So growing up in Alabama in a family of six, light Watkins never imagined he'd find himself in his mid forties, some 15 years into a career as a meditation teacher, having led workshops and trained thousands around the world, giving up nearly all of his worldly possessions to live out of a backpack and be nomadic for the last three years, basing out of Mexico City for the moment, this last year and a half, it created the space to really reflect on his life of teaching, travel, connection, serendipity, and impact.
And the stories and insights that began to emerge needed to be written down and shared.
Stories about being a young black kid growing up in the south, living in New York, saying yes to a gig, advertising that would become his one and only traditional job.
Walking into a meditation workshop with a lot of hesitance, walking out, sensing it would be his life's work, immersing himself in India, starting a sober social movement called the shine, and reflecting on meaning, friendship, love, serendipity, surrender, and of course, meditation and more broadly, the role of stillness and reflection in our lives.
He has distilled these stories and awakenings into a beautiful new book, knowing where to look.
And we dive into all of it in today's inspiring conversation.
So excited to share it with you.
I'm Jonathan Fields, and this is a good life project.
Man, what a year to.
Did you have the idea to start at the end of the tunnel before this last year, or was it.
I don't know how it is.
I've been dragging my feet for probably a year and a half, so it was actually perfect.
The pandemic was perfect for me, starting my podcast and finishing my book and all kinds of stuff.
Yeah, I mean, actually, I mean, talk about timing there, like, to literally start a podcast called at the end of the tunnel when we're sort of like the entire world is entering this new tunnel that is utterly dark and we have no idea what's next.
Yeah, yeah.
Well, you know, I was doing this show called the Shine for five years, which is kind of the same concept.
I've always just been fascinated by the backstory of people who do things for social good, people who start movements and stuff, because, you know, it's not something that I feel like is really supported in our society.
I mean, it's something that's seen as a side project, but not really a main thing.
And so people who dedicate their lives to doing it is really fascinating to me.
And I'm also really a big fan of Guy Raz's how I built this and hearing the backstory of the entrepreneur building their company.