Bernard Shaw was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from the 1880s and continues today.

George Bernard Shaw

Choose your circumstances

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George Lois

The creative act

George is a yoga teacher working with poor children in Kampala, Uganda. He has created yoga and mental health awareness, improving the livelihoods of people. George is certified from S-VYASA Yoga University in India, and Satyananda Children’s Yoga at Yoga Pura Vida in Tanzania.

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George Okurut

<h4>GEORGE OKURUT is a yoga teacher in vulnerable communities. He works with poor children in Kampala, Uganda. These projects have created yoga awareness, and mental health awareness, improving the livelihoods of people. George is a certified yoga teacher from S-VYASA Yoga University in India, and Satyananda Children’s Yoga at Yoga Pura Vida in Tanzania.</h4>My journey with yoga started in 2016 when I came to Kampala. I went to one of the dance communities and was introduced to yoga practice; I felt so attracted by it. The trainer, Bobby, told me that I would learn much more if I went to the National Theatre. There I met a lady called Bibotag, who explained the mentorship of yoga. In 2017, one of the teachers gave me a scholarship to be qualified as a yoga teacher for children at Yoga Pura Vida.When I came back to Uganda from Tanzania in 2018, I developed my inner understanding and study of yoga to share with my community. I come from a background of domestic violence, trauma, stress, and depression; and I was also a victim of the war in northern Uganda for almost two decades. So yoga offered me a lot. When I blend yoga with dance, it gives me calmness and a deeper understanding of myself, so that I can be someone who is more transformative with my community.<h3>What transformation happens with yoga?</h3>I found a lot of transformation and help through yoga. I had an accident as a child, while pushing a vehicle that was stuck. I slipped, my legs went under a tire and the car rolled over my back. Afterward, I couldn’t bend my back much. But I started to practice yoga regularly, and now I can flex my back, I can do everything with my back. I’ve benefited from yoga in other ways too, like now I can control my emotions, I know what I need, and it has built self-confidence, because before I had so much anger, even with my family, that I couldn’t so much as talk.Now I can stand in front of my community, share with my community, and through yoga I have helped some from my community to develop inner peace. We have that need for inner peace to understand more of ourselves, to believe more in ourselves.So I’ve achieved a lot of things through yoga, including new friendships, and meeting people I could never have expected to approach.<h3>Yoga in Africa</h3>In the middle of Africa, which is really quite wild and remote, yoga is still very new. I’m trying to create awareness by taking yoga into different communities, and there are many challenges. Uganda is a Christian country, and people feel that we are trying to bring an Indian belief system or religion into Uganda. But with a smile and with my energy, I tell people my story – where I come from, what I’ve gone through, and how it has changed my life. When they hear how it has helped me transform, and how it will help them, they begin to listen. My generation has gone through domestic violence, and because of peer pressure they are smoking, drinking, and they forget their life generally. That is what I’m working on now. I collaborate with different organizations to give them scholastic material, so that they can even go back to school. The more we motivate young people, the more they will believe in something. I have tried to work with people in education; if they keep practicing yoga, with time they will understand the health benefits.<figure class="image image-style-align-center"><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/yoga_for_reconciliation2_68c98863bc.jpg"></figure><h3>Being a yoga artist in the community</h3>Being a yoga artist is like being a dance artist, and it means a lot to me. But the business side is difficult because it’s hard to find clients who subscribe to the teaching. It will be hard to sustain unless a big organization sponsors me to reach out to communities.I come from a community with high crime rates, where peer pressure drives young boys to smoking, young girls to early marriage, pregnancy, and prostitution, and there’s a lot of domestic violence. I use yoga as a tool to transform my community positively, giving them hope. We have a lot of young mothers and children with little money, who cannot easily get medical help. When they practice yoga, they grow healthier so that the small amount they earn from their work can buy other things. I use yoga to teach my community to be healthier in body and mind; not to be traumatized by the alarming situations going on in the country and the economy. I’m so happy to be sharing yoga in Uganda, even if it’s still a challenge.The people here really need this, but they find it very hard to find time, and they cannot pay. I call many organizations around the world to sponsor these projects, and really appreciate those who support us to reach out to more communities, including schools. Yoga is how I earn a living, and I need sustainable work, perhaps as a certified teacher for children and adults in Uganda, where people can come to practice and feel at home with other people. &nbsp;To watch the whole talk, go to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x02ojzfR7OY">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x02ojzfR7OY</a>&nbsp;<hr><h4 style="text-align:center;">Illustrations by JASMEE MUDGAL</h4><hr>

Yoga for reconciliation

Amantine Lucile Aurore Dupin de Francueil (1804–1876) was best known by her pen name George Sand.&nbsp; She was a French novelist and journalist, and one of the most popular writers in Europe at the time. Sand was a notable writer of the European Romantic era, with more than 50 volumes of various works to her credit, including tales, plays and political texts, as well as her 70 novels.

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George Sand

The last limit of experience

George Santayana

Habit is stronger than reason

George Shinn

Collaboration

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Georges Braque

What is art?

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Georgia O’Keeffe

With color and shape

Ghazal is studying neuroscience in the medical program at Texas A&M University and has published research in international journals on the Internet of Things and Special Education, the neuroscience of meditation, and breast cancer.

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Ghazal Yadav

<hr><h4>GHAZAL YADAV asks if we have been sleeping long enough and soundly enough. She explores the relationships between work-life balance, toxic productivity, FOMO, social media, and declining sleep quality around the world.</h4><hr>It is no secret that sleep has slowly been pushed lower and lower on society’s priority list of needs. In the United States, adults average <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/166553/less-recommended-amount-sleep.aspx">6.8 hours</a> of sleep, a stark difference from 1942, when the average was 7.9 hours. Sleep disorders are on the rise, and melatonin sales in the US have increased by almost <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28095978/">500%</a>, with sales of 62 million USD in 2003 compared to 378 million USD in 2014.At the onset of 2023, many people probably added “sleeping more” to their New Year’s resolutions. As with many of the items on their list, however, this will be easy to give up quite early into the year. To truly reprioritize sleep in our lives, we need to examine the root of the problem: sleep is no longer considered a worthy need.The concept of work-life balance has dramatically transformed over the past few decades. “Leaving work at work” and fully engaging in our personal lives when we’re at home seems like a distant privilege today. The advent of the smartphone has let work pressure seep into all hours of the day, and most people are expected to remain mentally clocked in after leaving work.Despite the fact that we all face the repercussions of a perimeter-less workplace environment, the modern-day tendency to serve one’s self-interests pushes us to compete with one another and propagate the system, thus compounding the problem. Not only are we now bogged down by an eternal workload, but we feel obliged to cope with it alone. It is now the individual’s responsibility to run the career treadmill and compete, or accept defeat and fall behind. In today’s hypercompetitive environment, choosing to limit one’s ambitions is a death sentence.<hr><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/Getting_better_sleep2_5c29d01618.jpg?updated_at=2023-03-29T10:51:00.644Z" alt=""><hr>What has accompanied this shift in society’s perspective on work is a culture of toxic productivity. Harsh, quantity-driven output metrics now dictate how we spend our time. Life coaches, self-help books, media, etc., all now emphasize how to squeeze out every last bit of work from one’s day, creating the illusion that without quantifiable results life has no inherent meaning. Even the paradox of relaxing productively is now a commonly accepted idea.This is where the issue of sleep being of lesser importance stems from. Why sleep when we can spend the same time making more money? Why sleep when we can study harder? Why sleep when we can spend that time getting ahead of our peers?Most college students, including myself, are familiar with the infamous <a href="https://thepolypost.com/opinion/2015/03/10/article_f5353dc8-c73a-11e4-9bb8-0fe126932886/">College Tripartite Triangle</a>. This is the idea that a student will only be able to attain two out of three main priorities: good grades, enough sleep, and a social life. It is ingrained in us from quite early on that there will never be a point of balance, and that we must sacrifice something in order to live the life we dream of.Maintaining good academic standing is a non-negotiable priority for most, leaving the choice between sleep and socializing. The prevalence of low self-esteem and loneliness issues in this young adult age group makes students more susceptible to the fear of social exclusion, more colloquially known as the Fear of Missing Out. <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8283615/">FOMO</a> doesn’t just encompass the idea of missing out, but creates a sense of “compulsion to maintain social connections.” Naturally, with only 24 hours in the day, college students facing the Tripartite Triangle dilemma find it easiest to compromise on sleep.In this state of constant stress, social media is a convenient outlet. The ability to easily engage our mind in something so enticing that we forget our ongoing struggles creates a cycle of addiction. Social media has shifted from being a means of connection to a means of escapism. Moreover, it seems to solve the FOMO dilemma in that it offers the illusion of staying perpetually connected and up to date with what our peers are doing.Unfortunately, social media use, especially to quench FOMO, can <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0747563213000800?via%3Dihub">affect sleep patterns</a>. Those with FOMO are more likely to check social media within 15 minutes of going to sleep. When coupled with the addictive nature of such apps, it is normal that usage extends into the late hours of the night.Exposure to the blue light emitted by screens at such hours disrupts the production of melatonin. This hormone is integral to our sleep schedule, reducing alertness and signaling to our bodies that it is time to sleep. And in addition, continually stimulating the brain so late into the night makes it harder for the body to wind down. Such high levels of <a href="https://www.sleepstation.org.uk/articles/sleep-tips/social-media/">cognitive arousal</a>, especially when we are physiologically preparing to sleep, disrupt the sleep cycle.<hr><hr><h4>Prioritizing sleep is a crucial first step&nbsp; to spending time at work more efficiently,&nbsp; thus making it easier to engage in&nbsp; meaningful social interactions and remain fully present&nbsp; for our loved ones in the personal sphere of life.</h4><hr><hr><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/Getting_better_sleep3_8e00415d3c.jpg?updated_at=2023-03-29T10:53:17.128Z" alt=""><hr>So, as you plan the changes you have decided to make in 2023, remember to evaluate what systems have prevented you from being able to achieve them until now. Take the time to pause, reflect, and reprioritize. Will you sacrifice sleep for the mirage of productivity? Will you let your fear of social exclusion prevent you from achieving balance in your life? Prioritizing sleep is a crucial first step to spending time at work more efficiently, thus making it easier to engage in meaningful social interactions and remain fully present for our loved ones in the personal sphere of life. In 2023, let’s make sleep high on our priority list.<hr><hr><h4>Illustrations by ANANYA PATEL</h4><hr>

Getting better sleep

Giuseppe is a lawyer from Milan, and founder of BMD LEX Law Firm, specializing in corporate, sports, and entertainment law. He started Heartfulness meditation in 2003, served as the president of Heartfulness Italy from 2018 to 2022, and is now the European ambassador for the Peacefulness project.

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Giuseppe Dottorini

<h4>GIUSEPPE DOTTORINI recently travelled to New York with the Italian National Basketball Artists to participate and also to offer Heartfulness Relaxation and Meditation to all the players, coaches and spectators, of the Italian Brands Basketball League. He shares the experience of combining relaxation and meditation practices before each game of the competition.</h4><hr>The month of February marked the beginning of a collaboration between Heartfulness and the Italian National Basketball Artists, when we flew to New York with the team for the opening game of the Italian Brands Basketball League (IBBL).It all began with Simone Barazzotto, President of IBBL, who had the idea of launching a “never-ending basketball tournament” in New York, involving the National Basketball Artists. They are a team of former professional players, journalists, actors, singers and others from the world of entertainment, and they compete with other teams representing brands from around the world wanting to expand their business in the United States.<img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/sport2_3a95b9d30e.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-10T07:01:45.698Z" alt="sport-excellence-and-joy">Heartfulness joined the initiative as a partner with the aim of bringing its own special contribution to an event rooted in the values of sport, excellence and joy. Not only did Heartfulness send a team, but also offered players and spectators a relaxation session and a few minutes of meditation at the beginning of each event. The purpose was to create a feeling of unity and to bring a subtle inner awareness to the competition.The inaugural event took place on February 5, at the Barclays Center in the heart of Brooklyn, home to the NBA league team, the Nets. The match was between the Italian National Basketball Artists and an All Star team from the brands that have joined the initiative.<img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/sport3_d10c741ce4.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-10T07:02:35.724Z" alt="sport-excellence-and-joy"> Before the starting whistle, all the players gathered in a circle in the center of the court and were led through guided Heartfulness Relaxation and Meditation. It only took a few seconds to create a sensation of well-being and to bring a sense of oneness to a group of individuals from completely different worlds.For almost all it was a first experience of this kind. Many came from backgrounds that might seem the very antithesis of meditation!There was radio DJ, Ringo, a well-known Italian with a pure rock soul, who confessed that in those few minutes he became so relaxed that he felt he could fall asleep! There was Pippo Palmieri, director of a very successful radio program (Lo Zoo Di 105), who went as far as to say that the link between meditation and sport “is something that must absolutely be there, because meditation leads you to have total control of body and mind.” He also confided that “in those few minutes, I understood how to visualize some things. I immersed myself in that moment of absolute relaxation and sincerely managed to find benefit.”<img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/sport4_938301a6c0.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-10T07:03:29.347Z" alt="sport-excellence-and-joy">Some asked to meditate with a trainer again in the following days. One of them was Chris McNealy, former NBA player from the New York Knicks and several European clubs. After his first individual meditation, he told us, “It was a beautiful experience that I’d never had before. During the meditation I no longer felt my body. I had the experience of being present, not knowing where, but knowing I was there, with thoughts coming in and going out, and not feeling any discomfort. It was an experience that from now on in my life I should like to practice regularly.”The next round of the tournament will take place in New York at the end of May, when it is expected that further teams will join. Everyone felt that this initiative has great potential, as it offers a winning combination of sporting excellence and a joyful atmosphere, blended by the subtle condition created by Heartfulness.<hr><h4 style="text-align:center;">Article by GIUSEPPE DOTTORINI</h4><hr>

Sport, excellence, and joy

Glennie Kindred is the author of twelve books on Earth wisdom, creating ceremony, native plants and trees and celebrating the Earth’s cycles. She is a much loved expert on natural lore and Earth traditions with a strong and committed following. She is renowned for her ability to enthuse people with joy, love and wonder for the Earth, to step beyond the everyday into the extraordinary, to tap into the Imaginal Realms within, and to create simple heart-felt ceremony. She is an Earth Restorer and Earth Protector and committed to the power we collectively have to bring about change, both for ourselves and for the Earth.

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Glennie Kindred

<h3 style="text-align: center;">ALDER</h3>
<h4>In Walking with Trees, GLENNIE KINDRED takes us on an intimate and
 profoundly connecting walk with thirteen of the UK’s native trees. She leads us into their world and opens our
 hearts to their wonders, their perfection and their interconnectivity. Here she focuses on the otherworldly Alder.
</h4>

 Walking
 with trees is my delight, my meditation, and my anchor. A daily walk with the trees (not a dog!) helps to deepen my
 relationship with the natural world around me, and opens my heart, my lungs and my mind. If I give myself the time
 to stand still with them, their intrinsic tree-wisdom permeates my consciousness. I feel the presence of their deep
 roots filling the very ground beneath me, and become more aware of the Earth beneath my feet. I breathe more deeply
 and become more rooted, and more fully present. They help me to find my sense of inner stillness and this guides me
 to listen more closely to my intuition and the wild edges of my instinctive self. When I am walking with the trees
 beside me I see a bigger picture, and break free of my old conditioning that would have me believe that I am
 separate from Nature. With the trees beside me I am reminded of my deep interconnectivity with all life here on our
 beautiful complex Earth, and I am made whole.
Trees invite us to stand still a while, to soak up their company and share their
 embedded wisdom and intelligence. By observing their flowers and fruit, the way they grow, their habits and habitat
 preferences, we absorb and internalize their core characteristics. We also experience them at a subtle, emotional or
 vibrational level. Where our observations and subliminal experiences meet, a personality, archetype or signature
 picture emerges. This becomes our guide to a deeper understanding of the trees and what they have to teach us.
Common Alders (Alnus glutinosa) draw me to them at this time of year as their catkins
 begin to open and cast a red haze around the trees. Alders loves to grow in damp boggy places, such as wet woodland,
 marshes, and along rivers. As they reclaim these watery lands, they begin a process of transformation and new wild
 life moves in. Alders are ‘pioneer’ trees and transformation is at the heart of their signature picture. Although
 they are short lived, around sixty to seventy years, their lives count, as they can have a big impact on the land
 and the soil. They will move into ground that is too wet for most other trees, transforming the environment so that
 other trees and plants can follow. Look out for Alder trees when walking the land, as their presence could mean
 hidden water or boggy ground.

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A lovely piece of woodland local to me is full of Alders, and has several springs running down into it. This makes it
 difficult to navigate for some of the year because of the excess water running through it. I imagine this was once
 just a marshy boggy place, and the Alders have been key to creating the mixed woodland we now know and love. It is
 rich with thriving ecosystems and a wealth of native flora and fauna. It is a testament to the power of Alder trees
 to transform a landscape.
<hr>
<h5 style="text-align: center;">A balanced fusion between our outer&nbsp;and inner modes
 of intelligence 
 opens us to new levels of awareness and capabilities. 
 We develop a quiet strength,&nbsp;and
 move into new levels of inclusiveness 
 and a deeper sensitivity and respect for&nbsp;all the interconnected life forms around us.
</h5>
<hr>
Wet swampy Alder woods or ‘carrs’ were thought to be places of mystery and
 otherworldliness. Alder’s were known in myth and legend as faerie trees and were protected from being cut down by
 their association with the Sidhe (Shee or Si in modern Irish). The feeling of otherness these trees evoke is part of
 their subliminal signature, reminding us to take note of the things we cannot see but can sense and feel, and the
 importance of what is happening below the surface, beneath our conscious and visual radar. This is our inherent
 ability to sense and know things. It is not a logical place, but inspirational and alive with instinctive truths. A
 balanced fusion between our outer and inner modes of intelligence opens us to new levels of awareness and
 capabilities. We develop a quiet strength, and move into new levels of inclusiveness and a deeper sensitivity and
 respect for all the interconnected life forms around us.
In legend, the Alder was known as ‘a battle-witch amongst trees’ and this makes it our
 ally in these changing times. A battle-witch to me is the eco-activist or eco-warrior, who knows how to work
 energetically to create change at a subtle level. Learning to work at an energetic level is the foundation of all
 healing work and transformational change. We can all direct focused positive thoughts and healing energy. All that
 is needed is the intention to do so and the ability to slow down our breathing and slip into a meditative state. We
 can all send healing, protection, and strength to where it is needed. We can put up energetic walls and conjure
 positive outcomes if we put our collective minds to it, and we can do this from wherever we are on the planet.
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 src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/walking_with_trees_alder_2_1203211d4b.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-06T06:10:32.593Z">

Alder wood becomes strong and durable when immersed in water and was used extensively for building bridges over
 water, thus linking communities together. Look for where you can build bridges and heal separation both in your
 local and in your broader communities. Be aware of where your thoughts or energy may be negative, blocked or stuck,
 and work to transform this. Reach out with kindness, cooperation, and generosity.
<hr>
<h5 style="text-align: center;">Look for ways to experience&nbsp;a sense of communion 
 and companionship&nbsp;with the natural world around
 you. 
 Our separation from Nature reinforces 
 our legacy of harm and destruction to the Earth. 
 It is time to change the stories we tell ourselves as we begin 
 to experience all life as sentient and interconnected.
</h5>
<hr>
‘Strengthening what lies beneath the surface’ is a key to Alder’s signature energy, and
 also a key to creating environmental change. Look beneath the surface for other ways to address our present
 ecological challenges. A shift in our thinking patterns creates changes that ripple through our lives and those
 around us. Look for ways to experience a sense of communion and companionship with the natural world around you. Our
 separation from Nature reinforces our legacy of harm and destruction to the Earth. It is time to change the stories
 we tell ourselves as we begin to experience all life as sentient and interconnected.
Look for aspects of your life where you are stuck in the old paradigm of seeing yourself
 as separate from the natural world around you.
Every day consciously affirm yourself as part of a great big beautiful inter-connected
 world.
Illustrations and extract from Walking with Trees by Glennie Kindred.
 Available to buy directly from <a href="http://www.glenniekindred.co.uk/">www.glenniekindred.co.uk</a>

<hr>
<h4 style="text-align: center;">Article and illustrations by GLENNIE KINDRED</h4>
<hr>

Walking with trees

<h4>GLENNIE KINDRED loves trees. Here she inspires us to experience for ourselves how trees teach us, help us expand our consciousness, and evoke a sense of wonder for all life on Earth.</h4>I went to the woods And became aware of myselfAs I walked alone I watched the untested parts of myself Awaken, And heard my inner voice Alive and true.And I built a bridge across…I welcomed the bright sureness of my instincts, Followed the stirrings of my intuition, Reached out with my heart to touch the trees around me,I went to the woods and Time slipped… And in that moment I was at One with all of the life around me.I became aware of myself as part of this wonder…And the trees seemed to stir, And welcomed me in…Living my life close to the natural world is part of who I am, and more than once I have found myself standing at the edge of conditioning to sense an awareness of something more … a sense of communion and communication between myself and the plants and the trees, and an absolute certainty of the interconnectedness and sentience of all life.Trees are beautifully present, complex beings, deeply connected with the natural world around them, and the flow of the year’s seasonal cycles. They are totally intrinsic to present life on Earth. They store and utilize vast amounts of carbon from our atmosphere, and are the co-creators of our weather system and climate. These great water-lovers draw up water from below the ground, and fill our air with the circulating waters of life, bringing many beneficial nutrients to the surface from deep within the Earth. They generate the oxygen-rich air that all of us air-breathing creatures need to breathe. We breathe with them and because of them. Their out-breath is our in-breath. They literally give us life.<img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/walking_with_trees3_e5033f1d39.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-06T08:16:08.060Z" alt="walking-with-trees">I can honestly say I am in love with trees. They fill me with delight and awe in equal measure. I collect their leaves, blossom and fruit for my medicine cupboard and they gift me with layer upon layer of medicine for my soul. Being in their presence nurtures me, and the more sensitive and open I become to their sentience, the more levels of interaction and communication we exchange.Trees create an interface, and can be experienced through all our senses. They help us to expand into parts of ourselves that lie at the edges of our consciousness. When I am walking with the trees beside me I feel complete. Their wild beauty opens my heart and can move me to profound joy, and sometimes to tears. When I stand with them I breathe more deeply and become more rooted, and more fully present in the here and now. They help me to slow down and to find my sense of inner stillness. This guides me to listen more closely to my intuition and the wild edges of my instinctive self. I am forever grateful for their blessed presence in my life. …<hr><h5 style="text-align:center;">Trees create an interface, and can be experienced through all our senses. They help us to expand into parts of ourselves that lie at the edges of our consciousness.</h5><hr>As we celebrate, grow, plant and interact with the trees, we re-find our sense of unity with all life on Earth. The trees teach us. We learn from them; grow and expand, regenerate and deepen, as their wisdom permeates through to our depths and helps change us from the inside.As we open ourselves to the belief that everything is flowing in interconnected relationship with each other, our consciousness naturally expands, and we find that there is a lot more going on within us, and in the natural world around us, than we have been conditioned to believe.<img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/walk_with_tree_1511139523.jpg" alt="walking-with-trees">As we expand into our interconnectivity, we change, and our relationship with the Earth undergoes a dramatic shift as we realize that her well-being is our own well-being. We naturally become Earth allies and Earth protectors and live our lives in ways that help the Earth to restore her equilibrium – and this in turn helps us to restore our own.<hr><h5 style="text-align:center;">Together, our many actions, both overt and subtle, are creating the great transformation of our time.</h5><hr>The movement towards caring for our unique and beautifully astounding Earth grows every day, and this gives me hope for the future. I know that I am just one of many people making this journey, and I align myself, my kinship and my heart with all the people who love the Earth as I do, who are redefining themselves as one many interconnected complex intelligent life-forms sharing the Earth’s resources; who are filled with a deep desire to help the Earth restore and heal the damage we have done. Each one of us has our own strengths and parts to play as we collectively do what we can to bring about intelligent compassionate change. Together, our many actions, both overt and subtle, are creating the great transformation of our time.Trees are our wise teachers and our steadfast allies in these changing times, as we learn to walk this new path of co-operation and co-creation with all of life. In Walking With Trees, I invite you to dive in and deepen your roots, to arrive in the world of trees with a benevolence that creates more benevolence, a willingness for enchantment, and an openness to rediscover a sense of wonder for this precious gift of life.<img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/walking_with_trees4_d08fb35c7f.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-06T08:19:23.841Z" alt="walking-with-trees">From the Preface of Glennie Kindred’s latest book Walking With Trees. Reprinted with permission from the author.<hr><h4 style="text-align:center;">Article &amp; Illustrations by GLENNIE KINDRED</h4><hr>

Gopi Kallayil is the Chief Business Strategist, AI, at Google. An avid yoga practitioner, triathlete, global traveler, and Burning Man devotee, he has spoken at TEDx, The World Happiness Summit, and Wisdom 2.0. Gopi’s books, The Internet to the Inner-net and The Happy Human, are available in bookstores and online. He is on the Board of Directors, Grameen Foundations USA.

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Gopi Kallayil

<h4>GOPI KALLAYIL shares his 10 tips for organizing a better life.</h4><hr>I always hear the same lament, no matter who is saying it. CEOs of companies tell me they are overworked. Farmers back in my home village in southern India say they have no time. We can all complain that we are under the tyranny of schedules, that there is no time in our day. Each of us can say that much of our life is driven by someone else’s agenda or outside pressures – things we have to do, things we would like to do, things we are expected to do.When I graduated from business school, I had a terrible time organizing my day. Seven days a week, work was my number one priority. I fed on the thrill of accomplishments. I dashed to meetings, raced to meet flights, and ate whatever food was given to me, like airline food and conference food, which is terrible stuff. My house was a mess, with stacks of bills that I was too busy to open, let alone pay, suitcases half unpacked from the last trip and partially packed for the next. A few times my phone was cut off or my credit card declined. Not because I didn’t have the money, but because I was trying to focus so much on my work and travel that I didn’t have the time to pay bills.It was embarrassing, as though I couldn’t take control of my own life. This chaos went on for almost a year, until I reached breaking point, and started asking myself, “Why am I living this life? What is the purpose of it? What am I trying to do here? And what is the price I am paying?” My life had become travel, bad food, and not enough exercise and meditation. And I realized I had to re-prioritize.I asked myself, “If I only had a few hours, or just one hour, fully under &nbsp;control, what would be the one thing I would do with it that would maximize this quality of joy, presence and life? What would support my five essentials on a day-to-day basis?” I came up with ten items. As the list developed, the idea switched from a theoretical notion to a tactical way to structure my days that would support what’s important to me in my life, what resonates and brings me joy.&nbsp;<img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/time1_a07dc8d16a.jpg" alt="Time">&nbsp;Your list of how to spend your hours in each day might contain different items with different priorities. My list has changed my life, and I’d like to share it with you.Incorporating this list into my daily life shapes how I feel as a human being, and it increases my focus and sense of accomplishment. I become more conscious of investing my time in a manner that maximizes my energy potential. Once you create your list and start following it, once you consciously spend your twenty-four hours each day, I believe you will enjoy increased physical energy and operate at a higher level of performance and productivity. You will alter your perception of time, and change how you view what you focus on. And most important, you will live a life of greater joy and presence.So, what are the ten things by which you will organize your twenty-four hours?&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

Time

<h4 style="text-align:justify;">GOPI KALLAYIL is a successful brand marketing executive in one of the largest global companies in the world. Yet it took a group of very ordinary hard-working women to show him how to live a really fulfilling life.</h4><hr>About 7.2 billion people make up our human family. Half of them live on $3 a day, less than what I pay for one cup of gourmet coffee. Several of these people live in my home village in India, Chittilancheri. My parents both grew up in Chittilancheri without electricity, running water or a college education. In one generation, the family’s fortunes shifted. My parents worked hard and created the opportunity for their four children to earn advanced degrees. My parents were ordinary people.Later in life, I learned the extraordinary impact that ordinary people can have yet again, this time from Oseola McCarty. Former President of the United States of America, Bill Clinton, had come to Google to speak, and had given out copies of his book, Giving: How Each of Us Can Change the World. When I read that Oseola McCarty had created her own scholarship at the University of Southern Mississippi, I thought, “Surely she must be a very wealthy woman.” Well, Oseola dropped out of school when she was twelve to care for her sick aunt, and for the next seventy-five years the only job she had was washing and ironing other people’s clothes.<hr><hr><h4 style="text-align:center;">About 7.2 billion people make up our human family. Half of them live on $3 a day, less than what I pay for one cup of gourmet coffee.</h4><hr><hr>She saved her modest income in the bank, and when she turned eighty-seven she asked her bank manager how much money she had in her account. He answered, “Three hundred thousand dollars.” I imagine she must have said something like, “Son, there are no shopping malls on the way to heaven. I want to create a scholarship so that girls from poor families can go to college.”When news of Oseola’s decision was made public, local leaders funded an endowment in her honour, increasing her gift’s reach still more. Before she died, four years later, the University of Southern Mississippi’s most famous donor received acclaim and honour, including the Presidential Citizens Medal — the highest civilian award of the United States — and honorary doctorates from the University of Southern Mississippi and Harvard. Oseola McCarty was an ordinary person, and her resources at the outset were certainly limited. Yet she made an extraordinary impact on the world.Have you ever wondered if you could make an impact like that on others? I did, sitting in a coffee shop. The barista yelled out, “Gopi, your grande caramel cinnamon chocolate Frappuccino is ready. And it is fat-free.” I knew that only the fat was ‘free’, and it struck me that the drink was more abundant than anything many of the people I knew back in Chittilancheri would enjoy that entire day.<hr>&nbsp;<hr>&nbsp;<h4 style="text-align:center;">“Can I, an ordinary&nbsp;person with limited resources, really make an extraordinary impact on someone else’s life?” Yes, you can, starting today.</h4>&nbsp;<hr>&nbsp;<hr>So I wondered, “Could I sacrifice a few cups of coffee and make a big impact?” I found my answer in Kiva, a San Francisco–based organisation that allows ordinary people, like most of us, to give microloans to women in the Third World to start small businesses.That same day, I made my first loan online, for the princely sum of $25. The entrepreneur who received it was Ngô Thi Chung, a 54-year-old woman living in Trung Giã village, Vietnam, who was starting a farm supplies business. She needed a loan of $1,200, and I wondered how my $25 could help. But never underestimate the power of people working together! In four hours, several others had made modest loans of their own, and she had her $1,200. Next month, I gave another loan to Esther Laboso, a 46-year-old widow with five children living in Kericho, Kenya, who was starting a grain store. The following month it was a fisherwoman in Peru, and then a tailor in Pakistan. I was hooked. This was much better than a grande caramel cinnamon chocolate Frappuccino.Recently, I connected with friends from high school. The lovely Lakshmi, voted most likely to succeed in our class, asked, “Gopi, where are you these days? What are you doing?” And I, who was voted most likely to join the circus, replied, “I am an international banker. I finance entrepreneurs around the world.”Perhaps you are inspired by these stories, but still skeptical that this truth could ever apply to you. “Can I, an ordinary person with limited resources, really make an extraordinary impact on someone else’s life?” Yes, you can, starting today. I learned this from my parents, from Oseola McCarty, and through my work with Esther Laboso and Ngô Thi Chung. As Clinton says in his book, “We all have the capacity to do great things,” and we can do it with whatever resources we have on hand. Ordinary people can make an extraordinary impact.<hr>Excerpt adapted from The Internet to the Inner-Net:&nbsp;Five Wats to Reset Your Connection and Live a Conscious Life.&nbsp;<img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/be_creative_with_money_1_img_2defbcb605.jpg" alt="Be Creative With Money">&nbsp;<hr><h4 style="text-align:center;">Article by GOPI KALLAYIL</h4><hr><hr>

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