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Patience & Wisdom

The other speakers at GRID covered every part of life on every part of the globe. One was Sunitha Krishnan from India. She is a prominent leader in bringing attention to the issue of human trafficking. In virtually every nation in the world, children are turned into slaves, beaten, tortured and held against their will at ages as young as 5. Sunitha has rescued over 6,000 child slaves, mostly in India.

Then there was Peter Vesterbacka, the CEO of ROVIO, the company that created Angry Birds, the most successful mobile game in the world with over 400 million downloads and over 1 million additional downloads every single day. While you’d think the company would be primarily focused on the cash windfall, Vesterbacka was focused on leveraging the platform of what will soon be 1 billion fans and making a difference, particularly in education.

Sunitha is a woman who lives hand to mouth, who has a price on her head ($100,000), who has been beaten countless times by unsavory characters. Vesterbacka is CEO of a company who will go public sooner than later with a market cap in the tens of billions.

What in the world could these 2 totally different people have in common?

Both are focused on making a difference in the world through education and human equality, creating positive change, and in the process, living totally inspired lives.

They’ve managed, one by dharma, the other by the fortune of cyber-virality, one thru the grind, one thru the air… to commit to something big.

Oscar Wilde said, “Looking good and dressing well is a necessity. Having a purpose in life is not.”

*****

We spend so much time each day responding to all the stimuli that it takes some serious discipline to remember what we’re living for.

Clearly, most of us don’t have time to just stop being parents, or to stop going to work, or to stop long enough to take a breath… let alone to ponder our purpose.

But there is a bigger reason we’re here. It’s a matter of choice whether or not we lock on to our purpose.

As a former President of India said, “If man misses his destiny, Nature is not in a hurry; she will catch him someday and compel him to fulfill her secret purpose.”

PS:
–watch the speech by Sunitha
–watch the speech by Vesterbacka

David Romanelli: In a Moment | GRID11 from Bonnier on Vimeo.

Hi:

Last summer I received an email about a guru from India traveling across the United States.

The email read: “Sri Kumare is traveling through the US…he is a yoga master. His message is one of finding the inner teacher or the guru within. He says he is here to learn rather than teach but he has an amazing way of teaching about oneness, giving and receiving, and identity and the self. He is kind and gentle with a great sense of humor!”

Turns out he was being followed by a film crew making a movie about a “living guru.”

I instantly jumped at the chance to meet this guru and be in a movie.

We met at a coffee shop in Phoenix, talked for a bit, he seemed authentic, kind, loving.

Watch this video of my teaching this “real-life guru” how to high five.

Fast forward one year….

Just last week I saw that the movie they were filiming, entitled Kumare, was screening at various film and yoga  festivals such as South by Southwest.

It soon became clear that this “guru” was an imposter pretending to be a guru and making fun of suckers like me who buy into the whole guru schtick. Watch a brief bit about the movie Kumare by visiting here.

*****

I’d been PUNK’D, or for those of you who know not of Ashton Kutcher, I’d been tricked!

I had it comin’.

After years of joking around in my Schtick, the boomarang flipped back around and tore me a new one

As they say, karma is real.

Last year I attended a lecture by Geshe Michael Roach, author of the book The Diamond Cutter. He spoke profoundly about karma and how no one can get away with wrong action. You could hear a pin drop because for every angel in that room of 100 people, there were 9 sinners…including me.

Who doesn’t have at least a little karmic kick in the ass comin their way?

Whether it’s because you are a lousy tipper or because you made out with the Hard Rock cabana boy on that girls trip to Vegas …your karma, my karma, our karma is comin!

Not to make you feel guilty, but c’mon, we can’t outsmart the freakin Universe!!

A wise one best described karma, “There are the waves and there is the wind, seen and unseen forces.  Everyone has these same elements in their lives, the seen and unseen, karma and free will.”

If you, like me, feel at times a bit out of sync with these seen and unseen forces, it’s always a good time to check back and realign with what’s right and good.

Because life is a lot like a Beatles song…whose melody we love but whose meaning we never knew:

“Instant Karma’s gonna get you,
Gonna look you right in the face,
Better get yourself together darlin’,
Join the human race.” (Listen)

Who: Ella Chissoti

Where: A restaurant called the Bel Sit in Gabbicce Monte, Italy

What about this photo makes it special? “The restaurant sits on a hill overlooking the Adriatic coast and everything we ate was even more delicious because it was a beautiful moment too…being together with loved ones to enjoy it all.”

“I took Elena Brower’s yoga class the other day,” my friend Ryan said.

“Oh I love love love Elena’s class,” Azure chimed in. “Did I tell you the story about the time I was leaving Elena’s class and ran into Larry Wilcox, the blonde guy who starred in CHIPS?”

I’d heard this story 800 times.

Azure has a trifecta of personality traits that together are as painful as getting a mole removed from your sphincter.

She tells long-winded stories, she is a stoner, and she is sensitive. Which means she forgets that she already told you a story and freaks the hell out if you tell her so.

“What’s CHIPS?” I asked trying to derail the story.

Azure responded, “It’s that show from the early 80′s about those 2 California Highway Patrolmen…anyway, so I’m walking out of class and I see this guy…”

I couldn’t stand it and needed to interrupt, “Azure, you just told this story 3 days ago…

“…you thought it was Larry Wilcox but it turned out to be your boyfriend from 6th Grade who looks like Larry Wilcox…

“…and you went to have drinks and pickles with him at Carnegie Deli…

“…and pickles turn you on so you ended up having sex in the Carnegie Deli bathroom at 3am…

“…on a Monday.”

Silence.

“Waiter, do you have any pickles,” Ryan asked.

Azure gave me the look of death, “Yeah Dave, you fuckface…you’re supposed to be a yoga teacher…Yoga teachers are supposed to be nice! And patient! And kind!”

*****

With the market crashing, are we really going to suffer through the same story all over again?

Hiding, hoarding, fearing for our savings and our jobs?

Consider these 2 fearless acts performed by humans inspiring us to turn around and face our fears.

–Surfing Monster Waves in the Black of Night

Check out surfer Mark Visser surfing the most dangerous wave in the world…at night!

–Swimming Cageless Through Shark-Infested Waters

Diana Nyad tried to swim from Florida to Cuba, without a shark cage.
She wasn’t able to complete the 103 mile swim but the waters are so infested with sharks, that to attempt this swim without a cage was considered extremely dangerous.

For protection, she had a support crew which included kayaks with underwater electrical shields that emit a frequency intended to shoo the sharks away.
If that failed, divers were ready to intervene.

Can you imagine swimming in such dangerous waters for 24 hours?

Said Diana Nyad of her life philosophy, “To live a life with no regrets and no worries about what you are going to do with your time. Fill it with passion, be your best self.”

Diana Nyad and Mark Visser are obviously crazy but if they can surf 40 foot waves in the black of night and swim for hours on end in some of the most shark-infested waters in the world, surely we can stay grounded and calm and find our way through this economic chaos.

Maybe we’re facing a double dip recession, maybe not.

Either way, let’s not suffer through the same painful story that we did in 2008.

As best you can, LIVE! There is no cost for passion, no fee for attitude, no interest rate for NRG.

As Voltaire said, “Life is a shipwreck but we must not forget to sing in the lifeboats.”

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“Dad always thought laughter was the best medicine, which I guess is why several of us died of tuberculosis.” ~Jack Handey, “Deep Thoughts,” Saturday Night Live

SONG OF THE DAY

It’s My Party (feat. Amy Winehouse) – Quincy Jones – Soul Bossa Nostra

Namaste,

David Romanelli

Who: Alison Dallenbach-Carey’s daughter, Brianne (4 years old)

Where and When: At the farmers market in Summit, NJ last weekend (7/24)

What about this photo makes it special? “Brianne…is the esence of Living in the Moment and being a free spirit…We went over to pick up some things at the market and she came down stairs dressed as she is in the picture- and was completely serious that this was her outfit for the day (this was not playing dress-up). She walked around all day like this, oblivious to anyone commenting on her fabulous get-up and substantial bling. I had to take a picture because it was so genuine, so sweet and I want to remember it forever.”

How do you live in the moment? “Brianne and my 6 year old daughter keep me living in the moment: oblivious to the more serious side of life, endlessly curious and viewing the world through the non-self conscience lens of the innocent.”