Get your hands in the dirt with the butterflies and the spring flowers and the steadily warming sun.
Breathe.
In.
Life.
There is no sports right now...so it's hard to get your mind off the bad news.
But there is a really fierce competition happening all over the world.
Love vs FEAR.
How willing are you to double and triple down on LOVE when so many people are blasting you with fear?
Here are 3 stories to help you do that.
- For the first time in 60 years, a dolphin was spotted in the suddenly clean waters of the canals in Venice.
- Check out "A Daily Dose of Love" from the Choose Love Movement. In today's Daily Dose, they shared the #FromMyWindow movement started by children all over the world.
https://www.jesselewischooselove.org/blog/2020/03/free-10-day-live-stream-for-parents-and-children/ 3. Check out @PizzeriaBianco on Instagram and how this legendary chef is back to the root and core of his passion and mission.
We are all facing a very sharp curve in our evolution. How we navigate this curve will say a lot about how you emerge in this post coronavirus world.
The old ways of speed, efficiency, distraction...will not serve us well while navigating a sharp curve.
As one wise elder advised, the struggles we are facing, when seen with proper perspective, are building new muscles, new skills, new capacities.
Darwin famously said, "It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is most adaptable to change."
My kids and I have been watching these 5 caterpillars grow and grow until they formed 5 cocoons now hanging from the lid of the jar.
Imagine how very difficult to be a caterpillar who is scared of the cocoon...who is going against nature.
In this moment of a global pandemic, we’re dealing with nature. Nature is saying to humanity, "Go within…be with yourself…be with your family…shut down the action."
It's probably what the caterpillar feels when it has to go into this cocoon of darkness. God knows if the caterpillar is aware what comes next.
And yet it goes forward in peace…
We all might need to make some decisions in the days and weeks to come that we’ve never made before. We have little or no frame of reference for a global pandemic.
We will be much more effective and productive if we are grounded, calm, and mentally fit for the challenges of this moment in history.
While writing my new book, Life Lessons from the Oldest and Wisest, I listened to a meditation about reconnecting with someone you have loved and lost.
I tried it...and I could swear my Grandmother was right there next to me. Truly powerful. Worth sharing.
It's more fun to believe...than not to believe.
Bernie Glassman recently passed away at 79 years old. He was one of the most prominent American Zen Masters. One of gurus was none other than "The Dude." As in The Big Lebowski's The Dude. You gotta hear this...
A 90-year-old survivor reminds you to flip the switch on your attitude. You can wake up feeling stronger, healthier, and happier!
This episode is intended to enjoy as you are winding down and ready to sleep. It's based on an interview with an 82 year old Chaplain from the Federal Penitentiary. He shared the simplest wisdom, a choice you can make to help you find the deepest sleep.
After the tragic shooting in Pittsburgh, what is the path forward? How do we raise children when things seem so dark and dangerous?
7 of the 11 people killed in Pittsburgh were alive during the Holocaust.
Ruth Seinfeld is a Holocaust survivor and has a powerful story of forgiveness.
For the last 7 years, I’ve been talking to the oldest and wisest people in our communities. when you are 89 or 102, or 96, death looms large. When you are very old, any breath could be your last. And yet the elders’ relationship with death has changed my perception of life.
If one thing even the smartest people in the world cannot solve it is this…what happens when you die? And yet there’s enough mystery around that moment of death, it’s worth exploring .
Last summer I led a retreat to witness the total eclipse of the sun in Oregon.
I had seen a total eclipse when i was much younger. But I can’t say I fully appreciated the rarity of the spectacle.
Leading up to the eclipse, I read and heard so many stories about how, in the moment of totality when the daytime sky turns black…and the sun’s corona becomes this ring about light around the moon…people emotionally unhinged.
During this retreat in Oregon, one lady on my retreat accidentally recorded the moment. In just a moment I will play for you the audio of the people in our group, during the moment of totality.
During the eclipse I was standing next to a very close friend whose mother had just passed away.
As I’m staying here next to my friend…and the moon is covering the sun…and the light is dimming…you hear the sounds of the animas, confused by the sudden loss of light, the wind is blowing, the shadow of totality is approaching for the westerner horizon at 2400 mph…it’s just otherworldly.
And my friend is crying…saying this dimming of the light is what he thinks his mom experienced when she was in the hospitality, her life fading away.
I had seen an eclipse once before and I had sense of what was coming. I puy my hand on my friend’s shoulder and told him “just wait…you’re about tot see something spectacular.”
Let’s listen the audio of people’s reaction:
[AUDIO OF PEOPLE’S REACTION DURING THE MOMENT OF TOTALITY]
The light you see in a total eclipse is just beyond words…there’s a warmth, a love…a GLOW…something I equate to what people talk about when they see the LIGHT and are transitioning down this tunnel to their down death.
I’d like to think this moment gave my friend comfort …a little hint that when things go black, and the light is gone, there might be something unimaginably spectacular yet to come.
I shared this story of the eclipse during a yoga workshop. A student, Tracee, approached me after and described her relative, Julia…who recently passed away at 100 years old.
[TRACEE DESCRIBES A GLOW ON HER THIS 100 YEAR-OLD’S FACE BEFORE SHE DIED]
Sometimes people, in their moment of death, seem to reach for this glowing light.
David shared with me the story of being with his mother when she passed away last year at the age of 94.
[AUDIO OF DAVID DESCRIBING WHAT HIS MOM DID AT HER MOMENT OF DEATH]
Before people die….do hey see something? Do they feel something?
Over the past 7 years I have interviewed so many older people in their 80’s 90 and 100’s…I almost always ask, “Are you scared to die?”
Here’s how Ed, 96, answered the question…are you scared to die?
Ed: “Am I scared to die? No no no, I welcome it!”
In all the times I’ve asked an elder if they are scared to die, 9 out of 10 answer like Ed. When it’s time, they’ll be ready. They welcome it.
How could something so uncertain be so welcoming?
Rachel described two experiences she had losing people close to her…
[AUDIO OF RACHEL]
Does the nature of an eclipse… foreshadow what’s to come at the moment of death?
It’s hard to say…
But for anyone who has ever done a yoga class…the very best part at the end, when you lie down and let go…that’s the corpse pose…Savasana
What would be a good yoga class without a great Savasana?
What would be a good life with out a beautiful death?
In each of these podcasts I like to guide into a moment of letting of go. Take a moment to relax.
You may have heard Anne Lamottt’s quote “Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you.”
So let’s do that
Let go of whatever was going on today…let it go..l
Whether it’s death, or divorce, changing jobs, moving into something new…the uncertain and unknown tends to be frightening…but we can choose to come to it as an opportunity for a new birth…
Gabriel Garcia Marquez said, “Human beings are not born once and for all on the day their mothers give birth to them. but life obliges them over and over again to give birth to themselves…
Today, let’s come to the unknown as an explorer…
There are so many ways we get in our own way
One of those ways, maybe the most obvious, is comparing ourselves to what everyone else is doing. You can’t escape the advertising and social media and constant seduction and desire…And what does that do for your quality of life?
I recently received some great advice from an elder on how to deal with comparing yourself to others..
I recently spoke to Linda Jones, who is 81…her father was Chuck Jones who was one of the creators of Bugs Bunny and many of the Looney Tunes.
Having such a successful father, there was a time when Linda was not feeling like she was keep up…
Linda recalled, “I think I wrote to him and told him how ashamed of myself I was. And he wrote back to me, “‘Linda, get off my fucking mountain’ He said ‘We each have our mountain to climb. I’m climbing mine and you climb yours.’ It was a turning point in my life. He was right. He went on to say that i had my own challenges and adventures and wasting time competing with him was ridiculous. And I did snap out of it!”
“Get off my fucking mountain.” I LOVE THAT!
How often we look around and compare our progress and our lives to others?
I have days where i get down on myself…days where I feel like I’m not doing enough for my kids with my kids…days where i’m getting held under by the giant wave made up of health career marriage parenting…
this morning, i was reading one of my favorite books called Einstein and The Rabbi. It’s written by my rabbi in LA, Naomi Levy. She shares an interview with a guy named Dr. Alan Rabinowitz…one of the world’s most respected zoologists.
He said…while he was a kid he had a terrible stutter and the school system put him in special classes that other kids called retarded classes. So you can imagine how much that bothered him. So he just stopped talking people. He was full of rage and hurt.
But he could talk in full fluent sentences to his pets. He’d take his turtle chameleon hamster and snake into his closet and talk to them. He realized they had no voice either. Animals have feelings and thoughts and yet people treat them as if they have none. So he said “if I ever got my voice back I would use it for the animals!”
He delivered on his promise. He established the world’s first jaguar preserve in Belize and secured the world’s largest tiger reserve in Bumra. And he created a jaguar corridor a giant habitat where jaguars can move freely and it stretches all the way from mex to ARg…
Here you had this guy whose stutter led him down his path…
As my rabbi says, “Your obstacle, that which holds you back, may be the key to your souls mission.”
I invite you right now step back and look at what you feel you are lacking in comparison to the rest of the world. Look at your particular challenge or obstacle……and as you climb your mountain……create a little space to recognize the connection of your challenges to your journey
what is the great challenge you are facing right now?
In what way have you been comparing yourself to others?
How might that be teaching you something, how might that challenge be shaping you…how might it be unlocking some power within you?
if you don’t know…just sit with it…be open to it…
Rabbi levy has a mantra…which we’ll make our centering thought
It’s the word HUSA…
That word means compassion for something thats flawed. It means absence of judgement. She says its the way God loves us even though we’re imperfect. even though we’ve messed things up. It gives you the space to see your challenges differently…to see how they are unlocking you
It’s my favorite part of talking to old people.
After so many decades of life, when they look back on the single most important moment or memory, what stands out?
This past week I spoke to Nel, 86, who shared such a poignant moment about her time working in hosice. You might have to turn up the volume and little bit…
“I worked in hospice. My very first patient was a 36 year old woman.
"The nurses gave me her room. I went to her bed and took her hand.
"She was 36, mother of 3, not expected to live through the night. I started crying.
"Tears streaming down my face.
“She said, ‘Are You ok? What’s the matter?’
“I said, ‘I can’t think of one thing that I can say or do that would be helpful to you in anyway.’
“And she said, “Would you shave my legs? My legs have not been shaved in months and I don’t want to die with hairy legs.’
“And I went flying down that hall and got a container of hot water and soap and a razor and shaved her legs and put lotion all over her legs.
“She died that night.
Nel paused for a few moments, then continued...
“What I’m trying to show you is…
“Show up where people are rather than where you think they are.”
I think that's worth repeating.
Show up where people are... rather than where you think they are.
And yet, how often do we just go run through the motions with the people we encounter each day?
This past week, my daughter and I dropped my wife and son at the airport.
While driving home in LA traffic, my daughter starts having a meltdown in the back of the car.
She’s only 1.5 years old so I didn’t think to ask what she wanted. I just went through the motions.
First I tried to give her a snack. Then her water bottle. Then her favorite kids song.
She was still crying, close to the point of hyperventilating…
I looked at Google Maps and we still had 27 minutes left in the drive.
I was desperate and said to her, “Cooper what do you want? What can I do?!?!?!”
She said, “Hold hand. Hold hand.”
I reached my hand back to her. She wrapped her tiny little fingers around mine…and the rest of the drive was perfection.
I had just assumed she needed food or water.
But she wanted something else, and all I needed to do was ask.
We do our best to show up for the people in our lives.
You check in with your partner during the day to see how it’s going
You try to show up for your co-workers.
You connect with brothers and sisters when you have a free moment.
When is the last time someone checked in with you…where you are…instead of where they think you are?
In my conversations with the oldest of old, the stories and memories that make it through their filters are these moments when people reach past the surface layer of life…
...and seek to hear and touch and see what’s happening below the surface.
It’s often sudden and spontaneous, not a planned a moment, certainly not Instagrammable, but so incredibly human.
And it’s something any of us can do, like…right now!
“Show up where people are rather than where you think they are.”
You can turn this on yourself…and ponder the question
What do I need today? Don’t just assume you know…stop and ask…and listen.
What do I need today
I did this exercise
The answer I heard was this:
"A lot more compassion…for myself."
Mel said there are 4 stages of life…survival, curiosity, creativity, and compassion…you have to go through all 3 stages to get to the final stage…
So I thought about that. I’ve survived. I've been curious. I’ve been creative…but i have not been compassionate, certainly not with myself.
Compassion for self is so healing…to exhale…constantly.
That’s what i need today
What do you need today?
Take some time to sit with that question…don’t just pop off an answer…sit with the question
Many of the happiest elders I have interviewed were freed at a young age by a parent who gave them the gift of love or confidence or music. It is the very best gift to give and receive...freedom from our worries and aches and gripes. If you are feeling the weight of the world, this episode intends to lift you up..and set you free.
The inspiration for today's episode is my absolute favorite book that I read with my son before he goes to sleep. Granted, he's 3 years old but I PROMISE you this message will be the most healing an soothing message you've heard all day.
www.yeahdave.com
This is one of my all-time favorite conversations with an elder. 93 year old Addie wanted to send me a photo in the mail (i.e. snail mail via the mailbox). But that would take way too long! Why wait a week for a picture you can get emailed in seconds?!
What ensued was a multi-generation gap. And in its midst was a great moment of laughter and friendship!
In continuing the mission to share the stories and wisdom of the elder generation, today is a message from one of the most loving women I have ever met.
You've surely heard that Latina families are very close and very loving. In a matter of seconds, Antonia, 82, shares how and why.
If you could use a reset in one (or all) of your relationships...
St. Augustine said, “You have to start your relationship with God all over from the beginning everyday.”
So it is with love.
Giovanni Giocondo writes, "No heaven can come to us unless our hearts find rest in it today. Take heaven. No peace lies in the future which is not hidden in this present little instant. Take peace."
On that note, no love can be felt unless we experience it this very moment. Take love...now!
https://yeahdave.com/doing-it-right/
Jacki, 81, tells the story a near-death experience where her heart stopped for 20 minutes. She shares what she saw and felt in these 20 minutes, but it's what she experienced afterward that is a game changer.
The intention of this podcast is to give you 18 Minutes each day to push back from your computer, reflect, meditate, relax, breathe...
https://yeahdave.com/