A complete fast is a complete and literal denial of self. It is the truest prayer.  ~Ghandi Up until a couple of weeks ago, I had never fasted in my life. I know that some people use fasting as a way to seek or achieve spiritual enlightenment, but it’s just something I haven’t needed to do. For me, at least during the past few years, I’ve been able to fall into the spiritual “zone” pretty easily, through breathing, light meditation… Read more

This blog post recently appeared in Elephant Journal and is a revised version of a story you may have seen here in February. The good news: the bus driver has just been identified. His name is Sal and I hope to meet with him and write about it in the coming weeks. I used to commute by bus from North Jersey into New York City, and every once in a while would ride with a bus driver who was very… Read more

I just finished the book Illusions by Richard Bach, an old favorite I hadn’t read in a very long while—and found it just as compelling as when I first read it 2 or 3 decades ago. The book centers around a character by the name of Donald Shimoda who crosses paths with the narrator, Richard. As they travel the countryside together as barnstormers, selling joy rides on their small planes, Shimoda is revealed to be a “messiah”. Shimoda passes along… Read more

I recently posted the following entry on Twitter: Had a meeting with God on my bus ride into work today, it’s going to be a good week. A new Twitter friend read this and responded, “Wow! Have a great week!” Which got me thinking—this was one tweet that needed a little further elaboration than the 140-character limit afforded by Twitter. If you’ve read some of my past blog entries, you know that I’m a firm believer that God can be… Read more

If you asked 100 people what the single-most important passage in the Bible is, you’d probably get 80 to 90 different answers. But I believe there’s a single passage that is so powerful—and so personifies the real teachings of Jesus—that it has the power to literally change your life. It starts with Luke 17:20: One day the Pharisees asked Jesus, “When will the Kingdom of God come?” Jesus replied, “The Kingdom of God can’t be detected by visible signs,” It… Read more

A few hours after my daughter was born, I picked up the Bible for the first time in years. I was in a small local hospital, and as my wife and newborn slept peacefully in a bed beside me, I noticed a copy of The Holy Bible, Contemporary English Version sitting on the nightstand. I picked it up and flipped through the pages and was surprised to find the book was not the medieval-sounding “King James” version I had glanced… Read more

In my last post, I wrote about the “5 Keys to Happiness”. As a follow-up, I’d like to touch on one way to “connect” to that happiness, by better connecting to the people in your life. I’m going to call these people “connectors” as they can connect you with the things you need most in life–whether it’s the right job, the right place to live or even the right life partner. And the good news is  your “connectors” aren’t hard to… Read more

Now that the warmer weather is upon us, a lot of us are turning our thoughts to summer–and enjoying a well-earned vacation. But since the summer vacation season is still a few weeks off, I’ve been thinking about a quote by Stoic philosopher Marcus Aurelius. Though written almost 2,000 years ago, the words still hold true today: People try to get away from it all—to the country, to the beach, to the mountains. You can get away from it anytime you… Read more

Over the years, I’ve kept journals in which I write down my thoughts, as well as jot down quotes and passages that have meaning to me. After I fill in all the pages in one journal, I start a new one. I recently came upon a journal that I had completed a decade ago, and within it found a list of 11 “rules”. I actually don’t recall putting together the list, but it’s written in my hand so I’m sure… Read more

I have a friend who lives in an ashram in a rural part of  my state. The ashram is comprised of about 20 men and women who live a life of simplicity and religious meditation under the guidance of a spiritual leader, a man she refers to as “the guru”. The guru leads the community in daily chanting and meditation sessions that begin each morning at 5am sharp. He shares his wisdom in individual and group sessions, where he instructs… Read more