We were lucky to catch up with Raditia Lasry recently and have shared our conversation below.

Raditia, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.

It was November 2003 in China Town NYC at a place called Good World. When my friend started talking with a stranger born in Switzerland, where I am from, we acquainted ourselves.

At the end of the night, this stranger and his friend offered us a ride to a subway station nearby. As we got closer to the station, he asked us where we lived. As we shared where we lived, Elmhurst Queens, he decided to drive us out there as he knew how to get there. My friend and I didn’t question it and let us drive close to our home.

During this ride, the stranger and I started talking about our favorite cars where we had an immediate connection. Once we arrived in Queens, we exchanged information and stayed in touch.

Today, nineteen years later, we are married, have a seven-year-old child, and share many stories.

If I wasn’t fearless and getting into a stranger’s car in the middle of NYC, I couldn’t tell you why I’m here in the States today and why I decided to embrace a life of mindfulness.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I grew up in Switzerland, raised by parents from Indonesia and Germany, and have lived in the States for the past nineteen years. I now understand how it all impacted me in becoming a Mindfulness Guide.

Over the past forty years, I have experienced a certain standard on how to be successful in the academic and corporate world. It’s been a great challenge for me to fit in, and with my promise at ten years old, “always to be happy,” I was determined to do anything it takes to be my own savior and not let those standards put me down.

At 35 years old, I returned to school to get a college degree, a blessing in disguise. I recognized my interests in art, human history, psychology, biology, and communication. Thanks to my apprenticeship in Switzerland, it only took me two and half years to complete my Bachelor’s Degree in Liberal Arts. This began my journey into what I call my work and practice today: Mindfulness. I spare you the details as this would be a long read.

Learning and seeing the complexity of being human is my passion and discovering how we can explore the present moment is my mission. Over the past three years, I have inspired people to live fully by embracing our happy and sad sides, angry and loving sides, and curious and confused sides. We are capable of so much, and when we let our guards down in who we are, we feel the strength and courage of being enough. I see a great future in who we can be and already are.

How can you learn more? I created a summit coming up in its third year. It’s a five-day summit in September where speakers share their journey to live their lives with presence and be the creator of their lives. There are also beautiful panel discussions on youtube, where we explore our emotions and how they affect our daily lives, and how we can embrace them thoroughly, including the uncomfortable ones. There are also workshops and retreats where you can discover how you can get a deeper connection to your heart.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

Growing up, I wasn’t academically a great student. In Switzerland, around 6th grade, you had to take a test, and it would determine which level you would get into, lower, middle, or upper class. When the results returned, I had to go into the lowest class, meaning the test results were on the lower end. It hurt me when I saw that most of the students went to the middle class and only two other kids didn’t. It was my first heart-breaking moment. Throughout my academics, until I completed my Bachelor’s degree in my mid-thirties, I had difficulties doing well. As I am standing here, do I know that it had nothing to do with my intelligence and more with the limitations our systems are putting forward on how our intelligence is being measured. It is now my mission to help more people to discover their intelligence in living a life of joy and happiness even when life is tough.

Putting training and knowledge aside, what else do you think really matters in terms of succeeding in your field?

The greatest training is a daily practice. Not only in meditating daily, and also by seeing the possibilities of practice in everything we do, from brushing our teeth, folding laundry, washing dishes, eating, sleeping, cooking, driving a car, exercising, to playing with our kids and friends. The list is endless, whenever you are doing anything, when you are paying attention to what you are doing, you will succeed in practicing mindfulness.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.mindfulbeingllc.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mindful.being.llc/?hl=en
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mindfulbeingllc
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mindfulbeingllc/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKmuls9A2bUyVB3Che4NtAQ/videos

Image Credits
Kelly Bonell (2 images with my full body image) Raditia Lasry (all the other images)