Rajshree Patel - How to Tap Into Your Vital Force

In this episode I speak with the amazing Rajshree Patel, a woman whose words alone paint the picture of a being who has tapped into their true potential. Rajshree began her career as a prosecutor living in Los Angeles until a fateful misunderstanding of an advertisement led her to attend an event by Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar - the spiritual leader, not the legendary sitar player she thought she was going to see. Despite initial resistance from her overly analytical lawyer-brain, her newfound guru led her to profound realizations that set her on a new course in life.

Rajshree is now an international self-awareness coach, teacher, speaker, and author of "The Power of Vital Force". She has taught hundreds of thousands of people the power of meditation, mindfulness, breath work, and other tools for accessing the innate source of energy, creativity, and fulfillment within.

Listen as we discuss:

• The importance of 'doing the work'
• How we are born happy as a default setting but lose our way in the maze of living
• How the mind is no different than the choices we make
• The core differences between intellect and intelligence
• How we can look to the animal, plant, and cosmic kingdoms as proof that everything in the universe moves with a precise blueprint, including ourselves

This episode is part of our Silver Linings theme.

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Connect with Rajshree Patel on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram @byrajshree

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Website: mogawdat.com

Don't forget to subscribe to Slo Mo for new episodes every Saturday. Only with your help can we reach One Billion Happy #onebillionhappy

Transcript

Mo Gawdat : 0:02

I am so glad you could join us. I'm your host, Mo Gawdat. This podcast is nothing more than a conversation between two good friends, sharing inspiring life stories and perhaps some nuggets of wisdom along the way. This is your invitation to slow down with us. Welcome to Slo Mo. This episode is part of the silver lining theme in which I will try to explore some of the bright side of the COVID-19 crisis with some of my wisest friends. Today, I'm speaking with the amazing Rajshree Patel. Rajshree is an international self-awareness coach, a teacher, a speaker, and the author of "The Power of Vital Force." She has taught hundreds of thousands of people the power of meditation, mindfulness, breathwork, and other tools for accessing the innate source of energy, creativity and fulfillment within us. Rajshree, thank you so much for being here. It's such an honor and a privilege.

Rajshree Patel : 1:18

It is the same for me - my pleasure and my honor. Thank you so much.

Mo Gawdat : 1:22

So I want to start by asking you about the current time. I mean, we are in the last few weeks of - hopefully - last few weeks of the lockdown. I know you live in LA so the west of the US, you know, has been a bit challenging, let's say. How has this experience been for you, being locked down... the challenges around the world?

Rajshree Patel : 1:41

It may sound a little off-putting, I suppose, to say but really, for me, it has been the opportunity to connect with myself, to spend some time with myself, to dig deep and to go in because I find that life for me was full of distractions. So on the one hand, we run. I find I run all day long from one thing to another, one event to another, and there are momentary pauses as much as I meditate and so on. But this was really the universe, collective consciousness saying, "Okay, there's two sides of this coin. How are you going to show up with it?" And so for me, it's been really about connecting and reaching to other people as well, doing what I can to make a difference. And as a result, connecting back to a deeper essence of me. And yet I cannot deny the suffering and the challenges and the anxiety and the stress that people are going through, and I really get it and I connect to it. There were moments where it feels scary, like, "Oh, my God, what's really going to happen?" But that was another opportunity to somehow pull on my strength and to show up for the moment that's required. My dad always used to say, "If you can smile when things are great and not when they're tough, what is the value of your smile?" I kept hearing his words from, you know, wherever he is today.

Mo Gawdat : 3:01

That's true. You know, when I speak to friends that are, that have done the "work", if you want - the internal work - I always get the same response, that this has been a wonderful opportunity to reflect. I personally say publicly that you know how life adds up a little bit of a mess, tiny bit every day, and then you find yourself in a pace and a direction that is not exactly where you want to be. And it was really a very interesting opportunity for me to sit down and sort of clean up, you know? But not everyone's like that. I also speak to some people who are very, very stressed by what's happening.

Rajshree Patel : 3:35

Yes.

Mo Gawdat : 3:35

They're very concerned, they're are unable to see the silver lining and the upside of it. What do you think is the difference?

Rajshree Patel : 3:41

I think the difference is... in a way you mentioned it when you said "people who have done the work". We forget: as human beings, our eyes and ears and everything is directed outside. Our attention is outside on things, people, places, achievements, the Gucci bag, the accomplishments, and today we would trade a toilet paper for the Gucci bag that once meant something, right, to us.

Mo Gawdat : 4:05

Exactly, yeah.

Rajshree Patel : 4:05

So I think what happens is not at home, not in school, do we really learn that there's layers to who we are and layers to our life. And to your point, if you've spent even a little bit of time in your life looking beyond just the objects and the things outside and you start to dig deep, then you realize, "Well, okay, this is the situation. It's not great. It's not pleasant. I'm not denying the complexities and the challenges, but "How do I make the most of it?" I think comes because it's a habit, we cultivate and we culture. I mean, brushing our teeth didn't happen in one day. Parents had to keep repeatedly reminding us, "No, sweetheart, hold it this way." "No, hold it that way." "No, back teeth." You know, it's kind of like that, in my opinion, that we have to recognize that who we are and what we create is really from the inside out, and it's a choice as much as anything else is a choice. You need a reason to be unhappy. You don't really need a reason to be happy. And that is something I don't think we really register. You know, when we're born, we're happy.

Mo Gawdat : 5:18

We're happy, absolutely.

Rajshree Patel : 5:19

There's no reason. There's no, like, "Oh, my dad brought me a chocolate, so I'm happy." Or, "He has a big fancy car, and so we are all happy." We are happy, and we get unhappy for a reason. And that quality, I don't think leaves us. We simply forget that happiness is a choice. It's not something that's interdependent. Being unhappy is needing a reason. So...

Mo Gawdat : 5:47

Of course I don't disagree at all, by the way. That's exactly the basis of my theory, that our default setting, that we come out of the factory happy and that there are reasons to be unhappy. But being locked down, the economic collapse, you know, some people who are social and are unable to go out and party and so on...there are lots of reasons to be unhappy, don't you think? I mean, how do you suggest that people would be able to see all of those reasons and still keep happy?

Rajshree Patel : 6:13

I think the interesting thing is, we think that "Okay, well, because I can party, I'm happy."

Mo Gawdat : 6:19

(Laughs) Yes.

Rajshree Patel : 6:19

Right? The reality is, you're not always happy. And the truth is, you need more and more and more partying to find your happiness.

Mo Gawdat : 6:27

Yes.

Rajshree Patel : 6:27

The reason is our senses get overloaded.

Mo Gawdat : 6:31

Correct.

Rajshree Patel : 6:31

And we don't know that basic sort of information. It isn't like how you party today, will be the same that you'll party 10 days from now or 10 years from now. We suddenly go, "Come on, that's boring. We've done that before. Can't we do something new?"

Mo Gawdat : 6:45

Yeah...

Rajshree Patel : 6:46

We're always looking for more. It's the nature of our mind. And the limitation is not knowing that our mind is different from the choices we make. The mind can go anywhere. It can see a glass half full or half empty. It's your friend or your enemy. But are you in charge of it? To me, it's a different conversation.

Mo Gawdat : 7:08

Totally is. So Rajshree, have you always been like that? How do you stumble on a path that gets you to help hundreds of thousands of people? I mean, like, seriously, I am so grateful for your presence, and I'm sure hundreds of thousands of people would have a different life without you. You know, is that a gift? You get born like that, and then - whoops! "There it is! I'm helping everyone!" ? How did that happen?

Rajshree Patel : 7:30

I think the answer - just a simple answer for the moment - is, I believe, yes. Because who we are at our core, at our essence is number one, full of potential realities, full of energy, full of intelligence - different from intellect. Intellect is the labeling, judging, analyzing, dissecting, dividing faculty which creates the misery. Intelligence is the sense of "Eureka!", insight, intuition, "I got it. I know." It's expanded versus contracted. And how I got here is perhaps a fluke, at some level.

Mo Gawdat : 8:07

(Laughs) Okay. That's interesting.

Rajshree Patel : 8:10

Yeah, perhaps a fluke at some level, and a greater design. I was living in LA. I was a lawyer working as a prosecutor.

Mo Gawdat : 8:17

Seriously? A lawyer?

Rajshree Patel : 8:20

A prosecutor!

Mo Gawdat : 8:21

(Laughs) Talk about happiness! All right, go ahead.

Rajshree Patel : 8:24

Prosecutor, not just a lawyer. I had moved from New York, which is where my family was living, to Los Angeles. And I happened to on a Sunday evening see a little sign in a magazine that said, "Public gathering - Pandit Ravi Shankar".

Mo Gawdat : 8:40

Oh!

Rajshree Patel : 8:42

Yeah, you got it!

Mo Gawdat : 8:43

Of course!

Rajshree Patel : 8:44

You got it! This is the intellect, right? I know Ravi Shankar as a sitar player. So I thought it was the famous sitarist - who is no more - from India. And I thought I was going to go to a concert. So I kind of signed up for it...

Mo Gawdat : 9:00

No way.

Rajshree Patel : 9:01

Yes way. Yes, 100% percent way. I arrived and, expecting to see a music concert, I see a chair...

Mo Gawdat : 9:09

Exactly.

Rajshree Patel : 9:10

...with a little table, flowers, and in fact not a musician but a spiritual master, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar.

Mo Gawdat : 9:18

Correct.

Rajshree Patel : 9:18

So what was going for me was sort of, "Okay, well I'm here. Let's make the most of it. Let me at least be curious." And I stayed. And I listened to wisdom from him on Vedanta, meaning the principle of oneness, from ancient India. And then I decided, "Well, alright, I'm here. Let me look a little further." And then I did a weekend workshop called The Happiness Program. And that... that transformed the way I look out of my eyes. To be honest, I had never considered looking past my left brain. The reason, the logic, the rationale, always looking for proof - of course, that's legal training. That's actually our training, whether you're a lawyer or not. And what occurred to me is, we believe in what we already know. We follow what is within our experience. But that means we're limited. That means we're not really open to life. And that never occurred to me, that I was that way. I was just operating on, "This is my conditioning. This is what I know. This is my truth." I had made my religion and I spent - probably like many people - a lot of time trying to convince others to follow my, "way of thinking"; religion, you know?

Mo Gawdat : 10:32

Absolutely. Yeah, yeah.

Rajshree Patel : 10:33

But that weekend opened up something and it was through simple breathing techniques, really - something that anybody can do. No focus, no concentration, no visualizing, no imagination, no mental effort - quite the opposite. Just using the breath as an exercise to get deeper and deeper into my inner landscape which I had never looked at. There's the belief that if you come from India, one more of those conditioned things, "Oh, you must know about meditation."

Mo Gawdat : 11:05

(Laughs) Yes.

Rajshree Patel : 11:05

"You know how to sit still and be, 'slow-mo'." Couldn't be further from the truth. You have a billion people in a small place who need to survive and live. Of course every home has the sense of prayer. But this notion of slowing down, looking inward, doesn't really exist. In fact, everywhere in the world including India emulates the West, right? "We want what the West has." And if we look around the West, we have all the comfort, but the soulfulness is ill in a certain sense, meaning we don't know how to be happy in spite of having everything.

Mo Gawdat : 11:44

That is incredible, really. I mean, it's true that some of the countries that have most are actually the countries that also have the highest suicide rates. It's really interesting that the more we have, the less happy we become, the less content, the less peaceful we become.

Rajshree Patel : 11:59

Yeah.

Mo Gawdat : 12:00

Yeah. I had the joy of meeting Sri Sri Ravi Shankar in 2017. And I pictured him in a certain way at the time - I wasn't following his work. And then I go there and there is this vital man! You know, it's like... and I was told he sleeps four hours a day.

Rajshree Patel : 12:10

I think that's a lot!

Mo Gawdat : 12:17

So he sleeps less than 4 hours a day?

Rajshree Patel : 12:19

Yes, I have been with him. Yes.

Mo Gawdat : 12:21

So how does that work? When I went to visit him, there must have been like 500 people waiting to visit him. And he gives full attention to every each and every single one of them.

Rajshree Patel : 12:31

Yes.

Mo Gawdat : 12:32

Different - if I use my engineering terms - it's probably a different machine configuration, then all of us. Is he not like us? What's going on there?

Rajshree Patel : 12:40

That's an interesting question. So I think the first thing is, he is tapped into what we all have. It isn't that he has it and we don't. We all have this limitless amount of energy and potential. The truth is, Mo, if you ask a million people - successful or other otherwise, by anybody's standards - "Have you reached your full potential?", we will all say "No..."

Mo Gawdat : 13:04

Not even close, yeah.

Rajshree Patel : 13:05

...there's so much more I can do." So I think that he's tapped into a source of energy and power. And what I mean by that is, his identity is not limited to what he achieves, or his gender, or his nationality, or his race, or the country he's in. I think his sense of who he is, is something bigger. He touches, accesses his himself as source of joy, source of happiness, rather than "I need something in order to be happy." So that's the first thing. I really think that that's very different. And if you asked him, "Are we different from you?" he would say "No, no, we are the same. You are seeing yourself from your limited beliefs, conditioning that you picked up along the way. That is probably, and it's okay that it's there. But look underneath." Because going back to kids, if you look at children, they take a 20 minute nap and they come out roaring to go.

Mo Gawdat : 13:31

(Laughs) Exactly.

Rajshree Patel : 14:08

Right?

Mo Gawdat : 14:08

Yeah.

Rajshree Patel : 14:08

They can play with 500 people, adults, and not be tired. Why? Because energy, enthusiasm, excitement, joy, is how we're born. But we forgot, I think. Sri Sri is a remarkable human being who, in a way, has never grown up. He is in touch with the simplicity, the innocence, the power, and he doesn't let things stick to him. He's not waiting for other things to make him happy. He's saying "I am happy. And I can carry a thousand, a million with me." It's an intention.

Mo Gawdat : 14:43

That's so beautiful.

Rajshree Patel : 14:45

In a way you're doing that, right? You're saying - with a Billion Happy - you're saying, "Okay, I made a choice to be happy." I know a little bit about your life and what you've gone through in terms of your son, and you had a choice to make. And I'm just sharing in that sense and, of course, deducing. You could have made the choice to withdraw and pull away, I suppose. Or you could make the choice that you have made, which is, "No, I'm going to emulate the joy of my son, and I'm going to carry a billion with me," right? And that's, in a sense, what Sri Sri is doing on a daily, week to week, year to year basis. And 500 is a small group. You know, we sometimes have a secret meeting, he shows up at the airport, and we have 5000 people there - how do they find out? - and he greets everybody.

Mo Gawdat : 15:38

I know. I know. I know. It's funny you say that because I will tell you openly, I've never been more energetic. I've never been happier. Somehow, the idea of trying to give a small part of me to others to be happy, just comes back to me in folds, really. It's orders of magnitudes higher and bigger and more powerful and more energizing. And it's really interesting because you walk into those conferences or talks or meetings or whatever, and you may need a little bit of energy. But at the end of it, the energy of the audience... and I know you know that because you do the same. It's really amazing what making others happy gives back to you. And maybe that's something that - I haven't heard anyone say it so clearly, but I think that's an invitation for everyone listening to us - that probably one of the better ways to find happiness is to make others happy... is to give to others. Because you access yourself. Yeah. From that point, so you go to that conference, and then that's it, you're transformed? You can help everyone?

Rajshree Patel : 16:38

No! No, because I have a left brain. I'm a lawyer.

Mo Gawdat : 16:42

(Laughs) Oh, yes.

Rajshree Patel : 16:43

I don't, like, cow down so easily. My mind is going "Come on..." First of all, I sat there saying "Well, if this is all so amazing, there are a billion people in India. Teach them. How come you're here?" The left brain was very active, very engaged, strategizing, analyzing, and so on and so forth. But what I started to discover, as I used the tools in a very short span of time, is number one: As much as I wanted to achieve and accomplish, I was getting in my own way. I was stopping myself because this limited set of beliefs that I picked up, and assumptions and ideas that I picked up unconsciously and unknowingly, was the only set of toolbox that I was using to do what I wanted to do out there. So some slow progression - and not very slow, maybe three, four weeks later - of using the tools ten minutes a day, I started to have an openness towards life, meaning, "Yes, I believe in this. I might prefer what I believe in. But let me be curious and see what else is out there." I learned to listen reasonably, rather than waiting to respond from my own position. It got me out of a fixed, entrenched position that I think we all walk around with. And unfortunately, as technology is evolving, we're getting more and more "AI", if you will... more and more left brain.

Mo Gawdat : 18:13

Yeah, of course we are.

Rajshree Patel : 18:14

Where we take a position.

Mo Gawdat : 18:15

Of course we are.

Rajshree Patel : 18:17

And life is a whole: a left brain, reason, logic etc. Creativity, innovation, openness, availability of allowing. It's the head and the heart that need to come together. And we're over-drilled on the left side of our life. And so that naturally, without trying, without doing, opened up new perspectives for me. And I'd say like six months later, I left law. I went to India. The plan was to just go for six weeks, and I didn't come back for five years.

Mo Gawdat : 18:51

Oh, wow. Okay, the left brain is gone!

Rajshree Patel : 18:55

Well, suddenly I discovered a universe I hadn't known. And that is available to all of us if we're willing to step out of our way, give something new, a moment, a try. And I didn't come back, actually, for five and a half years almost. I traveled throughout India, throughout Europe. I came back because they wouldn't renew my immigration status, my visa, otherwise maybe I'd still be there. But then I went to South America, Asia and so on, just really spreading this knowledge. And you have to remember, that's back in '89 to '95 - those first five, six years - when yoga was weird.

Mo Gawdat : 19:33

(Laughs) Yoga is still weird. Let's just agree to that, no?

Rajshree Patel : 19:37

(Laughs) Yeah! Talking about happiness was weird, right? Soft skills, transformational leadership versus leadership where it's autocratic and following rules and regs and process and procedure - nobody really talked about it. So in that way, I was a maverick and saying "No, no. Look." Because I was so struck not only with my own experience, but what I started to see happen to anybody who was using those tools, those techniques.

Mo Gawdat : 20:04

So the techniques are so simple.

Rajshree Patel : 20:06

Very.

Mo Gawdat : 20:07

You're a left brainer. And actually, I love that we're having this conversation because unfortunately, three of every four people that are successful in the professional field are trained to become left brainers, right? And we're trained to suppress our emotions. We're trained to not trust our intuition, and so on and so forth. And then someone shows up and tells you, "Just breathe. Breathing is going to work. You're going to be fine." Right? Now, how do you shift your mind around that? Is it just because you tried it and it worked? Is it really believable that something as simple as breathing can change your life?

Rajshree Patel : 20:40

Yeah, well why not? First of all, it's the one thing that keeps you alive. So maybe there's more to it?

Mo Gawdat : 20:45

(Laughs) Yeah, yeah.

Rajshree Patel : 20:47

It's on autopilot, so we don't think about it. It goes in, goes out. If you climb a flight of steps or you have asthma, then you go, "Oh, I value my breath", but there's a great secret hidden in the breath. And there's enormous science - it's the number one way we detoxify. It is not through sweat. It is not through waste products, but the primary 90-80% of our toxins - not just the gases, but lactic acid that we build up and whatever toxins we have in our body - goes out with the breathing on an exhale. But there's another trick to it. The inhale brings in this power, this energy, this vitality, that we all need to do what we want to do in life, and there's a direct correlation between the level of our vitality and how we feel. When we're tired, when our vitality is low, no matter what amazing thing is happening, our mood is low. We don't necessarily perceive the world with bright eyes. We perceive the world pessimistically. And when our energy's high, when we're rested, when our vital force - the feeling of well-being if you want, you can see that - is high, then no matter the challenge, we rise to the occasion. We have the sense that, "It's okay. I can get through it." So that's the first thing. And one of the things that I like and I guess I would add to what you said is it's true: successful people are very active with their left brain. But what I would say to those successful people is, it's only half success.

Mo Gawdat : 22:25

Of course.

Rajshree Patel : 22:26

200% success is success. 100% comfort in life with 100% joy, fulfillment, peace, connection. And if you're not tapped into that, you're walking around 50% successful. And the way in is through breath. And how does one know? You have to experience it. No point in me giving you the recipe for a brownie, and you say, "Well, sounds great." Well, just taste it. Simply use it. Breathe a little deeper. Enter sleep by breathing deeper, fuller, instead of the "yada yada yada" of your mind going, "I should have, would have, could have," or "What didn't work in my day?" Bring your awareness to a simple tool of a long inhalation and a very long exhalation. What it does - because your body, your breath, your mind are connected - it brings your mind very gently to the present moment. Your breath is always in the present moment. It's the mind that's messing us up, our thinking, our brain that's messing us up. And we're not sitting around putting more attention on the positive of life. We put more attention on what's not working. That's neuroscience, right?

Mo Gawdat : 23:41

Of course. Yeah. Yeah.

Rajshree Patel : 23:42

We're hardwired with a negative bias and we focus on what didn't work in our life, not what worked. We're stuck in the past or we're stuck in the future.

Mo Gawdat : 23:52

Correct.

Rajshree Patel : 23:53

And what the breath does, is it pulls us out of the anger, the regret, the guilt, the blame, the impatience, the agitation that comes with the past-thinking into more present. Or it pulls us out of the fear, the worry, the anxiety. Like, well, that's what's going on now. We don't know what's going to happen. And we don't deny that it'll be difficult when we come out of this corona quarantine. Who knows what the economy will be a year down the line? But it in no shape or form helps you to use your energy to worry about it, to be anxious about it. You are not more creative, not more innovative, but actually lesser optimized mentally, lesser happy in what is in front of you. You know, you could say, "All right. I get to spend two more weeks or two more days with my children." I mean, could you imagine how they must be like, "Wow, I have all of my mom and my dad here by their standard, because they're not working. They're home!"

Mo Gawdat : 24:57

Yeah.

Rajshree Patel : 24:58

So we have to flip our perspective and doing it is the answer - not talking or listening about it, in my opinion.

Mo Gawdat : 25:07

Yeah, so "taste the brownie" is the advice. It's like, "Don't take our word for it, just go ahead and do it. I mean, what's the worst that can happen? You're gonna try it for a week. And then you'll find out for yourself." And I find that to be quite incredible because you start your conversation by saying happiness is a choice. But also unhappiness is a choice. When sometimes we talk to people who are unhappy, it's also the choices they make that cause that unhappiness; it's also that idea of "I don't want to try that. I have my own beliefs. I believe in them strongly." And, and I sometimes stop people and say, "Have they been working well for you? Is there something that you can do differently?" So you call it the vital force. What's the vital force? That's a very well-selected word here.

Rajshree Patel : 25:50

Yeah. So vital force is who we are. It's our innate source of energy, enthusiasm, excitement, intelligence, creativity. It is who you are at your center. It's how we're born. Everything else is just the circumference. It's the electron floating around the positive proton - the events and all of that. So vital force is really accessing you. It is you. We don't realize that it's the armor, the power of resilience itself, that gives us what we need to get through what's happening now, what was happening before, and what's going to happen after the corona situation. So, for me, it's your smile on your face. It's your connectivity with people. It's your willingness to risk and say, "So what? I'm going to go for it." That's the difference between someone who's thriving and someone who's lukewarm in life. They really have this power to say, "Well, so what? Let's just go for it."

Mo Gawdat : 26:59

And is that something we can cultivate? So in your book "The Power of Vital Force" you talk about techniques and methods that we can use to actually get that to be our essence, to get that to show. Can you share a couple of your favorites?

Rajshree Patel : 27:11

Absolutely. So yes, it is something we can cultivate, and we - it builds incrementally on itself. Awareness, acceptance in itself builds vital force. The moment you get clear, you get clear; you transcend, in a sense, the challenge. But something that I do everyday and I invite people to do is just introduce the simple notion of breathing in and out, particularly when you feel stressed. There's an enormous amount of science behind it. If you're interested, it is in the book. Rather than getting into all of that, what I say to people is, "Every morning, first thing when you wake up, just roll on your back, your hand on your belly and on your chest, your palm or along your side, and start to do long breath in and out. 10 long breaths in and out." Why? Because you shut off your hard drive. When we're sleeping, there are a lot of files that are opening up in the background, like on our computer, right?

Mo Gawdat : 28:13

Yeah.

Rajshree Patel : 28:13

You're working on one file, but there's 20 files open in the background, taking in energy, slowing down the computer - meaning ourselves - and getting us glitched up in a sense. So how do you shut that off? So many times I myself and people will say, "I just feel like I got up on the wrong side of the bed." That means there's a lot of files open; your sleep was "disturbed". So the first thing's first - 10 long breath in, and I really say out loud to myself, "Another day, another life, and anything is possible." I invite that into my life. I take an intention for that into my life. "Another day, another life, and anything is possible," because it is. It is not mood-making. And then, last thing at that time, I do the same thing. I'm very grateful for the fact that my breath is moving in and out. I elongated - that is the trick. Long breath in and out. I let the day go and I say out loud, even if it's in a soft voice, "A day and a life is over." See? It's over. You get to begin fresh and new tomorrow morning. "A day and a life is over." Whatever it is, I've done the best I could. Tomorrow morning is a new day and a new life. I invite closure for myself, compassion for myself, which allows me to wake up with a little bigger energy or vital force or smile on my face. So those two things are a must for everybody. And I do do this before my lunch. Even as I'm maybe standing in a cafeteria or waiting for the waiter to bring me my food or just before I sit to eat, I put some awareness on my breath again. Meaning, I've spent the morning running around...my mind: "I should have... oh my god... that happened... that didn't happen... that didn't happen..." Okay, now I'm going to eat. Our gut and our limbic brain are tied together. Our emotional brain and our primal "gut" - if you will - reaction are tied together. So when you sit down to eat, to say, everything stops for that 10 seconds where you just take a long breath in and out and I kind of look at my food... maybe it's sort of like saying I'm praying. I'm not even praying. I'm just "slow-mo". (Laughs)

Mo Gawdat : 30:44

(Laughs)

Rajshree Patel : 30:45

I'm just "slow-mo" in that space. And then I eat, because it digests my food better. What you eat, you become. My thoughts slow down. I change the pH balance of my body. You know, instead of being acid run, at least that "slow-mo" makes it a little bit more alkaline. So I take 10 more breath consciously before my lunch. If nothing else, these three pauses, these three moments of "slow mo" will speed up how well you do things - not how well you think internally, but how well you are being.

Mo Gawdat : 31:23

That's it! Three moments in the day, you slow down, you just find enough time to attend to yourself and reorganize and shut the bad files down...and that's all it takes.

Rajshree Patel : 31:35

It's a beginning. And it's a huge beginning, really.

Mo Gawdat : 31:38

It really is. I really want to close on this very positive, very positive note, but I want to go back to a comment that you said earlier and ask you, because I can now see more and more from your conversation when you said it's part of a design. Do you believe that some of us or all of us are subject to a well-designed life? That we're supposed to be here for a reason? Is there something that integrates between all of us? How does that work?

Rajshree Patel : 32:08

Mo, let's just use our left brain for a moment, ok? Just for a moment.

Mo Gawdat : 32:11

(Laughs) Ok. Yeah, yeah, alright. It wasn't with me anymore. Let me switch it on. Alright.

Rajshree Patel : 32:16

(Laughs) Let's just see. If you look at the cosmos, the universe, everything is moving with precision.

Mo Gawdat : 32:23

Incredible precision, yes.

Rajshree Patel : 32:24

The stars and the planets have a precision movement, and allocation and orientation. If one little thing is out of place, everything implodes. If you look at the animal kingdom, it has precision. The laziness of the lion is the safety of the forest. He eats once and then sleeps for whatever amount of time. Otherwise we'd go on losing deer. There is a hierarchy, there is a structure, there is an order, there is an intuition by which the animal kingdom functions. There's an intelligence driving it. If you look at the plant kingdom - how trees grow, the process of photosynthesis, which trees grow where, how fruits are given - there is a intelligence behind the plant kingdom. If you look at chemistry - elements, physics, protons, electrons - there is a precision. I don't understand why human beings think that everything in the universe has a plan, a blueprint, an intelligence that is driving it, but we are somehow...

Mo Gawdat : 33:30

(Laughs) Yeah. Right, we're exempt! Yeah, yeah, exactly. We're special.

Rajshree Patel : 33:33

We're not part of it.

Mo Gawdat : 33:35

(Laughs) Yeah.

Rajshree Patel : 33:35

We're not a part of it. The distinction is sapiens sapiens, we have the ability to observe ourselves. That is the distinction between the rest of the intelligence and we as human beings, but we are certainly part of the whole. So my answer and my opinion and my experience, along with many others is yes, we are part of a grand design with the ability to move those chess pieces as a creator if we choose, but each chess piece has its parameters in the sense that it's part of the whole. And when we think this way, it doesn't limit us - it actually makes us more powerful...

Mo Gawdat : 34:18

I was going to say...

Rajshree Patel : 34:18

...more expanded, more whole, more together.

Mo Gawdat : 34:22

Yeah. When you flow with the objective of the design, it gives you the power of the whole. So one person reaches 100,000 people, right? One person finds not only what is important for them, but what's important for everyone.

Rajshree Patel : 34:38

But also, we all have experiences in our life where we planned to a tee and it didn't work out.

Mo Gawdat : 34:46

(Laughs) Oh, yeah! Like now.

Rajshree Patel : 34:48

And on the other side - you didn't plan, you weren't even expecting, and amazing things "work out". I mean, like, I'm here because of my notion of going to a sitar player. I'm speaking with you, and I'm connecting with your audience and being part of their life for this moment. That's a whole. That's an intelligence.

Mo Gawdat : 35:09

But then the question is: What is the design? What does that intelligence want from us?

Rajshree Patel : 35:13

That is not the left brain answer. That is about, it wants you to live. And I don't think it wants you to live with a frown on your face, with greed and jealousy and miserably. I think it's saying, "You are the whole. Own it, live it, smile, and move. Don't get caught in events because events come and go. You're bigger than that. You're the water in the river, not the stone and the log and the pebble in the river. You're the force itself." Well, that might sound ridiculous, but look around.

Mo Gawdat : 35:47

It doesn't at all. You're amazing.

Rajshree Patel : 35:50

You're amazing! Thank you. (Laughs)

Mo Gawdat : 35:52

Rajshree, I cannot thank you enough for being here. For those of you listening, read the book "The Power of Vital Force" or go to the website, thepowerofvitalforce.com. I think you would benefit a lot from Rajshree's work. It's incredible to have you here. I will just say to everyone: Taste your brownie, and every morning remember, "It's another day, another life, and everything is possible," just like our encounter today and our conversation. I am so grateful, Rajshree, and I really hope that you continue to spread this wonderful message around the world.

Rajshree Patel : 36:24

Thank you so much.

Mo Gawdat : 36:25

Thank you. And for all of you who joined us, thank you so much for listening. Be sure to follow me on social media. Search for Mo Gawdat, Slo Mo, Solve For Happy, or One Billion Happy. I know you've got a lot going on. But remember, there is always time to slow down. Until next time, stay happy. Transcribed by https://otter.ai