I always come back to my grandfather's porch in New Delhi where he first talked to me about Dharma and described it as like this inner flame inside of you and the way that I sort of see this inner flame now is that either it's going to burn you up inside or it's going to light up the world around you right but you get to choose but I don't think anybody really escapes that choice and so as we talk about things like purpose and meaning it can be sometimes tempting to see them as like these really

flowery nice sort of things but I think the truth is that it can hurt like hell when you got this thing inside of you that's not being expressed it can eat away and I think what it means to live a good life is really to in some small way start to bring that out so that you can start to light up the things that are outside of you.

So have you ever achieved a long sought goal only to feel hardly empty inside as if something was still missing in today's world it's all too easy to get caught up in chasing superficial markers of success wealth status fame thinking that they will make us happy but what if that formula is actually backwards what if real joy and fulfillment can only be found by first discovering and expressing our unique inner

essence our Dharma my guest today so Neil Gupta knows that feeling all too well after founding and selling a successful health tech startup he realized that checking off those outer boxes of achievement fail to bring lasting inner satisfaction he was outwardly successful but inwardly empty so he turned to teachings and stories that he'd heard often as a child but wanted nothing to do with back then focusing on an ancient Hindu concept called Dharma

or what he describes as the sacred duty to express one's inner essence throughout her work he began to rediscover meaning and purpose and a sense of calling and this journey led him to uncover every day past to integrate our ambitions with what truly matters more deeply down inside as an author and visiting scholar at Harvard Medical School so Neil studies the most extraordinary people on the planet to help discover and share simple actionable habits that lift our performance and deep in our sense

of purpose his work has been featured everywhere from CNBC to Ted the New York Times an hour conversation he shares insights from his newest book everyday Dharma and reveals really practical ways that we can honor our inner fire through the work that we do each day even within the duties and constraints of everyday life that without deeper inquiry would make it seem difficult if not impossible how can we express our essence more fully through our work relationships or community what

simple habits can help us live with the deeper sense of meaning and purpose day-to-day these are some of the questions that we explore and Sunil offers an abundance of powerful tools and strategies and ideas to help you discover and live your calling so excited to share this conversation with you

I'm Jonathan Fields and this is Good Life Project