Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Lauren Guss. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Alright, Lauren thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?
One of the biggest risks I have ever taken was moving to San Diego. I had planned to stay temporarily to help manage and build up San Diego Meditation, but have stayed almost 3 years now. Myself and the center have grown so much! I used to help run two meditation locations in NJ, before my trip to the West Coast. When I was asked if I wanted to help here at San Diego Meditation, I took it! The location here in North Park was not where it needed to be (considering the value the meditation practice brings to a person’s well-being). It wasn’t easy running not only 1 location here solo but also helping to manage 2 other worldwide companies as well. What seemed to be taking off within a short period of time before the pandemic, was turned upside down during the pandemic and took a turn some turn for the worse. People really enjoyed coming into the center, some even calling it their second home or ‘home away from home’. When the pandemic hit many people stopped coming and refused to join through Zoom. Luckily, through this meditation practice, I had already let go of ‘living well’ and ‘living with difficulties’, so I could instead go more with nature’s flow (which can accept and adapt to all situations). Having a positive mindset and going with the flow helped me to bounce back from the initial hit from the pandemic, take action quickly, and ultimately help this meditation center to survive. I had built an online store, new website, as well as created all of our paper forms to e-forms, powerpoints, you name it! Everything became virtual within a matter of days. Through the pandemic I worked with companies such as Spanx, Kendra Scott, Skin-fulness, Square Unboxed/Twitter, and Amazon as well as celebrities and Professional Athletes like Billy Blanks, Paul Pratt during the pandemic to help bring healing to the community. To this day, we still hold classes online via Zoom and run company workshops, school workshops, etc. From utilizing the time period of COVID-19 well, San Diego Meditation was able to survive and prosper.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers?
My name is Lauren. I probably have roughly 10 different laughs all very unique (5 of which might have you pretending like you don’t know me in public). I have a big, caring heart due to my upbringing with a mother with Multiple Sclerosis. I was a caretaker from a young age, so this naturally led me into nursing in my early 20s later in life; graduating with by BSN . I had worked 5 years in the operating room as a circulating room nurse covering general, orthopedic, gyno, robotics, vascular, plastic, pediatric, ophthalmology, and neuro cases, From witnessing my Mother’s debilitating illness of Multiple Sclerosis and every day witnessing the frailty of human life and how fleeting our lives truly are as a nurse, this deepened my need to know: “What is my purpose in this life?”. “Why am I here?”, and “Where do people go after they die?” During my time spent in nursing school, I had developed severe anxiety, developed severe health issues and bad habits which I felt I was no longer in control of. This led me to seek out ways to heal and change. I tried every form of meditation under the sun, practiced yoga, read every self-help books, but I couldn’t seem to shake my crippling anxiety or bad habits. It wasn’t until I started this form of meditation that my life began to change in every aspect possible and for the better. Not only did my life improve, but I received the answers to some of life’s biggest questions by finding the Truth within my mind. We have often heard that the Truth is within us or that God, Buddha, Allah is within our minds. However, I never had truly felt in tune with my true self or even connected with God. Through this method of cleansing one’s self-made mind world which is one’s karma (life lived), habits (inherited from one’s ancestors), and body I found the Truth within my mind. I found God within me. I now am a meditation guide at the San Diego Meditation center offering hope and healing to the community through this meditation practice of deep detailed self-reflection and cleansing the mind. It is the absolute best job in the world. It is my pleasure helping others to heal and watching them naturally become happier, more at peace and free from their intrusive thoughts, and finding the Truth within them as well. That is the biggest reward of my work.
What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?
This is all too simple of a question to answer. The meditation practice itself which is unique in nature, thought provoking, beautiful, simplistic, and realistic is the most effective strategy for growing the meditation center. It works, and that’s why people come consistently and that’s why it continues to grow.
Secondly I would say, care. In a world where people tend to live more with an self-centered mindset, my goal has always been to help the world lead a life of coexistence instead of competition. My life is really dedicated to the meditators here at the meditation center; some call it crazy, others call it unrealistic. I get asked often if I have a life outside of this practice. My life is this practice. I see too many people hurting every day to just turn a cheek to the suffering in this world. I work hard for others to heal and all meditators here at San Diego Meditation know this. I sacrifice willingly with a smile. I wouldn’t be able to do it without this practice.
In today’s society, we often hear buzz words like self-compassion, self-acceptance, self-confidence, self-love, etc. However, for a person to truly develop all of these highly sought out characteristics mentioned above, they should learn how to live for others first. My reasoning behind this is, living self-centeredly doesn’t bring a person any bit of fulfillment whatsoever even though we are taught by society it does. Take it from me who lived that way for years. When you are free of self (ego) then naturally true self-compassion, acceptance, confidence, and love exists for a person. Through this meditation practice learned at San Diego Meditation you are naturally able to live a life free from one’s self (ego) through detailed self-reflection and cleansing the mind. As much as this is practiced, one is naturally able to live in the world with others in a healthy way and live better lives. People who meditate here have more tolerance and acceptance for life’s imperfections and change with each session gradually. They develop the ability to not get hung up on others actions or behaviors or their own mistakes and behaviors and gain the ability to always move forward.
Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?
There were many lessons that I had to unlearn so it is hard to say just one. However, through this meditation practice I was able to deeply self-reflect and let go of past habits and behaviors that not only was causing me harm but also harm to others. There were many eye-opening sessions where I could see how my actions/behaviors caused so much damage in my life.
I would say that the biggest lesson I had to unlearn was living with pride. My pride killed so many beautiful relationships with others and left me just feeling alone most of the time. I often felt that I was better than others and judged people often. This judgement was even towards my friends, family, and people I was close with. I did this so subconsciously that even though I was to blame and was at fault, I would still blame others. When others didn’t act or behave the way that I had expected, instead of accepting them as they were I would get angry and judge more. So when people stopped calling me or talking to me I went into a victim mentally mind state asking, “Why does this always happen to me?”
It was only through cleansing my mind that I was able to break the cycle of my ways of thinking and behaving I was so blind to and fundamentally change for the better. Our human mind is the ultimate enemy. I can boldly and confidently say that it even sabotages a person’s true potential by 100%. If everyone would self-reflect and cleanse their fake/illusory minds, the world would be an ideal place to live where everyone lives with ultimate mutual affection for one another.
Contact Info:
- Website: Sandiegomeditation.org
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sandiegomeditation/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SDMeditationNorthPark
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sandiegomeditation/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/meditation_san
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMA_EP5CTUqqRjFAbad6KMQ
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/san-diego-meditation-san-diego
- Other: https://www.meetup.com/sandiegomeditationcenter/