Hillary, Come Meditate With Me!!

This may sound crazy but I think Hillary Clinton needs to meditate.

Watching her speak last night after winning Mississippi, it occurred to me for about the 200th time that she talks and talks and talks but never catches fire the way Bernie does. It's gotten to the point that when she is giving a speech on TV, I close my eyes. I can't stand to see how prune-faced she can look. I can't bear to see her as she was last night, with a kind of schoolmarm attitude, not smiling at all, practically scowling while she spoke.

What Hillary needs is a crash course in authenticity. She needs to step onto that stage and demonstrate both how vulnerable she is, but also how incredibly strong and capable she is (and she is both!) She needs to speak from the heart and really sound like she is doing it! She needs to smile (the way she does off-stage.) She needs to demonstrate that kind of Bill and Barack passion that grabs you and won't let you go. (Yeah, so, we know, Bernie has a lot to teach her.)

Back in 2000 when she was running for the U.S. Senate from New York, I met her at a press conference on prescription drug prices that she was holding with seniors in NYC.  I'll never forget: she wore a bright sunflower power suit,

and after the press conference she stood speaking to a cluster of seniors. Two things amazed me: how warm a person she is when you are one-on-one with her. And two, how she was able within just a few minutes to memorize all of the seniors' first names! She spoke to them with great passion about an issue which was very close to the seniors' hearts.

Fast forward 16 years. She still cares about seniors. She still has the right positions on so many of the issues. But can she convince us that her presidency won't be business as usual? Can we be convinced that she won't balance her convictions against the whopping influences of corporations donating to her election campaigns?

Ok so why should Hillary meditate? Because it is in meditation

that I have gotten some of my most profound insights. It is in meditation that  practitioners often receive insights and inspirations that percolate from deep in the subconsciousness.  I bet if she took an entire day (better yet, a week) to meditate, she might find her soul speaking in a whole new way. She might be able to tap into a whole new source of authentic power that meditation often gives you.

And maybe too, in meditation -- slowing down, breathing deep, over and over again -- she might keep from making costly mistakes. Mistakes like the gaffe attacking Bernie for not supporting the auto industry bailout in Detroit. That was just plain dumb, and she should have thought before she spoke. Maybe meditation will make her a bit more self-reflective. Finally, maybe by meditating she lets go of just a smidge of her GIANT PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE EGO. She will come to see that it is our ego that separates us; it is our ego that makes fearful and grasping and proud and swaggering.

Maybe she will see that what draws people to Bernie is in part because he isn't thrusting himself forward; his is a campaign that steams ahead collecting the energy of revved up crowds invested in "revolution."

Well, so I know a lot of great meditation teachers, and should the impossible happen (she would read this and agree), I would  be delighted to make the connection. But no, I won't expect a phone call, a text message or a tweet. Maybe I will just meditate it on the idea.

P.S. If you watched last night's Democratic debate in Miami, Hillary was smiling and looking more relaxed. Hey, so maybe she DID meditate! When asked how she felt about the fact that 37 percent of Americans don't think she's honest, she replied: 

“Obviously, it’s painful for me to hear that. I am not a natural politician, in case you haven’t noticed, like my husband or President Obama,” she added. “I just have to do the best I can” and “hope that people see that I am fighting for them.” A great answer. Honest. Forthright. Speaking from the heart! She is showing both her vulnerability and her determination to do the right thing!