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 or debating on TV, I cover my eyes. I can't stand to see how rigid and 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 was there to take pictures for the advocacy group holding the event. I'll never forget: she wore a bright sunflower power suit, and after the press conference she stood speaking to a small 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 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? How can we be sure that she won't compromise her convictions in the face of whopping influences of corporations donating to her election campaigns?
OK, so why should Hillary meditate? Meditation forces you to stop. And to listen closely. It is in meditation that practitioners report receiving profound insights and inspirations -- ideas that percolate up 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 to her in a whole new way. She might be able to tap into a powerful new message and a 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 any more 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. Maybe by meditating she will let go of just a smidge of her GIANT PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE EGO. She will come to see that it is the ego that separates us one from another; it is our ego that makes us fearful and grasping and proud and mean and swaggering.
Maybe Hillary will see that what draws people to Bernie is in part his extraordinary humility. He never appears to be thrusting himself forward; his is a campaign that steams ahead collecting and reinforcing the energy of crowds revved by the notion of "revolution."
Well, so I know a lot of great meditation teachers, and should the impossible happen (she would read this post 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 sit down and meditate on the idea.