Archive for the 'Relationship Counseling' Category

Podcast 60: Unstuck: Your Guide to the Seven-Stage Journey Out of Depression with Dr. James Gordon

Published by
Greg
at October 16, 2008 in Great Books, Great Web Sites, Meditation, Podcasts, Relationship Counseling, Resources, Spiritual Growth, Wellness/Fitness and Yoga. 0 Comments

I was introduced to Dr. James Gordon through my good friend Dr. Joan Borysenko.  Both Jim and Joan are highly respected physicians who have devoted their lives to helping individuals help heal through integrating the practices of conventional medicine, and alternative practices.  These alternative practices can be anything from meditation to Chinese movement exercises.  Over the years it has proven that the combination of integrating the western and eastern practices is quite effective in treating everything from depression to heart disease and cancer.

When Dr. Gordon is not in Washington D.C attending to patients and overseeing the Mind Body Institute, he is traveling training others in the art and delivery of integrative medicine practice.  Twice per year he put on a Mind Body Medicine Professional Training program that attracts physicians, clinicians and social workers from all over the world.

In my interview we discuss his new book entitled “Unstuck-Your Guide to the Seven-Stage Journey Out of Depression.“  Dr. Gordon states that “Depression is not a disease.”  He challenges the perceived wisdom on how depression is viewed and treated. He goes on to explain that depression can be treated without the use of antidepressants and outlines the practical steps we can take to exert control over our own lives.

It is obvious that antidepressants are the first choice of treatment for depression in the country and hugely profitable business. Each year, American doctors write 189 million prescriptions for people suffering from depression, as well as others who are inhibited, shy, anxious or unhappy.

Dr. Gordon argues that there is surprisingly little evidence that they are more effective than a variety of other approaches.  In our interview we explore Dr. Gordon’s seven-stage journey out of depression.

In Unstuck, Dr. Gordon has taken forty years of experience treating patients suffering from depression and distilled it down to an easy to follow guide to understanding the causes of depression and the ways to address theses causes, as well as helpful suggestions for relieving depression’s symptoms.  In the seven-stage program, Dr. Gordon explains the useful, mood-healing benefits of: food and nutritional supplements; movement, exercise, and dance; psychotherapy, meditation and guided imagery; spiritual practice and prayer.  Each chapter concludes with a carefully designed Prescription for Self-Care.

I know you will enjoy my interview with Dr. Gordon.  If you are experience a little depression as a result of our world economic crisis or just daily living, then this interview and Dr. Gordon’s book are a must read.

Dr. James GordonIf you would like to learn more about the Mind Body Institute and Dr. James Gordon, just click here.  You can also obtain his book by clicking on the book cover in this post.  Happy listening, and enjoy the podcast.

Download the podcast (MP3).

Want more resources and information on personal growth? Try the resources page.

Podcast 56: The Essential Laws of Fearless Living with Guy Finley

Published by
Greg
at September 13, 2008 in Great Books, Great CDs, Meditation, Personal Growth Courses, Podcasts, Relationship Counseling, Resources and Spiritual Growth. 2 Comments

I had the pleasure of being able to meet Guy Finley at a recent conference in Irvine, CA called the, “Inside Edge“.  His speech entitled, “The Essential Laws of Fearless Living: Find the Power to Never Feel Powerless Again“, (which is also the title of his newly release book), was fantastic.  I have been to literally 100’s of seminars, workshops and retreats over the last 35 years and this hour long speech was among the best that I have heard.

Guy Finley’s message is simple, yet harder to integrate into your life.  It is one thing to hear something, but another to live it.  It requires that you read and re-read his book to really start to understand the wisdom that he teaches.  In this podcast you will just begin to understand the depth of his message and wisdom.  Guy will discuss how fear compromises your life and what action you can take to eliminate fear by transforming your thoughts and thinking.  He discusses how everything that happens to you happens for you to be able to transcend fear, and for each of  us to look at the lessons.  As Guy articulates “the fear is real, but the why is a lie.”

No fear exists other than our negative imagination. Our mind extrapolates what could happen, then creates a picture in our mind, then we spend our time resisting the picture we have created in our mind. If you really look at that statement and understand the wisdom within it you will begin to understand just a small portion of how our mind operates, and why we spend so much energy battling with ourselves.  It is a little insane wouldn’t you agree?  There is a great price for the stress we live with, but the reason that it is happening is to help us grow.  It is a marvelous moment when we don’t have to play the game with ourselves.

In my interview with Guy he will discuss The Essential Laws of Fearless Living: Find the Power to Never Feel Powerless Again, and I know that this podcast will provide you with much food for thought and contemplation.  I have not met an author with as much insight, wisdom and understanding about how fear controls our life.  He gives us practical advice and practices to follow to help reduce and eliminate the fear that often controls us.

Guy is the best-selling author of, “The Secret of Letting Go”, and more than 36 other books and audio albums that have sold over a million copies in 16 languages worldwide. In addition, he has presented over 4,000 unique self-realization seminars to thousands of grateful students throughout North America and Europe over the past 20 years and has been a guest on over 400 television and radio shows, including national appearances on ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, NPR, Wisdom Network, and many others. His radio program, “Guy Finley Live,” is a live chat that airs monthly on HealthyLife.net as part of the network’s “Visionary Celebrity Host Series.” His syndicated weekly radio program is aired on several international networks including, Healthylife Radio Network, WorldTalkRadio Network, and Contact Talk Radio International. His work is widely endorsed by doctors, business professionals, celebrities, and religious leaders of all denominations.

Guy’s career reached this point through a circuitous path. Born into a successful show business family, he is the son of Late-Night TV and radio pioneer Larry Finley. His childhood friends were the sons and daughters of the most famous celebrities in the world. As a young man Guy enjoyed success in a number of areas including composing award-winning music for many popular recording artists including Diana Ross, Debbie Boone, The Jackson 5, Billy Preston, The Four Seasons, as well as writing the scores for several motion pictures and TV shows. From 1970-1979 he wrote and recorded his own albums under the Motown and RCA recording labels.

Throughout his youth, Guy suspected there was more to life than the type of worldly success that led to the emptiness and frustration he saw among his own “successful” friends and colleagues. In 1979, after travels throughout North America, India and the Far East in search of Truth and Higher Wisdom, Guy voluntarily retired from his flourishing music career in order to simplify his life and to concentrate on deeper self-studies.

In addition to his writing and appearance schedule, Guy presents four inner-life classes each week at his non-profit, “Life of Learning Foundation” headquarters in Merlin, Oregon. These classes are ongoing and open to the public.

Guy FinleyI encourage my listeners to visit his website, attend his workshops and begin to understand more about the gems of wisdom he has to offer.  You can learn more about his non-profit foundation, Life of Learning and his retreat center by clicking this link to his website.  I hope you enjoy this interview as much as I enjoyed producing it.

Download the podcast (MP3).

Want more resources and information on personal growth? Try the resources page.

Podcast 54: Pursuit of Light and Extraordinary Journey with Sandy Brewer

Published by
Greg
at August 6, 2008 in Great Books, Personal Growth Courses, Podcasts, Relationship Counseling, Resources and Spiritual Growth. 0 Comments

I was recently introduced to Sandy Brewer through a friend in Los Angeles.  She mentioned that I needed to contact Sandy to do a podcast for she felt that her book and story about her life were nothing less than amazing.  I contacted Sandy and we spoke for awhile about her book and upbringing and I was convinced that I needed to let more people know about this amazing woman.  I received her book “Pursuit of Light” and was in awe by the strength and courage she must have had to manifest as a child growing up to cope with an amazingly horrific childhood.

In my this podcast with Sandy we discuss the trauma, triumph and the spiritual awakening necessary to live with such dysfunctional parents.  The abuse Brewer endured as a child was so horrific a reader may be forgiven for wondering why she didn’t go insane or commit suicide. Remarkably, Brewer not only overcame the handicaps of her own past but has also gone on to become an extremely effective therapist and inspirational speaker. Now, she has published a gripping and cathartic memoir that shares the profound lessons of her personal story.

Pursuit of Light has a double focus: It narrates the tragic story of Brewer’s childhood and also expounds the mature philosophical and spiritual perspective she has developed, which has allowed her to get beyond seeing herself as a victim. A reader quickly discovers the enormous gulf between what happened to her and what she has chosen to make of her life. The flashbacks into the nightmare world of her youth, in which mental, physical, and sexual abuse were the norm, are italicized and narrated in present tense, setting them off from the rest of the text and helping to lend them a startling immediacy no reader will soon forget.

As Brewer writes, “Choice impacts every area of our lives. Being a victim is a choice. Living life in the constant melodrama of a tedious soap opera…is a choice. Happiness is a choice.”

Sandy Brewer developed seminal techniques that allowed her to conquer the crippling legacy of her past. Enlightened and empowered by her journey of self-discovery, she is now committed to helping others make the same transition out of the darkness and into the light. This empowering narrative is a centerpiece of that work. Pursuit of Light provides an inspiring roadmap for how to follow the path Sandy Brewer has herself followed “through suffering to the stars.”

Sandy BrewerI thoroughly enjoyed my interview with Sandy and I highly recommend her book “Pursuit of Light-An Extraordinary Journey” I caution the readers, this book is not for the faint of heart for it depicts a a tragic upbringing, but the lessons learned and articulated in the book are so important to one’s spiritual growth.  Please visit Sandy’s website for more information about her coaching, and workshops.

Download the podcast (MP3).

Want more resources and information on personal growth? Try the resources page.

Podcast 53: The Sedona Method with Hale Dwoskin

Published by
Greg
at August 1, 2008 in Great Books, Great CDs, Great Web Sites, Personal Growth Courses, Podcasts, Relationship Counseling, Resources and Retreats. 2 Comments

I first become acquainted with Hale Dwoskin, and the Sedona Method when I attended a Prophets Conference in Los Angeles several months ago. I was quite intrigued by Hale’s simple but quite effective method of helping people transform their lives through the exercises he has developed.

Frankly, it’s very simple. We are all either our own worst enemy or our own best friend. We are constantly sabotaging our health, happiness and success unintentionally due to our unresolved thinking, beliefs and attitudes. Yet even when we know a thought, belief or attitude is not serving us, most of us find it very difficult to change it or let it go. According to Hale, the reason for this problem is: our emotions color, create and lock these limitations in place, making the limitations supposedly “real.” It is our emotions that either put us into action or prevent us from acting. The Sedona Method will show you how to master your emotions, thereby mastering how you think and act.

During my interview with Hale we get to explore the Sedona Method, and he even provides exercises during the interview that you can try out. I am quite impressed with Hale and the system he has created for positive personal transformation. His book “The Sedona Method: Your Key to Lasting Happiness, Success, Peace and Emotional Well-Being” is a great read if you are looking to identify some of those beliefs and patterns that are holding you back. He then provides exercises to help you transform those limiting thoughts.

Hale DwoskinI also would recommend that you visit his website for more information about his workshops, seminars, CD’s and audio programs. Please sit back, relax and enjoy my interview with Hale Dwoskin and learn more about the “Sedona Method”.


Download the podcast (MP3).

Want more resources and information on personal growth? Try the resources page.

Podcast 45: Katherine Woodward Thomas-”Calling In “The One”

Published by
Greg
at June 9, 2008 in Great Books, Personal Growth Courses, Podcasts and Relationship Counseling. 0 Comments

It was a pleasure doing this podcast with Katherine Woodward Thomas. I found her book, and topic about attracting the love of your life to be very interesting. Katherine draws upon her personal experience to help others attract the perfect relationship into their lives. Her insights and lessons learned on her own personal journey are insightful. As Katherine so eloquently explains in this podcast about her own personal story, we need to start looking at what we are projecting to the opposite sex. What energetic are we carrying around, and what consequences are our subconscious thoughts playing in keeping us from the perfect relationship.

At the age of 41 Katherine started working on setting intentions to attracting the right person into her life. She stated that by the time she reached her 42nd birthday that she would be in the perfect relationship. Guess what!! Setting her intentions, meditating and praying each day helped her to shift her energetic and attract the perfect mate.

Katherine explains in our podcast that the energetic that one projects has either a positive or negative effect on who we attract into our lives. If you don’t believe or trust that you will find the right person, then guess what? You will never attract the right person into your life. It sounds simple, but the process of shifting your mindset and practicing setting your intentions takes practice. Katherine states that the energetic we hold in our body, is so important to attracting the perfect mate.

Katherine Woodward ThomasSo if you are single and looking for the perfect relationship, and have not been able to find the perfect mate I would encourage you to listen to this podcast and read Katherine’s book entitled Calling in “The One”: 7 Weeks to Attract the Love of Your Life. You can also learn more about Katherine and her work by visiting her website by clicking here, to learn more about her workshops and seminars.

Want more resources and information on personal growth? Try the resources page.