I am writing to you from beautiful and breezy San Diego where I am serving athletes.

I am staying in a wonderful luxury hotel near the water and when I checked in today I had a wonderful experience.

I took an 8:05 am flight from Phoenix and I landed in San Diego at 9:15. Gotta love those flights where you take a cat nap and open your eyes and the plane is landing. Perfect!

Anyway, I arrived at the hotel by 9:45 am and I was informed that my room was not going to be ready for 20 minutes. I shared that there was no stress at all and I could tell that the woman at the front desk was giving me a slightly odd stare.

Later, upon checking in and receiving my room keys, I thanked the front desk attendant and smiled at her and asked her a bit about her home country as I overheard her talking about her mom’s favorite Thai dishes and recipes. She gave me a strange stare again and I honestly asked her why she was taken aback by me.

She stated, ” well, I am not sure why you were being so nice to me, you already were scheduled to be in an upgraded room.”

I smiled and I replied, ” I am not being nice to get anything. I simply enjoy learning about people, about life. I like paying attention. ”

She went on to share and apologize that she was not used to people being patient as she often dealt with intense conference attendees. I reassured her that all was well and I took the elevator to my room.

After I got settled into my room, I called down to the front desk and asked the attendant if I may have permission to suggest a book for her to glance at. Actually 2 books. One is ” Being Peace” by the famous Monk Thich Nhat Hanh and the other is ” The Wisdom of No Escape by Pema Chodron.

Both books speak to the power of the present and the freedom in fully engaging in life and taking a stance of loving neutrality at the same time.

After speaking with her, the front desk attendant admitted that she had become worn down and even admittedly cynical. She simply was not used to kindness for the sake of kindness. I enjoy being warm. Believe it or not I have been selfish in this lifetime before and I really enjoy living a life of connection a lot better.

I am not lying to you when I tell you we once had a client leave Living Inline when she thought we were part of some “happiness cult” I am being 100% serious. Our good friend and awesome dentist Dr. Steve Morales literally had to walk the patient he head referred to us back into our office to reassure her we were for real.

Life is precious to us and so are you. Kindness and warmth are deep personal commitments for us and we aim to spread optimism and joy whenever possible and appropriate.

May today be a day when you feel energized to give your full attention or kindness to someone. Just because. Trust us you will be glad you did. So will they.

And so it is

With Blessings of wellness, warmth, ( yeah yeah it’s a dry heat- I can hear the jokes already being emailed to me from my friends during the month of july) and love

Dr. J