Podcast 340: Patience: The Art of Peaceful Living with Allan Lokos

Allan LokosIn a recent interview with author Allan Lokos we discussed his new book entitled ” Patience: The Art of Peaceful Living“.

Allan’s book was born one summer evening when a dear friend made a comment “Just about every mistake I have every made and every unkind word I have ever spoken might have been avoided if I had been more patient.”  Allan thought that this was a stunning statement revealing remarkable insight, and it was the birth of this book.

The development of genuine, open-minded patience may very well lead one to also examine one’s experience of anger and its root causes.  Although impatience and anger are not the same, they live in the same neighborhood states Allan.  In fact, it is as if they live in the same house with barely a flimsy curtain between them, anger ready to join in when impatience shows the slightest interest in emerging from its thin-shelled cocoon.  Not coincidentally, the journey that develops patience is traveled along a path similar to that which undermines the deceiving appeal of anger and what at times can appear to be anger’s uncontrollable nature.

The development of patience requires an understanding of the  root causes of our stress, anxiety, and frustration.  Then we must be willing to relinquish the type of thinking that leads to the loss of patience.  Although anger and patience are not opposites, they can be thought of as two side of the same coin.  When one side is visible the other is hard to see.  When one side is active the other is unlikely to emerge.

Allan is a teacher of Buddhist practices and his approach is not to get attached to the emotions that anger and frustration stur up within one.  To become more mindful from moment to moment which includes being nonjudgmental.  Because of anger’s enormous potential for danger, it would be an exaggeration to say we call on patience to come to the rescue, to save the day, perhaps even to save a life.  The courageous act of starting to address one’s anger and develop greater patience is, to me , a sacred act.  The simple act of pausing invites the mind and body to stop, to allow fiery thoughts to cool and subside before giving them expression.

 

If you want to cultivate more patience and reduce the dangers of anger and frustration, then you ought to read and take in the very important message of “Patience: The Art of Peaceful Living“.  This is a book worth the read, and especially in the complex world we are living in today that frequently tests our patience.

If you would like more information about Allan Lokos and his new book please click here to be directed to his YouTube video.

Podcast 338: Tapping the Source with Bill Gladstone

Bill GladstoneOver the last several months I have grown to know author and literacy agent Bill Gladstone.   Bill a fascinating man, and  has a true passion for helping and serving people through great books, and connecting people for the greater good.  I recently interviewed Bill about one of his many co-authored book entitled ” Tapping the Source”

This book was written and co-authored with John Selby, Richard Greninger and Bill Gladstone and brings to light the works of Charles Haanel’s Master Key System combining short-form meditation techniques with new psychological insights assisting one in tapping their personal potential.

Charles Haanel never claimed to have invented the process of manifestation that he taught. In fact he often refers to classic sources in the Judeo-Christian heritage and Greek and Eastern traditions to highlight the ancient wisdom he’s drawing from and expanding upon.  But beyond classic parallels, his personal vision appears to be uniquely inspired with new psychological insights and remarkably clear elucidations of the core principles that drive our everyday lives:  ” What you and I desire, what everyone is seeking, is happiness and harmony.  If we can be truly happy, we shall have everything the workd can give. If we are happy ourselves, we can make others happy.”

The primary difference in the qualities of Haanel’s vision is that he’s not fixed on material possessions or giant bank accounts or a fleet of fancy cars in the garage.  Yes, he does fully support abundance, but he bases his teaching on the fact that what we really want deep down is to feel genuinely happy and in ongoing harmony with ourselves and the world.  He says “Harmony and happiness are states of consciousness, and do not depend upon possession of things.”

Haannel stated that ” creative power does not originate in the individual, but in the Universal, which is the source and foundation of all energy and substance; the individual is simply the channel for the distribution of this energy.” Haanel was not only a wise man, but very spiritually connected soul bringing awareness and light to the world.

If you want to learn more about Charles Haanel and Tapping the Source, please visit the Tapping the Source website by clicking here.  There is also a full featured DVD that is excellent and will provide you with insights from some of the greatest minds in the personal growth, spirituality and mastery  today.

 

Enjoy my interview with Bill Gladstone a wonderful author and compassionate man on a mission.  To learn more about Bill Gladstone please click here to be directed to his website.

Podcast 337: God Works with Dr. Jonathan Ellerby

Jonathan EllerbyI not only had the pleasure of recently interviewing Dr. Jonathan Ellerby about this exceptional enhanced book for Apple iPad, but Wiseologie Media Group that I am a partner in had the honor of helping create and publish “God Works, Why God Is Nothing You’d Expect and Everything You Need.”

In my interview with Jonathan we speak about this unique book and what Jonathan refers to as the God Stigma.  Just what is the God Stigma–simply stated it is our willingness to admit that we believe in a higher power, and we trust in that higher power but when it comes to expressing our feelings with others about our beliefs in “God” there is a real stigma in society.

This new book not only addresses this conundrum that we are all faced with, but it explores our inner beliefs, values and how we might shift these patterns and beliefs in a way to support our spirituality.

Jonathan expresses that one of the underlying factors associated with the “God Stigma” is our fear of expression and that it is important that we disgard that fear to take on a God-consciousness or God-understanding.  God is not an idea to be debated, but a feeling, and experience to be cultivated.  To debate about the nature of God for too long implies a lack of true awareness, because God, like love, is something so real to those who have felt it, and yet impossible to explain or analyze to those who have not yet fully been struck.

So, if we are responsible about it, then the key to a helpful conversation in which God is referenced, is to first know that God is best felt, not explained, and then, out of respect, to ask, “What is God to you?’

If you are truly interested in exploring “God” from a spiritual context and don’t want to get ensconced in the idea of  separation, that frequently takes place when we open up to others about our beliefs in “God” then I recommend that you download a copy of  “God Works” for your Apple iPad.

In this new enhanced book author Jonathan Ellerby explores the true nature of “God”.  The real heart of all energy, matter and awareness, and to talk to God as a divine friend who is in charge of all things and also happens to be infinitely wise and powerful.

 

For more information about “God Works” please click here to be directed to the Apple Store to purchase your copy.  Our you can watch a couple of video’s with Jonathan Ellerby that are also part of the book by clicking here.

I hope you enjoy this wonderful interview, and that you will experience a very immersive and engaging enhanced book especially created for  the  Apple IPad.   Jonathan speaks from his heart about how “God Works” and you can watch a video introduction by clicking here.

Podcast 336: Just One Thing-Developing A Buddha Brain One Simple Practice at a Time with Rick Hanson Ph.D.

Rick Hanson Ph.D.Author Rick Hanson is one of my favorite authors, and he has created a great new little book entitled “Just One Thing, Developing a Buddha Brain One Simple Practice at a Time”.  Rick is right on when he speaks about practicing. In my estimation it is the operative word,  one must start the practice, because practice is the only thing that will continue our ability to improve and reach heightened states of consciousness.

In my interview with Rick we discuss the daily practices that Rick has articulated in his book.  These practices are mainly inside your mind and are designed to support and increase your sense of security and worth, resilience, effectiveness, well-being, insight, and inner peace.  Some of the practices include taking in the good, protecting your brain, feeling safer, relaxing anxiety about imperfection, not knowing, enjoying your hands, taking refuge, and filling the hole in your heart.

Rick states that it’s a two-way street: as your brain changes, your mind changes; and as your mind changes, your brain changes.  This means–remarkably–that what you pay attention to, what you think and feel and want and how you work with your reactions to things all sculpt your brain in multiple ways.  The details are complex, bu the key point is simple: how you use your mind changes your brain–for better or worse.  There’s a traditional saying that the mind takes the shape it rests upon; the modern update is that the brain takes the shape the mind rests upon.

For instance, you regularly rest your mind upon worries, self-criticism, and anger, then your brain will gradually tak the shape–will develop neural structures and dynamics–of anxiety, low sense of worth, and prickly reactivity to others.  On the other hand, if you regularly rest your mind upon, for example, noticing your’re all right right now, seeing the good in yourself, and letting go–three of the practices in this book–then your brain will gradually take the shape of calm strength, self-confidence and inner peace.

It is the beginning of a New Year, and we can all use great ideas to help us establish better patterns and habits that help and serve us.  I hope that you will read Rick’s new book “Just One Thing” because he provides the reader with 52 new practices to help you become more mindful, centered and develop peace and bliss in your life.  What a wonderful thing!!!

 

If you would like more information on Rick Hanson, please click here to be directed to his website or click here to go to his Facebook page.  He also has some great videos at Youtube.

Podcast 331: The Prayer Chest with August Gold

August GoldIn this spiritual parable entitled ” The Prayer Chest” authors August Gold and Joel Fotinos tell the story of Joseph Hutchinson a man who know the reality of tragedy all to well. His life has been filled with misfortune and adversity.  A widowed father of two, living on a farm that is about to be taken from him, he embarks on a unexpected journey that will bring him face to face with the greatest fears, and ultimately with his greatest discovery…a mysterious wooden box hidden in his attic over one hundred years earlier.

This box, “The Prayer Chest, contains the Three Secrets that will change his life and the lives of everyone around him. What starts out as a journey to save his children and himself turnes into a quest where he–and every reader who has ever struggled–discovers the power to make every prayer come true.

In my interview in this podcast with August Gold, we throughly explore the topic of prayer and as she states “Prayer doesn’t come to you, it comes through you.”.  This particular fact is radically different than what many people believe about prayer.  Most people expect change to happen to other around them.  The prayer that the authors are writing about is about opening yourself to be changed in order to receive the answers to your prayer.

If you really listen to and take in what August is speaking about in our interview, you will understand that prayer is 90% listening.  As August states ” The moment we put our prayer “out” our work then is to welcome everything that Life brings us from that point forward, no matter whether is looks like the answer to our prayer or not. Welcoming everything means welcoming the “dark” as well as the “light”, oftentimes the dark experiences come to us because they are what stands in the way of receiving the answers to our prayers.

 

If you want to learn more about the power of prayer  I recommend that you read “The Prayer Chest“.

If you want more information about the authors click here to be directed to their website.  I hope you enjoy this interview with author August Gold.

Podcast 330: The Inspired Life with Susyn Reeve

Susyn ReeveSo just what is is like to live an inspired life?  I recently interviewed author Susyn Reeve the author of a new book entitled ” The Inspired Life-Unleashing Your Minds Capacity for Joy” and we discussed the important elements associated with leading an inspired life.

We all are in a time of great worldwide change and transformation, and Susyn’s book does a great job of providing the reader with techniques to shift our minds capacity to sustain a new level of inspiration even in what  seems to many to be challenging times.

As Susyn states ” We choose to life and inspired life and it is an empowering choice.  When you make this choice, it is possible, actually most likely, that in addition to experiencing greater joy, happiness, peace, and self-worth, you will initially encounter distress, frustration, turmoil, emotional pain, sadness and anxiety.  This is natural and normal.

It is the process of your personal blocks and obstacles to living an inspired life—your internal resistance–coming to the surface of your conscious awareness, presenting you with the choice to evolve beyond these patterns of the past.  When your fears and beliefs—meet the light of your awareness you then have the opportunity to acknowledge them and use them as a springboard to upgrade the software of your mind, transforming your identity with I am worthy, I am loving, I am valuable, I  am loveable, etc.

Living an inspired life has is roots in your mind and learning how to create new nuro pathways and to upgrade the software of your mind.  In “The Inspired Life” Susyn Reeve helps the reader understand the challenges associated with establishing these new patterns of thinking–and helps you reprogram your mind for greater levels of happiness, prosperity, bliss, joy, abundance etc.

I love a quote from Gandhi that Susyn included in the book, and probably sums up and inspired life.

” Keep your thoughts positive because your thoughts become your words.  Keep your words positive because your words become  your behaviors.  Keep your behaviors positive because your behaviors become your habits.  Keep your habits positive because your habits become your values.  Keep your values positive because your values become your destiny.

If you would like to learn more about “The Inspired Life” you can visit Susyns’ website by clicking here or watch a great video on self-esteem by clicking here.

Podcast 327: The Seeker, The Search, The Sacred with Guy Finley

Guy FinleyIf you have been looking for a book that will stimulate your soul, then you have come to the right place.  Author Guy Finley in his new book entitled ” The Seeker, The Search, The Sacred” has truly written a book that will stur your soul and get you thinking about your spirituality.

I personally love book that are designed to get us to think from our heart, and not our head.  ” The Seeker, The Search, The Sacred will truly inspire your heart center.  The book offers the reader a collection of universal spiritual quotations that the author has collected over the last thirty-five years.  They are divided into three distinct categories, within which they are presented chronologically–from the earliest to the most recent.

Guy starts the book off with a great quote from Walt Whitman’s classic work “Leaves of Grass”. And I quote ” Would you sound below the restless ocean of the entire world? Would you know the dissatisfaction? the urge and spur to every life; the something never still’d–never entirely gone? the invisible need to every seed? It is the central urge in every atom to return to its diving source of origin, however distant.

As Guy writes ” In the first of these four lines, we’re asked a vital question: is the a part of us that longs to know–that’s willing to seek out–what lies hidden just beneath the thought–tossed surface of ourselves? If our answer is “Yes”, then Mr. Whitman goes on to suggest what awaits us there in that great, undiscovered country of our innermost Self.

In my interview with Guy we explore the wisdom of the Mystic Masters and the timeless ideas and what they help us reveal to ourselves.   These timeless ideas are designed to ignite and allows us to remember our “seeds of fire”–discrimination, intention and illumination.

 

Please join with me in a wonderful interview with an amazing author and man with ageless wisdom.  Guy will share with us timeless insights, thoughts that will stur our soul and settle our hearts.

This book is part of a much larger vision and quest for author Guy Finley called One Journey.  It is Guy Finley’s vision to allow his readers to share their insights, vision and wisdom at a new his new community based website One Journey.net.  You can be connected by clicking here.

encourage your to visit the website and watch the great video–it will truly inspire your soul.

Podcast 326: Being Extraordinary A New Model for Success with Guy Finley

Guy FinleyI always have a great time interviewing Guy Finley.  He is one of my favorite authors with a heart of gold, and a love for humanity.

I had the pleasure of actually being involved in the making of “Being Extraordinary-The New Model for Success“.  This new book is what is referred to as an enhanced book for the Apple iPad.  I am a partner in an organization called Wiseologie Media Group, and we develop enhanced books for authors and publish them in the various forms of digital media for tablets such as the iPad, Nook, Amazon Kindle Fire etc.

Guy’s new book ” Being Extraordinary” is  a question and answer format allowing the reader to easily extract the words of wisdom from Guy Finley without having to read every page of the book–although you should its a wonderful book.  I personally interviewed Guy for over five hours, and our interviews are the foundational material included in “Being Extraordinary”  For Guy Finley this book is a leap into addressing many issues facing business leaders from a spiritual perspective.

A very important topic that is covered is the shift that Guy would like to see business leaders make, from one of “what can I take” to “what can I give or contribute to the world“.  This concept might seem simple, but imagine a world where our business leaders make a shift in their thinking from “taking” to “giving”.  Not only would our business world be transformed, all businesses and the stakeholders–employees, vendors, stockholders would become part of a global transformation in the exchange of good and services benefiting humanity–social responsibility would be the focus.

Guy says that the ordinary is created to serve the extraordinary, and that we realize this relationship within ourselves by learning what it means to come “awake” and be “present” to ourselves at all times.  In becoming extraordinary, one of the most valuable lessons is to awaken to our own personal relationship with our “higher-self” the self that transcends aspects of our self that are not awake to what and who we are becoming in each and every moment.  At this point we experience our own personal revelation, we realize that their are not failures only learning lessons and opportunities to progress in our own awakening to who and what we are becoming.

Guy states that the “I” must be willing to die for the “We” if we are to become fearless.  In “Being Extraordinary” the reader will learn that to transcend the ego’s dominion and realize our connection to the “One”.  You learn that you are  not separate, you are One with the Source and Being Extraordinary is part of our divine right.

If you want to learn more about “Being Extraordinary” please click here to be directed to the iTunes store where you can download the first two chapters for review on your iPad.  You can also learn more by clicking here to be directed to a You Tube video with an introduction to the book.  I hope you enjoy this wonderful interview with author Guy Finley about “Being Extraordinary“.

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