Today, an old lady at the bank asked me to help check her balance... so I gave her a push. 

“Perfectionism is not the same thing has striving to be your best. Perfectionism is the belief that if we live perfect, look perfect, and act perfect, we can minimize or avoid the pain of blame, judgement, and shame. It’s a shield. It’s a twenty-ton shield that we lug around thinking it will protect us when, in fact, it’s the thing that’s really preventing us from flight.”

Editor’s comment: I read a brief clip of this Claire Suddath Bloomberg interview in the monthly magazine and was struck by his opening response, which is excerpted below.

Excerpt:  “Meditation is a way to bypass the thinking process, which gives us anxiety.  As soon as you feel stress, your cortisol goes up, your adrenaline goes up, your breath gets shallow, your heart rate goes up.  The best way to stop that is to just stop…observe…pause and ask yourself, ‘what is the best way for me right now to handle this situation?’”

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Deepak Chopra, MD, Founder of The Chopra Foundation and Chopra Global speaks to Bloomberg’s Claire Suddath and shares his best tips and practices on meditation with the audience at the Bloomberg Businessweek. (Source: Bloomberg)

A dear friend and wonderful private blogger, Carll Tucker, wrote me after reading last month’s newsletter to ask what Father Norm Smith, one of those I admired, meant by giving without intensity or judgment.