So, my friend, to prepare for an uncertain future, remember these two things: 1) Deepen your connection with God, the source of everything; and 2) Simplify your life and realize that security and happiness lie within.

Today marks my fifty-sixth anniversary of meeting Swami Kriyananda in 1967. I knocked on his apartment door in San Francisco soon after reading Autobiography of a Yogi, and he welcomed me not only into his home, but also into his life. While the lessons I’ve learned along the way are too many to list, I’d like to share some of the most significant ones with you.

A few weeks ago Jyotish and I led the Astral Ascension Ceremony for a dear friend, Judy Fox, who passed away recently. Judy was part of a small team, as were we, that Swami Kriyananda sent to Italy in the early 1980s to help start Ananda’s work there.

Anxiety is one of the diseases of our age, affecting almost two-thirds of the population, with nearly a third finding it debilitating.

We have all faced this dilemma in one form or another. With my friend’s permission, I’ll share with you some thoughts that I offered her about the art of helping others while remaining unaffected by their problems.

A restless mind is a common and ancient problem for meditators. If you also have this problem, know, my friend, that you are not alone. In the Bhagavad Gita, Arjuna says to Krishna, “Owing to my restlessness I’ve achieved no lasting results in the attempts You’ve taught me to steady the mind. Verily the mind is restless, tumultuous, madly stubborn! O, Krishna, I consider it to be as difficult to master as the wind!

For one of our satsangs, in Torrance, the center leader asked us to talk about how to find spirituality in big-city life. I thought you, too, might be interested in the thoughts we shared that evening on the challenges faced by city-dwellers and some of the spiritual solutions to them.

For restless people, conditions like these are probably a torment. For yogis, being forced to go within is actually quite nice. The snow brings with it some wonderful lessons. Here are a few that have struck me.

Memory, in its highest expression, is much more than remembering what is on a grocery list. It is the soul’s ability to transcend the limitations of time.

Karma is one of the fundamental laws of the universe. Basically, it states that every thought, feeling, and action has a consequence. In the Bible, it says, “As you sow, so shall you reap.”