Archive for January, 2009

“Honesty: The best of all the lost arts.” Mark Twain

The lady for whom I’d been waiting suddenly arrived, “David hi, Martha Blackwell nice to meet you.”

I turned around to shake her hand but couldn’t help but notice a stringy piece of snot hanging from her nose. It dropped down from the bridge and wrapped itself around the lower part of her left nostril.

Being that I’d never met this lady combined with the fact that she was rather fancy in her ways and style, I felt terribly uncomfortable saying anything.

“So tell me about your book,” Martha (a friend of a friend who works at a PR firm) said taking her seat across from me at the table.

“Well it sheds light on all the things one might not know about in the life of a yoga teacher. There are chapters about sexual escapades, dirty adjustments, snot in the nose,” I hinted.

“Snot in the nose? What does that mean?” Martha asked, clearly failing to pick up the hint.

We chatted for another few minutes when the snot dropped off her nostril and became a one inch long booger hanging from the bridge of her nose.

I didn’t know what to say. If I told her, she might be pissed at the “snot in the nose” comment I made a few moments earlier. But if I didn’t tell her, she might think I was trying to make a fool out of her. What is the ethical thing to do?

I considered the following:

1. Sense of Humor
“Martha, I hear they have a great booger at this place.”

2. Jedi Mind Trick
“Martha do I have anything long and gross hanging out of my nose?”

3. Industry Inquiry
“Martha, do you happen to know who’s doing PR for the book Snotty Snotty Snot Nose: What’s the Point of a Having a Gucci Purse and Christian Louboutin heels when a 1 inch booger is dripping from your beak?

*****

The other night I watched Ted Haggard on the Oprah Winfrey Show. He’s the disgraced evangelist who once led the 30 million strong National Association of Evangelicals. In 2006, Haggard was exiled when it was discovered that his side hobby was not Bible study or retreats to the Holy Land…but rather snorting meth from his dealer who happened to be his male hooker.  What so many have found troubling is not so much Haggard’s escapades but rather his inability to be truthful with himself and his community.

We all know that person who is dishonest with himself, whether it be a matter of subverted sexuality, failure to express creativity, or some massive disconnect with self and spirit. Such a person might as well have a giant booger hanging from his nose. Everytime you see such a person, you want to shake him from his stupor, help him clean up his act, and live a more truthful existence. In fact, there are times when everyone of us could stand to wipe away our “spiritual snot” and live a more realized life.

It’s not easy to switch careers, partners, or in Haggard’s case, sexual preferences. And who wants to be in the business of causing others’ pain? I could have let Martha finish lunch without saying a single thing. And she might have gone on with the remainder of the day, booger in tow. But when the day is done and she washes up for bed, what would be worse…

For me to have mentioned ‘booger on your face?’
Or for her to live a whole day in disgrace?
There’s a lesson, a fable, for one and for all
Stand strong, stand true, and your snot will fall

Should you fear to be…the person you are
You might even thrive, and drive a nice car
But when you die, and shed your Clothes
You will have wished… you wiped your nose.

“Giving birth is like taking your lower lip and forcing it over your head.” Carol Burnett

It goes without saying that yesterday’s inauguration was one of the great days in American history. If the times were not so tough and the economy was not so bad, would Barack Obama have won the election? Maybe not. One could easily argue that the strife of the current day is the pain of birthing a new era.

I believe this new era will have profound effects on people at their deepest level of being. Following are 3 things that will take place in the minds, hearts, and spirits of all Americans…whether or not they support the new President.

1. A New Beginning

“The secret to a rich life is to have more beginnings than endings.” David Weinbaum

In anyway that you are perceiving these tough times as being full of “endings,” take note. Sometimes those subtle shifts in perspective cause massive life changes. As the yogis believe, no amount of action can compensate for misaligned thought. So if you can clear your mind, that’s where all positive change begins. As hard as things might be right now, see if you can perceive this time as the beginning of a new chapter filled with greater appreciation for simpler pleasures, loving connections, and renewed faith

2. The New American Dream

“The highest reward for a person’s toil is not what they get for it, but what they become by it.” John Ruskin

If you’ve not yet seen the movie Slumdog Millionaire, it’s about a poor boy (slumdog) in India who strikes it rich on a game show. I was reading a article pondering why the American moviegoer is so fascinated with this movie. The rags to riches dream was once the American dream. But now it belongs to another nation in another part of the world. In this new era, Americans are concerned less with getting rich and more with getting by. With so many people out of work and with so many people having lost a lifetime of savings in the financial markets… a good meal, a loving embrace, and a steady income never before brought so much joy. What this new American Dream may lose in glamour, it will more than make up for in wealth. Spiritual wealth. As a wise one said, “Being rich is a measurement of how much money you have. Being wealthy is a measurement of how much time you have.”

3. A New Definition of Power

“We look forward to the time when the Power of Love will replace the Love of Power. Then will our world know the blessings of peace.” William E. Gladstone

The most influential city in our country is fast changing from New York to Washington DC. Wall Street now bows to the government and with the government being led by a seemingly good and honest man, the word “power” is about to take on a brand new meaning. For as long as I’ve been alive, money has fueled power. Everyone wanted to earn money in order to buy the things seen in countless TV, radio, print, and internet ads. Our duty always seemed to be to make as much money as possible because by doing so, one could take better care of self, family, company. But now, money is scarce and the new power is held by the one who rides a growing wave of collective ambition to achieve the seemingly insurmountable task of rebirth. As Obama said yesterday, “There is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task.”

• Dreams Of Home Ziggy Marley & The Melody Makers
• Hand It Over Keb’ Mo’
• Video (Main) India Arie
• Don’t Stand So Close to Me (Original) The Police
• Rocket Smashing Pumpkins
• Lately The Helio Sequence
• Imbarueri Maurício Pereira
• New Slang The Shins
• Rivers of Babylon Sublime
• Plush Stone Temple Pilots
• End of the Line Traveling Wilburys
• Always On My Mind Willie Nelson
• Piano Man Billy Joel
• Landslide Tori Amos

“The value of identity of course is that so often with it comes purpose.” Richard R. Grant

“Thanks for friending me on Facebook,” Mike, an average 40ish guy said to me after taking my yoga class last week.

Later that night I perused the various status updates on Facebook and saw things like:

–”Ryan is… still high from Obamamania”
–”Angela is… recovering from hangover after big night with Jeanelle.”

WHAT?! I looked further into it and realized the dirty status update was from the same Mike mentioned previously…the average 40sih guy from my yoga class.

Then a few days later, a woman named Jacquelina, mid 50’s, MD, seemingly brilliant, who’s been taking my class for 2 years, says to me while putting on her shoes, “Hey great class, I love your pictures on Facebook.”

While looking through that day’s Facebook status updates, I saw:

–”Sarah is…cooking my boyfriend an amazing dinner.”
–”Bobby is…stuck at airport in Munich…SUCKS!”
–”Martina is…ending long day at work ready to hit the town.”

But then I saw another troubling status update: “Jacquelina is…buying an 8-ball of coke and getting ready to hunker down and rail up.”

WHAT?! I could NOT believe my eyes. And it was from Jacquelina who seemed like the nicest, most well-put together woman in the world.

When I saw her a short time later in my yoga class, she approached me to say, “I am so so sorry about what happened on Facebook. There’s a guy who’s been breaking into peoples’ accounts and he obviously got into mine.”

I consider myself one of the lucky ones because  I got an anonymous email from nothing short of an angel. The email mentioned that by responding with my credit card number, security code, Facebook user ID and password, that I would be protected from any intrusions to my account. Naturally, I signed up for the monthly service fee and am sleeping a whole lot better at night.

*****

Loss of identity is a terrible problem. But there is a worse kind that has a much deeper impact: loss of purpose. And this past Tuesday, so many Americans realized that purpose was something we’d been missing. When is the last time that we celebrated a national accomplishment?

Before Tuesday’s inauguration, it was more common to feel the charge of purpose with 18,000 Laker fans when Kobe Bryant triple pumps and slams it home. Or when “woowooing!” the sweet notes from the late Jerry Garcia’s guitar with 20,000 Deadheads at Madison Square Garden. But to feel the charge of purpose in a crowd celebrating not baskets and guitar rips but “change!” and “equality!” and “hope!”  If Obama came to your town, would 100,000 fired up Americans not jam-pack your local stadium and feed off the very same vibration!?

It’s been so long since we’ve had a national purpose that I personally never even knew this feeling existed. And this first taste must be nearly as exhilarating as the first breath. Let’s keep this feeling alive and let’s keep this man safe.  A wise one so perfectly summed up the power yet delicacy of our first steps as a truly equal nation,  “We can live about forty days without food, about three days without water, about eight minutes without air, but only for one second without hope.”

Delicious moment:    TBA

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