Podcast 254: Epiphany: True Stories of Sudden Insight to Inspire, Encourage, and Transform with Elise Ballard

Elise BallardI recently had the pleasure of interviewing Elise Ballard the author of a new book entitled “Epiphany: True Stories of Sudden Insight to Inspire, Encourage and Transform“.  I believe that all of us have had an epiphany in our life at one time or another, the question is have we had the courage to tell someone about our epiphany?

So what is the definition of  epiphany: ” a moment of great sudden revelation; an intuitive grasp of reality through something usually simple and striking; an illuminating discovery, realization or disclosure”.  Elise emphasizes that our epiphanies change not just us, but others in our lives and frequently the world.

In her new book Elise interviews over 50 well noted actors, and leaders in her attempt to explore how their personal epiphanies changed their lives.  These stories are truly moving, and provide the reader with a sense of just how powerful their epiphanies were in changing their lives.

Elise discovered some commonalities about epiphanies–Listening:Whether they were calmly contemplating the sky, meditating or praying, clinging to hope in a crisis, desperate to heal or searching for an answer, people were listening or paying attention to signs and what was going on around them. Belief: Whenever people have an epiphany, they never doubted for an instant whatever happened for them was real.  They had absolute faith and trust in the experience. Action: Every single person who epiphany positively changed his or her life took action. Serendipity:   After people began to take action on their epiphanies, circumstances seemed to fall into place so that they could take the next steps.

So I had to ask Elise if she believed epiphanies were a spiritual occurrence, and were the people she interviewed involved in some practices that would help to create the epiphany experience.  While she would not confirm my ideas about the spiritual connection of epiphanies, she certainly did not deny it.  She did note that many of our epiphanies can occur during times of extreme stress or challenges in our lives, as if a higher power was providing us with guidance and direction.
Whatever your personal belief is about epiphanies, I would highly recommend that you read Elise Ballard’s new book “Epiphany: True Stories of Sudden Insight to Inspire, Encourage, and Transform“.  I would also encourage you to visit Elise’s website by clicking here, it is a wonderful website and she provides you an opportunity to record your epiphany as well as watch many video interviews she conducted with the people profiled in her book.  Enjoy this wonderful interview with someone who had dedicated their live to exploring and understanding our epiphanies in life.

Podcast 248: Gifts From A Course in Miracles with Roger Walsh

Roger Walsh M.D.I just love conducting interviews with Roger Walsh.  This is my third interview with Roger, and certainly will not be my last.  Every time we speak I am inspired, and encouraged to look at the world in a new way.  This is gift that Roger posses, and if you listen carefully you will hear exactly what you need hear about transforming your own life.

In our interview we discuss his book entitled “Gifts from A Course in Miracles” we explore the gifts that the Course in Miracles has given its students.  As Marianne Williamson states in the forward ” Just as there are stars and then superstars, there are books and then Great Books.  Within the Great book category, there are THE BOOKS, the great spiritual source materials which contain the words that reveal the highest truths.  They are the Bible, the Koran, the Talmud, and the I Ching, and others.  For many of us, A Course in Miracles is one of these.  It opens the heart to healing and hope, enlightenment and love.”

As Roger states in “Gifts from A Course in Miracles“.  “There has never been a time in history when the need for peace was greater. Every year new wars erupt and a trillion dollars are spent on weapons, while millions of people remain hungry, helpless, and homeless.  Yet, it is not that we are any more agressive than our predecessors.  Indeed, at this very moment millions of people are devoting their lives to calming hostilities, redressing injustices, and helping the poor and deprived.

If you are searching for a way to understand the injustices of the world, and find more peace, love and compassion in your own life then “Gifts from A Course in Miracles” just might be what you are looking for.  “Enlightenment is bout a recognition, not a change at all.”  A Course in Miracles offers a path of awakening.  Like other paths, the Course suggests that our usual perceptions, awareness and sense of identity are clouded and distorted.  It therefore offers us a means of correcting these distortions so that we may see ourselves and the world more clearly.   This transformation of perception is what the Course means by a “Miracle”.
Why not have some miracles in your life…listen to my interview with Roger Walsh and you will be on your way.  If you would like more information about the Course in Miracles please click here to be directed to Roger’s website.

Podcast 245: Inspiration Deficit Disorder with Jonathan Ellerby Ph.D

Jonathan EllerbyI always enjoy my interviews with Jonathan Ellerby.  I recently had the opportunity to interview Jonathan about his new Hay House book entitled “Inspiration Deficit Disorder“.

In my interview with Jonathan we speak about awareness being the first step in understanding yourself and others in a way that will empower you to experience change.   His new book is designed as a handbook for the human journey.

It presents simple ways to understand the essential elements of life: strees, habits, health, energy, addiction, sex, communications, aspiration, expectation, manifestation, disappointment, emotion, psychology, spirituality, family service, success, happiness, purpose, vitality, God and even enlightenment.  Jonathan states that the first step to reclaiming your power and potential is to fully realize where you are right now and how you got there.  Knowing this will help you identify the limiting beliefs, emotions, and energies that are actually working against you–even when you intentions are good.  From awareness comes choice, and knowing that we have choices is the most liberating experience of all.

I love what Jonathan says about beliefs, they are like bridges.  They can be helpful for short periods and can make all the difference in a journey.  A belief can carry you across a raging river of change, but in the end, you can’t live on one.  Your greatest life won’t come from simply believing in something.  To say “I believe” is to say ” I hope it is true.” If  you want to understand the ideas and practices in “Inspiration Deficit Disorder” you need to try them for yourself. Then you will know.

Jonathan points out that each and everyone of is is extraordinary.  Millions of choices have led you to this moment…you are part of something much greater.  Now matter what you’re experiencing right now, one thing is absolutely certain: you are an essential thread in the extraordinary fabric of life.  If you want to explore the shift in thinking and consciousness that you might want to make to maintain your inspiration, then I recommend you reading Jonathan’s book “Inspiration Deficit Disorder“.
If you want to visit Jonathan’s website please click here for more information and video clips about the book.  Enjoy my interview with Jonathan Ellerby—get inspired!!!!

Podcast 243: Set Yourself on Fire with Phil Taylor

Phil TaylorI was first introduced to Phil Taylor through Dilip Abayskekara an author  we did a wonderful podcast with last year on his book entitled “The Path of the Genie”  Phil is a Tremendous Life Books author, and his new book entitled “Set Yourself on Fire: How to Ignite Your Passions and Live the Life You Love” is a wonderful book designed to engage and ignite the imagination.

During our interview Phil and I discuss the importance of having a wonderful imagination, and that frequently we suppress our dreams and imagination because of social conditioning as the years go by.  How true that is, when we were children our imagination would run wild with ideas, thoughts and we dream about people and places we would like to meet and or become.  Then somehow for many of us we loose our dreams, primarily because we are so involved in our everyday life to even give them a second thought.

Author Phil Taylor  would like for all of his readers to be reignited and enthustiac about about setting goals again, and living their dreams.  He mentioned to me that there are five (4) reasons people fail to set goals. (1) Fear (2) Poor Self Image (3) Not Realizing the Importance of Goals (4) Not Knowing How to Set Goals.  In his new book “Set Yourself On Fire” Phil provides the reader with the four simple steps to setting goals, and believe me it is worth your time to set down and reignite yourself and learn how to properly set goals, then don’t be afraid to achieve them.

Phil reminds us that living our life purpose is so important, and if you fuel that purpose with aligned goals to your values you will be come unstoppable.  Just remind yourself of the statement by Henry Ford “If you think you can or you think you can’t you’re probably right.  So if you are looking for an easy to read book with wonderful stories, inspiration and ideas to ignite your fire then I highly recommend “Set Yourself On Fire” by Phil Taylor.
If you would like to learn more about Phil, he is the founder of Goal Achiever International and if you click here you will be directed to their website.  You can also find Phil on Linkedin.  Enjoy this interview with a very inspiring and wise man.

Podcast 238: Rebel Buddha with Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche

Dzogchen Ponlop RinpocheThis is my second interview with Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche, and it is alway an insightful experience.  Rinpoche has a new book that has been released by Shambhala Publications entitled “Rebel Buddha-On The Road to Freedom”

In our interview together we have an opportunity to explore the concepts of true freedom and liberation.  Rebel Buddha is an exploration of what it means to be free and how we can become free.  As Rinpoche explains “There’s something of a rebellious streak in all of us. Usually it’s dormant, but sometime it’s provoked into expression. If nurtured and guided with wisdom and compassion it can be a positive force that frees us from fear and ignorance.

Rinpoche states in the book, according to Buddha our freedom is never in question. We’re born free.  The true nature of the mind is enlightened wisdom and compassion.  Our mind is always brilliantly wake and aware. Nevertheless, we’re often plagued by painful thoughts and the emotional unrest that goes with them.  We live in state of confusion and fear from which we see no escape.

In our interview, we discuss the concept of emptiness which is a very important Buddhist concept.  Rinpoche states that the concept is very misunderstood, and that it really means being more open, aware and expansive and to see beyond our current states of belief.  Emptiness get us to see the true reality of our existence , which helps us to find our spiritual path.

He mentions that the ego is actually rebelling against itself because it is not happy in its current state, and that we should attempt to move to egolessness or emptiness to gain our happiness, bliss and freedom from it grasp.   It is in this state that we experience the awakened mind.

We are all seeking freedom from our own suffering and pain.  If you are looking for answers from this suffering and to find  freedom, then I would recommend that you listen to and definitely read “Rebel Buddha“.  This is a wonderful book that will stur and awaken your spiritual force, and help guide you to the answers you are probably seek which are right before your belief.
Please visit Rinpoche’s website by clicking here for more teachings about Buddhism. Enjoy this wonderful interview with an insightful man with tremendous compassion and wisdom!!!!!

Podcast 237: The Energy Cure with William Bengston

William BengstonI know that there are many people who are strong believers in hands on healing, so for those of you who just might be a lot or a little skeptical then this interview with Bill Bengston is a must listen.

Bill Bengston has been doing laboratory experiments on mice for years, and has on countless occasions reproduced healing of cancer in mice utilizing the hand on healing process.   Most importantly the hands on healing technique is not an innate gift you are born with, it can be learned and reproduced over and over again by almost anyone.

Sounds almost impossible, but it is true and Bill Bengston in his new book entitled “The Energy Cure” outlines the process as well as discusses the laboratory experiments where mice have been healed from malignant tumors and and once healed then re-injected with cancer the mice did not have a reoccurrence of the disease.

Bill has discovered through his own research that products dispensed by pharmaceutical companies as tried, tested, and true often owe their advertised benefits to the interpretation of experimental finding rather than to irrefutable facts. He states “that perhaps this is the reason for so many drugs recalls due to toxic or unpleasant side effects.  This suggest to Bill that populations into which a drug is introduced are often part of an extended human experiment.

Hand-on healing has the advantage of being completely safe.  Its principles underlie Eastern healing practices such as acupuncture and yoga, which are backed by four thousand year of tradition.  They are also supported by quantum physics, which describes the material world in terms of energy fields.

If you want to learn more about the hands-on healing techniques I recommend that you visit Bill’s website by clicking here.  The website is complete with resources, and research papers to back up Bill’s hands on healing techniques.  Enjoy this great interview with a author, and researcher who has traveled the path of healing maybe just more convention than you might think.

Podcast 232: The Productivity Epiphany with Vincent Harris

Vincent HarrisI recently interviewed Vincent Harris the author of a new Tremendous Life Book publication entitled “The Productivity Epiphany“.   In my interview with Vincent we discuss the many different topics addressed in this wonderful book, but most importantly we focus in on what keep us from being more productive.

As Vincent states in the forward to his new book ” It’s the greatest challenge we all face: getting ourselves to do things we want to do, but we can’t get past the inertia to build momentum…to actually do those things.  I think that all of us understands the inertia that frequently keep us from reaching our human potential, and in “The Productivity Epiphany” the author provides us with easy thought provoking ideas to have us shift our behavior and thoughts.   Vincent states “we are being invited to consider an alternative”, and I love this approach because he is not telling us to act or do something in a certain way.

In my dialogue with Vincent we discuss how we frequently make comparisons to self and other, and how in so doing we are incisively creating a no win situation.  You see if we constantly use comparisons to others there is always going to be someone who is better, stronger, has more money etc.  But when we make self-to-self comparisons we can look at how we are improving from month to month, year to year and this is a much better comparison to make in developing a positive mental attitude.

Vincent’s book is an easy read and complete with thought provoking stories and ideas to assist the reader in having more epiphanies about their work and life.  Albert Einstein once said that ” a problem cannot be solved on the same level that is exists.”  If you keep this statement in mind, then you are going to love reading Vincent’s book.  You will be taken on a journey of exploration that will shift your thoughts and ultimately behaviors associated with how you are approaching life and work as you know it today.

I hope you enjoy this interview with author Vincent Harris, and if you would like to learn more about his organization please click here to be directed to his website.

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