We are all standing in the middle of an impact crater from the year 2020.

Over these next few months, you’ll have plenty of time to read bad news about the mental health challenges of being in lock down…again.

It’ll be easy to ruminate on the burning fire of all that's been lost.

But you can make an entirely different choice to build a temple in the midst of it all, and honor the seeds of growth and change and rebirth.

It’s a fine line between destruction and creation.

It's especially true for long-term relationships.

...there are times and years when we need move into the most intense emotions.

That's only possible when you're all in...brain, heart, and GUTS!

Dr. Dean Ornish said, “I am not aware of any other factor in medicine that has a greater impact on our survival than the healing power of love and intimacy. Not diet, not smoking, not exercise, not stress, not genetics, not drugs, not surgery.”

Love may be all-powerful, but it does not always come easily. When we are really sick, mad, jealous, or stressed, it takes a lot of strength to make a loving choice. We need a method, a means by which to draw from the heart when we would just as soon cuss our fate.

Sean was a world class speaker. I mean… he was RIVETING to watch on his massively popular TedTalk.

So I showed up and thought Sean was going to give me tips on projecting your voice, how to command the stage, etc. 

But over the hours we spent together that day, I spilled my beans to him. Told him everything. He kept asking questions. I kept sharing and sharing. 

At one point, I said to him, “Isn’t this supposed to be about becoming a better speaker?”

He explained how his background was in therapy, and you can’t be a great speaker until you are true to yourself. 

He said,

“Being a world class speaker means being a world class human.”

I don't as she was before my time. But she embodied a kind of glamour that Hollywood tried to stretch into the modern day.

With Hollywood imploding along with so much of the pre-COVID era, glamour is changing.

Forget clothes and jewels.

There is a new embodiment of style and grace.

...she knew there was someone deeper and more important than politics.

She became super close with her polar opposite, Justice Scalia

They bashed each other in their opinions and dissents.

But they got together on multiple New Years Eves...

To anyone locking horns with the other political party right now, which I think is almost everyone, this is a podcast dedicated to healing the divide!

But somehow, he is ALWAYS in the flow.

It's a reminder, and a lesson, generosity is a skill, a strength, a practice.

The memories 9/11 are embedded in the psyche of NYC.

One experience in particular changed me forever.

I invite you to take a few minutes that will awaken you to the appreciation and respect for life...in its most bare essence.

Julio Mora and Waldramina Quinteros have been married longer than most people have been alive.
He is aged 110 and she is 104 - and they've just been awarded the Guinness World Record for the world's oldest married couple.

They’ve been married for 79 years. that’s a long time. They’ve been through a lot. What are their secrets? How did they hang in there?

We all know how sometimes the hardest people to be nice to are the ones you live with.

Are there overwhelmingly powerful "signs" or are we making it all up in our heads?

I got a strong dose of that perspective when we were recently in the Children's Hospital for 18 nights.

That's a very long time to be cooped up with an active 3 year-old.

This episode has some intense moments but a very happy ending...

Whether it's telling the story of your life or your business, story is HUGE.

Joseph Campbell lays out one of the most important attributes to a great story...

Rising from your ashes.

He calls it death and resurrection.

It's not for the faint of heart.

But if you are game to be the hero of your life, today's episode is essential...or so I'm learning.

What more can we expect in the year 2020?

Now the NY Times is reporting the United States' governments program researching UFOs. And that we have in our possession a "off-world craft" clearly not from our planet.

Given everything we've all been through so far this year, would you even be surprised?

Eventually, these winds are going to blow down your house.

You can fight it...

...or surrender.

This is the real travel, the distant travel, the healing travel...

David Romanelli

PS: To receive a meditation like this every single day, check out www.DavidRomanelli.com and my daily meditation journey, Better Together.

But Gary England's great regret is not seeking the wisdom of the surrounding Cheyenne people.

What is their relationship with Mother Nature? Do they know something modern science does not?

PS: I'm launching a new experience, The Fly Private Meditation Club.

If you are curious, reach out: info@davidromanelli.com

...this is just the moment when I like to turn on the Grateful Dead.

Our world has changed, but our scale of emotions is very much the same.

Our anxiety and fear and uncertainty might be stronger than ever.

But so are those songs and poems and people who make you feel AWAKE AND ALIVE.

You will receive a meditation just like this…every single day.

You can learn more at my website…www.davidromanelli.com

...or my instagram @wiseelders and check the link in my bio.

We received the call from the pediatrician that no parent ever wants to receive.

We went through the worst fear and have come out of it closer and stronger than ever.

I don't have a lot of bandwidth to create podcasts right now, but I do have a daily meditation program that begins on June 20.

It's a 6 month journey where I send you a brand new guided meditation every single day.

It's about you and I going through the ups and downs of life...and getting Better. Together.

Visit here to learn more: https://bit.ly/3dMdyd6
or
visit my website: www.davidromanelli.com

Maybe this simpler world we are all living in is much better for your happiness.

Actually forget "maybe."

This is truth!

Are we willing to embrace it?

How could this guy fit into a highly successful organization like the Chicago Bulls?

The Bulls coach Phil Jackson was schooled and steeped in Native American tradition.

He knew about the Heyoka which is a kind of sacred clown or backward walker in the culture of the Lakota people of the Great Plains of North America.

The Heyoka creates levity, and balance, when there is tension.

We need that in our culture right now.

In those 6 seasons that ended in Michael Jordan-led championships, his coach, Phil Jackson never gave the team pre-game speeches that got them fired up and sent them screaming their way onto the court.

Rather, Phil Jackson brought everyone together for a pre-game meditation.

It was their way to feel present and grounded and centered.

As Jordan said in an interview, "It helps so much having Phil as our coach. He goes around and burns sage in front of our lockers, and when we're playing bad in practice he'll beat on a war drum to wake us up.

"He believes it, the Zen, the poise. It comes from his meditating, gaining the ability to stay in touch with your body and your inner self, calming yourself when tension is all around.”

My dad took me to Game 1 of the World Series at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. (Even if you're not a sports fan, you'll love this story.)

You'll just have to hear where I was sitting in the moment LIGHTNING struck!

Two things about the cactus.

1. Don’t let the spiky nature deceive you. Beyond that is something profound and beautiful.

2. Cacti only bloom once a year and when they do…it is gorgeous.

But for some reason, fear has a strange pull.

We need meditation to break free…a little more everyday.

***Check out that video from Hong Kong:
https://nypost.com/2020/03/24/video-of-teen-ignoring-coronavirus-self-isolation-in-hong-kong-sparks-outrage/

One lady in michigan reached out to share her story.

"I'm in SE Michigan, in my little neighborhood (of 16 houses)…a nurse friend was pulled out of the pediatric hospital, only worked with children - for 33 years!, never intubated anyone ever, and now has to work the COVID ward.

"Another nurse in our neighborhood was pushed to come out of retirement to work in the tent ward for COVID .

"(Imagine being the patient of a nurse or medical professional that's scared out of their mind!)

"A friend's mom of 94 yrs died of covid after taking her to the hospital...no repsirator available, she died whithin hours.

"My husband saw that there were to be layoffs - so contacted his boss right away to put in for a furlough to let someone younger with a family keep working. We've purchased groceries for neighbors scared to go out, tiny kids at home, laid off. "

People are being asked to use their skills in ways that aren't for them…but for others.

Here's the question. Can you experience a kind of joy and light that is not for you, but for others?

During the pandemic, she said she's lucky if she sees 1 person each week.

Nonetheless, she reached out with a text message that said,

“Imagine surviving all that unprotected sex just to die from an unprotected handshake.”

Let's explore...

A family member lost someone close to them.

And the world lost singer/songwriter John Prine.

I felt that deeply because Prine wrote a song called "Hello in there." It’s a song about the loneliness of growing old.

My recent book was about the stories of old people and what we can learn from our elders. The opening quote in the book was from John Prine’s song, Hello In There.

The words go:

"Ya' know that old trees just grow stronger
And old rivers grow wilder ev'ry day
Old people just grow lonesome
Waiting for someone to say, "Hello in there, hello”

As we are mostly confined to our homes, the trees and rivers are growing stronger and wilder everyday.

And many of us are growing lonesome.

But there is a way through this, a path to healing.

I spoke to a friend from high school who has COVID and described the physical pain she is enduring. Her husband is a front-line medical worker, so along with her physical pain comes anger and fear for her husband's safety.

And yet, she is finding a way to get a beautiful place in her mind and heart.

She shared what distinguishes human beings from animals...our ability to heal what is broken.

As one Hopi healer said, "When you take care of one, you take care of everything else. This begins by looking at yourself. taking care of your body, your home."

Keenu Reeves is pulled from the illusion of his boring life, and finds himself AWAKE in another world.

Being Awake is not comfortable.

This is a moment in history when everyone is temporarily awakened from life in the matrix.

Most of us will fall back to sleep, once the relative comfort of reality returns.

A few people will remain AWAKE. And those people (maybe you) will be powerful beyond measure.

Even in that darkest moment, Churchill took time to paint, and get the reset he needed to in order to charge his batteries.

It seems counterintuitive. When so many people are suffering, how could you possible take time to paint or relax or feel good?

To be a force for healing in this world, now more than ever, you need to paint, to relax, to turn UP the music!

It's about building each other.

To "feel happy" was so pre-COVID.

Now it's...DO HAPPY.

We are all so susceptible to WORRYING...about ourselves, about an elder relative, about the economy.

Walking around like a sad sack of worries is no good for your health.

To anyone out there burdened by worry, this a moment and a meditation to bust FREE!

And if you are wondering, "Oh no, he has a cough." I actually feel great. Please don't worry (;

Is it safe to go back to work? Is it safe to send your kids to school? Is it safe to get back to normalcy?

The President says YES!

The infectious disease expert says NO!

Who are you supposed to trust?

In the pre-COVID world, it felt safe to be part of the collective.

But now, we are back to the Wild West.

Now more than ever, your intuition is a vital force.

How did they get through that moment in history and what can we learn from them?

I spend a lot of my time interviewing elders in their 80's, 90's and 100's and it almost always come down to one common message of how to get through the hardest times in life.

5 cocoons hanging form the lid of a jar in our home...hatched and 5 butterflies emerged.

It’s a great lesson because as we are all settling into this cocoon state, figuring out social distancing, the world out there is becoming a very different place.

How are we going to put the pieces back together again?

Last year I met this 77 year old wise elder who told me an unforgettable story about hitting rock bottom and how she got through it.

Hint: Get your hands in the dirt with the butterflies and the spring flowers and the steadily warming sun.

Breathe.
In.
Life.

But there is a really fierce competition happening all over the world.

Love vs FEAR.

How willing are you to double and triple down on LOVE when so many people are blasting you with fear?

Here are 3 stories to help you do that.

1. For the first time in 60 years, a dolphin was spotted in the suddenly clean waters of the canals in Venice.

2. Check out "A Daily Dose of Love" from the Choose Love Movement. In today's Daily Dose, they shared the #FromMyWindow movement started by children all over the world.
   https://www.jesselewischooselove.org/blog/2020/03/free-10-day-live-stream-for-parents-and-children/

3. Check out @PizzeriaBianco on Instagram and how this legendary chef is back to the root and core of his passion and mission.

The old ways of speed, efficiency, distraction...will not serve us well while navigating a sharp curve.

As one wise elder advised, the struggles we are facing, when seen with proper perspective, are building new muscles, new skills, new capacities.

Darwin famously said, "It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is most adaptable to change."

Imagine how very difficult to be a caterpillar who is scared of the cocoon...who is going against nature.

In this moment of a global pandemic, we’re dealing with nature. Nature is saying to humanity, "Go within…be with yourself…be with your family…shut down the action."

It's probably what the caterpillar feels when it has to go into this cocoon of darkness. God knows if the caterpillar is aware what comes next.

And yet it goes forward in peace…

We will be much more effective and productive if we are grounded, calm, and mentally fit for the challenges of this moment in history.

I tried it...and I could swear my Grandmother was right there next to me. Truly powerful. Worth sharing.

It's more fun to believe...than not to believe.

7 of the 11 people killed in Pittsburgh were alive during the Holocaust.

Ruth Seinfeld is a Holocaust survivor and has a powerful story of forgiveness.

If one thing even the smartest people in the world cannot solve it is this…what happens when you die? And yet there’s enough mystery around that moment of death, it’s worth exploring .

Last summer I led a retreat to witness the total eclipse of the sun in Oregon.

I had seen a total eclipse when i was much younger. But I can’t say I fully appreciated the rarity of the spectacle.

Leading up to the eclipse, I read and heard so many stories about how, in the moment of totality when the daytime sky turns black…and the sun’s corona becomes this ring about light around the moon…people emotionally unhinged.

During this retreat in Oregon, one lady on my retreat accidentally recorded the moment. In just a moment I will play for you the audio of the people in our group, during the moment of totality.
During the eclipse I was standing next to a very close friend whose mother had just passed away.

As I’m staying here next to my friend…and the moon is covering the sun…and the light is dimming…you hear the sounds of the animas, confused by the sudden loss of light, the wind is blowing, the shadow of totality is approaching for the westerner horizon at 2400 mph…it’s just otherworldly.

And my friend is crying…saying this dimming of the light is what he thinks his mom experienced when she was in the hospitality, her life fading away.

I had seen an eclipse once before and I had sense of what was coming. I puy my hand on my friend’s shoulder and told him “just wait…you’re about tot see something spectacular.”

Let’s listen the audio of people’s reaction:

[AUDIO OF PEOPLE’S REACTION DURING THE MOMENT OF TOTALITY]

The light you see in a total eclipse is just beyond words…there’s a warmth, a love…a GLOW…something I equate to what people talk about when they see the LIGHT and are transitioning down this tunnel to their down death.

I’d like to think this moment gave my friend comfort …a little hint that when things go black, and the light is gone, there might be something unimaginably spectacular yet to come.

I shared this story of the eclipse during a yoga workshop. A student, Tracee, approached me after and described her relative, Julia…who recently passed away at 100 years old.

[TRACEE DESCRIBES A GLOW ON HER THIS 100 YEAR-OLD’S FACE BEFORE SHE DIED]

Sometimes people, in their moment of death, seem to reach for this glowing light.

David shared with me the story of being with his mother when she passed away last year at the age of 94.

[AUDIO OF DAVID DESCRIBING WHAT HIS MOM DID AT HER MOMENT OF DEATH]

Before people die….do hey see something? Do they feel something?

Over the past 7 years I have interviewed so many older people in their 80’s 90 and 100’s…I almost always ask, “Are you scared to die?”

Here’s how Ed, 96, answered the question…are you scared to die?

Ed: “Am I scared to die? No no no, I welcome it!”

In all the times I’ve asked an elder if they are scared to die, 9 out of 10 answer like Ed. When it’s time, they’ll be ready. They welcome it.

How could something so uncertain be so welcoming?

Rachel described two experiences she had losing people close to her…

[AUDIO OF RACHEL]

Does the nature of an eclipse… foreshadow what’s to come at the moment of death?

It’s hard to say…

But for anyone who has ever done a yoga class…the very best part at the end, when you lie down and let go…that’s the corpse pose…Savasana

What would be a good yoga class without a great Savasana?

What would be a good life with out a beautiful death?

In each of these podcasts I like to guide into a moment of letting of go. Take a moment to relax.

You may have heard Anne Lamottt’s quote “Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you.”

So let’s do that

Let go of whatever was going on today…let it go..l

Whether it’s death, or divorce, changing jobs, moving into something new…the uncertain and unknown tends to be frightening…but we can choose to come to it as an opportunity for a new birth…

Gabriel Garcia Marquez said, “Human beings are not born once and for all on the day their mothers give birth to them. but life obliges them over and over again to give birth to themselves…

Today, let’s come to the unknown as an explorer…

One of those ways, maybe the most obvious, is comparing ourselves to what everyone else is doing. You can’t escape the advertising and social media and constant seduction and desire…And what does that do for your quality of life?

I recently received some great advice from an elder on how to deal with comparing yourself to others..
I recently spoke to Linda Jones, who is 81…her father was Chuck Jones who was one of the creators of Bugs Bunny and many of the Looney Tunes.

Having such a successful father, there was a time when Linda was not feeling like she was keep up…

Linda recalled, “I think I wrote to him and told him how ashamed of myself I was. And he wrote back to me, “‘Linda, get off my fucking mountain’ He said ‘We each have our mountain to climb. I’m climbing mine and you climb yours.’ It was a turning point in my life. He was right. He went on to say that i had my own challenges and adventures and wasting time competing with him was ridiculous. And I did snap out of it!”

“Get off my fucking mountain.” I LOVE THAT!

How often we look around and compare our progress and our lives to others?

I have days where i get down on myself…days where I feel like I’m not doing enough for my kids with my kids…days where i’m getting held under by the giant wave made up of health career marriage parenting…

this morning, i was reading one of my favorite books called Einstein and The Rabbi. It’s written by my rabbi in LA, Naomi Levy. She shares an interview with a guy named Dr. Alan Rabinowitz…one of the world’s most respected zoologists.

He said…while he was a kid he had a terrible stutter and the school system put him in special classes that other kids called retarded classes. So you can imagine how much that bothered him. So he just stopped talking people. He was full of rage and hurt.

But he could talk in full fluent sentences to his pets. He’d take his turtle chameleon hamster and snake into his closet and talk to them. He realized they had no voice either. Animals have feelings and thoughts and yet people treat them as if they have none. So he said “if I ever got my voice back I would use it for the animals!”

He delivered on his promise. He established the world’s first jaguar preserve in Belize and secured the world’s largest tiger reserve in Bumra. And he created a jaguar corridor a giant habitat where jaguars can move freely and it stretches all the way from mex to ARg…

Here you had this guy whose stutter led him down his path…

As my rabbi says, “Your obstacle, that which holds you back, may be the key to your souls mission.”

I invite you right now step back and look at what you feel you are lacking in comparison to the rest of the world. Look at your particular challenge or obstacle……and as you climb your mountain……create a little space to recognize the connection of your challenges to your journey

what is the great challenge you are facing right now?

In what way have you been comparing yourself to others?

How might that be teaching you something, how might that challenge be shaping you…how might it be unlocking some power within you?

if you don’t know…just sit with it…be open to it…

Rabbi levy has a mantra…which we’ll make our centering thought

It’s the word HUSA…

That word means compassion for something thats flawed. It means absence of judgement. She says its the way God loves us even though we’re imperfect. even though we’ve messed things up. It gives you the space to see your challenges differently…to see how they are unlocking you

After so many decades of life, when they look back on the single most important moment or memory, what stands out?

This past week I spoke to Nel, 86, who shared such a poignant moment about her time working in hosice. You might have to turn up the volume and little bit…

“I worked in hospice. My very first patient was a 36 year old woman.

"The nurses gave me her room. I went to her bed and took her hand.

"She was 36, mother of 3, not expected to live through the night. I started crying.

"Tears streaming down my face. 

“She said, ‘Are You ok? What’s the matter?’

“I said, ‘I can’t think of one thing that I can say or do that would be helpful to you in anyway.’

“And she said, “Would you shave my legs? My legs have not been shaved in months and I don’t want to die with hairy legs.’

“And I went flying down that hall and got a container of hot water and soap and a razor and shaved her legs and put lotion all over her legs. 

“She died that night.

Nel paused for a few moments, then continued...

“What I’m trying to show you is…

“Show up where people are rather than where you think they are.”

I think that's worth repeating. 

Show up where people are... rather than where you think they are.

And yet, how often do we just go run through the motions with the people we encounter each day?

This past week, my daughter and I dropped my wife and son at the airport. 

While driving home in LA traffic, my daughter starts having a meltdown in the back of the car. 

She’s only 1.5 years old so I didn’t think to ask what she wanted. I just went through the motions. 

First I tried to give her a snack. Then her water bottle. Then her favorite kids song.

She was still crying, close to the point of hyperventilating…

I looked at Google Maps and we still had 27 minutes left in the drive. 

I was desperate and said to her, “Cooper what do you want? What can I do?!?!?!”

She said, “Hold hand. Hold hand.”

I reached my hand back to her. She wrapped her tiny little fingers around mine…and the rest of the drive was perfection. 

I had just assumed she needed food or water. 

But she wanted something else, and all I needed to do was ask.

We do our best to show up for the people in our lives.

You check in with your partner during the day to see how it’s going

You try to show up for your co-workers. 

You connect with brothers and sisters when you have a free moment.
 
When is the last time someone checked in with you…where you are…instead of where they think you are? 

In my conversations with the oldest of old, the stories and memories that make it through their filters are these moments when people reach past the surface layer of life…

...and seek to hear and touch and see what’s happening below the surface.

It’s often sudden and spontaneous, not a planned a moment, certainly not Instagrammable, but so incredibly human. 

And it’s something any of us can do, like…right now! 

“Show up where people are rather than where you think they are.”

You can turn this on yourself…and ponder the question

What do I need today? Don’t just assume you know…stop and ask…and listen.

What do I need today

I did this exercise

The answer I heard was this:

"A lot more compassion…for myself."

Mel said there are 4 stages of life…survival, curiosity, creativity, and compassion…you have to go through all 3 stages to get to the final stage…

So I thought about that. I’ve survived. I've been curious. I’ve been creative…but i have not been compassionate, certainly not with myself.

Compassion for self is so healing…to exhale…constantly.

That’s what i need today

What do you need today?

Take some time to sit with that question…don’t just pop off an answer…sit with the question

www.yeahdave.com

What ensued was a multi-generation gap. And in its midst was a great moment of laughter and friendship!

You've surely heard that Latina families are very close and very loving. In a matter of seconds, Antonia, 82, shares how and why.

If you could use a reset in one (or all) of your relationships...

St. Augustine said, “You have to start your relationship with God all over from the beginning everyday.”

So it is with love.

Giovanni Giocondo writes, "No heaven can come to us unless our hearts find rest in it today. Take heaven. No peace lies in the future which is not hidden in this present little instant. Take peace."

On that note, no love can be felt unless we experience it this very moment. Take love...now!

https://yeahdave.com/doing-it-right/

The intention of this podcast is to give you 18 Minutes each day to push back from your computer, reflect, meditate, relax, breathe...

https://yeahdave.com/