Authentic Living

Today we are talking to Dr. Don St. John, author of the book “Healing the Wounds of Childhood,” as this is one of the most important of all of the subjects we could discuss. Very often it is these wounds that keep us trapped, even as we are striving to get past them in some kind of way. How do we grow into our full potential while these wounds remain yet unhealed? How do we increase our ability to receive and absorb love, enjoy more life-giving love connections, deal more effectively with stress and improve our resilience and health all while expanding our sense of who we are? These questions and more will be answered during today’s show. Don’t miss it.

What do we mean when we speak of Oneness? What is duality? What is it like to live in Oneness? Is it possible that we are actually in a unique period of spiritual transformation that, through divisiveness leads us to unity, even to Oneness? These are some of the questions we will answer today as we speak to Robert Atkinson, PhD, and author of the book, The Story of Our Time: From Duality to Interconnectedness to Oneness. We speak of being One with all, as if we truly understand for whom the bell tolls, but do we understand the depth and gravity of living as One with all, including the divine? Don’t miss this very important message.

We have always heard a lot about how we ought to love everyone, how we should love others, and lately even how we should love ourselves. But we don't hear so much about learning how to receive love, and most of us have not been taught how to do this. We've not been taught to accept loving gestures with humility. We've not been taught how to relish in the love that is constantly ours coming from the divine. We've not been taught how to receive the love that comes to us from spouses, partners and even our children. And learning to receive love is one of the basic ingredients of happiness. And happiness is one of the basic ingredients of wellness and wholeness. Tune in today to learn how to receive love.

Just let it go! Don't we hear that all the time? But the problem is that we just can't seem to do that. We can let it go. IT has hold of us. IT controls us, for we think that we have to control IT. Letting go then, turns out to be one of the hardest things we ever do. Surrender sounds like waving a white flag and letting the IT take over. Won't it all just fall apart, our plans, our dreams, our relationships--won't they all just fall apart if we don't stay in control? But all the wise masters tell us that letting go is the key to life, the key to peace, the key to all wisdom, all love. How can we find our true power by letting go of all power? How can we let it go? This show is going to explore the letting go process as an evolutionary stage of existence. Be here NOW.

As we study the sacred texts of the world, the Bhagavad Gita, the Upanishads, the Vedas, the Bible—particularly in its root language—what we discover is that duality is nonduality. There simply is no such thing as separation. Yet we continue to live our lives as if we were separate from the divine, and separate from each other, and the natural world. It is very difficult for us to imagine Oneness. It is very difficult for us to suspend our polarized notions of good and evil. But the surrender to Oneness is simply a surrender to the truth of who and what we are. This is not something we can do with the intellect. That’s why it seems so difficult to us. But it is something we can do. Tune in today to learn about surrendering to Oneness.

How safe are you really in a world full of chaos? What is safety and how do we get to feel safe--particularly in these times when there is so much upheaval and hate in the world? It seems there is so much to fear and there is so much anxiety right now individually and collectively. How do we manage to feel safe? And is feeling safe the opposite of fear? Today we are going to talk about fear and safety and come to some perhaps surprising conclusions. Don't miss it.

Mark Nepo is an author, poet, philosopher, beloved teacher and cancer survivor who has, for thirty years, been exploring how we can stay awake and authentic when our wounds make us numb and hidden; how we can minimize what stands between us and our experience of life; how we can create a practice that wears down what thickens around our hearts and minds. And today we are going to talk to him about those very things, as we explore together the meanings and messages of his books, The Endless Practice and Reduced to Joy. The Endless Practice explores how the soul works in the world, and how by engaging our soul in the world, we are shaped by the endless practice of becoming who we were born to be. Reduced to Joy is a book of poems about the nature of working with what we are given until it wears us through to joy. This is a special opportunity to come closer to your own soul. Don’t miss it.

We welcome Lissa Coffey back to the show today to talk about her wonderful little children’s book entitled “The Four Pearls and the Four Squirrels.” Lissa is an Ayurveda expert, hypnotherapist, sociologist, author and life coach. And this little book brings together all of her knowledge in one easy-to-understand approach to happiness. Children are subject to so many influences and we, as parents, teachers, relatives and friends of children have that power-to-influence over our children. What are we demonstrating with our behavior, and what are we teaching with our words? The four pearls teach very important tools for living from which all children—and adults—can find happiness. Tune in for your dose of wisdom today.

Forgiveness turns out to be just another f-word—for it is fraught with so much misinformation, and laden with such heaviness! But forgiveness is not what we’ve thought it is. It is not something we can “should” ourselves into. It is not a duty. It is not taking someone back. It is not absolution. It is not tolerating the intolerable and accepting the unacceptable. It is not pity. It is not trying to discover why they did it. It is not a decision to be a good person by forgiving. It is not a decision at all. It is not earned and it is not the magic that makes bad feelings go away. Finally, it is not closure. What it is is far bigger, for more profound and far better than any of the things we have called forgiveness. Today we are going to learn what forgiveness is and what it isn’t. Don’t miss this important episode.

There are so many ways, dictated by so many others, to be a spiritual person. Many, for example, believe that they should never allow themselves to have a so-called negative thought, or a negative feeling. They believe that doing so not only makes them less spiritual, but it means that they might attract so-called negative events into their lives. But what if there's no such thing as a negative thought or feeling, and no such thing as a negative event? Others believe that repressing fear in the name of love is a spiritual thing to do, and it makes them into a spiritual being. But what if being spiritual means simply being. What if our definitions of spirituality are skewed along the lines of man-made images that have to do with how it looks to others? Many of us are spiritually bypassing and calling it spirituality. This term, coined by Robert Masters, is our subject today. Don't miss it. Be here now.

We are so happy to have Dr. E back again to the Authentic Living show to talk to us about her third part in the Sounds True online event series, The Dangerous Old Women, entitled The Joyous Body. We do tend to either focus wholly on the body as image, or leave it out entirely from our conscious experience until it acts up. And we rarely if ever think of the body as a repository of joy. It’s a work horse to be whipped into shape, or it’s just a ball and chain we carry around that sometimes gets us into trouble. But what if the body were incrementally tied into the soul? If that were true, wouldn’t we want to do more with it than just keep it enslaved to the ego? If you don’t quite know what to do with this material essence of who you are, this show is for you. Or, if you struggle with body issues of any kind—this show is for you too. Come learn from one of the world’s most profound keepers of wisdom what gifts your body has to give to you.

Most of us have been taught that guilt is a good thing. A guilty conscience keeps us in line—according to that teaching. Guilt drives us to “do the right thing,” or so we’ve been taught. But what if the human heart has enough passion and compassion to motivate correct action without the use of guilt? What if guilt has been put in place because we don’t trust the authentic Self to direct us? What if guilt is the lie, and the heart of the authentic Self is the truth? What if we’ve been so busy being “good” that we haven’t put any energy into being real? If those things were true, wouldn’t we need to rethink our responses to guilt? For too many guilt the primary decision maker, so that it ultimately runs their lives. If you are one of those, or if guilt has a strong hold on you—this show is for you. Don’t miss it.

What we have heard and we’ve read in the Bible, well it ain’t necessarily so. So goes the old Porgy and Bess song. Perhaps they did not read Thomas Moore’s version, Gospel The Book of John, in which regardless of religion or atheism one discovers a deeper more meaningful spirituality hidden in the root meanings of the words used. Unfortunately, much of the work of John and others has been turned into moralistic dogma. But what we find in the root language is a more celebrative, deeply mystical and loving message. In Moore’s book we discover a different Jesus than the one described for us by earlier translations. This new rendition of Jesus is Dionysian in his urging us toward a full and meaningful celebration of living. He tells us that we are to remember who we are, and he guides us to that knowledge with his actions and words. Come learn of this new Jesus. See if you like him now.

There are many spiritual teachers who are teaching us that all of life in this world is actually an illusion—that the reality of life is that there is no suffering, no pain, no drama—just the gentle peace of nirvana—the life beyond the veil of matter. Is that true? If so, what are we doing here, what is the meaning of life if it is all just an illusion anyway? But what if life is not an illusion—doesn’t that lead us to the same questions? Why do we suffer? What is the meaning of a life filled with suffering? Well, today we are going to answer some of these important life questions and come to terms with reality in a whole new way. Be here. You’ll be glad you were.

How do we manage a culture in which there is such diversity, while maintaining unity? The current political scene has revealed much about what is yet unresolved in the collective American psyche. We've seen hatred, misogyny, abuse, and profound unwillingness to even consider the option of acceptance of diversity. So, what do we do with that? How can we find unity in that? Well, the journey to wholeness that is a part of our collective unconsciousness, has not been halted in its tracks because what was always there has now been revealed. Rather this is an opportunity for us to grow into wholeness on a whole other level. Once the darkness, murky, swamp-like energy of the shadow comes forth into our vision we can then do something about it. And now is the time to do it. Don't miss this important show.

The anxious heart is the worried heart. It is often overwhelmed with a sense that life is too big to be managed, that one is alone without any help to deal with those unmanageable issues of life. Often even though the rational mind would tell us that there is nothing to worry about, we continue to worry. There are various techniques that are useful to help anxious people. But today we are going to be talking about how spirituality can help the anxious heart. Regardless of religion, spirituality offers succor and soothing to the anxious heart. So, if you suffer with an anxious heart, this show is for you.

Do you want to know how to engage in direct connection with the Universe? How to live a soulful life? How to tap into your soul’s wisdom? Our guest today, spiritual teacher, author, psychic and musician, Sara Wiseman, brings some answers to those questions and more. We’ll be talking about her latest book, “Messages from the Divine: Wisdom for the Seeker’s Soul,” her 11th book. So, if you want to know how to get to your own wisdom, how to hear directly from the divine, don’t miss this show.

How does one manage to maintain one’s spirituality, when the world seems to have turned upside down? In a world where what was previously “right” seems wrong and what was “wrong” now seems right, how does one maintain a sense of balance? How do we sort out the distinctions? What do we believe? What is real and what is “fake news?” How does one maintain authenticity when faced with toxicity? Today’s show is going to offer some methods you can use to find your center even when the world has gone crazy. Don’t miss it.

What is the difference between spiritual guidance and spiritual abuse? Certainly, most of us would deny that when we offer spiritual guidance we might also be spiritually abusing. But it is most important that we understand the distinction if we are to serve others in any spiritual capacity. Typically, we think of abuse only in terms of its physical, emotional or sexual forms. But what is beginning, over time and experience, to be exposed is a kind of abuse of the spirit, that creates a great divide between the soul of a person and his or her identity. This show is going to clearly differentiate spiritual guidance from spiritual abuse. If you are in any kind of spiritual leadership capacity, this show is for you.

Dr. Robert Firestone, author, clinical psychologist and artist, has developed a special approach to working with those inner urges that motivate behaviors we later regret, or which facilitate the furtherance of dysfunctional patterns. He uses voice therapy, which gives voice to the energy that pushes us. From this we learn where our patterns developed and can begin to live life from a deeper, more authentic inner core. His book “Overcoming the Destructive Inner Voice: True Stories of Therapy and Transformation” gives clear examples of how this approach works to heal and transform. If you are struggling with thoughts, feelings, or behaviors that keep you in a downward spiral, this show is for you. Start your year off with a new method for transformation and healing.