Seduction of Spirit Retreat

I’m back from the event in Whistler with the Chopra team. Every day was full - we meditated, did yoga, discussed cosmic principles and how to live in accordance with them. The experience was awesome!!!

I recommend it highly, the Chopra team impressed me with their integrity, teaching methods and care for the people attending. Deepak Chopra is very “chill” in his presentation, full of harmony and brilliance, Dr. Simon has also a relaxed way of teaching profound knowledge and Davidji is the most charming and energetic teacher you’d ever want to have.

The event coordination was carried out with great attention to detail by Amanda and a team of very adept consultants who already knew you before you even got there. There is more in store for me in connection to them, that much I know for sure. www.chopra.com

Dr. Chopra and Elke

Dr. Simon and Amanda

Group photo with Davidji

Living in Harmony

I open myself only to what is good and pure. Only then am I truly all I can be. Living my life this way aligns my energies with what is good and positive in this world.

Though we may not always get what we want, we do get what we need. In a spiritually meaningful universe we get feedback and direction so we can really orient ourselves to what we need to learn. Synchronicities make us aware that we live in a participatory universe. As I've embraced my clinical mind together with my mystical experiences I've come to recognize that what really counts is living every moment with compassion.

Nervous energy, anxiety, negative thoughts are all part of a fear driven pessimistic outlook. It is a way of interfering with guidance and mindfulness. No doubt, when I'm filled with love towards another, truly filled with that energy, I have no room for negative thoughts. Then why don’t we just always love, why do we get so nervous? Fear of things we are unable to control and a distorted view of the social self (I’m not good enough) trigger fear and anxiety symptoms. As we re-program our cognitions and brain we need to re-orient with kindness and curiosity, instead of self-depreciation. As we become mindful through meditation by focusing on breath, and at the same time reframe our negative cognitions into positive cognitions our self-view changes.

New visions of oneself can arise as we make conscious choices towards appreciation and compassion. Usually then we get in touch with a a source of power greater than our bodily self and it is then that we can choose to be truly open to all that is pure and good. Only then am I in harmony, with all I can be.

Interspirituality

Life is a journey which starts at home.
- Charles Handy

Interspirituality is a growing movement, which is concerned with looking at similarities in global faiths and spiritual practices instead of their differences. How I perceive the world is profoundly affected by the lessons I learned as a child. My mother a German Catholic met my father a Jewish Holocaust survivor after the war. I was not as much intrigued by examining the practices of other religions as I was interested in the presence of something greater than myself. When I enter a Christian Church, a Jewish Synagogue, or a Muslim Temple I only seen one altar. The presence that connects us all is there inside me, no matter what church I pray in. Any of the world’s faiths see the alignment with a larger source worth striving for. Every loving thought heightens our capacity to be connected to this source greater than our individual selves.

Don’t aim at success- the more you aim at it and make it a target, the more you are going to miss it. For success, like happiness, cannot be pursued: it must ensue....as the unintended side-effect of one’s personal dedication to a course greater than oneself.
- Victor E. Frankl

A message of hope

A friend sent me this Obama speech, since it resonated so much with her and my message…

YES WE CAN…
It was a creed written into the founding documents that declared the destiny of a nation.
Yes we can.
It was whispered by slaves and abolitionists as they blazed a trail toward freedom.
Yes we can.
It was sung by immigrants as they struck out from distant shores and pioneers who pushed westward against an unforgiving wilderness.
Yes we can.
It was the call of workers who organized; women who reached for the ballots; a President who chose the moon as our new frontier; and a King who took us to the mountaintop and pointed the way to the Promised Land.
Yes we can to justice and equality.
Yes we can to opportunity and prosperity. Yes we can heal this nation.
Yes we can repair this world.
Yes we can.

It gives me hope to have a presidential candidate speak such words! With that intention religions and races can interface to combine their faith, rather than fighting each other.

Deepak Chopra on his blog site speaks about Obama’s "audacity of hope" slogan and calls for our waking up to see clearly who we are and what needs to be done. I’m not a person who tends to enjoy politics, but I certainly found myself interested when I saw his entry today and ended up responding.

Concert at my daughter's school

December 12, 2007

What an amazing performance! I forgot how much I like these concerts when they are as well done and inspiring as tonight. Many of my daughter's friends were singing and playing and I was very impressed with their talent and dedication. I would love to see her up there, too (she really does have a good voice), but last year she decided to concentrate on visual art instead. She is enjoying that greatly and we'll see if her interests will stay the same.

Great Radio Interview!

December 4, 2007

I was interviewed by Jesse Dylan of sirius satellite radio on the Good Life Show and it went extremely well. Jesse and I talked for 15 minutes and we explored several topics relating to my book. Jesse loved my book, and I'd encourage you to listen to the show. Simply go to the press room on my web site.

Book Launch Speech

I gave this speech to a room full of great friends at my book launch.

Life - it has become so hectic, we plan and we think. But we think too much and feel too little. We have become so knowledgeable, with any kind of information at our fingertips. But our knowledge has made us cynical.

More than machinery and the information we can perceive during the day, in the light, we need the lantern that lights the way in the dark, to the vast knowledge of our inner wisdom.
The belief we are only what our five senses tell us, what we can literally see, touch and own has succeeded only to make us into a greedy human race.

The way of life can be beautiful and free of greed and menace. We all know it is entirely possible to live life by each other’s happiness and not by each other’s misery.
By now you probably know what started me writing this book.

Navin's message is carried on throughout the book: hate crimes must stop. The earth is rich and can provide for everyone. We are meant to be there for each other.

With my experiences during writing this book I learnt that there is one thing I want more than anything else in life: That is to be part of the crowd who wants to help each other.
This way we can make do with the worst people in the world and somehow we must. We can stand to the side, while people in the world are destroying themselves, and we can have the lantern ready for those that want to follow another path, the path that connects us to each other.

In this room here are gathered some of the finest people I know. You have all influenced my life in many good ways. I cannot thank you enough - all of you - for being there for me in different ways, when it really counts.

To Matt I dedicate a song written by Lowry Olafson, who is here to perform it for us.
It is called "It feels like forever". He has another song for us called "The ship of dreams" a very befitting title for this event. It is dedicated to father and son, but I see it applying to all parents and children.
Thank you for joining me tonight and I love you all.