Uplift Your Life: Nourishment Of The Spirit

Bullying and prejudice are forms of emotional abuse. They make people feel bad about themselves, cause anxiety, fear, worry, depression and lowered immune systems. You know the expression I'm sick and tired? Well emotional abuse literally makes you sick and tired. Words do hurt. In fact, the research shows that people who are verbally abused, that is, emotionally or psychologically abused, suffer more than people who are physically abused. They say that their body heals but the words stick in their mind. Since the presidential campaign, people have felt freer to bully and express their prejudices openly. This is creating fear and violence across the globe. People do not feel safe. Stress is spreading by what is being said privately in families, among friends and co-workers and publicly by the President of the United States, his cabinet and the news media. Please join us Thursday to learn how you can take charge of your life, transform stress and create peace in your mind and heart.

Specialization has become so popular that people have lost sight of the big picture. In fact, often, they think their personal view is the big picture. Our unwillingness to hear each other and learn from each other has been heightened recently as people become more and more polarized. I wonder if the root of this unfortunate divisiveness lies in the professional realm. We no longer have doctors who are general practitioners and know us personally. We have medical professionals who know our different body parts and isolated problems. With no one looking at the whole picture, the root of the problem and thus the solution, is often missed. Just like looking at the whole person could better solve medical problems, combining scientific and spiritual knowledge could help us solve social problems that seem unsolvable. Maybe we need to put all of the pieces of the puzzle together to find the truth. Please join us Thursday to see the big picture of how science and the spiritual come together.

Most of us think of life in hierarchical terms with human beings sitting at the top. Are you thinking: well, of course; we're the most intelligent and the most civilized? If so, I want to challenge your thinking. Just suppose we are all pieces of a puzzle and the gifts of every animate being and inanimate object are needed in order to have true peace on earth? What if each species has specific information, wisdom and ways of experiencing the world that when brought together would create wholeness? What if we need to learn how to hear, feel and see every being and everything in order to be truly alive? If each of us does have a piece of the puzzle (or is a piece of the puzzle), we must respect each other and communicate with each other in order to bring all of the pieces together. Just a thought. I have seen and experienced enough in this world to question everything. Please join us Thursday to hear the messages Amelia has gotten from the animals and to learn how to hear them yourself.

My sincere wishes to you for a wonderful 2017. May it be your best year yet. Some of you are wondering how that's possible with all the fear and anxiety over world events, an increase in hate crimes and the inauguration of a new President of the U.S. with a cabinet that is signaling a dramatic shift in policy. With so much uncertainty and many anticipating the worst, we must be prepared for what is coming. We may not have control over the decisions of our government, but we always have control over our response. Our attitudes, thoughts, words and actions are our choice. We must find ways to keep ourselves positive and hopeful as we work to create the world that we want to live in. Lasting social change happens at the level of the individual, not the government. When we make continuous daily choices with integrity that are life-affirming, we contribute to world peace. Please join us Thursday for Psychic Dawon's annual predictions, which is always one of my listeners' favorite shows.

I was preparing to visit my children and chose my University of Michigan Alumni Magazine for light reading. It was anything but light. Ethel and Julius Rosenberg's son, Robert Meeropol, had been at school with me and was featured in an article about his campaign to exonerate Ethel. She was innocent and my government knew it. Not only did the U.S. government knowingly kill an innocent woman/mother, they intentionally used her as a pawn to convict Julius. Even as I write these words, I have trouble digesting them. When I told a friend that Robert was going to be on the show, she went numb and couldn't even talk about it. Those of us who lived through those times or are just hearing about it now, are experiencing a traumatic response. It's almost too much to absorb. I was able to process this by telling friends, signing the petition asking President Obama to exonerate her and encouraging others to do so. Please join me Thursday to hear Robert's story. Then sign the petition at rfc.org.

There's a touching scene between a son and his aging mother in the new movie, Collateral Beauty. She starts a conversation that lacks a basis in current reality. Her son does something I've never seen before. Instead of trying to bring her back to his reality, he joins her fantasy world and keeps their connection alive with his open loving heart. He took what could have been a frustrating and potentially anger-filled interaction and made it into a joyful one. Alzheimer's is a growing problem. Forty-seven million people worldwide are afflicted with the disease. It takes an enormous toll on the care-givers, who are usually the spouses or children. Most cannot afford private care and do not have access to paid social services. The result is that 40% of care-givers fall into a clinical depression. The positive feelings from a loving act reduce the patient's agitation, which lightens the caregiver's burden. Please join us Thursday to learn how to share love in a way that benefits everyone.

Our minds tell us stuff that isn't true. It plagues us with beliefs we got from family, school, television or magazines. We hear messages like: you aren't very smart; you aren't thin enough or macho enough. The range of negativity and constant bombardment is so intense that most of us believe what we hear in our heads. We live in a constant state of not feeling good enough and of being afraid to do what we really want because we just know we would fail. The truth is that all of these messages are wrong. I was working with a client this week who believed she wasn't articulate. When we started talking about her love of art, her whole body relaxed, she leaned back in her chair and her conversation became fluid, easy and with sophisticated language and sentence structure. This was the exact opposite of what she believed to be true. We can change those messages in our heads and then change our lives. Please join us Thursday to learn how you can be free of self-criticism.

When my 5-year-old son was playing soccer, the parents got together and requested that the coach resign. They were unhappy with the way he treated their children. He was yelling at the kids, benching the kids who weren't good players and generally making the experience so unpleasant that the children didn't want to come. Unfortunately, this is all too common and our children are suffering. The impressive thing in this instance was that despite the fact that some of the parents were friends with the coach, they had the courage to stand up to him and protect their children. There are rules on how to play various sports, but there are no rules on healthy behavior for parents and coaches. Some people need their children to be star athletes in order to feed their own egos and the child's needs get overshadowed. It is possible to learn how to parent your athletic child in a way that helps them perform at higher levels, be happy and actually have fun! Please join us Thursday to learn how.

I'm a woman with 2 daughters, a daughter-in-law and 4 granddaughters. We are at-risk, as are all women around the world. In fact, because of our political situation, anyone who isn't a heterosexual white Christian male born in the United States is at risk here, in the land of freedom! Just last week, 400 hate crimes were reported, boys were grabbing girls' private parts in school hallways and the KKK announced a victory celebration. College campuses no longer talk about rape or sexual violence. The new terminology, non-consensual sex, is watered down and further threatens women's safety. And heil, as in “Heil Hitler”, is now re-entering our language. Reports are also emerging of women who were bullied into voting for our president-elect, and Trump's sons were shown on camera looking at their wives' ballots to ensure they voted properly. Are we losing our rights? Please join us Thursday to learn how women, who had been written out of history, had a huge influence on shaping Buddhism.

Are you gloating over the election results or are you feeling regret, anger, resentment, guilt, blame or paralyzing fear, worry, sadness or depression? Or are you able to stay in the now and appreciate the gifts available to you in this very moment? When we lose the present by letting our thoughts worry about the future or replay the past, we become frozen in fear. Yes, you read that right. We allow our thoughts to take charge, but we can flip the dynamic and regain control. My guest encourages you to drop the struggle and love the life you have. If ever there were a time to take right action, the time is now. Staying stuck in negative thinking and fear only adds more negative energy to the already overwhelming fear that is growing. You can choose to be part of the problem or part of the solution. You may be thinking, easier said than done, but there is a path to joy, peace and happiness even in the midst of challenging times. Please join us Thursday to learn how.

When I was working on my PhD, everyone said: The only good dissertation is a done one. It was a warning that few followed despite the clear wisdom. This was before computers and spell check. Invariably, no matter how many times you read and reread your dissertation, you would open the final copy only to discover a typo. My second lesson on perfectionism came when I was Director of Leadership Development and Organizational Health at the Carrollton-Farmers Branch School District. I gave a report to the school board with some errors in it. I was so upset with myself that I went to the superintendent to apologize. He said something I will never forget: People like it when you make a mistake. They feel better when they see you're not perfect. And today, my first email said: Avoid the perfect book syndrome. Perfectionism doesn't work for anyone. In fact, there is no such thing. It only resides as a tormenting thought in our minds. Please join us Thursday to start moving past perfectionism.

My thoughts tormented me for the first half of my life. They were very good at making me believe that I was never doing enough, I was not lovable, other people were more important than me, I was not good enough, taking care of others was more important than taking care of myself, I was not very smart, I should stay in the background and help others succeed... You get the idea. I made this list because I want you to hear some of the things that are roaming around in your head. Maybe they're identical, maybe they're different, but they are definitely hurting you. 90 percent of our self-talk is negative. Take a second to process that number and realize what a huge effort it takes just to get out of bed and face the world every morning. No wonder a third to a half of us are on antidepressants. It doesn't have to be this way. Peace of mind and positive thinking are possible. If I could transform my thoughts, so can you. Please join me Thursday to learn more about making your thoughts work for you.

Focus on the process, not the product. It's OK not to know how to achieve your goal: just begin. Get it out there--even if it isn't perfect. You can learn as you go. Stop judging yourself and your progress. I was 30 and working on a doctorate in education before these concepts began to surface in my life. They were a far cry from what my parents and teachers had taught me. It’s just another way of saying: trust and have faith in the unknown. All you really need to do is focus on where you are right this second and not let your mind spin out into the future. It's akin to the answer to the famous question, How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. But what about business plans and strategic plans and sketching your art work before you paint it? Even if you believe in focusing on the process, doing it is quite another thing given the pressure most of us feel to do it now and do it perfectly. Please join us Thursday to learn how to let go of judgment and enjoy the process.

Each of us has created a hierarchy in our minds that allows us to feel comfortable about how we feed and dress ourselves. Because animals appear to be more like us in that they breathe, walk, eat, make noises, etc., we assume that their lives have more value than plants. In fact, all life has intrinsic value. Plants live and die and yet we have no hesitation about eating fruits or vegetables or grains. I was a raw vegan for a while and they emphasize the health benefits of eating living foods. They even soak some items in order to bring them back to life. We feed plants with sun, water, fertilizer and good soil and research tells us that if we talk to our plants they grow and bloom better. If we pay attention, we can hear or feel a plant or flower calling out to us. Mine tell me when they need water. I have even had rocks, shells and crystals call out to me to touch them or hold them. Please join us Thursday to learn how to value, respect and communicate with the life in all of nature.

Women are an underutilized resource. When I heard actress Connie Britton say this in an interview, I was stunned by the twist that she gave gender equality. I had never heard it put quite this way. Giving women full rights isn't just a matter of fairness or of equal opportunity. Not allowing females access to an education and to employment in all fields and at all levels, deprives us of resources. Since women think differently than men and see the world differently, we are depriving the world of new ways of thinking, inventions, cures for disease and solutions to problems that have been plaguing the world. We have created a lot of myths about what women can and can't do. We say them as if they are true, but in fact, they are false beliefs that have prevailed because no one has really challenged them. When we raise girls to believe that they are less capable than men, we cause harm to ourselves. Please join us Thursday to learn what the Statue of Liberty, a female, really symbolizes.

Moving from anger, hurt and pain to forgiveness, self-love and peace has been a challenging journey. I began to understand just how much damage I was causing myself by blaming others when a Shaman said to me: Do you realize that every time you tell that 'ain't it awful story,' you let that person hurt you all over again? That was not the response I expected, but it did help me wake up and begin taking responsibility for my own life circumstances. On my healing path, I learned that I can forgive others without allowing them to continue to treat me poorly. They don't even have to acknowledge what they said or did. It's enough that I know and that I also forgive myself for having allowed them to continue to invade my boundaries. With forgiveness came an ability to see myself and others with compassion even when I left the relationship. This has led to an amazing feeling of peace within myself. Please join us Thursday to learn how to listen with an open heart and become a peacemaker.

We hear a lot about the Law of Attraction, but we don't always understand what it truly means. It's easy to take the superficial view that all you have to do is say a few affirmations and you'll draw to you what you want. In truth, it's far deeper than that. You attract people, experiences and things through the vibrations that you send out into the world. Who you are, the words you speak, the thoughts you have and the actions you take all work together to create a vibration that becomes your life. When everything is aligned in a positive way, life becomes easier and you pull to you what you want. Remember being told: If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all? As it turns out, that's profound wisdom. Last week Stephan A Schwartz talked about how lasting change is created by people making consistently compassionate, life-affirming choices. The words you speak should be among those positive choices. Please join us Thursday to learn how powerful your words are.

Are you worried about what's happening in the U.S. election campaign and throughout the world with increased fear, anger and verbal and physical violence? Do you feel helpless and frozen by the belief that one person can’t make a difference? If so, you will be encouraged to learn that you are far more powerful than you know. Stephan A. Schwartz has been studying social change since his involvement in the Civil Rights movement in the 1960's. His conclusions are quite surprising and absolutely life changing. The responsibility is actually on each one of us. The only change that is lasting and transformative is the one created by individuals making consistently compassionate and life-affirming choices. As you commit to making the best choices possible with integrity, it changes who you are and how you interact in the world. This then effects everything and everyone around you, spreading like a good virus. You hold the pathway to peace in your hands. Please join us Thursday to learn more.

Our attitudes, knowledge and treatment of trauma has changed over time. When I was a child, people rarely spoke openly about trauma. They hid it out of shame or a misguided belief that they should tough it out. Some, like my father, dealt with childhood abuse by creating the outer appearance of a successful, happy family. Others, like my aunt, whose oldest son died in WWII, paced the floor while talking to herself, struggling to find the will to go on. Then counseling became acceptable and dominated the field until drugs became a panacea. Now we know that some things can’t be put into words or solved with a pill. Research shows us that when we have no way of understanding what is happening to us or the skills to process it and let it go, our painful experiences, thoughts and emotions get stored in our bodies. That’s why some of the new work that focuses on healing through the body is so important. Please join us Thursday to learn how yoga, meditation and spirituality can heal trauma.

I love when people have the courage to use their life experience to learn, grow and create what is unique and authentic to them. Janna Fond is one of those people, and she follows in some big footsteps. To do so, you have to be willing to risk ridicule from those who are not as open as you are. As someone once said to me: If you're on the cutting edge, sometimes you get cut. I have experienced getting cut. I hope Janna hasn't because she is definitely on the cutting edge in bringing spirituality into her psychological counseling practice. When I took past life regression therapy training from Dr. Brian Weiss, he spoke about how hard it was to come forward about reincarnation. He risked his reputation and his position as Chairman of Psychiatry at the Mt. Sinai Medical Center in Miami. Yet, if you sincerely care about helping people heal, using past life regressions and other spiritual tools can enhance, deepen and shorten traditional therapy. Please join us Thursday to learn how.