Departing Dharamshala with Love

Thoughts on my time meditating in India, words from the Dalai Lama, and taking care of our brains

Hi friend,

Apologies for the delay. Just left my meditation retreat in Northern India and now on my way to Italy. It's been a whirlwind of catching up since I got my electronics back on Friday, but these emails must go on. They keep me grounded, focused, and writing. No video this week, but a bit more writing instead.

The last 10 days here in Dharamshala at Tushita Meditation Center have been such a delight. Coming from my previous militant meditation retreat, this place could not have been more opposite. We had lectures from a genius western nun, generous time for discussions, and ample break time to catch up on my reading. (Finished 7 books during my time here - a new record for a week's worth of reading!) Also, I found some answers to my plans for the end of this year… more to come on that later.

Here at Tushita, I learned about the various lineages of Buddhism and why my experience in Thailand was so different. The teaching at Tushita centers around Tibetan Buddhism (or Mahayana) that analyzes and often challenges Buddhist teachings as a part of discovering our "truth". The teachings in Thailand follow Theravada Buddhism, which is more fundamentalist and focuses on discipline (using blind faith). I had no idea going into this journey that there were such radically different ways Buddhism is taught and I'm joyfully absorbing all of these experiences. The highs and the lows.

One biggest takeaway of the week - we are not what we think. Just as much as we'd like to think our thoughts and emotions should mean something, we fail to see that they are extremely temperamental, fickle and biased.

Imagine if I just gifted you a rubber teal ball. If you are like me, you might absolutely love the color teal and be ecstatic with the gift. But if you don't care for teal or rubber balls (or even worse, hate them both), the gift broods negative emotions. The physical object is not changing (rubber teal ball), but the feelings they incite can be polar opposites. We carry emotional prejudices with us every day and allow them to affect our relationships, work, and self-care.

With that, I bid you farewell for another few days as I go and explore the sights of Rome and Florence. Addio!

---

An Enlightening Book

At Tushita, they have a library full of books on mindfulness, spirituality, psychology and everything in between. It was heavenly. I finally had the chance to sit down and read Dalai Lama's book - The Art of Happiness (4.16 on Goodreads), and it was one of my favorite books of the week.

Think Tibetan Buddism insights meet western psychotherapy. A renowned western psychiatrist interviews the Dalai Lama and captures his perspectives on topics from attachment, love, death, and even psychedelics. I was extremely fascinated by the answers from his holiness, and you just might be too.

Watch a World Class Memorizer, Memorize

Nelson Dallas, a 4x US memory champion, shows how he memorizes NATO (The military "alphabet": Alpha, Bravo, Charlie) on camera. A really fascinating look at how he learns concepts in real-time.

Giving Our Brains a Bath

I love articles on sleep. They put more and more pressure on me to sleep more! (and yes, my sleep has improved dramatically this year for the better)

As we age and naturally become more sleep-deprived, the likelihood to develop Alzheimer's increases. Researchers uncovered that sleep has an effect on how well our brains can wash away toxins and waste proteins. It makes total sense why we should approach sleep with as much diligence as we do with our daily showers.

As always, thanks for reading!

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Have a beautiful day!

Metta (loving-kindness),
Steven

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