Podcast 661: Conversations that Matter with Leslie Peters RN

Woman’s advocate and specialists Leslie Peter’s RN has a very interesting perspective on the topic of “Adverse Childhood Experiences”.  Here experience is a direct result of being the victim from childhood abuse from her father as a child,  as well as counseling thousands of women who have been the victims of childhood abuse.

Leslie has worked with women in impoverished communities as an registered nurse in a hospital, and as she would question these women upon admission to the hospital she heard and saw first hand how much of a problem “Adverse Childhood Experiences” were affecting these women from being able to extract themselves from poverty.  The condition also has adverse effects on their mental and physical health as well as  a very challenging problem to deal with.  It is difficult at best for these women to shift their psychological mindset so that they can extract themselves from being stuck in this insidious cycle.

I took this opportunity to have a very open and frank dialogue about “Adverse Childhood Experiences” If you have been a victim of Adverse Childhood Experiences then I would recommend that you listen to my interview with one of the foremost experts in the field.  If you would like to learn more you might want to click here to be directed to as study commissioned by Kaiser and the CDC.

You can also connect with Leslie Peter’s RN by clicking here to be directed to her website, or you can click here to be directed to her Linkedin page.

I hope you enjoy this very interesting podcast with Leslie.

Podcast 653: Touching the Infinite-Four Foundations of Mindfulness with Rodney Smith

If you are like most people from time to time you question your life; and if done effectively how to change our worldview.  Is the world in which we “think” we live the reality we want to live in?  Are we happy with our existence on this round blue ball called earth?  If we are not happy how can we, change our emotional, spiritual and physical experiences?

I am pleased to say that in this interview with author Rodney Smith about his book “Touching the Infinite-A New Perspective on Buddha’s Four Foundations of Mindfulness” you can find a starting point in which you can look at your life, and question your perceived reality.  What is the truth?

As Rodney states ” The spiritual journey is looking behind the scenes.  We have all grown up holding the world to a conventional set of criteria established by our cultural and personal norms. These norms established our worldview and are embedded early in childhood. There is both a conscious and unconscious part of our drama, a part that we are willing to see and a part that does not fit our script.”  As Buddha taught “only one thing, suffering, and its cessation”

If you want to release yourself from the shackles of life, you best look at the world from the perspective of the end of suffering.  “When we question what we are doing and why we have to steer the question through the continuum bounded by suffering and the end of suffering: Does this method you are employing, this effort you are exerting, this goal you are setting, add to or alleviate suffering?

I am fascinated by Rodney Smith’s perspective, his book and teaching and I know you are going to learn tremendous lessons from our dialogue in the interview.

If you want to learn more about “Touching the Infinite” just click the link.   You can also click any of the highlighted URL to be directed to the book on Amazon.

Enjoy this wonderful dialogue with a very informative and deep teacher of living a life of mindfulness.

 

Podcast 639: Unfu*ck Yourself with Gary John Bishop

Many of us are guilty of trapping ourselves in the web of negative self-talk. The not-good-enough, self-doubt cycles that many of us cope with on a daily basis. We know its detrimental, but what are we doing to stop insidious cycle of negative self-talk? How do we reduce this thinking quickly and replace it with a positive affirmative monologue?

In my interview with author and coach, Gary John Bishop we talk his new book entitled “Unfu*ck Yourself-Get Out Of Your Head and Into Your Life“. This book is an easy read packed with practical advice on creating more success and abundance in your life and quieting the pesky self-doubt. Over the years, Gary has coached thousands of individuals from entrepreneurs, athletes, professionals and creatives. Gary’s philosophy has yielded a high success rates by leading individuals down the road to replacing old negative self-talk with positive thoughts and sustaining this growth and potential.

Gary states that “If human emotions largely result from thinking, then one way to appreciably control one’s feelings is by controlling one’s thoughts—or by changing the internalized sentences, or self-talk, with which one largely created the feeling in the first place.” Gary believes the answers we are seeking lie within ourselves, but we must be open to finding these answers and believe in our guiding voice.

If you feel like something unspoken is holding you back from abundance and reaching ultimate success, then give Gary John Bishop a listen! If you are interested in knowing more about Gary please click here for his website.

Podcast 632: Momentum Dash with Levi Bucsis

I was recently was told about a Chrome extension called Momentum Dash from my good friend Lee Regan.  I don’t usually review software, but this particular software caught my attention–so much so that I reached out to the founder  Levi Bucsis and requested that we do a podcast.

If you’re like me you have lots to do and very little time to complete your work in.  Your days are filled with various projects and you are juggling between tasks.  Does this sound like any of you?

At this point, I hope I have your attention because Momentum Dash works incredibly well at increasing your focus and the outcome is improved productivity.  Levi Bucsis and his amazing software development team have created an awesome Chrome extension piece of software that it makes me want to scream at the top of my lungs–you have to get this extension software now!!!    

So what are the features, beautiful pictures of nature to look at and ponder which will take you to a meditative state of being–not doing.  This particular feature forces me to slow down and ponder, reflect and thus makes my next though that much more poignant.  It has an API to the to-do list I subscribe to which is Todoist.  I can turn it on and off at will, and add to the list when I have another to-do–the key is being able to hide it and only look at the prompts when I am ready.

Momentum Dash Podcast clock Momentum Dash Podcast percent Momentum Gift Page

The software prompts you for your daily focus for the day, and there is a countdown timer and clock if you choose to use it. It also has awesome quotes that change daily, and these quotes seem to really make a connection for me.  All the features can be turned on or off dependent on your particular workflow.

This is must try software, you can download the free version of the extension by clicking here, or you can subscribe for $29.95 and get all the features and options.

I hope you enjoy my wonderful interview with a very creative software engineer and student of psychology, Levi Bucsis.

 

 

Podcast 619: Stealing Fire with Steven Kotler & Jamie Wheal

One of my favorite and most admired authors is Steven Kotler.  Has authored  “Tomorrowland“, “Bold“, “The Rise of Superman” and “Abundance” just to name a few.  He is a prolific writer and author.

I recently had the pleasure to discuss with him his new book entitled “Stealing Fire-How Silicon Valley, the Navy Seals, and Mavericks Scientists Are Revolutionizing the Way We Live and Work.” 

In our interview together we explore the revolution that is occurring in society today, and shortcuts that are being used to boost insight and inspiration which results in creating alters states of consciousness, thus improving personal performance. Steven and his co-author Jamie Wheal have spent four years investigating the leading edges of this revolution, from interviews with the Navy Seals, Green Berets and attending Burning Man they have compiled the stories and information in their new book “Stealing Fire”.

Steven states that this revolution is spreading into the mainstream, fueling a trillion dollar underground economy and forcing us to rethink how we can lead richer, more productive, more satisfying lives.  In our interview, we discuss recent advances in psychology, neurobiology, pharmacology, and technology are driving this phenomenon which allows us to move past myths, assumptions, and controversies and embrace peak performances as men and women.

As you will find out when you read “Stealing Fire” the quest to attain these alter states of consciousness have been going on since 415BC. To this day the rituals, techniques, and drugs used to attain these altered states of consciousness are changing and the effects are much more powerful.  I know you are going to love this interview with author Steven Kotler about his new book “Stealing Fire”

To learn more about Steven please go click here to be directed to his website,  or you can learn about the book by clicking here.  Enjoy this amazing interview with a fascinating author and explorer of a new frontier.

 

Podcast 618: The Distracted Mind-Ancient Brains In A High Tech World with Adam Gazzaley

I know that everyone in our busy world today is interested in finding ways to stay focused, and create a better quality of life for themselves and their families.  It seems as if we are all moving and working at a frenetic pace just to keep up with all of our demands in life.  So just what are some of the problems we are faced with?

In my recent interview with author Adam Gazzaley we speak about his new book entitled ” The Distracted Mind-Ancient Brains in a High Tech World“.  Adam has studied the brains of thousands of people in his neuroscience lab at UCSF.  His finding are that our brains are limited in their ability to pay attention. We don’t really multitask but rather switch rapidly between tasks. He says that distractions and interruptions, often technology related- referred to by Adam as “interference’ collide with our goal-setting abilities.

The fact is that we are all being distracted way too much, and we are moving between projects, tasks and goals and leaving much uncompleted which is not fulfilling.  It is having an impact on our mental psyche.

So what should we do? Adam recommends that we change our brains to fight distraction. He gives advice and application to such techniques as meditation, exercise and setting boundaries with the technology that we are attached too.  He does not suggest giving up our devices, but that we use them in a more balanced way.

If you want to learn more about Adam Gazzaley and his new book “The Distracted Mind” you can click here to be directed to his website at UCSF which will give you information about the research is is conducting at his neuroscience lab.  You can also watch a trailer video featuring Adam on a PBS documentary by clicking here.

I hope you enjoy this very informative interview with author Adam Gazzaley, about our “Distracted Minds”.

 

Podcast 616: Dream Yoga with Andrew Holecek

This is my second interview with author Andrew Holecek.  In our interview about his new book entitled “Dream Yoga-Illuminating Your Life Through Lucid Dreaming and the Tibetan Yogas of Sleep“, Andrew and I speak about now only how to utilize lucid dream “dream yoga” to gain insights about your true self and your personal desires.

Andres states that there are three essential ingredients for lucid dreaming (1) strong motivation or intention, (2) good dream recall, and (3) practicing the induction techniques.

So just what are the induction techniques, (1) is something called the “state check” this is a questions that you pose throughout your waking day asking yourself “Is this a dream?”  “Am I dreaming?”, this is designed to bring awareness to your state of consciousness.  (2) is something called “dreamsigns”.  This is when we become sensitized to the out-of-the-ordinary dreamlike events that occur during the day and to use these events that occur as triggers to conduct a “stage check”.  (3) Something called “prospective memory”.  This is where you are remembering to do something in the future.  It’s almost an oxymoron, because memory is associated with the past and prospective is associated with the future.  An example of this is telling yourself that every time you get a text message you’ll remember to do a state check–another way to remind yourself to check in about your state of consciousness and awareness of what is happening around you.

Andrew’s new book “Dream Yoga” is filled with great instruction on how to develop a state of lucid dreaming.  If you are interested in learning more about lucid dreaming and how to practices techniques that will trigger your nightly deep dream states with great recall then I would recommend you obtaining a copy of “Dream Yoga“.  I also think that listening to our interview will provide you with a great overview of “Dream Yoga” and Andrew is truly one of the master instructors on this topic.

To learn more about “Dream Yoga“please visit Andrew’s website by clicking here, or  you can watch a great video that Andrew recorded about “Dream Yoga” by clicking this link.  

I hope you enjoy this wonderful interview with author Andrew Holecek.