Arlene BlixI recently attended a Healthy People Conference at Loma Linda University in Loma Linda, CA and was introduced to Arlene Blix by a very good friend of mine Dr. Steven Bizal.  I soon realized that Arlene had published a book about her journey through grief, loss and survival as a result of her husbands struggle and ultimate death from liver cancer.

The book is aptly titled “Blindsided” which is what many people who go through an experience like Arlene’s feel like, at least that was the case for Arlene.  Her husband was the image of perfect health, and suddenly started having leg pain then intestinal issues before being diagnosed with liver cancer.

This book is as much about Arlene’s journey with her husband Glen, but it also brings to light the feelings emotions and the roller coster ride that the loved ones take when cancer strikes so close to home.

I know that many of you know my personal family experience, my eldest son at the age of 21 was diagnosed with Leukemia.  I took Arlene’s journey, and am well aware of the grief, and emotional pain that one experiences when a loved one is battling cancer.

Frequently,  I think that the people who are diagnosed are more prepared than the families and spouses.  At least this was the case with Glen.  As a matter of fact he stated to Arlene that he was prepared to die, and that he had a good life.  He was spiritual and had a wonderful relationship with God–death was an opportunity to reunite with God.  A relationship likes Glen  is so important in facing our impermanence, it makes the journey through death so much easier.

What I loved about Glen’s message in the book “Blindsided” is that he challenged all that knew him to serve humanity, and to maintain connections and model love.  What a wonderful way to leave your legacy.  Eight three people came to Glen’s and Arlene’s home for what was referred to as a “living funeral”.  An opportunity to say good by, acknowledge and honor someone you love before their death.  What a beautiful way to help someone move into the hereafter.

On March 19, 2002 at 9:50PM Glen took his last breath and moved into the heavens. Arlene’s book is a tribute to a man who really knew the meaning of life.  I encourage you to love, live and connect with others this is such an important part of being able to move through the grieving process.

 

If you want more information about Arlene and her work as a grief counselor, please click here to be directed to her website. I hope you enjoy this interview with Arlene Blix the author of “Blindsided“.

Tobin BlakeI recently had the pleasure of conducting an interview with author Tobin Blake.  His new book entitled “Everyday Meditation-100 Daily Meditations” is a wonderful book providing the reader with great techniques to “drop in” to a meditative state.

One of the issue we discussed during our interview, and is probably on the mind of many of my listeners is the concept of “the waterfall of thoughts”  I know that personally when I go to meditate that “the waterfall of thoughts” are frequently there.  You know the to-dos, and why am I taking this time to meditate, I have more important things to attend to. Tobin’s advice is really simple, and one that most meditation teacher recommend, let the thoughts flow–just be with them they are a natural part of who we are. Once we let them go they finally evaporate, and we can quickly find ourselves in a blissful state of connection with the Universal Energy-Aha!!!!

Tobin states in his book “Everyday Meditation” that meditation is a conscious act of turning around and facing inward.  I personally love this analogy about meditation, it certainly is a method to help us turn within, be with our breath and take a deep journey into a relaxed state leading to calm, radiance and love.

Tobin refers to taking this journey as making the connection to our core self. He says that our core self does not ask for much, in fact it requires only one ting, which is absolutely essential.  It asks that you love it and want to experience it above anything else–at least for one perfect instant.  Your own sincere desire, in your command alone, is the only force that can rejoin your awareness with your core, because desire is the active agent of the single most powerful thing in the physical univers–your will.

Tobin’s new book “Everyday Meditation” has lots of food for thought, and exercises to improve our meditation practice.  You can open his book up almost anywhere and receive the wisdom you need for the day.  It has 100 insightful meditations for your health, stress relief and everyday joy.

 

I hope you enjoy my interview with author Tobin Blake and if you want more information about Tobin please click here to be directed to his website.

Clint ArthurThis is my second interview with Clint Arthur, and every time I conduct an interview with Clint I am engulfed by his energy.  When you listen to our interview you will understand the enthusiasm for he his about the topic of his book ” The Last Year Of Your Life.”

Just imagine if we all lived our lives as if this were the last year— “impermanence” is just a fact of life.  My questions would be what might you do if you knew for certain this was your last year?  What bold and daring adventures might you take on, who would you give your gratitude and love to that is longing to make a deep connection with you.

Obviously, all of the above questions are valid and our infrequency to pause and  reflect on this subject is the opportunity.  Clint’s new book “The Last Year of Your Life” has been written to engage the reader to reflect on just what is possible.  What can you accomplish, what would you do?

Clint weaves his own compelling story into the book and sprinkles it with video segments that really give an upfront and inside view into what Clint is thinking about and encouraging the reader to act upon.  I must say the video’s are wonderful, Clint is vulnerable, authentic and delivers a message that is so important–what do you want to do with your life?

At once the book is crafted  like a guidebook, encouraging you to take action–while providing you with stories, insights and wisdom that Clint has experienced over the years.  But throughout Clint continues to ask you to take action.  Simple stuff like creating mantras, observing your negative thinking—all wonderful exercises to create a shift in your consciousness.

I would certainly recommend this book for anyone who has deeply pondered their existence on this planet, and  the words of the famous singer Peggy Lee–“Is that All Their Is?” running around in their head.  I am really dating myself!!   It does not matter your ethnic origin, color or sex we are all human and these deep reflective questions are what make our life worth living.

 

If you are interested in learning more about Clint Arthur, you can click here to be directed to his website or watch a YouTube video about the book by clicking here.  I hope you enjoy this very lively and engaging interview.

Nancy AndersonThis is my second interview with author Nancy Anderson. In this interview I speak with Nancy about “Work with Passion” a book she first wrote in 1984.  Her new and revised edition is now out, and the content has been updated and I must say is one of the best book available for anyone wanting to find “How To Do What You Love for A Living”

I think more than ever people are attempting to find work that is congruent with their values and has meaning.  What I truly appreciate about the books that Nancy has written on the subject of career path is that they are all focused on finding passion and the work that you love.

Nancy guides the reader through a very unique and revealing process as they read, write and reflect on their perfect career.  She starts her book off with questions that are designed to help you explore and find your passion.  As Nancy states ” To find the right work you need to know what you feel as well as what you think, since your feelings tell you what you value.  Feeling is not the abdication of thinking; on the contrary people who do not feel make dreadful errors of judgement.  Taking time to integrate your thoughts and feelings is how you get to know yourself, what is unique about you, you weaknesses as well as your strengths.

When you know what you want you have the courage to go after it, your mind and feelings work as a team to help you accomplish your objective. As with any search you have to know the right key words.  Your feelings provide your mind with these key words, since your feelings reflect what you really want.  The mind then goes after the goal following a logical, step-by-step process.

I personally believe that many of us spend our lives attempting to find a vocation that matches our values and has meaning.  Finding work that we love is truly a tricky combination of personal exploration and reflection as well as clearly defining our values.  Nancy mentions that loves power not only remodels your values, it also alters the values of those who receive your love.  In spite of what you experienced in the past you can decide to give love freely right now, even if you are not yet in the perfect job.  Loving without expecting a return will speed up the process of finding the work you want to do.  You don’t have to do anything you hate—you can choose to do the work you love to do.  That is power

If for any reason you are searching for the right vocation, then I would highly recommend reading Nancy Anderson newly revised edition of “Work with Passion“.  Also if you would like more information about Nancy and her services you can click here to be directed to her website.

 

I hope you enjoy this lively interview with one of my favorite authors Nancy Anderson.

John Michael GreerI recently interviewed author John Michael Greer about his new book entitled ” Apocalypse Not“.

John is a very fascinating and intriguing author and has a perspective about the apocalypse which will put every one at ease.

John states that a thousand years ago, the astronomers and mathematicians of another accent people worked out this same date in their own calendar, and set in motion a chain of events that made their calculations a topic of fear and fascination across most of the world today. They were the Mayans, and to them the date in questions was 4 Ahau 3 Kankin 13.0.0.0.0—the end fo the world.

John, claims that on 12/21/21 nothing is going to happen, no end of the world, no rapture– things will carry on as usual.

As for their “disappearance”, the great Mayan city-states of the southern lowlands when through a period of severe decline in the tenth century CE, involving warfare, famine, and the abandonment of most of the large urban centers, but the villagers of the countryside remained, and their descendants sill live in the same area today.  Elsewhere in the Mayan world, city-states on the classic model continued to flourish until the Spanish conquest of the Yucatan and Central America in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and their are sill plenty of people descended from the accent Mayans, and who speak Mayan languages, throughout that part of the world. John points out that in times of severe social stress people start to focus on the possibility of an apocalypse, and that we have gone through these cycles before in history.

The first secular forms of the apocalypse meme actually began to take shape well back in the Middle Ages, with the earliest stirrings of what radicals of a later age would call “class consciousness”.  John states that throughout history we have been enamored with and apocalypse and the anti-christ, and during recorded history we have never experienced the apocalypse.

If you are interested in learning more about the history and our fascination with an apocalypse then I recommend that you read ” Apocalypse Not“.  Author John Michael Greer throughly documents why he believes that we are not going to experience the coming of the anti-christ or an apocalypse.  He states that on 12/22/12 those who are believers in the dooms day prophecy will wake up the next day and wonder why it did not occur.

 

If you would like more information about John Michael Greer please click here to be directed to his website.  I hope you enjoy my interview with John Michael Greer.

Kelly HowellThere has been lots of discussion about the importance of exercising our minds so that we stay sharp and astute as we age.  I recently had the pleasure of interviewing both Michale Gelb and Kelly Howell the authors of a great new book entitled “Brain Power, Improve Your Mind as You Age.”

What Michael and Kelly reveal in our interview together is that what we previously thought  about aging and our brain is faulty.  That current science and the studies being conducted on how our brains work, connect  and  stay sharp are revealing amazing findings.

As discussed in “Brain Power” their are many factors that attribute to good mental acuity, some of them are optimism, forgiveness, being a life long learner not to mention that nutrition and exercise play a significant role in our minds ability to stay sharp.   As a matter of fact, exercise and nutrition the most important factors in our brains health.

I recently conducted an interview with Dr. John Ratey MD and professor of psychiatry at Harvard about his book entitled “Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain”, and he explains that in addition to promoting better muscle tone and cardiovascular fitness, exercise is “one of the best treatments we have for most psychiatric problems.” Ratey presents compelling research demonstrating the efficacy of exercise in sharpening cognition and memory, and in overcoming anxiety, stress and depression.

As Kelly and Michael explain, our environment is another important factor for good brain health.  Every aspect of our environment stimulates our brain for better or for worse. The sights, sounds, textures, aromas, tastes, and other sensations that you experience every day serve as nourishment for your mind and spirit.  They also state in “Brain Power” that the people that we hang around with and the communities of support we develop are a very big factor on staying brain healthy.  Study after study has shown that the bigger or community of support and connect to others is a significant factor in the reduction of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.

 

If you are looking to stay mentally sharp today and well into your advanced years, then I highly recommend that you read and study the techniques discussed and taught in “Brain Power“.  This book could have a meaningful impact on how you decide to treat your body as well as exercise you mind.

 

I hope you enjoy this wonderful interview with Michael Gelb and Kelly Howell.  For more information about Michael Gelb please click here to be directed to his website, or click here to be directed to Kelly Howell’s website.