USC Dean of Religious Life Dr. Varun Soni on Mindfulness, Leadership, Spirituality

Finding Mastery with Dr. Michael Gervais

Dr. Michael Gervais

Sport Psychology, Finding Mastery, Mental Health, Mindfulness, Business, Self Help, Michael Gervais, Health & Fitness, Mindset, Psychology, Self-improvement, Education

4.7 • 1.7K Ratings

🗓️ 8 November 2017

⏱️ 94 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Varun Soni is the Dean of Religious Life at the University of Southern California (USC) and the first Hindu to serve as the chief religious or spiritual leader of an American university.

In a time where it feels like we have never been more divided, this conversation is about unity. It’s about empathy. It’s about diversity. It’s about curiosity and regard.

There is so much to learn in this conversation.

Varun has been personally impacted by some of the most influential thought leaders in history… Gandhi, the Dalai Lama, to name a few.

As a leader (and I’m not throwing that term out there loosely) at the University of Southern California, Varun is deeply committed to helping students become, through embracing the tension between differences and commonalities.

His goal is to run the office of religious life at USC as the office of the future – to envision what religion and spirituality is going to look like 10 years from now rather than what it looked like 10 years ago.

In this conversation we talk about how to master the art of living – this includes the importance of asking yourself the right questions, redefining your metrics for success, and the importance of emotional intelligence.

Varun also sheds light on some of the difficulties today’s college students face that previous generations may have thought inconceivable.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	The philosophy that really to find the way I want to live is to really pay attention to what's happening inside.
0:08.0	That's why I have a meditation practice or I'm a proponent of mindfulness and contemplative practice because I feel like that's the real power. All right, welcome back.
0:25.0	Welcome back.
0:27.0	to the Finding Mastery Podcast.
0:28.8	I'm Michael Jervay.
0:30.4	And the idea behind these conversations is to learn, to learn from people who are on the path of mastery,
0:35.0	and we want to understand what they're searching for, what they're hungry for, what's driving them.
0:39.0	We want to get to the psychological framework of how they explain their world, their craft, others, how they make sense of it.
0:47.0	And then we also want to dig to understand the mental skills that they use to build and refine their craft.
0:51.0	Finding Mastery is brought to you by natural stacks.
0:55.0	Your brain is one of the hungriest organs in your body.
0:58.0	It's been found to consume roughly around 20% of your energy every day.
1:02.0	That means an important factor between the days you
1:05.0	feel sluggish and the days that you feel sharp is how fuel efficient your brain is.
1:10.1	And that's why I'm excited to be partnered with natural stacks.
1:14.0	They've got a product. They're dopamine brain food supplement
1:17.0	that's designed to support the body's natural production of dopamine.
1:22.0	If you've ever had days where you felt tired or
1:24.1	stressed or unmotivated, those may be signs of suboptimal or low levels of
1:29.5	dopamine, among many other potential factors of course.
1:33.0	When dopamine is optimized, it's been linked to enhanced mood and motivation, focus, attention, mental clarity, learning.
1:41.0	Without getting too into the weeds here.
	...

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