Posts by Uma Girish
“Why won’t they grieve the way I do?”
A couple of months ago, one of my husband’s colleagues died very unexpectedly. Let’s call him Joe. When Joe showed up at work on a Thursday no one knew that was his last day at work. He died on a Friday night. An aneurysm ended his life. Joe’s and my husband’s offices were right next…
Read MoreHow do I keep my heart open?
I woke up this morning—and the world hasn’t changed. Wars are still raging. A dear friend is dealing with depression. For a lot of people, the month is longer than the money A few weeks ago I was at the station getting ready to board a train to go visit my daughter who lives in…
Read MoreHow Our Control Issues Make Us Suffer
We all struggle with control issues. One of the biggest lies that’s circulating in our culture these days is the idea that we can manifest anything we desire. If we focus on it, believe we have it already, and behave like we do, we will have it. So we try to control outcomes. You may…
Read MoreThe Question We Ask: “Why Me?”
In my sixty-plus years on this blue-green planet, I’ve asked this question a zillion times—especially during my teenage and young adult years when my father’s drinking problem was a source of terrible pain with no solution is sight. My guess is, you’ve asked this question too I’ve stopped asking this question because I now have…
Read MoreHow I Started to Study the Bhagavad Gita
If you haven’t read the posts “My Beloved Grandma…” and “How the Universe Nudged Me”, I invite you to begin there so that you’re able to follow the thread of the story to its conclusion here in part 3. ————————————————————————————————– Four days after G sent me the website link to the ashram, she followed up…
Read MoreHow the Universe Nudged Me
If you haven’t read the previous post titled “My Beloved Grandma and the Indian Epics,” please start there. You’ll be able to follow the thread we’re picking up here, in the next part of the story. My husband and I were in Southern India in the summer of 2022 eating lunch with one of his…
Read MoreMy Beloved Grandma and the Indian Epics
My Love of Story I grew up on a diet of stories, especially stories from the Indian epics, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. When I was growing up in a small town in Southern India in the 60’s, the tradition of oral storytelling was rich. My favorite adult was my beloved paternal grandma, the storyteller…
Read MoreWhy We Need A Mentor
In a 3-part series I published earlier, I wrote about the abuse of spiritual leadership. That brings up a question: do we need a spiritual guide at all? Photo by SOULSANA on Unsplash Power mongers who pose as spiritual leaders and teachers have made us all wary. They cause us to suspect anything “spiritual” that…
Read More5 Questions to Ask Before Joining A Spiritual Community
Part 3 of this series is about how to tune into your inner divine and check in before you commit to a spiritual community or a spiritual leader Photo by Darius Bashar on Unsplash When we outsource trust, we dismiss the pings of our inner guidance. Yet, that gentle, loving voice is always leading us…
Read More7 Vulnerabilities Self-Serving Spiritual Leaders Exploit
Part 2 of this series is about our wounded aspects and how this make us vulnerable to leaders with self-serving agendas. Photo by Milada Vigerova on Unsplash Our admiration is activated when we see someone standing in their power. We want to be like them. And when they tell us that we absolutely can, that…
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