One Encounter, One Opportunity. Make service meaningful. Be Your customer's hero.

The Importance of Embracing The Rude, Distracted Masses | Ep. 65

See how easy it is to dismiss or condemn people’s tendency to be preoccupied with their own “nonsense” – especially as you become more aware and present throughout your mindful service journey. But the way forward is compassion and understanding – no matter how preoccupied people are, how much that is disrupting what you need from them, and no matter how rude they are being in the process.

When You Really Serve, Every Skill Implemented is Universal

The resulting experience of each meditation doesn’t matter nearly as much as your mindset around your experiences. Meditation is not a state you reach, but an attitude you maintain.

Self-Hospitality Pt. 7: Meditation is Not a Performance, It’s a Medicine

The resulting experience of each meditation doesn’t matter nearly as much as your mindset around your experiences. Meditation is not a state you reach, but an attitude you maintain.

Break the conditioning you may have that the service role is lowly and unimportant and see the power you have to make a positive impact.

Serve Others, But Be Your Only Source of Self-Worth

The resulting experience of each meditation doesn’t matter nearly as much as your mindset around your experiences. Meditation is not a state you reach, but an attitude you maintain.

Self-Hospitality Pt. 6 – It Doesn’t Matter What The Experience Is

The resulting experience of each meditation doesn’t matter nearly as much as your mindset around your experiences. Meditation is not a state you reach, but an attitude you maintain.

Realize how moments of crisis like are something you’ve been training your whole life for – through every opportunity you’ve taken to pay attention, be compassionate, understand things better, and choose to de-escalate rather than react.

Self-Hospitality Pt. 5: How To Meditate Effortlessly

Successful meditation is effortless meditation. Not in the way of “I’m such an expert at it that it seems effortless.” You can be effortless during the first meditation you ever do. Effortlessness doesn’t mean there’s no discomfort. It doesn’t mean you’re having the most luxurious imaginable experience – relaxed, floating beyond the tension of the […]

Self-Hospitality Pt. 4: Focus Works Differently in Meditation

So when you learn meditation, you’re given something to put your attention. Perhaps it’s your breath or, in my case, a mantra. Your first instinct might be to focus on that thing wholeheartedly. But in meditation ease and openness is truly what gives the practice power, and nothing takes you further from that than the […]

Self-Hospitality Pt. 3: How Master Meditators Are No Different Than 12-Year-Olds in Malls

When are shopping malls fun? When you’re a teenager. At any point in your adult life. At any point in your pre-teen years while getting dragged along by your parents. Some combination of options other than just a) (Really? Not possible.) Tell me you answered a). That’s my answer every time. Some people may enjoy […]

I discuss how times like this are powerful opportunities to explore what really matters in our lives. And to understand the essence of how it is we wish to serve in this life. It doesn’t matter what it is you’re doing, it matters how you’re doing it and the person you’re practicing as while doing it.

Self-Hospitality Pt. 2: Unlock The Power of Your Intention

One might think that meditation is a matter of attention – and we can measure our success by where our awareness is at any given time. For example, we have a mantra to repeat or breath to focus on and the amount of time that we keep ourselves locked on it can then somehow equal […]

Self-Hospitality Pt. 1: Meditation Essentials

Because, y’know, we’re all monks now. Welcome to the new series Self-Hospitality. Its purpose is to give you everything you need to get the most out of meditation, self-care and this fresh new life we get to live with such powerful tools at our disposal. The weekly tools and principles I share will help you […]

What if we could live a life where every moment is meaningful and every action, big or small, sweet or sour, is in service of something infinitely crucial? All it takes is a simple shift of mindset into a Yogic one.

What’s the most important factor determining the success and satisfaction you get from serving? You. This episode details meditation and mindfulness techniques you can use to start your day, prime yourself for service, and refresh yourself during the chaos of the work day.

Strategies for managing situations where you are confronted with people that are not making it easy to be served. And mindsets for managing the most important person in that equation: you.

True service comes from the inside out. Within you is a still, wise, and infinitely broad awareness that can anchor you in the most chaotic of situations. Learn to access this “Buddha self” and remain tethered to it regardless of what the rest of your mind is doing.

Learn gratitude practices to start your day and also apply to challenging situations. They will transform how you experience life.

Service (and all activities in life) is not so much about what you’re doing, but the intention behind it. And that intention can be positive without feeling artificial, strained or anything but authentic. Learn an internal practice that you can apply to the simplest activities that will totally transform your quality of life and relationships.

Happy 2020! The podcast is starting off the year with a very special interview on the transformative power of mindful communication. Truly listening, understanding, and speaking to what’s really needed can make the humblest of interactions feel truly alive. And my discussion with Oren Jay Sofer, the subject’s most definitive voice, was bursting with such aliveness at every moment. So many insights. So much value.

Witness the power of compassion as a skill, not some kind of pious state that only the saintly are gifted with – learn the awareness practices that make you better at negotiation, handling challenging people and finding satisfaction in any work you do that involves other people.

Equal opportunity and quality of life are such bigger issues in the restaurant industry than you think they are. I speak with hospitality leader and social servant John Debary about his organization RWCF and his mission to help restaurants nationwide shift into caring organizations with the capacity to improve the lives of their workers.

Needs don’t need to be cured like they’re some kind of disease or exploited in some sort of relationship of exchange. Learn to navigate them as a powerful vehicle for you to truly connect to the people you serve.

Originally published here on Ram Dass’ Be Here Now Network. Service Can Give or It Can Take…It’s Your Choice. When we think of service, we often consider it to be a type of job you can have. Years and years in the trenches of the restaurant and bar industry resulted in me seeing only this […]

Break conditioning you have around “being obligated” to do anything and watch your life improve. Own your decisions and experience more empowerment, gratitude, and opportunity.

Self-worth is not a function of how much you think you deserve. Shed this old conditioning, hack feelings of non-acceptance and take your service game to the next level. Final part in a series to help you develop strength, grit and self-sufficiency by reconciling with the tough realities of service life.

It’s the podcast’s 50th episode anniversary so I am discussing principles to take your service mindset to the next level – and it involves a starting from an open, unbiased perspective. The Zen principle of “The Beginner’s Mind” involves a sort of “wise innocence” that allows maximum readiness, learning and growth from any given moment without abandoning all the knowledge and skill you’ve developed over the years.

Understand what power truly is and how service is the perfect place to cultivate it. However, really tapping into its transformative power requires more humility than we are usually willing.

Make a habit of the “internal yes” in order to learn how to thrive in situations we can’t control, predict or get the results we want. After all, self-discovery happens when we don’t get our own way.

Never feel deficient when someone reacts negatively to something you said or did by implementing a simple understanding of personal responsibility. Be caring and considerate from a free and empowered, not one where you feel shackled and obligated.

The customer is always right…and so are you (if you’re present, attentive, and truly serving). But you’re never right if you have something to prove. Learn how to let go of the beliefs that are holding you back from truly connecting to the people you serve.

My reflections on my fascinating discussion with Kelsey Mathes in the most recent interview episode “Ego-Driven Fear, Self-Transformation, Empowered Work…and Other Barroom Chat – Interview w/ Kelsey Mathes.”

Big doses of wisdom and inspiration from Kelsey’s journey from hospitality professional to meditation teacher and transformational coach. Learn to live with care and purpose…without the drama.

The untold power of gratitude – how to make every moment an opportunity for something that feeds you with inspiration, growth, self-understanding and tools for being even more of service.

Have a non-attached relationship to your expectations of the people your serve, while avoiding indifference and maintaining your preferences, priorities and principles.

A short episode reflecting on my fascinating discussion with Wu De – key points applied to the challenges and opportunities of service life.

The Zen Way of Tea: reconnect with your natural intuitive wisdom, master yourself while remaining fluid, free and accepting – and learn how to truly serve.

Learn to create your own opportunities and relationships that serve your growth and success better than anything someone you’re hoping to “network with” can offer you. Be your own source of self-worth and break dependency on others for validation.

Cultivate the warrior-like resilience that service demands. This means coming to terms with some hard truths of life as a human being. And learning the tools to hack what seems like a grim reality.

Bartender turned life coach discusses the importance of not defining your worth by self-sacrifice and grind – find a path that truly inspires you.

How I learned that service isn’t just for work. Everything in life can be defined on those terms. And must be questioned: Is it a worthy input of energy? Am I doing it skillfully such that I am really serving the best parts of myself and others?

Catherine Sherlock is going against the grain to deepen the power of mindfulness training on the organizational level.

Ask me about how to be confident and you will get more than you bargained for.

Discussion that looks at mindfulness, emotional intelligence, monotasking, caregiving and hospitality principles that work in any setting.

Yoga & meditation are not just meant to be an isolated, but a practice you bring into everything – including, especially, any kind of work. I discuss an ancient practice that allows you to meet any challenge with enthusiasm, inspiration and wisdom.

Conversation with Rebecca Shafir, speech pathologist, mindful communication and business coach and author of Zen of Listening (a very important book for me). We discuss communication techniques, pitfalls and mindful living.

Host of the Innerbloom AND Positive Head Podcast Alexa Houser discusses her story, EFT healing practice and mission to help the world transcend its issues…by processing hers along with them.

We look at an emotional mastery system that allows you to work with your most “unwanted” emotions to master yourself, live mindfully and be an absolute service Jedi.

Rachael Kable’s mission is educate the world on simple, practical and methodical ways of incorporating mindfulness into every aspect of your life. She tells her story and discusses how mindfulness helps harness the potential of emotional sensitivity. 

Industry-leader Dushan Zaric discusses the responsibility we have to serve with care and presence; powerful insights forged from a life of passion, deep self-exploration and hardship.

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