Raji Lukkoor's Blog, page 4

Filmmaker and Author Jenny Phillips reviews "Inner Pilgrimage"

Filmmaker, psychotherapist and author of Lettters from the Dhamma Brothers Jenny King Phillips writes a book review on "Inner Pilgrimage: Ten Days to a Mindful Me."  
Inner Pilgrimage: Ten Days To A Mindful Me is a delightfully irreverent and totally compelling book by Raji Lukkoor about her first 10-day Vipassana course. The book is filled with rich, often funny, and very revealing details. As a Vipassana meditator myself, I cherish the honesty and humility of Raji’s account of her battle...

The Art of Bee-ing Present

Earth Day - How It All Came About

April 22 is Earth Day, a movement that began in 1970 in the United States, imploring individuals, organizations, businesses, and governments to participate in the development of a healthy, sustainable environment. The first Earth Day led to the creation of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and thereafter the passage of the 1972 Clean Water Act--a landmark set of strategies that designed water quality standards, compliance monitoring parameters, and enforcement measures...

Does Social Acceptance Equal Self-acceptance?

Social acceptance—the need to fit in with those around—has always been central to human existence. It affects both genders and people of all ages, races, and faiths, regardless of rank or class.
Self-acceptance is the concept of loving and being happy with who you are now, in spite of deficiencies.
The Upside?
Validation is vital to an individual’s existence as an independent entity. Most humans have three acquired needs based on sensory contact (through the six portals of sight, smell, hearing,...

International Day for Mine Awareness

April 4 is International Day for Mine Awareness.
For much of my life, I wasn't even aware of the existence of landmines, much less understand its dreadful consequences. Then in 2001, I just happened to connect with a US based Ugandan organization called People with Disabilities, which was looking for volunteer writers. I decided to join them.
My involvement with People with Disabilities exposed to me the challenging, day-to-day existence in mine-infested Uganda. I researched, read, and wrote...

Writing a Winning Book Proposal

This is the third and final article in the "My Road to Publishing" series. The first two article are Why Aren't You Published Yet? and The Pre-publishing Checklist.
Eachpublishing house and literary agency has their own unique manuscript submissionguidelines. A good book proposal incorporates the following elements:

CoverLetter: Write a cover letter that is informative, interesting, succinct, andhas no grammatical errors or typos.

TitlePage: Make it attractive, but keep it simple. Include the...

What a Star-studded Event it Was!

Vipassana Meditation - An Ancient Path in a Modern World

Dr. Paul R. Fleischman--retired psychologist, author, and vipassana practitioner--recently delivered a series of talks in the San Francisco Bay Area. Here's an abstract of his conversations.

In Dr. Paul R. Fleischman's words...

Vipassana Meditation is a form of education that reveals a path of living. It was originally taught by the Buddha, in India, 2500 years ago, and is currently taught in secular meditation centers located in most countries of the world.

There are five signature features of...

How Will You Reduce Your Water Footprint Today?

March 22, 2012 is World Water day.

Have you ever stopped to think what your water footprint is? What is the connection between conserving water and feeding the hungry? How does water quality and availability affect climate change and vice-versa? Which is greater: water demand of cities and industries, or agricultural water needs? Does producing more food with less water make sense? Would you eat food grown in re-used and/or recycled water? Why/Why not? How does reducing waste, primarily food...

Does "Instant Gratification" Qualify as a Virtue?

Patience used to be known as a virtue, but is virtuallyunheard of in the present-day culture of immediacy. Today's children don't evenknow the meaning of the word. People want everything, and they want it now.
Investorsexpect instant wealth from their financial ventures. Customers expect they'll look skinny after spending a week at the health club. Students expect perfect scores on tests for which they study the night before. Short-termrewards, short-term gain, instant messaging, instant...