Finally got the problems with the BlogTalkRadio/Echo Bodine post ironed out. We seem to have our challenges with BTR from time to time and if you listened to Friday’s (attempted) airing of Chi For Yourself you know what I mean. So if you didn’t get to hear Echo on BTR here’s a fresh (and corrected) version of that interview..
Here are some talking points from last week’s show with Echo Bodine:
Describes the soul as a sort of ‘personality’
Wrote the book after watching the dying process
Says we should ask the dying about their lives
What grieving is like for a psychic
She’s not afraid of what death will bring
Some very well known souls are doing well on the ‘other side’
We start out this week by saying Happy Thanksgiving to our friends in Canada!!
…and, don’t forget this week’s guest will be talking to us on Wednesday at 1pm Pacific time. You’ll be able to hear Kuwana Haulsey discussing motherhood and her book Everything I Needed To Know I Learned From My Six-Month Old when you visit the chiforyourself.com ‘Start’ page.
The scheduled guest for October 24th (Thursday) is Erica Tucci, author of Radiant Survivor: How to Shine and Thrive through Recovery from Stroke, Cancer, Abuse, Addiction and Other Life-Altering Experiences.
And I promised to tell you about a show planned for later this month- In fact, on Halloween. Our scheduled guest will be Echo Bodine. Echo is the author of What Happens When We Die: A Psychic’s Exploration of Death, Heaven, and the Soul’s Journey After Death. She’ll offer us answers to some of life’s biggest questions: Is there a heaven? Are there people who have been there and come back? Do we have souls? Can we communicate with deceased loved ones? It’ll be Echo’s second visit to Chi For Yourself and you can hear it On Thursday, October 31st at 1pm Pacific.
Echo Bodine
That’s the lineup for the rest of the month. Plan to be with us!!
The next first-run Chi For Yourself interview is scheduled for Wednesday October 16th at 1pm Pacific. We had to move the date from our usual Thursday to Wednesday because of a scheduling conflict. I hope you’ll be with us for the streamed interview. I’ll be talking to Kuwana Haulsey, author of Everything I Needed to Know, I Learned from My Six-Month-Old. KuwanaHaulsey fuses memoir, spirituality and self-development into the unique perspective that babies are actually extraordinarily divine teachers who are capable of showing their caregivers the way toward inspired living.
Kuwana Haulsey
The following week we get back to a Thursday interview schedule. Chi For Yourself will welcome Erica Tucci on October 24th at 1pm Pacific. Erica is the author of Radiant Survivor: How to Shine and Thrive Through Recovery From Stroke, Cancer, Abuse, Addiction and Other Life-Altering Experiences.The book is about healing, and it offers hope,inspiration, and encouragement to anyone facing trauma in their lives.
Erica Tucci
On October 31st (Halloween) Chi For Yourself welcomes a woman who will be making her second visit to the show. I’ll tell you more about that in a future post.
Article: For Good Vibrations Focus on the Good
I like to say that everything is energy, and energy is everything. Energy differs according to the speed at which it vibrates. Light energy has a high frequency vibration, while something like a dining room table has a lower frequency. Human beings have different frequencies of vibration, too. The ways we think and feel go a long way toward determining the frequency at which we vibrate. We then send that vibration out to the world, much like a radio station sends out its signal. The result, as Universal Law tells us, is an attraction to that which vibrates at a similar frequency. And what we bring to us determines our reality. So, it makes sense to raise our vibration in order to make a positive shift in our lives.
You probably know or have been around someone who is vibrating at a high frequency. They strike you as spirited and dynamic. This type of person can be an inspiration to us for working on raising our own vibration. Then there’s the other side of the coin- someone who is very negative or cynical. This is a person who vibrates at a lower frequency. Do a simple test to find out where you stand on the vibration scale. Think about where you fall on a scale between the most negative person you know and the most vital. You’re not doing this to be critical of the person. Rather you can find your place on the vibrational scale. This is a good way to measure your progress and to remind you that you may have some vibration raising left to do.
There is no shortage of ways to raise your vibration. You can say affirmations or start a meditation practice. And it’s always wise to monitor your thoughts. Choose where you send your attention. You can see how effective this is by visualizing- just a few minutes a day. You might want to spend those minutes focused on the good in your life. As you do this you’ll be training yourself to be more mindful and in the moment. And over time you’ll start to see a real shift in your vibration.
Okay..this is something a little different. I don’t usually post on a Friday, let alone a Friday evening. But, it’s been a busy week for me and probably you, too. And I got to thinking about our tendency to live for the weekend. We let out a collective sigh, glad that the rigors of the week are behind us. Now we can ‘let our hair down’..maybe party a bit, or just grab some serenity.
It was serenity I had I mind when I chose to bring back the 2011 John Selby interview. John talks to us about meditation and his book Expand This Moment. But, it’s the subheading that I think resonates with ‘Friday-philes’- Focused Meditations to Quiet Your Mind, Brighten Your Mood, and Set Yourself Free.
But, first I want to tell you about a new feature on chiforyourself.com. If you look at the top of each page on the web site, you’ll see a small box on the left side of the page that reads ‘send voicemail’. If you click on that box you can send us a voicemail. No phone necessary..no downloads, nothin’. Just click on and follow the directions. You can send your message right from your browser. It’s a great way for me to hear what you would like to hear on Chi For Yourself!
Now, for a heapin’ helpin’ of serenity, courtesy of John Selby- This week’s guest on Chi For Yourself..
Click on the BlogTalkRadio banner to hear the show:
If you didn’t get to hear Chi For Yourself guest Thomas Bien talking about happiness last week you can listen to the show by clicking on this player:
Before we put the happiness topic away for awhile I want to tell you about some of the guests we plan to bring to you in upcoming episodes, and healing is definitely the operative word here..
October 24th at 1pm Pacific- Erica Tucci (Radiant Survivor) talking about healing from a serious illness.
November 13th at Noon Pacific time- Annemiek Douw shares her case histories of healing.
November 21st at 1pm Pacific- Dr. Bernie Siegel returns to CFY to talk about The Art of Healing.
All the interviews are scheduled to be streamed on the Chi For Yourself home page…should there be any changes, you’ll hear about them here in GenuLines.
Now, for that one last mention of healing..and it comes from a great source!
Article:
Looking for Happiness in “All the Wrong Places”
By Marci Shimoff
I was 41 years old, stretched out on a lounge chair by my pool and reflecting on my life. I had achieved all that I thought I needed to be happy.
You see when I was a child, I imagined there were five main things that ensured a happy life: a successful career that helped people, a loving husband, a comfortable home, a great body, and a wonderful circle of friends. After years of study, hard work, and a few “lucky breaks,” I finally had them all. (Okay, so my body didn’t quite look like Halle Berry’s–four out of five isn’t bad!) You think I’d have been on the top of the world.
But surprisingly I wasn’t. I felt an emptiness inside that the outer successes of life couldn’t fill. I was also afraid that if I lost any of those things, I might be miserable. Sadly, I knew I wasn’t alone in feeling this way.
While happiness is the one thing that we all truly want, so few of us really experience a deep and lasting fulfillment that feeds our soul. Our Founding Fathers even guaranteed us the right to pursue happiness, so why aren’t we finding it?
Because we’re looking for happiness, in the words of the old country western song, in “all the wrong places.”
That week I threw myself into the study of happiness. The culmination for me was when I discovered a state I call Happy for No Reason, a neurophysiological state of inner peace and well-being that isn’t dependent on circumstances. I believe this is our essential state.
When you’re Happy for No Reason, you don’t need to manipulate the world around you to try to make yourself happy. You bring happiness to your everyday experiences rather than trying to extract happiness from them.
Most of us spend our time struggling to string together as many happy experiences as we can, like beads in a necklace, to create a happy life. We do our best to find just the right beads that will fulfill us. Being Happy for No Reason, in this analogy, is like having a happy string. No matter what beads we put on our necklace–good and not so good–our inner reality, the string that runs through them all, is happy, and we experience an unshakeable positive state inside.
So, how do we get there?
I found the answer in the lives of the 100 deeply happy people I interviewed as research for my book Happy for No Reason. The only difference between happy and unhappy people is that they have different habits. In fact, I identified 21 core happiness habits that anyone can practice to be happier.
One of the most important habits that happy people share is that they let love lead. Although they have the same fears, pain, and disappointments as the rest of us, they’re able to keep their hearts open and flowing. This is the key to making your life–and every relationship in it–successful and fulfilling.
How do you let love lead? Here are three tips to get you started:
1. Reach Out and Touch Someone. Schedule time every day to call or visit someone you love or care about. It doesn’t have to be a long call or an elaborate outing. Remember to focus on expressing your love or care for them, rather than looking for them to fill you up.
Taking the time to connect with someone from the level of your heart has been shown to make the actual rhythms of your heartbeat coherent, which is correlated with increased calmness, strengthened immune system functioning, normalized blood pressure, and improved general well-being. For some people, a much-loved pet can be a great heart connection. What’s important is focusing on the bond you feel radiating from within you that links you to the special beings in your life.
2. Spread Lovingkindness. One way to power up your heart’s flow is by sending loving kindness to your friends and family, as well as strangers you pass on the street. Next time you’re waiting for the elevator at work, stuck in a line at the store, or caught up in traffic, send a silent wish to the people you see for their happiness, well-being, and health. Simply wishing others well switches on the “pump” in your own heart that generates love and creates a strong current of happiness.
3. Hang with the Happy. We catch the emotions of those around us just like we catch their colds–it’s called emotional contagion. So it’s important to make wise choices about the company you keep. Create appropriate boundaries with emotional bullies and “happiness vampires” who suck the life out of you. Develop your happiness “dream team”–a mastermind or support group you meet with regularly to keep you steady on the path of raising your happiness.
“Happily ever after” isn’t just for fairytales or for only the lucky few. Imagine experiencing inner peace and well-being as the backdrop for everything else in your life. When you’re Happy for No Reason, it’s not that your life and your relationships always look perfect–it’s that however they look, you’ll still be happy!
Author’s Bio:
By Marci Shimoff. Based on the New York Times bestseller Happy for No Reason: 7 Steps to Being Happy from the Inside Out, which offers a revolutionary approach to experiencing deep and lasting happiness. The woman’s face of the Chicken Soup for the Soul series and a featured teacher in The Secret, Marci is an authority on success, happiness, and the law of attraction. To order Happy for No Reason, newly released in paperback, and receive free bonus gifts, go to http://www.happyfornoreason.com/mybook
Overheard
“For every minute you are angry you lose sixty seconds of happiness.”
― Ralph Waldo Emerson
Before we get to this week’s article I want to remind you of this week’s Chi For Yourself guest…
Boys are quickly falling behind girls in school, starting as early as the second grade. Academic research gathered in May 2012 revealed that student populations in U.S. colleges today are only 40% male, due in large part to poor grades earned throughout middle and high school (featured onGreatSchools.org). We will be talking to Cynthia Gill. She’s the co-author of Jump-Starting Boys: Help Your Reluctant Learner Find Success in School and Life.
Cynthia Gill
Cynthia joins us on Thursday, August 22nd at 1pm Pacific Time. Again we plan to stream the interview via Google + Hangouts. You’ll see the screen on Thursday on the “Start” page of chiforyourself.com.
(Article)
Down But Not Out: Feel the Feelings and Keep Going
During a recent period of feeling kind of “blue” I was reminded of the waves of emotions that can roll through our lives un-anounced. These can range from the down days just mentioned to the darker depression-like moods. I dealt with those heavy feelings earlier in my life. I referred to those as “situational” since there were some troubling issues that had to be faced. When I ran a search on the definition of emotions I found : A natural instinctive state of mind deriving from one’s circumstances, mood, or relationships with others. Definition 2 read: Any of the particular feelings that characterize such a state of mind, such as joy, anger, love, hate, horror, etc. The key word in the first example is ‘natural’.
Your first reaction might be to turn your feelings away. You might push the feelings down, put them on hold until later, or use distractions to get your mind off of things. You can deny them or indulge in them (often called wallowing). And there’s a cliche to match every situation- ‘I don’t have time to think about that now’, ‘It’s always something’, or ‘I’ll take care of it later.’ But what you’re feeling is neither positive nor negative. It’s all part of being human.
If your choice is not to experience intense feelings they could become embedded in your physical body. When they set up shop deep inside you they can have an effect on the way you look at the world. The worst case scenario is that they can be so troubling as to cause illness. This is a good time to monitor your thinking, too. One of my very favorite figures in the Human Development field is Louise Hay. She puts it this way, “The thoughts we choose to think are the tools we use to paint the canvas of our lives.”
You can bring out the feelings, front and center, to experience them in a safe and enriching way. When I feel the need to do this I pretty much drop whatever was planned for the day, if possible, and get to the feeling place. You may have a more demanding schedule, so how about a date- with yourself? Pick a safe, secure, and comfortable place along with a time when you can be alone. Start by remembering the circumstances that touched off the emotions you’ve been putting off. When you’ve stirred up the emotions let yourself FEEL them. Don’t block them. Cry if you feel like it. Let any thoughts that come up come through. And be gentle with yourself. This is not a good place to judge what’s happening.
Recognizing your emotions instead of pushing them away helps you stay emotionally healthy and goes a long way toward truly conscious living.
Well, there we were- all dressed up and nowhere to go! Thursday’s planned interview stream with Cynthia Gill did not come off as scheduled, apparently due to some scheduling confusion. So, I’ve put in the request to Cynthia’s publisher to re-schedule, preferably in mid or late August. Cynthia is the co-author of Jump Starting Boys. The book gives parents a thorough look into possible reasons why their lads are struggling in school. She includes case histories, take-action checklists, and helpful tips.
On this week’s Chi For Yourselfyou’ll hear the interview with Brad Warner, Zen monk and author of There is No God and He is Always With You. During our discussion we touched on the God-or-no God question and a number of others. The show will air onBlogTalkRadio.com on Friday, August 9th at 1pm Eastern, 10am Pacific.
Ponderous, man! Consider this from speakingtree.in-
The breath, the body, the name, all the forms and shapes in the universe, “It’s all the same like branches of a tree just as one goes deeper and deeper one becomes aware of the fact that the self is consciousness and diversity is a mere mirage. The one who realizes the consciousness is the true self he shall be free from experiencing the mirage as reality..Read the article.
and on a related note, from the New Indian Express:
This whole world reveals the true consciousness within, like the waves rising in the ocean. Knowing that you are this essence, without a doubt, be that form of consciousness without any quivering attachment to the world of movement, names and forms. Read the article…
Tony Burroughs reminded us that we can design our day, not to mention our lives. Manifesting is his thing, and it can be yours, too. This week a guest offering from Alan Charter and his own thoughts on getting what you want for your life..
How To Let All The Prosperity You Want Come Into Your Life
by Alan Charter
In this article you will find solid self-help advice to assist you in working through your problems and attaining the level of success that you desire. The techniques presented here will train you to hone in on potential problems before they get out of hand and negatively impact your life. The tips are simple yet effective.
To achieve successful personal development you need to do more than just set goals. You should visualize them, too. How will it feel when you achieve them? What will the experience be like? This visualization process will motivate you by making your goals seem more tangible. It is also a process you can repeat as often as needed to restore your enthusiasm.
When suffering from a lack of confidence, you should try to engage in physical exercise or a type of sport on a regular basis. Not only will this improve your body shape and therefore your confidence in your looks, exercise releases endorphins which stimulate the mind and body to a natural high.
Always try to present yourself in a positive light. While you should not worry so much about what someone thinks of you, if you need to promote yourself, you do have to be understood. Just do well to be yourself so that you don’t paint a false persona for people just to get their business.
Remember that regardless of the few or the many things you are wishing to improve yourself and your life, you have natural talents that others do not. Capitalize on these talents and abilities as they can bring you to new level or even act as a stepping stone for a new career path or business venture.
Celebrate your successes as you work through your personal development plan to keep you engaged and excited about the process. Do not focus so much on the end result that you fail to recognize the steps you take to get there. Personal development and growth can sometimes be difficult, and acknowledging the small successes along the way keeps you motivated.
One key tip to self-help success is to start by choosing small goals. Whatever part of your life you are trying to improve, it will be much harder if you try and tackle the problem head on. Rather, start setting up small goals you can easily achieve, and this will motivate you to continue on.
Keep flashcards in your pocket! Yes, flashcards are an old fashioned approach to learning but they are also a proven approach. Make miniature flashcards in the desired subject matter and pull them out when you are waiting at the doctor’s office, riding the subway or in any other situation where you have time on your hands.
This article offered advice with respect to seeking Self-help . Many people, for many different reasons at different points in their lives seek help. Each situation and solution to each problem is different. By reading this article you will have the information to get the help that you need when you need it.
About the Author:
Grab this free video of strategy training to learn how to eliminate self-limiting beliefs and understand the secrets of prosperity consciousness. Only limited seats are available. Check this out for more useful information on how to make your dreams reality.
We start an important week on Chi For Yourself with a reminder that this Thursday (July 27th) we have TWO episodes of Chi For Yourself on the schedule. I was able to re-schedule with Brad Warner for 10am Pacific Time Thursday.
Brad Warner
..Brad is the author of a number of books, including There is No God, and He is Always With You. (Interesting title, no?) He’ll talk about things like Buddhism (he’s an ordained Zen teacher) and the ‘is there a God?’ question.
Then at 1pm Pacific Time our guest will be Tony Burroughs.
Tony Burroughs
Tony is the co-founder of The Intenders of the Highest Good and he’s the author of Get What You Want: The Art of Making and Manifesting Your Intentions. We’ll talk manifesting and how to bring what you want into your life as easily and effortlessly as possible.
Both calls will be recorded and posted on BlogTalkRadio as well as a number of other hosting sites, but you’re invited to hear the interviews live on Google+ Hangouts On Air. The Chi For Yourself ‘Start’ page will have a screen installed at 10am (Brad Warner) and again at 1pm (Tony Burroughs)..
While we’re on the subject of manifesting I thought you might like to get some ideas on doing it in the reverse. This is from Kathy Wilson:
Sometimes rather than bringing something into your life, you just want something to go away. Maybe it’s a problem. Maybe it’s a person. Maybe it’s a belief.
This is when using your power of de-manifesting might be useful.
Actually, de-manifesting is often a necessary, albeit commonly ignored, part of manifesting. In order to bring something new into your life, often you have to release something to make space for the new thing.
So what is de-manifesting? It’s simply the art and science of making disagreeable, unhelpful, or dysfunctional things disappear. It’s not so different from manifesting with The Law of Attraction. However, instead of using that powerful law to magnetize something to you, you use it to make something you don’t want go away.
Here’s a simple four-step method for de-manifesting:
1. Focus your awareness on what you want to leave your life. If it’s a person or a thing, visualize it. If it’s an issue or problem, visualize an occurrence of it. Remember, visualizations don’t have to be still or static images. They can be like videos or movies. If it’s something completely intangible, such as an emotion or a belief, focus on it as best you can. Then silently ask for a symbol of it and almost instantly with your inner vision you’ll see an appropriate symbol. Notice the shape, texture, color, and anything else about it.
2. Silently command that this thing you’re focusing on grow smaller or less intense by 50%. Watch as it diminishes in size until it’s half as large. If it’s an emotion, feel it lessen in intensity to about half of what it was.
3. Silently command that it continue to diminish until it disappears entirely. Watch, feel, or sense it become less and less, until it no longer exists.
4. Immediately after you’ve de-manifested whatever you don’t want, replace it with something you do want. Watch the new thing, person, or symbol appear. First it may be very small. Command that it grow larger and larger until it completely fills the space just vacated by the thing you de-manifested. This step is most important. When you release or remove something during energy work such as this, you create an empty space which must be filled with something of your choice. This vacancy will be filled with something and if that something is not of your choosing, it may be as bad or worse than what you just de-manifested.
Now, when the opportunity arises in your physical world to actually release the thing you just energetically de-manifested, LET IT GO. Else all your pre-manifesting, manifesting, and de-manifesting will be a waste of your time and energy. Be willing to allow that which is no longer serving you to leave your life.
Kathy Wilson helps people create a better life using a multi-faceted approach. She and her clients utilize life coaching, spiritual consulting, NLP, vibrational healing, PSYCH-K, Tarot, mentoring, and teaching… whatever is in her client’s highest and best interests. She’s a Certified Professional Coach, spiritual teacher, Reiki master, vibrational healer, author of An Inner Journey: Living Your Life Purpose, and many ebooks and articles. For information about her products, services, and classes, visit her website: http://www.warrior-priestess.com.
Overheard
“A man’s homeland is wherever he prospers.”
– Aristophanes
Well, if you were watching on Thursday you saw NO interview with Zen author Brad Warner. I wasn’t able to reach him, but I’ve asked his publicist to re-schedule us for another time.
Meanwhile, the Karuna Cayton interview on Buddhist Psychology is subbing for Brad Warner this week. I think of Karuna as my Buddhist ‘pinch-hitter’. Listen to that show here:
(click on this logo)
Tony Burroughs
We’re scheduled to hear from Tony Burroughs on July 25th. Tony is the author of Get What You Want:The Art of Making and Manifesting Your Intentions.
…and I’m expecting a definite August date for our interview with Cynthia Gill.
Cynthia Gill
She and Pam Withers are the co-authors of Jump-Starting Boys: Help Your Reluctant Learner Find Success in School and Life. She talk about findings that boys are quickly falling behind girls in school, starting as early as the second grade.
Article
Today a look at finding peace..big job but somebody’s got to do it. That somebody can be you says guest blogger Connie Sears:
Some Tips About How To Find Peace
by Connie Sears
When one is not at peace with oneself, one will not be able to live life to the fullest. Consider what happens when you cannot concentrate on what you are doing or if you are always unhappy. This can have a profound effect on the quality of your life. It will be helpful to learn tips about how to find peace.
One of the simplest things you can do to promote such a feeling is to get rid of clutter. This can be pretty hard to do given the many tasks that have to be accomplished in a day. You must remember however that your home is your refuge from the outside world. Going to a clean and clutter free house will be a relief after a long day at work.
The surest way to achieve happiness and tranquility would be to figure out what you love and do it. Do not be afraid to go out there and explore. Be open to new experiences as this can give you valuable insights about yourself, other people, and the world. Hopefully, you can discover what you can do for the rest of your life.
One should be true to oneself. If you live to please all the people around you, then you will just be making yourself unhappy. Choose your own path but at the same time show some concern for social norms. Find that balance between making your own decisions and maintaining a healthy relationship with your friends and family.
The right attitude toward life in general is also a factor. When you think about it, you will have good and bad experiences. A lot of people take it very hard when something bad happens to them. It is important to remember that these things can happen. Accepting the duality of life will help you move forward.
It helps to look for ways to improve oneself. One way of doing so would be to identify your bad habits and to be willing enough to do something about it. You do not have to instantly change something. Take little steps. If you want to be more fit for example, start by taking a walk in the neighborhood instead of engaging yourself in an intense full body workout immediately.
Life can be very stressful so it is important to take breaks along the way. If you are at work, set aside some time for sipping on your beverage and relaxing. Time away from the computer should help refresh your mind. You can practice meditation or take up a new sport during your leisure time.
One must also remember to have positive thoughts. It is very easy to get stuck on the criticisms you have heard but mulling over this is useless. These will only serve to prolong the agony. When you find yourself remembering such experiences, start thinking about things that have made you happy.
The question of how to find peace is a question that has plagued many individuals. It is difficult to achieve a goal or feel happiness when you do not feel good about yourself. If you want tranquility, then you have to take steps to improve yourself and address all your needs.
About the Author:
Read more about Pointers About How To Find Peace visiting our website.
Wanted to remind you that we’ll be hearing from Maggie Oman Shannon on the next Chi For Yourself. She joins us on Thursday June 13th at 1pm Pacific time. We plan to stream the interview on chiforyourself.com at that time. Maggie’s message goes beyond merely making things. She reminds us that we all have the ability to create, and in doing so we can bring serenity to our lives at a time when serenity is a scarce commodity.
Here’s a look at our guest:
Rev.MaggieOmanShannonis at the forefront of a peaceful revolution: choosing to live a handmade life, and slow down and disconnect. In her book, Crafting Calm, Maggie offers clarity, calm, and insight to a path of peace of mind by “making mindfulness.”
It’s no secret that stopping to smell the roses is good for us; today, millions of people are finding physical and mental health benefits in handwork, framing it as a spiritual practice. MaggieOmanShannon tells us that we can literally “craft the crazy away” through beading and crocheting, candle-making, and collaging. In Crafting Calm,Shannonexplores crafts and creativity as a spiritual practice that provides enormous benefits. By knitting love and hope into every stitch, handicrafts help form new friendships and communities. From making a desktop shrine or mini-Zen garden, to stringing intention beads and painting personal prayer flags, her intention is to help us to make mindfulness.
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