Success is setting, responsibly pursuing, and achieving a series of goals that give us passion and purpose and ultimately make the world around us just a little bit better.
—Jim Cusumano

In a world in which so many people seek balance, meaning, and connectedness in life, Jim Cusumano provides a tangible and inspirational road map.

—Helen D. Gayle, MD, MPH, President and CEO, CARE USA

BALANCE will help you approach the critical crossroads in your life in a whole new way, and help you find the “giants” in your life that can guide you through them.

—Professor Gary P. Pisano, Harvard Business School

It’s business and life seen through the eyes of one of the most remarkable people you will ever meet…

—Gay Hendricks, Ph.D., President, The Hendricks Institute

This is the story and the wisdom of a beautiful man—a Renaissance Man at that.

—Lance H.K. Secretan, Ph.D., Former CEO of Manpower Inc.

Jim Cusumano’s book…is a wonderful reminder that…we have answers to life’s greatest challenges, and can truly find meaning, fulfillment, success, and our purpose in life.

—Deepak Chopra, MD

What Improves your Health, Mental Acuity AND Makes you Nicer?

Posted by James Cusumano on Monday, 5 May 2014

In some of what I have written over the years, I have urged readers to consider accessing the incredible power of meditation. It not only relieves stress but it also improves health and mental acuity; it can lead you to answers to challenging questions; it has the power to help you manifest into your life what seems like the impossible; and it generally makes you a much nicer person.

The biggest complaint I have heard stems from the impatience of the first-time experience, “I can’t turn down the volume on my noisy meandering mind, so what’s the use?” My advice is don’t get turned off by that, it happens to the most experience meditators. The difference is that they don’t get bothered by it and simply return to the quiet of their mantra and the spiritual comfort and power of “nothingness.” It takes regular practice to get better at it—just 30 minutes a day—and eventually the noise volume turns down to a mild hum and the frequency of popping in and out of the quiet state decreases to an insignificant level.

However, if you are impatient and don’t want to endure the noise until you “get there,” I have a suggestion that may help. Try equipping your iPod with very special music that will definitely soothe you into a meditative state. The two absolute best recordings for this are in my view:

Unspeakable Grace by 7-time Grammy Award Winner, Gary Malkin. This is the only music I listen to while writing. I believe it elevates my creativity. It’s available on line at www.wisdomoftheworld.com/store/pc/viewPrd.asp?idproduct=19&idcategory=28
Medicine Woman by Medwyn Goodall, especially the third track, Temple Journey. This CD can be bought from Amazon at www.amazon.com/Medicine-Woman-Medwyn-Goodall/dp/B000005DJX/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1390899364&sr=8-3&keywords=medicine+woman.

Another alternative is to purchase one of Deepak Chopra’s meditation CDs. One of his best is Creating Abundance, The 21-Day Meditation Challenge which is available at http://store.chopra.com/adsearch_results.asp?cx=partner-pub-0921515882900289%3A1779238557&cof=FORID%3A10&ie=UTF-8&q=meditation+cd&sa=Search&siteurl=store.chopra.com%2F%3Futm_source%3DChopra.com%26utm_medium%3DMenu%2520link%26utm_campaign%3DChopra.com&ref=www.chopra.com%2Fabout-us%2Fdeepak-chopra-md&ss=3114j975538j13.

Do you have any suggestions? If so, tweet them to me!

Enjoy your journey!

James A. Cusumano, Ph.D., is a former rock and roll crooner, movie producer, pharmaceutical CEO, and author of BALANCE, who now owns and operates Chateau Mcely, an award-winning castle hotel and spa in the Czech Republic.