Gopi Kallayil

"The biggest struggle, I would not call it a struggle, it was more of a hurdle to get to the next step. The first was understanding it at an intellectual level. The second was understanding it at a level beyond the intellect, where it is almost like knowing it in your heart. The third is that you have to work on yourself through a lot of systematic processes to get to that experiential state. I do not think I am anywhere close, and I am working towards it. I often say that I do not have to figure this out, somebody else has done it for us. The operating manual exists, and I just have to read, understand, and practice the operating manual."

"On a personal, spiritual level, given my roots in India, I think of my primary purpose in life as self-actualization, or self-realization, as Indian spirituality would call it. Getting to a state of nirvana. The primary purpose of life is self-realization. One of the words for it is yoga, which comes from the Sanskrit word yuk, to join, where the individual self rejoins or reconnects to the universal consciousness. It is not even that you have to rejoin, it is not like you ever got separated. You are always connected to that source. It is just covered up because of our ego and self-identification with the limited construct of our body and our life. So it is a discovery process."

"For very young people, I say it does not matter if you do not yet have a wealth of experience. Try different things, because part of the delight and joy of life is that we have the freedom to try. You will eventually take a lot of turns, and that is okay. That is the whole purpose of life, experiment with it. Do tiny experiments multiple times, and you will start hearing or seeing that a certain direction seems to call on you. You will know almost instantly that certain types of jobs, purposes, or locations are not your thing. Do not give up and do not be dispirited. You are not failing, you are actually succeeding."

"What I love doing is speaking. Spoken word is my power tool. That is my self expression, that is my art form. Giving talks on complex topics, like what I did yesterday on AI and demystifying it, I enjoy doing it. I am good at it, I am world class, being a five time semi finalist at the world championship of public speaking. I actively work on that skill to develop it so that I can pass on ideas to other people. There is a demand in the world, and my company uses me to go talk to the world about AI."

"Walk in nature with a small pad and a pencil in your pocket. Walk slowly and take in everything you see around you. Do not listen to electronics. Walk for forty five minutes to an hour, just asking the question, what is my purpose in life. Do not force an answer. As you walk through deep forests, or along big bodies of water, or near mountains, your mind calms down, your central nervous system goes into a different kind of flow state. After you walk for half an hour, go sit on a bench facing a valley or looking at the ocean. As you sit there, the answer slowly starts drifting in. You will only hear it as a faint whisper."

The Happy Human: Being Real in an Artificially Intelligent World [Kallayil, Gopi] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. The Happy Human: Being Real in an Artificially Intelligent World

"In a professional sense, I have defined my purpose as using my two core professional trainings and skills, the world of technology and the world of business, and how the two can come together. Using technology and business for the greater good. By greater good, I mean increasing the quality of life on the planet for everyone, reducing suffering, and helping everyone find their purpose and joy. We are all fellow pilgrims, so not just do it for yourself, do it along with others and help others as well."

"One method I advocate is the Ikigai method. You find your Ikigai at the intersection of four circles: do what you truly love, do what you are good at, do what there is a demand for, and do what the world will pay for. Another question I often ask is this: start with a blank sheet of paper and imagine that some higher authority comes to you and says, you have done an amazing job, you picked up all these skills, talents, and resources. Now tell us, what is it that you want to do with your life. Imagine there are no constraints, resources will appear, and you will not fail. What would you do. Most people struggle to come up with an answer, but I say do not give up. What you write down is your soul's true calling and the purpose it is trying to express."

"Go back and look at your life. Look at the times when you were doing something and were in full flow, completely lost and immersed in it. You felt you could do it endlessly and experienced a state of joy. When I am on stage, inspiring, moving a lot of people, motivating, using the power of my words, I know that is when I am in a Flow State. We are all wired differently. We have to identify those times. When you go looking for those times and write stories about them, you will find patterns. Everyone will find patterns as to when they felt flow."

Homepage of Vipassana Meditation as taught by S.N. Goenka in the tradition of Sayagyi U Ba Khin

"I decided to do Vipassana meditation, the formal ten day set, fourteen hours of meditation a day. The first four days were a struggle. Your mind goes around all of the things that were long forgotten. After day four, around day five, my mind started quieting down and went into a state of stillness. It was very present. For the first time, I understood what some of these mystics talk about when they speak of being fully present. When I stepped out into the garden, I could see everything, every dew drop, every leaf, every flower, every level of sparkle and color that I had never witnessed before because I was so distracted. In that quiet state, I was able to access a certain level of creativity. Ideas started coming up for products I could be developing. My mind had never been that creative. That same level of creativity is available to you. The stillness, when you ask a deep question like what is my true purpose in life, reveals it."