Tag Archive for the shift

Echoes of The Dead and The Dying: A Look Back at The Echo Bodine Interview

November 4, 2013 John Uncategorized No comments

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’

JohnK 11-4-2013chiforyourself.com home page

Guests and Ghosts and “Frightfully” Good Chi in Our Future!

October 29, 2013 John Uncategorized No comments

I guess it’s only natural that our Chi For Yourself guest this (Halloween) week should be a ghostbuster..!

But Echo Bodine is much more than that- she’s also a spiritual healer, psychic, bestselling author, and lecturer. This week she’ll talk to us about a subject that many of us prefer to avoid, but one that we’ll all face at some time–death.

Echo says “it would be beneficial for all of us to learn how to have open discussions with our loved ones when they are in their dying process and when we are going through our own dying process.” Her new book is called What Happens When We Die: A Psychic’s Exploration of Death, Heaven, and the Soul’s Journey After Death.

Echo Bodine will do her second Chi For Yourself interview this Thursday October 31st, at 4pm Eastern, 1pm Pacific. Look for the Google+ Hangouts screen on the start page of chiforyourself.com.

Echo Bodine

Echo Bodine’s new book is called What Happens When We Die: A Psychic’s Exploration of Death, Heaven, and the Soul’s Journey After Death.

If you missed last week’s episode of Chi For Yourself, our guest was Erica Tucci. She talked about how her world was rocked when she suffered a stroke, and how she learned life lessons during her recovery. You can hear that interview when you click on this BlogTalkRadio banner:

Key takeaways mentioned in the Erica Tucci episode:

balancing the male and female aspects of the self
bad things can happen for good reasons
sometimes the universe moves in to move us to make change in our lives
disciplines such as reiki and meditation can help re-enforce spirituality
believing in yourself can help move you forward on your life path
corporations are incorporating more feminine energies into the way business is transacted
never give up in life..find your passion..keep a strong connection to your spirituality

…and, we’ve re-scheduled the Kuwana Haulsey interview that was cancelled on October 16th. It’s now planned for Wednesday November 6th at 4pm Eastern, 1pm Pacific.

JohnK 10-29-2013

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Notes to Start the Week- October 14th, 2013

October 14, 2013 John Uncategorized No comments

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!!

JohnK October 14, 2013

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For Good Vibrations Focus on the Good

October 8, 2013 John Uncategorized 2 comments

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. Kuwana Haulsey 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.

JohnK 10-8-2013

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Happy Days- When Will They Be Here Again?

September 16, 2013 John Uncategorized No comments

The subject of happiness, how to land it and how to keep it has been taking a front seat in many major magazines and news periodicals recently. Figures show that the US currently ranks 23rd on a list of happiest countries despite all its apparent wealth and freedom. What gives? Our guest on this week’s Chi For Yourself says there’s a difference between the usual Western concept of happiness and the experience of deep contentment and joy. Dr. Thomas Bien is a leader in the field of mindful psychology and conducts workshops on mindfulness and meditation. He is also the author of numerous scientific articles and book chapters on spirituality and addiction.

Thomas Bien

Thomas Bien is the author of The Buddah’s Way of Happiness: Healing Sorrow, Transforming Negative Emotion, and Finding Well-Being in the Present. The interview is scheduled for Thursday September 19th, at 4pm Eastern, 1pm Pacific on chiforyourself.com.

Article:

How to Live Consciously and Attract Happiness

By Emily A Rider

Do you live each day consciously or unconsciously? We would all like to think that we are conscious during our waking hours; that we are consciously making decisions, consciously choosing how we act, react, speak, listen, and think. But do you know that in order to be conscious you must be aware of your Self? Do you know who you are? Are you living out who you truly are? Take a moment to think this over, and continue reading on…

Now that you’ve taken a moment to consider how your actions reflect your inner Self, did you come to the conclusion that how you live just may not be who you really are? You may become angry or frustrated from experiencing certain circumstances, but anger and frustration is not what is composed of your Self. All those molecules and compounds that make up your body, mind, and soul are certainly not angry or hostile ones. This you must realize. So why is it you express every emotion within the spectrum of human emotions? Do you choose to? Or is it a reaction?

If you stop before each thought and action to give yourself time to decide first, you begin to live consciously. If you do not let yourself decide, you defer to reaction: you go into autopilot mode and act or think in terms of your strongest emotion (anger, fear, sadness, etc.) since it is what has taken over. This is how you allow your ego (your mind) to take over and take control away from your real Self (your soul). This does you no good because this is what living unconsciously is. If you are not consciously making a decision, then you are unconsciously and mindlessly reacting. Your ego is not YOU. If you believe there is a difference between your physical body, your mental mind, and your spiritual soul, then you must take into consideration each of their downfalls and learn how to allow your soul to shine through with everything you do.

Do you notice how sometimes after a typical reaction, you may feel a little remorse? Perhaps it really wasn’t very necessary to tell off that waitress who got your order wrong for the second time, or speaking rudely back to that customer service representative who was just trying to do his job.

Life can be hard; it can get frustrating no doubt about it, but it doesn’t mean we need to project negativity right back at it. This does nothing for us.

How can we begin to live consciously? Here is the secret: right now, close your eyes and find the greatest feeling you have ever felt: such as the immense love you have for your child(ren), or that time when you were the most in love with a partner. Pinpoint that highest note of all your experiences. Feel that fulfilling joy and let it linger until your whole being is saturated with it. Hold onto this…

Love is the purest thought, emotion, and experience a soul can choose to live out. Yes, choose! We can choose to think, act, and live the rest of our lives with love being the core of it all; the seed that grows our human experiences; the cell that divides exponentially. We have this awesome Godly power because we are all God.

Now take this feeling that you have just re-experienced within your Self. Take it with you every morning when you get out of bed; take it with you to work or school; take it with you when you go out with your friends; take it home to your family; and take it to bed at night. This ultimate essence is what you will base all of your thoughts and actions on (notice I did not say reactions!). You will re-experience this each time you are confronted with a problem, a situation, a confrontation. Then, after some practice, you will call upon this beautiful part of you every time you think a thought, speak a word, and take an action. Love will be the root of everything you do. Your ultimate goal is to be who you really are, and who you really are, is love. Love is what creates us, the universe, and everything in between. We attract what we project out. So project out only love!

The funny part about this is that in order to know your Self (love), you must also know and have experienced love’s complete opposite: fear. If love attracts like things, fear deflects the same way. So we know fear because we act on it. We make decisions based on fear. We fear our boss, we fear not having money, we fear rejection, and we fear physical pain and death. We know this because we end up reacting out of fear everyday for many of us.

So turn it around. Turn our fear into love. When we stop fearing, we end anger and frustration. We stop feeling like we need to take those negative feeling hostage, only to release them out onto others. We can begin to fill those empty places with much needed love. Fill your life with more of YOU by bringing consciousness into all you do. Love is all there for us to use. So take it. Take it and run with it.

It will not be easy. You have to practice and practice until it becomes second nature to you. It will require intention on your part, which requires energy. If you invest in this, the universe will invest in you.

Love before and after you think or do and your life will evolve. I promise.

Emily A. Rider invites you to browse more great articles she has written about living a more spiritual life at http://www.higherspiritualliving.com. This site contains may topics from meditation to evidence-based research; from spiritual cleansing to the paradigm shift the U.S. is currently beginning. Come gain knowledge and new perspectives on living spiritually now at http://www.higherspiritualliving.com

JohnK 9/16/2013

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Down But Not Out: Feel the Feelings and Keep Going

August 19, 2013 John Uncategorized No comments

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 on GreatSchools.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.

JohnK 8-19-2013

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Notes to Start the Week: July 22, 2013

July 22, 2013 John Uncategorized No comments

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:

The Power of De-Manifesting

By 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

JohnK 7/22/2013

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What’s Going On Here? Manifesting, Law of Attraction, and Other Fun Stuff

July 1, 2013 John Uncategorized No comments

Before we get into today’s heart of today’s matters I want to give you a link to last week’s re-airing of the E. Dee Conrad 2010 interview. E. Dee talked with us from her home in Dubai..say what?? Dubai? That’s right. She folded up her successful life in the U.S. and moved to the United Arab Emirates to go in a completely different direction. I love stories of folks who leave everything they’ve known and set out on a new (risky?) life adventure. Did the same myself a few years ago..Listen to the show here:

Listen to internet radio with GioHost on BlogTalkRadio

Speaking of the show, our scheduled Chi For Yourself guest on July 25th will be Tony Burroughs, author of Get What You Want: The Art of Making and Manifesting Your Intentions. He’ll talk about manifesting and he’ll share an interesting personal story of the kind I like to feature on CFY. I plan to put it on the CFY home page as a Google+ Hangout On air.

And..this just in- as radio news folks sometimes say- I found out just minutes ago that Brad Warner will be a guest on Chi For Yourself on July 11th. Brad is a Zen priest, filmmaker, blogger and the author of There Is No God and He’s Always With You. No, it’s not a typo. That’s the name of the book and he explains the title in that cool head-scratching way that only the “Zens” can.

Now, time to take yet another look at The Law of Attraction. For some reason today must be LOA day because I’m hearing or reading about it at every turn. I was listening to the radio today and I heard a guy make reference to LOA as part of that “New Age Stuff”…his answer to manifesting is good old fashioned hard work and sweat.

A few minutes later, again on the radio, I heard an interview host say that ‘if you don’t change your thoughts and keep on doing what you’re doing you’ll keep getting what your getting.’ Sounds like Law of Attraction to me!

Here are a couple of more views…see what you think. This is from The Self Help Hipster:

The Law of Attraction: An Analysis.

My preaching of the Law of Attraction and manifesting has always been accompagnied by disclaimers and a message of common sense/reality. At least, I hope so. I know I run a total positivity-for-president website, but still. I hope you noticed.
In case you hadn’t, let’s take a trip down memory lane..Continue reading..

….and, this from examiner.com:

Getting what you want through the law of attraction

We’ve all heard about the Law of Attraction and how it can help us get the love we desire, job we want and that new car. But, how many people have you ever talked to that put it into use? Not many people seem to actually put it to use. Continue reading..

Hmmm. I may do a poll about the effectiveness of the Law of Attraction. More on that later.

Be well..

JohnK 7-1-2013
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Notes to Start The Week June 24th, 2013

June 24, 2013 John Uncategorized No comments

I’m planning to bring back an encore episode of Chi For Yourself this week, possibly the interview of several years ago with E Dee Conrad. The older shows tend to be shorter than the more recent programs. If you’ve followed CFY since the early days you know that interview lengths were sometimes as short as 7 minutes!

A new, Southern California-based start-up magazine on health and healing has approached Chi For Yourself about possibly doing print versions of the interviews heard on our show. I like the idea a lot and I’m going to do all I can to make this happen..

…been reading a new book on manifesting by Tony Burroughs. I’m going to see about getting Tony on the show. His approach to bringing abundance into our lives is worth hearing, as is his personal story.

Chi For Yourself is a big proponent of meditation…no secret to be sure. We’ve had the great pleasure hearing from some of today’s best voices on the practice on our show. My questioning to our guests often includes how much meditation time is enough time. This article from the White Hindu gives you one approach to a ‘compact contemplation’:

Meditation in Minutes: Does One Minute of Meditation Make a Difference?
Patheos (blog)
Last week I did my own meditation challenge. For me, I know I want to be meditating, but there’s always something else to be doing. Taking twenty to thirty minutes once or twice a day seems like such a small commitment, yet in practice it feels …

We’ll wrap up this post with a word about Yoga…actually about 450 words. Guest blogger Larry Cewtly has some thoughts on Yoga’s body/mind benefits. And don’t forget to check out the Chi For Yourself Yoga page. You’ll find a video you can use for your own workout and some notes from the Yoga community..

Yoga Can Help Heal Your Body And Mind

by Larry Cewtly

If you would like your body to be calm, you must consider yoga. This type of workout does not only exercise your body, but also relaxes your mind and soul. If you’d like to try this exercise, begin by looking for a local facility. Opt for a teacher with considerable experience so that you can execute the workout correctly and keep away from injuries.

You could find several types of yoga. It could take some time for you to identify which type is most suitable for you. Beginners are advised to participate in a few classes for different types of yoga. It can help you identify the type of yoga that’s ideal for you.

There are several other things that you need to look into when choosing a yoga teacher. They should not just have plenty of experience, but should also be trained properly so that they can do the same thing to you. A properly trained instructor keeps you far from injuries and prioritizes your safety before everything else. Yoga is something that will enhance your strength, flexibility and enable you to grow spiritually. Then again, it won’t happen when you’ve got injuries.

Locating the best yoga facility near you is easy, and you simply have to look at the years that it has been operating along with reviews that it has received. There’s a likelihood that you will have to take a look at a number of studios before you finally come to a decision. So make sure you spend time in checking out the studios in your area. You’ll be happy you spent the time to find the best yoga studio.

What is important about yoga is ensuring you do each and every stretch and exercise appropriately to avoid injury. You could harm your body if you do not hold poses and stretch properly. This is one of the main factors we suggest that you start with a trained yoga instructor, to allow them to explain to you the easiest method to do each and every stretch.

The most effective ways to get a yoga teacher near you is to go online and browse in Google. You’ll also see the various yoga studios in your area as well as studios that grant special discounts to new members. You don’t have to get stuck with a single studio. You can try several studios until you locate the one which is best for you.

As you check out different studios, be sure to identify which amongst these facilities make you feel comfy and provides the type of yoga that you like. As there are various types of yoga you will need to find the one is perfect for you.

About the Author:

If you want even more info on yoga in Napa Valley, then check out this video on gentle yoga in Napa Valley for your body.

Overheard

“Yoga teaches us to cure what need not be endured and endure what cannot be cured.”

~B.K.S. Iyengar

JohnK 6/24/2013

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Brushes, Beads, and Blessings: Making Mindfulness by Hand

June 12, 2013 John Uncategorized No comments

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. Maggie Oman Shannon is 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. Maggie Oman Shannon tells us that we can literally “craft the crazy away” through beading and crocheting, candle-making, and collaging. In Crafting Calm, Shannon explores 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.