The joy of being an unwilling traveler through life, by Maya Shankar

<p>Maya Shankar is a cognitive neuroscientist and host of the award-winning podcast A Slight Change of Plans. As a girl, she struggles with taking things too seriously: herself, the sufferings of others, the hypothetical misfortunes she imagines for the future. She turns to her father for perspective — and he takes her on a memorable walk, one that helps her understand her place in the universe (spoiler: it’s not not at the center of it). When her adult life brings a new and unexpected kind of sorrow, she turns to these lessons from her father again, to find a balance between the seriousness that comes with loving life and the wise perspective of knowing we're all just passing through.</p><p>Listen to Dr. Laurie Santos' episode of Meditative Story, "My monkey teacher": <a href="http://listen.meditativestory.com/LSantos_WW" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">http://listen.meditativestory.com/LSantos_WW</a></p><p>Listen to Maya Shankar's podcast (selected as the Best Show of the Year by Apple in 2021), A Slight Change of Plans: <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/a-slight-change-of-plans/id1561860622" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/a-slight-change-of-plans/id1561860622</a></p><p>Follow Maya Shankar: <a href="https://www.instagram.com/drmayashankar/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.instagram.com/drmayashankar/</a></p><p>Each episode of Meditative Story combines the emotional pull of first-person storytelling with immersive music and gentle mindfulness prompts. Read the transcript for this story at:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.meditativestory.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">www.meditativestory.com</a></p><p>Sign up for the Meditative Story newsletter:&nbsp;<a href="http://eepurl.com/gyDGgD" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">http://eepurl.com/gyDGgD</a></p><p>See Privacy Policy at <a href="https://art19.com/privacy" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://art19.com/privacy</a> and California