Lisa Niver's Blog: We Said Go Travel, page 69

Travel back to India: The Secret Keeper of Jaipur

I absolutely loved The Henna Artist by Alka Joshi and wrote about it for Ms. Magazine and Thrive Global. It is possible that I enjoyed her new book, THE SECRET KEEPER OF JAIPUR, which will be available TOMORROW even more!

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In the second book, which is set in 1969, Malik is now twenty, Lakshmi is running the Healing Garden of Shimla and in this excerpt she meets Nimmi:

2 LAKSHMI

I love this season, the sharp air in my nostrils, the crunch of snow crystals beneath my boots and the anticipation of a new season ahead. Having lived the majority of my life in the dry heat of Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, I never thought I’d come to love the cooler weather of the Himalayan foothills.

As I round the last hill on my morning walk, I spot the roof and gables of my Victorian bungalow topped with the last of the snow, like an elaborate pastry decorated with cream. Off to one side of the house is a Himalayan cedar, its branches weighted with white powder. The scene always fills me with joy, and I wonder—as I often do—how I could capture its delicate beauty with a henna design.

Then I spot Nimmi waiting on my doorstep.

On the path, I hesitate.

In full tribal regalia, her slim figure is striking. Her skin is the color of wet bark, so dark that her eyes—small, deep set— shine like those of an energetic black-eyed bulbul. These and her hawkish nose make her seem severe. I chide myself for judging her. Haven’t I taught myself to appear pleasant even when the situation doesn’t call for it? It’s a skill I mastered during a decade of tending to the whims of the ladies of Jaipur as I painted their hands with henna. Perhaps the women of Nimmi’s tribe are raised not to temper their true emotions? 

Want to know more about ALKA JOSHI? Listen to our interview about Passion, Perseverance and Patience:Alka interviewed me for her show, Reimagine:BUY YOUR COPY TODAY: The Henna Artist and THE SECRET KEEPER OF JAIPUR[image error]

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Advance Women, Advance Equality with Shelley Zalis from The Female Quotient

[image error]Thank you to Thrive Global for publishing my article, “Changing The World, One Connection at a time with Shelley Zalis from The Female Quotient”[image error]Shelley Zalis and Lisa Niver

When we “Advance Women, we Advance Equality.” I had the honor of speaking with founder, Shelley Zalis, about how she created a movement from a moment.

Lisa Niver:

Hello. I’m so excited to be here today with one of the most incredible women who’s making global change. Shelley Zalis, thank you so much for being here with me.

Shelley Zalis:

Are you kidding, Lisa? I just am so grateful for being in your circle. You tell such incredible stories, you bring visibility to remarkable women all over the globe, and the impact that you are making is outstanding, so I’m all in with you. Whatever you want the answer’s always yes.

Lisa Niver:

For people that aren’t familiar with The Female Quotient, one of my favorite things is first there was IQ with the intellect, then there was EQ with the emotions, but then you created the FQ. How did this come together for you?

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Shelley Zalis:

When The Female Quotient was born, we started as a moment, we turned it into a movement, and now it’s a business so I am now in the business of equality. It all really came from my heart so I talk a lot about heartbeat moments.

When I wanted to go to CES, the Consumer Electronics Show, which was in Las Vegas, it’s 150 thousand people, less than 3 percent women, and even for me as the CEO of a successful research company, I still was intimidated. I had a choice to make. Do I not go because it was scary and uncomfortable, or do I do what I did? Call a few girlfriends and invite them to go with me, and that is really how The Female Quotient was born.

I invited four girlfriends, told them to invite their girlfriends, 24 hours later 50 women showed up and two remarkable things happened. One, every guy’s head turned, like where the heck did all you women come from which is what I call a power of the pack moment. A woman alone is power, collectively we have impact, or a woman alone is invisible, together we’re visible.

And the second thing was, I was surrounded by women that had some of the same challenges. Work/life balance, perfection, imposter syndrome, how do you become visible with your strengths that have typically been invisible strengths, the soft power, the feminine powers? And next thing you knew you know, 50 turned into 350 to 3 thousand to now we’ve created the largest global community of women in the workplace, 50 thousand plus plus, and that really is how The Female Quotient was born. First came IQ, the intelligence quotient, then came EQ, the emotional quotient, now comes FQ, the female quotient. When you add more women to any equation there’s a return on equality. And so we’re all about changing the equation and flipping the script and flipping the power.

Watch our full Interview on VIDEO:

Lisa Niver:

It’s really been incredible for me to be in some of those lounges and see the power of women collectively. I’ve been with you at AdWeek in New York, at events together in Los Angeles, you’re in Davos, at CES and with the equality lounges you’ve never missed a beat, you went virtual, now you’re hybrid, COVID could not keep you down.

Tell us about your new project with the Global Pack dinners.

Shelley Zalis:

We thought, what if we could unite the world to the power of women in a hundred countries? We want to bring everyone together, and with COVID using virtual we could participate in a dinner in Rwanda on Tuesday and India on Thursday and Islamabad the following week and Saudi Arabia and Kenya while sitting in my office here connecting women.

Three months ago we launched the Global Pack Dinners and it’s a pay it forward multiplier effect dinner party. So, we decided to take the world, six regions, ten countries per region. If we could have 25 hosts per country at the end of the country dinner those 25 pay it forward to 10, so 25 times 10, 250 women per country. Two hundred fifty women times 10 countries, 25 hundred women per region. Twenty-five hundred women times 10 after the regional dinner, 25 thousand. Twenty-five thousand times 6, 150 thousand. This is how we create an equitable table where everyone is seen, everyone is heard, everyone has the power to make a difference and to pay it forward.

We have held over 32 dinner parties already. We will focus our Asia dinner around Tokyo, around the Olympics, and then we will have the annual 150-thousand-person dinner party which will be first of its kind, the largest ever dinner party with women in the workplace.

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Lisa Niver:

It is all about relationships and connection. What is the update about your project on college campuses, the Next Gen? What’s happening right now because obviously college campuses have been greatly impacted by COVID?

Shelley Zalis:

We believe Next Gen Is the now generation and leadership is not about age, it’s about action. This is the first time in history we actually have five generations in the workplace. We all learn from each other and that’s why we call it mentorship in the moment. It’s not about wisdom from the top down or bottom up, it’s sharing the knowledge all around because we learn bits and bites from everybody, and so the next generation is part of everything we do.

We are not doing physical popups on campus obviously because of COVID, just like we’re not doing physical popup lounges at conferences, but we are integrating Next Gen in our panels, thought leadership, they’re moderating so they’re holding the mic, they are also interstitials in between panels and we have FQ correspondents where they are sending in content from everywhere.

Their opinion matters, their perspective matters, their voices matter. We connect Next Gen with middle management which we call the messy middle, and the messy middle with leadership forward which is you know, senior leaders, and we are all growing together as one big community of women supporting other women in the workplace.

Lisa Niver:

I know you have staggering statistics about how much better businesses do when they include women and the equality calculator. Can you talk about the “P’s”:  parity, policy, pipeline and people.

Shelley Zalis:

It takes two things to truly change the equation for women in the workplace.

One is the community, women supporting other women, and the other is closing the gaps and we have a lot of equity gaps. Parity, pay gap, right? And we know that women on average make 82 cents on the dollar, black women 64 cents on the dollar, Latinas 53 cents on the dollar. I would say equality is a choice, unconscious bias is an excuse. If you say unconscious bias, you’re conscious.

Once I just told you what the gap is……then close it. We’ve built an advancing equality calculator with Citi and work with corporations to close the gap.

The second is policies. How do we attract and retain our best talent and not just our available talent because we’ve also seen especially in COVID a lot of women opting out, not even furloughed, job reduction and salary reduction, but opting out because of their caregiving responsibilities, they can’t do it.

And then the third, pipeline. It’s not just filling the pipeline with diversity but it’s the pathway to leadership. How do we ensure that we are upscaling and retaining you know, truly our talent past the messy middle?

And then the fourth is people and the upscaling that we need, and not just women in the workplace but also women in marginalized and underserved parts of the world. I mean, internet access, giving people the tools, they need not only for equal opportunity but for equitable positioning, to give people you know, the equal footing to be able to successfully navigate the workplace.

We also do boot camps to help companies become equality fit, to be conscious now of their unconscious that starts with awareness, then education, and what we do a lot of work on is the actions that you can take, and they’re not three-year plans. There’s immediate actions that you can take that’ll go a long way to closing the gaps and driving change.

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Lisa Niver:

One thing I know you’re also working on with the FQ collection is related to the sustainable developmental goals and goal number five about equality, and I remember at one conference you spoke about a young woman who you met and then you flew her to an event and she introduced you when you got a major award.

Shelley Zalis:

That’s giving me shivers. So, back to our collection. You know, a lot of people talk about ROI, Return On Investment. We are all about ROI, return on impact and impacting change, and for me that is leaving a living legacy of change, and so 20 percent of everything we do goes to making a difference in the world and helping girls around the world from education to the digital divide, the care economy, economic empowerment, up skilling, financial literacy you know, all the thing that girls need to truly make a difference.

When I went to the Africa regional WEF, World Economic Forum, in Rwanda, I was able to visit schools. We drove five hours on muddy roads. And I have to say that… a moment of mentorship led to a lifetime of impact for me and for these girls. I met 500 girls of different ages, at different schools that touched my heart in ways I can’t even express. I brought 10 girls to the World Economic Forum for our equality lunch with the women of Africa, the most powerful women from the World Economic Forum.

To wrap the day a young girl, she was 13 at the time, her name is Amen, got up. She looked at the room of these women and she said, “Ladies, let me tell you something. You changed my life here forever. You made me realize that my voice is as important if not more important than the boys and that it is my responsibility to go back to school and share what I felt from each and every one of you today so that I can pay it forward to all the other girls that can’t be here.”

Several years later, Amen came to New York City to give me the Matrix award. She was nervous so I said to her, “Amen, do you want me to go up with you and I’ll hold your hand while you give me the award?” And she said no, I can do this. She gets up and to tell you, Lisa, she with this booming presence spoke to a thousand powerful people in the room with command of the audience, with confidence oozing out of every part of her, and with a message that was so poignantly heart-felt and real and beautiful.

I decide whatever my speech was, was not what I was feeling in that moment. I get up and I’m shaking and she gives me the award and she feels me shaking. She looks at me and she says, “Do you want me to stay up here with you and hold your hand?”

In that moment, talk about heartbeat, to understand the impact we can have on someone and someone can have on you and that’s why I say if I can change one life I feel like what I’m doing today is meaningful.

It was a magical moment and something that has inspired me to keep going, to keep doing, to keep being, to keep learning, to keep being open to these remarkable people that come into my life, and that’s that.

Lisa Niver:

Shelley, that story is a great example of this community you’ve created. The connection starts one person at a time and you’ve been able to create this revolution with the dinners and the lounges and the way that you make sure nobody feels alone.

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Shelley Zalis:

At our lounges, we don’t have badges. I want people to discover one another. I want people to welcome one another. I want everyone to feel comfortable and know that they belong.

Lisa Niver:

In the latest news from The Female Quotient, you have projects with women veterans and women in the sports summit in Cleveland and Mother’s Day and feminist Father’s Day and there’s no industry I can think of where you’re not in.

Shelley Zalis:

Because we started with the Girl’s Lounge at the World Economic Forum and we evolved to the Equality Lounge because we’ve already done a good job connecting women with other women. The Equality Lounge is all about closing the gaps.

The World Economic Forum has less than 17 percent of their members are women. We now bring 50 women with us so when you walk on the street in Davos now you see women. We just flip the script and change the equation by choice.

Lisa Niver:

I speak for many women around the world that we’re very happy you’re advancing equality and closing the gaps. Shelley, it has been my honor to speak to you today. You’re so inspiring. Before you leave us, if people want to participate what’s the best way to get involved with The Female Quotient and the Equality Lounges?

Shelley Zalis:

Thank you so much. You can follow us @femalequotient or @shelleyzalis. You could go on the website, thefemalequotient, sign up to get invitations to everything that we do.

We go further, we go faster when we go together. This is about all of us working, supporting, and holding ourselves responsible and accountable for creating the changes that we want to see in the world today.

Lisa Niver:

I really appreciate your leadership and thank you so much for speaking with me today.

Shelley Zalis:

And I appreciate all that you do to tell the stories, to share the stories, to amplify the stories and to use your voice for change, so thank you, Lisa, for all that you do. You are remarkable.

What an absolute joy to speak with @LisaNiver for @thrive! Thank you for taking the time to chat about how're we're changing the equation for women in the workplace at the @femalequotient. https://t.co/FJ5DhYtnXn

— Shelley Zalis (@ShelleyZalis) May 25, 2021

[image error]SEE US ON SHELLEY’S LINKEDIN

On Shelley’s Facebook

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What an absolute joy to speak with @LisaNiver for @thrive! Thank you for taking the time to chat about how're we're changing the equation for women in the workplace @femalequotient https://t.co/NNyepKrFhP

— Shelley Zalis (@ShelleyZalis) June 11, 2021

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One Dish – Four Seasons: Food, Wine, and Sound – All Year Round

Summer is almost here! Time to dive into stone fruits and grilled corn. Pick up a copy of my cookbook, One Dish – Four Seasons, and delve into the summer recipes.

In my book, we take a base recipe and just by varying seasonal ingredients, we churn out four versions: a winter, spring, summer, and fall. Each recipe is then paired with a wine and a music album, further exploring the seasonality of the three main facets of entertaining.

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Today we are featuring the summer version of the Dutch baby.

Roasted Tomato, Tarragon & Goat Cheese Dutch Baby

Ingredients:

2 pints baby tomatoes (any variety – cherry, teardrop, etc.)

SWOOPS (Season With Olive Oil Pepper Salt)

4 large eggs

1 c whole milk

1 c all-purpose flour

1 t freshly grated nutmeg

4 T butter

1/4 c crumbled goat cheese

1/2 c chopped fresh tarragon

Procedure:

Preheat the oven to 275 F.

Slice the tomatoes in half and SWOOPS. Place skin side down on a foil-lined baking sheet. Roast until shriveled to about half the original size, about 1-2 hrs.

Crank the oven up to 475 F.

In a blender, combine the eggs, milk, flour, nutmeg, 1 t salt, and about 10 cranks of a pepper mill. Blend the batter until smooth, about 30 seconds.

Melt the butter and olive oil on medium low heat in an oven safe skillet. Turn the heat off. Arrange the roasted tomatoes in the skillet evenly distributed. Sprinkle the goat cheese and tarragon.

Slide middle rack out of the oven and place the skillet in its middle. Pour the batter into the skillet and slowly slide the rack back in. Extra points for not spilling. Cook until puffy and golden on top, about 15 – 20 minutes. Remove from oven. It will deflate after a few minutes. Slice and Serve for breakfast, lunch, or dinner! Afternoon snack, midnight snack, etc. Never a wrong time for a Dutch baby!

Pair with a Chianti Classico such as Antinori, Ruffino, Le Ragnaie, or Castello di Ama.

Press play on Mumford & Sons Babel.

Get your copy of the book here!

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You Are Beautiful by Myrna Clayton

Cultural Ambassador Myrna Clayton, released her digital single “You Are Beautiful” during Women’s History Month on March 15, 2021, to underscore the essential benefit of music — and the “essential work” of those who bring an “experience” to others through music.

Myrna also founded the non-profit SHOWABILTY whose mission is to enhance the quality of life for people with disabilities and the underserved by creating music and art opportunities for employment and enjoyment.

MYRNA CLAYTON’S “YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL” ACKNOWLEDGES WOMEN’S CONTRIBUTION, RESILIENCY DURING COVID-19

Clayton Claims Music “Essential”, Releases Single For Women’s History Month

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In tribute of the contributions and resiliency of women during the COVID-19 pandemic, Cultural Ambassador Myrna Clayton is releasing her digital single “You Are Beautiful” during Women’s History Month on March 15, 2021, to underscore the essential benefit of music — and the “essential work” of those who bring an “experience” to others through music.

“It is beauty that is womanhood. It is charm that is femininity.  It is strength of joy that is streamed through the xx chromosomes that are female.  It is this power that resides in the system that incubates humanity.  Down through the ages — from the beginning of time — we are beautiful.”

The tribute song released by Myrna’s CedarTree Worldwide, LLC is a delightful hybrid of soulful jazz, resolute gospel, and soft melodic progressions, with simple yet poignant lyrics (“Has anybody told you — you are beautiful”).  The “speaker-singer” in the song can be envisioned as a mother speaking to her daughter — or a mentor encouraging a mentee — or even from a higher source.  The musical message of “You Are Beautiful” contains elements of a lullaby, love song — and affirming spiritual anthem.  Myrna’s intention for the Women’s History Month song with its uplifting lyrics set against a ‘silky’ instrumental background is that it will bring a sense of joyful confidence to the listener”.   The cover image for the digital single portrays three generations of women:  Myrna, her mother Minnie, and her daughter Maia – the “M-pire”. 

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Emerging as a musical cultural ambassador who has toured with her band, “The Myrna Clayton Experience” under the auspices of the U.S. State Department, Myrna has performed throughout Eastern Europe, Namibia, and Guatemala.  As a solo artist, Myrna has performed in 17 cities throughout the country of Russia (with Russian musicians) as well as Nigeria, Great Britain, France, and Germany. 

Myrna is committed to the “oneness” of connection that seems to happen naturally for audiences during her performances and recordings.  This, Myrna asserts, is a vital element of what has musicians/artists worthy to fit in what she terms a special category of “essential workers” within cultures and nations worldwide.

“Even as far back as the biblical story of Young David and King Saul, David is described as soothing the mind of Saul, to heal the King through his music.  In the 21st century, our research confirms this, that music, the arts, have ways of ‘healing’ us.  There is no question in my mind, as a singer, I am ‘essential’. How can we consider arts and entertainment as ‘non-essential’? These qualities for public good are what determine a nation’s true culture, true character.”  

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Myrna’s aim is to nurture a network where the essentiality of musical performers and other performing artists is advanced, especially as societies around the world transition into the next phases of confronting the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It is my hope that this song reminds everyone who was born of a mother that it is the resilience of their mother’s essence, regardless of her uniqueness, that makes women beautiful worldwide. All I ask is that we remind ladies of all ages and all abilities, in spirit and in person, that they are beautiful.” 

LEARN MORE: America’s Songbird Myrna Clayton Highlights African-American Connection

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Thank you Deepak Chopra! Our Dialogue about Meditation, Mindfulness and the Divine Feminine

[image error]Thank you to Thrive Global for publishing my interview with Deepak Chopra, “Strategies for Success: Mental Health Awareness Month with Deepak Chopra.”

During May, Mental Health Awareness Month, I have been remembering the strategies which have helped me during the uncertain times of COVID 19. Reading Deepak Chopra’s book, Total Meditation, helped me focus on meditation and learn new mantras. I have been listening to the Chopra 21-Day Meditation series since I discovered them during my divorce seven years ago. I was able to speak to him about his brand new meditation series focused on the Divine Feminine with Alicia Keys.

Lisa Niver: This is Lisa Niver from We Said Go Travel, and I’m honored to be speak with Deepak Chopra. Thank you for being with me.

Deepak Chopra: Thank you for having me. 

LN: You’re introduced as America’s foremost spiritual guru, but I have to say that I would like to introduce you today as Mallika’s dad. Because I loved interviewing her, and she talked to me about how you taught her to meditate when she was 9 years old. Can you tell us about choosing to introduce meditation to your child, because with her books, she’s really changed a lot of children’s and parents’ lives, which, of course, she learned from you.

DC: As a father, I was not there most of the time, and my mother and my wife actually guided a lot of the upbringing of my children, as did my wife’s mother. So, I was a stressed-out doctor at that time, and I thought since meditation helped me so much, I should introduce it, first, to my family, and it obviously made a big difference, and also made it easier for the fact that I was so busy trying to make a living. When Mallika was born, we didn’t have money to even have the delivery.

I was in New Jersey, and I had accepted a position in Boston for my residency, and we were going to move from New Jersey to Boston, and we were told that preexisting conditions were not covered, and my wife was pregnant. So, that was a preexisting condition, and so, actually, I had to send my wife to India to have her delivery. At that time, the delivery, the cost of going to India was 400 dollars, both ways, and the cost of delivery in Boston was over a thousand dollars. So, I called my father in India, and I said I can’t afford to have a child. He said you’re a doctor in the US, and you can’t afford to have a child? I said, yeah, and by the way, that’s still the condition for most poor people in this country. It hasn’t changed. I agonized because I realized if Mallika was born in India, she would never run for president, but I had no choice.

[image error]Mallika Chopra, author of the Just Be Series

So, Mallika will never run for president because I couldn’t afford to have a baby in this United States of America. So, during those years, when Mallika was 9, and Gotham, her younger brother, was 6, I was still struggling a lot. I used to work as a resident. My paycheck was less than 400 dollars a month. So, I had to actually what they call moonlight in the…to make money, and I was moonlighting in the emergency room. So, I would work like 24 hours, then go and work 24 hours in an emergency room, sometimes go without sleep for 72 hours. Obviously, I was burnt out. It helped me, meditation, so I introduced it to my kids, and that’s how it all started.

LN: That is an incredible story that I think a lot of people will find, especially during this challenging COVID time, to see that you’ve had such a change in your situation from the stress side and from the financial side. Our insurance and our healthcare is a mess here in the United States.

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DC: Our healthcare in this country is abysmal. When we talk about health reform, we are not talking about health reform. We are talking about insurance reform, which is, of course, is important, but you know what this did to me is I felt a lot of empathy and a lot of compassion for people who were struggling financially, number 1, for people who are sick, number two, and for the helpless situation that social and economic injustice creates, and we have not just social economic injustice. We have gender injustice, racial injustice, economic injustice.

As a result, we have conflict, war, terrorism, you name it. The whole thing is insane, and you know, I’m always, I’m reminded of a quote from the great Indian philosopher, J. Krishnamurti, who said to be well-adjusted to a profoundly sick society is not a measure of your health or wellbeing, and I personally think, right now, when you look at the world, if you don’t think it’s insane, then you’re declaring your own insanity. Any world where humans are comfortable with climate change, social and economic injustice, extinction of species, eco-destruction, mass pandemics because of a disturbed ecosystem of genetic information, poison in our food chain, nuclear weapons, biological warfare, internet hacking, constant conflict between Republicans and Democrats or Muslims and Hindus or Palestinians and Arabs or, what do you call it, Catholics and Protestants.

It is totally insane, and therefore, the rest of my life is going to be just hopefully contributing, in the small way I can, for a more peaceful, just, sustainable, healthier, and joyful world. I’m not interested in anything else right now, in personal achievement or money or abundance, so, even though I write about because I know that abundance comes from abundance consciousness, and most people I know, billionaires, they confuse a net worth with self-worth. So, bottom line, the whole thing is a mess.

LN: It is a mess, and I’m glad you’re helping lead us in a direction, and it’s actually a very good lead-in to something else I wanted to mention to you is that I really love the book that you and Gotham worked on, The Seven Spiritual Laws of Superheroes.

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DC: It was Gotham’s idea. It was great.

LN: It’s so lovely that both your children are so authentic to their kind of take on meditation and healing, and I loved the part about superheroes because when you talk about these gigantic world problems that seem insurmountable, it seems like we need superheroes.

DC: We need them, although the superhero is not interested in people whose entire life is based on violence. If there are aliens out there, advanced civilizations, they will have nothing to do with us because we are so low on the scale of evolution that we are basically reptilian brains, and our emotional brains are not developed, and our intellectual brains are only interested in self-importance.

LN: Well, so, that brings me to something else that you’ve worked on for many, many years that I, personally, it’s been so valuable for me. I first learned about your 21-day meditation series seven years ago, when I was getting divorced, and someone recommended them to me, and I literally, if they had been vinyl records, I would’ve worn them out, I listened so many times.

DC: Thank you.

LN: Every time I would travel, I would walk in the airport, up and down the terminal, just listening to your voice, you and Oprah talking, and it really, really helped me. So, thank you, because it’s incredible.

DC: Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you for saying that.

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LN: Tell us about the newest 21-day meditation experience with Alicia Keys, about the divine feminine. I love listening to her voice. How did the two of you decide to do this meditation together?

DC: Well, first of all, I’ve been writing about and speaking about the divine feminine for a long time, because I do believe that what we see in the world is the dominance, right now, of a dysfunctional male energy. Well, everything I mention is a problem is the result of a dysfunctional male energy. So, if you look at the divine archetypes in Indian traditions, that’s called Shakti. Shakti means divine feminine, and there are many types of Shakti. The Shakti of joy, it’s called Ananda Shakti. The Shakti of spontaneous fulfillment of desire is called Iccha Shakti. The spontaneous right action is called Kriya Shakti. Clearing the mind is called Jnana Shakti, going over the mistakes of the intellect, Jnana Shakti. These are archetypes that have inspired me throughout my life.

In the Western world, you also have Greek archetypes, Egyptian archetypes. You have archetypes from Africa. They all embody various motifs or themes. So, in Greek mythology, for example, there’s Demeter, the mother energy. There’s Hera, the power energy. There’s Aphrodite, beauty and sexuality. There is Artemis, connection with nature. There’s Athena, wisdom and knowledge. There is Hestia, the homemaker. There’s Persephone, the healer. So, when you look at all these archetypes, you realize that these are the keys for our collective healing. Alicia, I’ve known for many years. I actually was, I did the ceremony for her marriage, many years ago, before her child was born. So, I know her, very well, to be an embodiment of some of those energies. So, when it was time to do this, I asked her, and she said why not?

LN:  I’m enjoying it so much. She obviously has such a beautiful voice, and the way you two work together, it’s really beautiful, and I really am enjoying the new version of the app. It’s very beautiful, the new Chopra app.

DC: Thank you. That means a lot. Thank you very much.

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LN: May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and this Friday is World Meditation Day. Tell us about Love in Action, Never Alone Summit. I know you had one last year. Can you talk about what’s going to be happening on Friday?

DC: It’s will be over 100 influencers and luminaries talking about why we should never be alone, why we can support each other for a more peaceful, just, sustainable, healthier, and joyful world, and the Never Alone Summit, originally, was the idea of an actress, Gabriella Wright, who is British and French and part Indian, from Mauritius. Her sister, unfortunately, died from suicide, and she became obsessed with helping suicide prevention. We now know that every 40 seconds, somebody is dying of suicide in the world. It’s become the second most common cause of death in teenagers. So, we want to address this as more urgent than anything else, the mental health crisis. Now, when we talk about depression and we talk about suffering from depression, we’re talking about a lot of things?

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It’s not one thing. When someone sees a clinicians, they’ll classify depression, situational depression, manic depressive, this, that, the other. That’s a medical way of addressing what 90 percent of people experience at some point, which we call sadness, and it’s also fear, sadness and loneliness. We focused on certain means, one is attention, giving people the privilege of being heard. The second is affection, letting people know that they are loved. The third is appreciation, being grateful for their presence and their company. And the fourth one is acceptance, accepting them just as they are.

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Love without action is meaningless, and action without love is irrelevant, but when you have love in action, then the whole world wants to support you.

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That’s why we have 100 speakers. They’re luminaries in every area, poets, songwriters, Hollywood performers, scientists, philosophers, and also, following the summit, we’re doing a special event, same day, which will be with India, with the Hinduja Foundation, which is a huge foundation, and so, we are partnering with the Indian community, back at home, my ancestors, and Bollywood entertainers and other luminaries. We hope to gradually reach a billion people with just one message, love in action. I think if we do that, we have the hope of a better world. If we don’t, we’ll have tried.

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LN: Wow, one billion people. That’s quite a global community. That’s very impressive.

DC:That’s what we want to do, and it may take us time, but what the heck? What else is there to do?

LN: I’m happy to be a part of it. It’s a great, amazing goal, and I noticed on the site, in the Never Alone Summit, that you talked about the building blocks for a new mental health culture?

DC: Yes. The building blocks of the new mental health culture requires what social scientists call emergence, shared vision, maximum diversity, gender diversity, racial diversity, ethnic diversity, talent diversity, educational diversity, as I said, everyone from entertainers, to story writers, to songwriters, to philosophers, to scientists, shared vision, maximum diversity, complementing each other’s strengths, transparency, and being there for each other, we could probably create a better world.

LN: That’s beautiful. People resistant to meditation tell me they are afraid that they are not doing it the right way, or in the right place. They don’t have the right pillow, or they don’t have the right mindset. Could you reassure people about that everyone can meditate?

DC: Anyone can meditate, and if you take the time to do it, then you’re doing it right. There’s no such thing as right or wrong. You can do meditation. There are meditations for 20 seconds, and there are meditations, for me, I meditate every night for 2 hours. So, you know, meditation’s all the way from 10 seconds, half a minute, 3 minutes, to as long as you want. It serves many purposes, physical healing, which is biological, emotional healing, and also spiritual insight into the nature of fundamental reality. So, the meditations we offer, both on the Chopra app and in my book, Total Meditation, they are for everyone, and you know, if meditation is stressful for you, and you say you don’t have time to meditate, even once a day, you need it twice a day, okay? So, you know, what are you going to do at the end of your life, say, oh, I made a lot of money, I did this, and you lost your opportunity to discover yourself. Meditation, ultimately, is discovering yourself.

LN: That’s very beautiful.

DC: I’m doing a PBS program at the end of the year on my book, Total Meditation, to be shown in 400 public stations all over the country. So, I hope, with all these things we are doing, whether it’s the Chopra Global app, or it’s Never Alone, or Chopra Foundation, it does not matter. The more people that get into personal transformation, whatever their source is, whether it’s a business, like Chopra Global, or foundation, or internet, or other communities, if you want to reach a billion people, then we need everyone, and there is…all I ask myself is this, is, is this going to make a difference? Is this going to improve another person’s life? Is this going to affect somebody’s journey in the direction of peace, harmony, laughter, and joy? Then, it doesn’t matter. Just do it. It doesn’t matter where you…which platform, and so, the more, the merrier.

LN: That’s excellent. I wanted to just read one quote from Total Meditation that you wrote that I love so much. “You need to live in the present moment with certainty about your purpose. You need to allow life to unfold without knowing in advance what the future holds. You need to trust that, at some level, consciousness is taking you in the right direction. These are the basics, the foundation of being awake.”

DC: So, right now, if I asked you, what are you doing, right now, to regulate your blood pressure, your heart rate, your immune system, what did you do to be where you are from being a fertilized egg to where you are right now, the answer is nothing. Existence takes care of itself if you let go.

LN: I really have to say that I, for me, personally, the meditations have made such a difference, the 21-day meditations. I love your books. I love the books of your children, and I wonder, before we go, thank you, so much, for spending this time with me, one of my favorite mantras from your book is so hum. So, before we leave, will you just describe to people what does it mean, and will you say it for people, a few times, because if they just listen to you, they’ll know they’re already meditating.

DC: So hum is the sound of breath. So is the sound of the inhalation. Hum is the sound of the exhalation, but it also means I am, not I am Lisa or Deepak, I am the spirit behind Lisa and behind Deepak and behind everything else in the universe. That’s what so hum is.

LN: So beautiful. We want to invite everyone to participate with the Love in Action summit, and is there a best way for people to get involved, to register?

DC: Just go on the Chopra Foundation website, or just go to www.neveralone.love.

LN: That is more of what all of us need. We need love. We need 1 billion people to participate, and we need to all move to having attention, appreciation, affection, acceptance, and I look forward to participating in the Never Alone Summit. Deepak, thank you for your wisdom, your inspiration, and for being with me here, today.

DC Lisa, it’s a pleasure and a privilege. Thank you.

Lisa Niver: Thank you so much.

Deepak Chopra: Thank you. It was wonderful.

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Feeling Our Way with Cantor Emma LutzThe post appeared f...

Feeling Our Way with Cantor Emma Lutz

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