The Meaning Quotient

An inspiring story of a German radio-journalist who non-violently fought for Native Americans rights and found her own meaning on the way.

Through the eyes of Corinna, we intimately navigate her life journey from post-war Germany to the United States and back. A short stay with the Native American tribe as a young adult changed her life forever, and as a white woman from Germany, she found a cause in a different culture that gave new meaning to her life.

Corinna is a founder of online congress www.weltenwanderer.family She has worked as a journalist, tour guide, and graphic designer. As part of her extensive travels, she has spent many years with a wide variety of Native American tribes, and for almost 30 years, she has offered trips to the Indian reservations of North America with depth.

What if a crisis of meaninglessness hits you when you are busy with your successful ventures?

In this candid conversation with Kaivalya Kashyap, we savor a story of finding personal freedom after passing through a valley of crisis in late 40s. A fascinating story that takes us through the landscapes of Uganda, corporates in Switzerland, mountains in Tokyo, and an ashram in India, is also a reminder that internal freedom is as important as external experiences. A story where a transformed business has started by transforming oneself.

Kaivalya Kashyap, is a serial entrepreneur and founder of the International Academy of Transformative Leadership (iatl.co). Kaivalya was inspired by his mentor, the social reformer Dadashreeji in 2013, and has been passing on his experiences through lectures since then.

What if when society teaches you about the enemy, you love them? What if when society gives you boxes to define yourself, you create a new patch?

An Italian American from Nebraska went to Cairo for a couple of years in his early 20s, intending to understand more about the Arab-Muslim world. Little did he know that these formidable years are going to provide a new meaning to his life. Listen to this incredible journey of Dr. Dominic Longo, as we navigate Cairo's quarters from a Christian-American perspective, intertwined with his experiences of inner coming out.

Dominic Longo has a Ph.D. in Arabic and Islamic Studies (Harvard University) and an M.A. in theology (Boston College). A former Engagement Manager at McKinsey & Company, Dominic also directed the Muslim-Christian Dialogue Center at the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota. He is currently a founder and managing director of "Flourishing Gays," a leadership development company from an LGBTQ+ perspective.

"You scientists have this stupendous story of the universe...You fail to hear its music. Tell the story, but tell it with a feel of the music." - Thomas Berry.

Edoardo Striani, Ph.D. has taken a journey to tell us a story of the universe through the feel of the music. A Bruno Rossi Prize winning astrophysicist turned handpan musician; Edoardo is synthesizing the worlds of rationality and irrationality to help us experientially connect with the universe.

In this candid conversation with Edoardo, we revisited his journey of change. From a moment in a lab in Italy when he and his team discovered the Crab Nebula in flaring stage leading to Bruno Rossi Prize, the time when he found his passion for handpan, to the struggles and pleasures of changing the career all to discover something new in himself.

The story of Edoardo is an inspirational journey of following one's passions and finding a new meaning of life.

In Davos 2020, the world leaders pledge to plant 1 trillion trees to save forests and climate. However, when we looked around Davos around 1/3rd of the trees were dying.

William Blake said, "The trees that move some to the tears of joy is in the eyes of others only a green thing that stands in the way." It is not enough to plant the trees but also to develop a new relationship with them so that we can develop a new relationship with ourselves.

In this candid conversation with Dr. Laura Pustarfi, we will learn why connecting with a tree is important, and how we can foster this connection. Interwoven with her own personal story, this interesting conversation opens a portal to see how trees can provide the meaning of life.

Laura Pustarfi, Ph.D., is a writer, creative, and integral ecologist. Her work is at the intersection of philosophy, ecology, and religion. She earned her doctorate at the California Institute of Integral Studies, and her dissertation is titled Arboreality: Revisioning Trees in the Western Paradigm. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. Her website is laurapustarfi.com.

What if a profound moment while surfing made you aware of the interconnectedness of all of creation? What if that moment inspired you to find new meaning in life, perhaps a move from Finance to Yoga Studies?

Listen to this inspiring story of Dr. Christopher Miller and understand the emerging field of Yoga Studies. Chris, a professor of Yoga Studies at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, California, takes us from the surfing beaches of California to the ancient Indian traditions of Yoga, unfolding the role of Yoga traditions (beyond the exercise regime) in the quest of searching for alternative and more ecologically sensitive models for understanding the human psyche.

Find out more about Chris here: http://lmu.academia.edu/ChristopherMiller

Are you eating because you are hungry or just out of a habit? What is your personal relationship with food?

Food is a nutritional support system for any organism. Listen to this insightful conversion with Dr. Kasia Kopanska at a MQ event where we explore our relationship with food, and re-situate our need of self-nourishment.

Kasia Kopanska holds a PhD in nutrition from the University of Cambridge and works at Zurich University of Applied Science. Kasia is a teacher of mindful eating based on Mindful Eating - Conscious Living (ME-CL) program and a biology scientist. This conversation was recorded at a MQ event in Zurich on April 25th, 2019, and also includes Q&A from audience.

What if living with a drug addict father makes you question the nature of the mind? What if you come across cases where physical and mental well being has nothing in common?

Listen to this inspiring journey of Diego Hangartner, a pharmacologist who spend 11+ years studying Buddhism in India directly with His Holiness Dalai Lama. Growing up with an addict father, he inquired about the nature of mind and reality at a very early age. This quest took him from shamanistic ceremonies in South America, to a pharmacy near needle park in Switzerland, to Nepal and India where he worked with many lepers with rotting bodies and happy minds.

Diego, a student and teacher of mental balance, co-founded Mind and Life institute in Europe and the Institute of Mental Balance and Universal Ethics.

What if you lose your billion dollar business which you built from scratch? What if winning or losing depends not only on financial values but also on human values?

Listen to this candid, heart filled story of Maxim Nogotkov, who started his first business when he was 12 years old from scratch, and got featured in Forbes 40 under 40 billionaire list in 2013. By 2015, he lost his fortune in Russia’s economic turmoil. This is his story of finding happiness and meaning, after losing almost everything he spend his life building. In this story, Maxim takes us through his journey of growing up in Russia, building a billion empire based on expansion strategy, participating in improving country’s political process, and finding new happiness after losing his fortune.

Maxim currently lives in SF and is working on his new ventures aligned with the values.

“What if you are not groomed to have a career, just because you are a girl?”, “What if dark nights of the soul, like divorce and the 2008 financial crisis, inspires you to a new life purpose”?

Toni Cortese overcame patriarchal structures to create a life based on her values. Hear this candid and inspiring story where Toni takes us through her journey of being a girl in Italian-American immigrant family, growing up in a racially charged neighborhood of New York City, dealing with patriarchal structures at work, and going through the financial crisis of 2008 from within a Wall Street firm. Her story is a reminder that each crisis can also be an opportunity to make the world a better place.

Toni spent 20+ years on Wall Street in a multitude of roles. A successful career woman and mother, she is always fascinated by what makes people tick and how we can change behaviors which are holding us back. She is currently helping people lead their lives with purpose through her company, Force 9 Coaching.