Why give? Why give to Commit 2 Change specifically?

I am pledging to donate 10% of the profits from this business to Commit 2 Change, an organization that transforms the lives of orphan girls in India through the power of education. I was inspired to integrate charitable giving into my business model after coming across philosopher Will MacAskill’s idea of Effective Altruism: how to make a difference through your career.

I view giving back to India as an obligation to serve a culture that to me has been an unfathomable source of wisdom. The spiritual teachings and practices that have been honed in this country over thousands of years have been life changing for me. Contemplative traditions actually gave me a new life: the life I knew deep down that I always wanted to live. Giving to a charity that serves underprivileged women in India is a tiny payback for all that India has given me.

Meditation is about waking up from the illusion of separation.

Meditation allows us to pierce through the veil that any of us is separate from one another or from any other element of life. When we cause harm to one another, or to the planet, that comes back to hurt each and every one of us. The Four Immeasurables are the four boundless qualities of the heart-mind that we cultivate along with mindfulness. These qualities are loving kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy and equanimity. All of these lead us towards a core truth discovered by wisdom traditions in many cultures: that the deeper causes of happiness come not from what we take from the world, but from what we bring to it.