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COMMUNICATING THE WISDOM THAT'S CHANGING THE WORLD
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Recently, a friend sent me a copy of an internet posting from Ponder Central that featured an excerpt from my own book, Small Pleasures: Finding Grace in a Chaotic World. I read it with interest as if it were coming directly from spirit and that it was something I needed to pay attention to. I was right. It was just what I needed to hear in that moment. Here is what it said: Ponder on This for Monday, February 22nd, 2010 by Justine Toms in SMALL PLEASURES, FINDING GRACE IN A CHAOTIC WORLD "Take a moment to access your inner voice. Close your eyes and take a deep breath. Hold that breath for a second or two, then release it with a sigh. Do this several times. Ask yourself the question, "What does my heart want to tell me right now?" Pause and let a few words float up from your heart. Try not to edit or to judge them. Turn off your inner critic and let your heart write. Write down these words, and take ten or fifteen minutes to expand on what your heart has told you. Then spend a few more minutes reflecting on what you've written. Pay special attention in the coming week to the ways listening deeply to your inner voice helps you." What great advice, I thought to myself. One forgets what one writes and needs these feedback mechanisms to keep us tuned-in and tuned-up. I then subscribed to this free service which is put together by Jeff Maziarek, author of Spirituality Simplified and Codi's Journey (slated for release in 2010). At various moments gems arrive in my in-box, beautiful little reminders that provide meaningful content to assist me as I muddle through my day. Jeff says, "If someone had told me in March of 1999 that I'd be sending these messages for 11 years I would have thought they were a bit off the wall. Yet, here I am about to begin the 12th year in just about 3 weeks... I do my best to keep Pondercentral 'pure' by not letting money enter the equation. It's about sharing meaningful content and being of service." It is a labor of love and one of the better ones out there. Here is a link for you to check it out for yourself.
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March 2010 Broadcast Schedule
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| The Broadcast Week Beginning Wednesday, March 3 - 9, 2010
Topics Explored in this Dialogue:
Judith Orloff, M.D. comes from a long line of intuitive healers, and she's been working with her own intuition since she was a young child. Through her personal experience and her work as an intuitive psychiatrist, she's acquired a wealth of knowledge that will help you learn to recognize, and make wise use of your own intuition. In this fun and fascinating interview, she shares her story of working as an intuitive within the medical community, and offers a wealth of suggestions for how you can expand your inner knowing—and in the process discover a more loving, inspired way of living. Dr. Orloff tells us, "Intuition is connected to the heart, as opposed to just information that comes through. When you begin to open your heart, and open to the unconditional love that comes from that place in your body, and combine that with your intuition in terms of how to see the world and how to direct your own life and be of service to others—through the lens of the heart, intuition is something extremely beautiful." Judith Orloff, M.D., is assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at U.C.L.A., and has been a presenter at medical schools, hospitals, universities, and the American Psychiatric Association. She is the author of many books, including the bestseller, Emotional Freedom: Liberate Yourself from Negative Emosions and Transform Your Life (Harmony Books 2009) and Second Sight: An Intuitive Psychiatrist Tells Her Extraordinary Story and Shows You How To Tap Your Own Inner Wisdom (Warner Books 2010). To learn more about the work of Judith Orloff go to www.DrJudithOrloff.com.
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The Broadcast Week Beginning Wednesday, March 10 - 16, 2010
Topics Explored in this Dialogue:
Each day you face the highs and lows of your own state of mind, as well as the onslaught of external threats from terrorist alerts, earthquake warnings, and economic downturns. Your mind is in a constant state of arousal, and your happiness and your physical health pay the price. But Dr. Rick Hanson says that you have enormous power not only to change your frame of mind, but to physically alter your body and even the structure of your brain by taking charge of your thoughts. He explains, "if one understands how the brain evolved to suffer, which it did, you can then go back into it and train it over time, not to suffer so much, ultimately not to suffer at all, and to awaken into your own natural state of clarity and happiness and open-heartedness." Happily, it's much easier to make the shift than you might imagine, and in this interview he offers simple techniques you can use, in just a few minutes a day, to change your mind. What's more, as Dr. Hanson tells us, "if a critical mass of people became more skillful with their own brains, we could literally remake this world in a single generation." Rick Hanson, Ph.D., is a neuropsychologist, who writes and teaches extensively on personal growth and contemplative practice. He is a co-founder of the Wellspring Institute for Neuroscience and Contemplative Wisdom, and editor of the Wise Brain Bulletin. He is co-author with Richard Mendius, M.D., of Buddha's Brain: The Practical Neuroscience of Happiness, Love, and Wisdom (New Harbinger 2009) and the CD set Meditations to Change Your Brain (Sounds True 2009). To learn more about the work of Rick Hanson go to www.BuddhasBrain.com. |
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| The Broadcast Week Beginning Wednesday, March 17 - 23, 2010
Topics Explored in this Dialogue:
Attorney Stewart Levine loved the legal profession because of the ideals it represented. But when he realized the practice of law rarely allowed him to consider human values along with property values, he took down his shingle and became an expert in resolving conflicts in a way that preserves relationships as well as legal rights. He points out that the costs of remaining in conflict are high. They consist of direct money out-of-pocket, loss of opportunity, continuity, not to mention the emotional costs. He has developed a 7-step resolution model and often refers to those who implement it as resolutionaries. He explains, "Conflict is never about what's being argued about on the surface... It's always about some emotional hook between two people... The container I create in the context of conflict is a safe space, in which we will talk about the situation without judgment, without the need to be right or wrong, but only the need to move through it on our way to some vision of what we want the future to be." (Hosted by Justine Willis Toms) Stewart Levine is the founder of ResolutionWorks, a consulting service dedicated to conflict resolution for businesses and individuals. His clients include NASA, American Express, Oracle, General Motors, and the University of San Francisco. He is the author of Getting to Resolution: Turning Conflict into Collaboration (2nd edition, revised & expanded, Berrett-Koehler 2009). To learn more about the work of Stewart Levine go to www.ResolutionWorks.com. |
The Broadcast Week Beginning Wednesday, March 24 - 30, 2010
Topics Explored in this Dialogue:
Whether you're an hourly employee, owner of a small business, or C.E.O. of a large corporation, your work can be your greatest source of stress and aggravation—or it can be an enriching, enlightening part of your life. Jeff Klein's work is one of his greatest sources of joy, and he's made it his vocation to help others find ways to bring real consciousness to the jobs they do every day. He tells fascinating stories of successful entrepreneurs, who bring a rare brand of connection to their businesses, and suggestions for how you can deepen the mindfulness you bring to your own workday. He explains, "When you recognize that work and business are spiritual paths, paths for growth and development for yourself and others and relationship, then every day, every challenge, every opportunity, every passage changes you in some way. It deepens your awareness. It deepens your embodiment. It deepens your ability to connect. It deepens your ability to collaborate. It deepens your ability to build an awesome business." Jeff Klein is C.E.O. of Cause Alliance Marketing, which specializes in blending social issues and business objectives of its clients, and co-founder and president of Conscious Capitalism, Inc., a nonprofit that works to liberate the entrepreneurial spirit for good works. His clients have included Seeds of Change, Peace Cereal, the Esalen Institute, the Institute of Noetic Sciences, and the National Geographic Society. He is the author of Working for Good: Making a Difference While Making a Living (Sounds True 2009). To learn more about the work of Jeff Klein go to www.WorkingForGood.com. |
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| The Broadcast Week Beginning Wednesday, March 31 – April 6, 2010
Topics Explored in this Dialogue:
In these times, we need all the resources we can muster to help us make wise decisions and navigate the various minefields of our busy and complex lives. Shirley Desai reminds us that each of us carries a system of energy within us, guiding us toward greater understanding of who we are, and what we need, and how we can choose the best course of action. By tuning into our chakras, she explains, we can regain the sense of balance and harmony so essential to living a joyful and meaningful life. She tells us, "In decision making it helps us really purify our thinking by understanding on very simple terms—lower chakras versus higher chakras—am I operating from a lower frequency? Do I feel heavy when I'm thinking this? We want to get to a point where we feel really open and free, and we're able to make clear decisions that we actually feel good about." In this interview she'll guide us through a simple step-by-step process of discovering what each chakra has to tell you, so you can resonate with your highest energy in all you do. (Hosted by Justine Willis Toms) Shirley Desai, M.B.A., is an entrepreneur, a contractor, a violinist, and a publisher, and she leads workshops on leadership and self-empowerment. She operates, manages, and advises a number of early-stage businesses, and owns an independent book company, Shared Step Press. She is the author of The 7 Connections to Happiness and Harmony: Decision Making Made Easy with Yoga's 7 Chakras (Shared Step Press 2009). To learn more about the work of Shirley Desai go to www.ShirleyDesai.com.
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Preview of an upcoming program with Rick Hanson, Ph.D.
The world is on the edge of the sword. It is important to put in a correction factor for the negativity bias of the brain which tends to see problems and disasters and tends towards pessimism. There are a lot of wonderful trends in the world today, including things like New Dimensions, which has truly been a phenomenal service. People have access through the internet to these kinds of programs. This is just fantastic. There are many good developments in the world.
That said, obviously, nuclear weapons are not going away, they are proliferating actually. The world is getting hotter and as resources run out that tends to drive the drums of war. I personally think that it is absolutely critical that people become much more skillful with their own brains.
It is important, I think, to deal with the future at many levels, not simply within the individual. Obviously there are many things to do in terms of the economy, consumerism, politics, weapons control and things like that. But if a critical mass of people became more skillful with their own brains, we could literally remake this world in a single generation.
I think is increasingly possible now is that the skillful means are available for people in a way that is not embedded in any particular religious tradition. But it is embedded in a recognition of the common humanity. We all have the same DNA. We basically all have the same body plan. You know two people at war with each other have DNA 99.99999999 % identical. So, by recognizing this common heritage, this magnificent brain, I mean on the day we were conceived really, the instructions were laid in place for this magnificent brain that is the result of 600 million years of evolution. It is the most complex object science knows about. It is extraordinarily capable.
To me we have a great opportunity that should fill us with gratitude, but we also have a great duty of stewardship to how we use this organ: both for our own well-being and for the well-being of everyone around us. That felt sense of beautiful opportunity, but also serious responsibility to me is a wonderful place to center ourselves.
You know we have two wolves in our hearts. One of love and one of hate. This is a Native American saying. When we generate any kind of distinction between us and them, the wolf of hate wakes up, and starts looking around for an adversary. It is on yellow alert. It is in threat level orange at that point. And as soon as there is any sense of being threatened by that other person, or frankly, some sense of opportunity whereby we can just exploit them and take what they've got, and make it our own, then the wolf of hate gets up and starts biting and snarling.
So, recognizing the ways in which we automatically makes distinctions between us and them, and having more of a sense that the world is one great us, one great human family, all cubs are our own in an ultimate kind of way. Enlightened self-interest is taking good care of the world altogether, because in an interdependent view, what we do to the world comes back to ourselves. Karma is like hitting golf balls in the shower. And so, if we take good care of the world, we take good care of ourselves. And a deepening understanding of the brain is a very good and useful pathway to exactly that.
So, as a very practical take-away about that, it is very useful to recognize that as soon as we make a distinction between us and them.
Excerpt from Program #3336 A Brain That Know How to Be Happy with Rick Hanson, Ph.D.
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Small Pleasures : Finding Grace in a Chaotic World by Justine Willis Toms THE WINNER OF 2009 Award in the Spiritual Books Category Small Pleasures: Finding Grace in a Chaotic World by Justine Toms Announced at the 13th Annual Awards Event of the Coalition of Visionary Resources |
Michael and I love to watch movies. It is a magical art-form. They inform, inspire, and touch the heart and soul in so many ways.
Did you know that many visionary, soulful movies are made every year but never get into the theaters? Independent, spiritual filmmakers are creating movies with heart and soul, movies that really matter. Until now, though, hardly anybody got to see them.
Spiritual Cinema Circle® is a DVD club that sends out 4 features and short films in the mail each month on DVD. You keep the DVDs. The movies you get are full-length features, both dramas and comedies, short films, and documentaries on mind-opening subjects. They are about many different subjects, but they all share common elements: All our movies are carefully-chosen to provide genuine nourishment for the heart and soul, a much-needed nutrient at a time when more and more Hollywood movies are violent, profane and devoid of meaning. These movies inspire wonder, insight, deep feeling and transcendence. Above all, they make you feel better about being a human being.
Consider joining Spiritual Cinema Circle by using the link below. You can start with a free trial.
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Join with others from around the world for the monthly |
| Let us know where you are from, we are mapping all the places around the world where people are participating. | |
 Parties with a Purpose; Celebrating what's working in our communities, for people, for business and for the environment www.greenfestivals.com |
 Expand Your Consciousness in Optimal Learning Environments www.conferenceworks.com |
 Books for the Evolving Human Spirit www.hamptonroadspub.com |
 Transform the Way You Live and Lead with Purpose, Passion, Energy, and Joy www.getclarity.com |
 Books and Audio to awaken consciousness and global social potential. www.newworldlibrary.com |
 To Help Individuals Realize Their True Relationship with Life Through Higher Self-Studies Guy Finley, Director www.guyfinley.org |
