Debbie Ford’s Most Personal and Powerful Work Yet
April 24, 2012 by VividLife Editorial
Filed under •-Headline, Arts & Entertainment, Books, Personal Growth
For decades, New York Times bestselling author Debbie Ford has been helping people break free from the emotional baggage that has held them hostage. With her new book Courage: Overcoming Fear and Igniting Self-Confidence, she offers her most personal, powerful, and potent work to date.—a proven process for overcoming insecurity and fear and unlocking the enormous courage that resides within.
Debbie Ford has excelled in the school of life, overcoming drug addiction, divorce, a heartbreaking betrayal, and a grave cancer diagnosis. How did she find the courage, confidence and strength to become one of the world’s foremost thought leaders? She tells us in this book. And she outlines a powerful process to help you become all you have wanted to be.
COURAGE is a book about transforming fear, unworthiness, insecurity and powerlessness into courage, confidence and emotional freedom. This book outlines a transformational process that will deliver you to a version of yourself and your life that will inspire, excite and exhilarate you. In this book, you will discover how to accept and transform your flaws, your misgivings, your weaknesses, and your fears. You will learn how to be confident, stand in your strength, and feel great about your life. You will activate the seven guiding principles of courage to become strong, powerful, confident and courageous.
And you will experience a new kind of courage and a new kind of confidence that will propel you into an infinitely beautiful and inspiring future. I promise you that when you recognize the strength, power, and freedom of the courage that has been present in you all along, you will realize that you have the power to accomplish your heart’s desires.
Wayne Dyer wrote in the Foreword to Courage “I can assure you that you will find yourself becoming more and more equipped to deal with all of your life’s challenges from a new and stronger position of self-confidence and, yes, courage as well.”
I agree. Read Courage.
CLICK HERE http://bit.ly/HFyJr4 to purchase your copy. It comes with some wonderful free gifts and a chance to win many incredible prizes—including a one-hour coaching session with Debbie herself!
Sincerely,
Shayne Traviss, Founder of VividLife.me
p.s. You’ll be particularly inspired by the amazing stories of transformation in this book. This same transformation is available to you as well, but you have to buy the book to be guided through the processs, so get your copy of Courage now! CLICK HERE http://bit.ly/HFyJr4
READ: Monday Matters – The Circle of Life by Iyanla Vanzant
April 23, 2012 by Iyanla
Filed under •-Feature, Books, Family & Relationships, Health & Well-being, Iyanla Vanzant, Spirituality
The following is an excerpt from the book, Tapping the Power Within, A Path to Self-Empowerment for Women, pages 26 – 28.
The Circle of Life
One powerful way to honor our ancestors is to embody the principles they taught and continue the traditions they live. African people are a “we” people. We, in a cultural sense, moves us beyond the shallow consciousness of “my life is only about me”. We encourage just to remember that everything I do is a reflection on everyone in my line. We motivates us to be better for those watching and those coming behind.
My sister understood this and lived it. She taught me things that had empowered her as a way of sharing, expanding, and evolving the traditions that sustained her. She taught me what our mother had taught her, what may, in fact, has been taught for generations. Of course, things change, times change; people lose track of stories in the people who passed them on. We can, however, still honor the lives of the ancestors by remembering what we can, practicing and passing on the positive traditions that have been passed on to us.
For example, I always washed and combed my daughter’s hair on Sunday evenings. I was tickled when I saw one of them had continued that tradition with her own daughter. This is a profound and practical way to elevate the spiritual energy of the ancestors to do as they did in order to sustain the group. Without knowing it, many of us probably do it anyway. When, however, we can remember the name of the one who taught the practice, or lived the principle, we create a more intimate connection.
What I know now is that how I live my life either honors or dishonors my ancestors. I also know it is not important for me to dissect, evaluate or judge their behaviors and dysfunctions. My job, our job, is to respect the continuum of life. We must embrace and embody with reverence the good/positive qualities that our ancestors demonstrated because it was this essence of their lives that pave the way for us. They have set the example for how to live in family and community.
Dr. Betty Shabazz has always invoked a quote attributed to Alex Haley. “We must find the good and praise it.”
Find the good your ancestors left behind and live your life as an expression of it. We carry the energy of our ancestors in our DNA. Therefore, living the best of who they were, what they taught and what they believed elevates their essence and advances our growth.
What I know now is that every life, every being that ever took a breath and the physical form, is an ancestor. What I know now is that all things fade into God. All things are neutralized, brought into equality, balance out in unity with Spirit.
My sister is now an ancestor. Not just my ancestor, because we do not have the luxury of owning spirits; she is an ancestor. In my heart I knew that it didn’t matter that we hadn’t spoken. It no longer mattered that she had been upset with me or that I had been angry with her. It didn’t matter that people had exaggerated the problem with gossip and innuendo. What mattered now was that the ancestors were watching and waiting to see how we, the family, would behave and what I, the next in age order, would do. My sister had taught me what to do when a member of the family made their transition and it was now my responsibility to make sure it was done with prayerful excellence.
If someone had told me that I would one day voluntarily stand within arm’s reach of a dead body, I would’ve told her she was crazy. Had she told me the dead body would be that of my sister, I probably would’ve lost my mind. But there I stood next to my sister who was dressed in a clear plastic bag covered by a white sheet.
In that moment I did not need to think about what to do. I had to do what I had been taught. My friend Tulani, a master braider, braided my sister’s hair. I polished her nails just as she had taught me; one-stroke up the middle of the nail, one on the left side, one on the right and two coats. Next, I applied her makeup. I pulled her eyes taut just as she had taught me. I made a very fine, very straight line of eyeliner across her eyelids. I added just a touch of blue shadow in the corners of the lid. I lined her lips and added just a bit of gloss. I asked my niece to find a small handbag that my sister especially liked. I filled it with coins. In African tradition you never want your family to show up on the other side without coins.
I also gave her a small white hanky. She had taught me that a hanky is so much better for dabbing the eyes than paper tissues. I also put a few mints in her purse. It just seemed like the right thing to do. I dressed my sister in traditional African garb. I wrapped her head in asoke - traditional woven cloth – just like she had taught me to do. My sister loved Jean Nate so I put a dab behind each ear. Finally, I adorned her with traditional beads and bracelets. I placed an irukere – ceremonial horsetail – in her hands so that it lay across her chest. She was now ready for her children and family to view her remains. Holding hands, Tulani and I stepped back while my sister’s best friends added their final loving touches.
When we were all done we stood in stillness and silence gazing upon the woman who, though she stood only 5’4″ tall, had been a monumental influence in so many lives. In that moment I could not remember why we had grown apart. I just wanted to know if she would be proud of what we had done for her. We had prepared her for a traditional burial. We then blessed her to join the ancestors.
I felt regrets for having missed the last three years of her life. I felt sad that I would never hear her laugh again. I wonder why she didn’t tell me that she was not well. Then I remembered who my sister was. I knew that she probably didn’t want to be a burden. She probably thought I was too busy and she didn’t want to bother me.
Realizing that that was probably the reason, I felt hurt and angry and sad. More than anything I was angry with myself. Then I remembered the love and the spirit of love that existed between us and the anger dissipated. All things fade in Spirit. All things become love.
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About Iyanla Vanzant:
Iyanla Vanzant is the best-selling author of five books on self-empowerment, personal growth and spiritual healing. As the founder and executive director of the Inner Visions Spiritual Life Maintenance Network, she conducts workshops, seminars and lectures nationally. Drawing from her own experiences of family dysfunction, abuse, and poverty, Iyanla encourages us all to look at ourselves, laugh at ourselves and then take the necessary steps to heal ourselves. Her practical message is based on the principles of universal law, self-determination and the power of Spirit. You can learn more about her work at www.innervisionsworldwide.com.
Iyanla has recently appeared several times during Oprah’s Lifeclass webcast segments. You can view the classes here: http://www.oprah.com/oprahs-lifeclass/oprahs-lifeclass.html
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Neale Donald Walsch to auction original Conversations with God & Home with God Manuscripts
March 3, 2012 by VividLife Editorial
Filed under •-Headline, Books, Events, Spiritual Guidance, Spirituality
Boulder, CO.– From March 2-11, 2012 a special eBay auction will be held to sell rare manuscript copies of nine Conversation with God books written by New York Times best-selling author Neale Donald Walsch. Each manuscript copy will be sold separately and include an original signature from the author and a certificate of authenticity. This rare event is a must-see for anyone who is an avid collector. Only 3 copies of the Conversation with God series have ever been sold. Never has a copy of the Home with God manuscript been sold before.
The highest bidder will receive: a copy of the original manuscript signed by Neale, a 20 minute call with Neale, free attendance at a 3-day retreat in April or July (only the retreat is free all expenses must be paid for) and a lunch with Neale during the retreat.
All proceeds from the auctions will go to support Humanity’s Team 2012 global outreach. One of the projects that will be funded by these auctions is Global Oneness Day, October 24, a celebration day created by Humanity’s Team. On May 20, 2010 Humanity’s Team presented 50,000 signatures to former Undersecretary-General and High Representative of the United Nations, Ambassador Anwarul K. Chowdhury. The presentation raised awareness and plans for the first Global Oneness Day, October 24, 2010, a day of focus on Oneness and humanitarian projects. The Global Oneness Day celebrations were supported world-wide. In 2011 a telesummit expanded the outreach to even more participants. To hear the telesumit, go to http://globalonenesssummit.com/program/pin.
Here are links to the Auction currently underway:
Manuscript 1 – Conversations With God, Book 1 (1995)
Manuscript 2 – Conversations with God, Book 2 (1997)
Manuscript 3 – Conversations with God, Book 3 (1998)
Manuscript 4 – Friendship with God (1999)
Manuscript 5 – Communion with God (2000)
Manuscript 6 – Conversations With God For Teens (2001)
Manuscript 7 – The New Revelations (2002)
Manuscript 8 – Tomorrow’s God (2004)
Manuscript 9 – Home with God (2006)
The mission of Humanity’s Team is to create a cooperative, caring global community that awakens the world to Oneness through educational programs and charitable works around the world. By helping humanity to awaken to Oneness – to who we really are – we deepen our felt connection to all of life, inspiring compassionate service to each other, and the world around us. Together with like-minded organizations throughout the world, we pledge to positively transform the face of humanity in one generation.
Neale Donald Walsch founded Humanity’s Team in 2003. That is why he is donating these valuable manuscripts…to fund global outreach projects that can make a huge difference in the world. He will also participate in a conference call on March 8th from 10am-12noon MST/12noon-2pm EST/5-7 UTC. During the conference call Neale will be talking about the, Conversation with God books, Humanity’s Team, Global Oneness Day, and awakening the world to Oneness. He will be inviting questions from the audience during this two hour conference call. To connect to the call:
Title: Neale Donald Walsch
Time: Thursday, March 8th at 10:00am Mountain
Listening method: Phone + Web Simulcast
To attend, visit:
http://InstantTeleseminar.com/?eventID=26488317
Phone Number: (303) 390-0043
Pin Code: 162849#
For more information about the above events go to: http://www.humanitysteam.org/nealeauction
If you’d like more information about these events or to schedule an interview with Steve Farrell, Worldwide Coordinating Director for Humanity’s Team, please call Kathy Mason at 720-938-2536 or email kathy.mason@humanitysteam.org .
READ: Wabi Sabi Love by Edie Weinstein
January 23, 2012 by Edie Weinstein
Filed under •-Headline, Books, Insights, Love, Reflection, Relationships, Vision
What if there was a guide to prevailing over the potential pitfalls and perils of the relationship journey that felt like a friendly hand to assist you in maneuvering the myriad mudholes? Today is your lucky day, if you are discovering Wabi Sabi Love: The Ancient Art of Finding Perfect Love in Imperfect Relationships. Written by Arielle Ford, author of The Soulmate Secret, it speaks to the challenges we face regardless of the longevity and form of relationship. It could as easily (as I have discovered) apply to parent child or platonic relationship as romantic partnership, although that was Ford’s intention in writing about “the ancient Japanese art form that finds beauty and perfection in imperfection. Wabi Sabi honors that which is imperfect, impermanent and incomplete. It finds beauty in most things modest, humble and unconventional.”Simple to put into practice exercises have fun titles, such as Learning to Go from Annoyed to Enjoyed which invites the reader to change perspective on a partner’s behavior that would have pushed buttons. Ford suggests listing the behavior and then 5-10 times when these actions might occur. She then delves more deeply by inquiring : How many more times am I willing to allow this situation to annoy me? What payoff do I get by finding fault? What does being annoyed keep me from having? Where did I learn to be annoyed by other people’s behavior? The next step is a stretch for some as it asks the reader to wonder how they can learn about themselves as a result and what gifts might be contained within the experience.
Rev. Edie Weinstein, MSW, LSW is a Renaissance Woman and Bliss Mistress who delights in inviting people to live rich, full, juicy lives. Edie is an internationally recognized, sought after, colorfully creative journalist, interviewer and author, a dynamic and inspiring speaker, licensed social worker, interfaith minister, offering uniquely designed spiritual rituals. In addition, she is a PR Goddess, promoting events and transformational teachers, healers, writers and artists. She speaks on the subjects of wellness, spirituality, sexuality, creativity, time management, recovery, body image, mindfulness, self esteem, stress management, re-creating yourself, caring for the caregiver, loss and grief. She is a frequent guest on radio and TV. Edie is currently writing her first best selling book entitled The Bliss Mistress Guide To Transforming the Ordinary Into The Extraordinary and is offering a workshop for women who want to re-create their lives, based on those concepts. A 20 year old journalistic vision came to pass in July of 2008 when she interviewed His Holiness The Dalai Lama. It was a potent reminder to never, ever, ever give up on our dreams. Over the years, Edie has written for mainstream and transformational publications. She has interviewed hundred of notables in the transformational fields, including Wayne Dyer, Marianne Williamson, Debbie Ford, Leonard Peltier, Shirley MacLaine, Michael Beckwith, Jonathan Goldman, Gregg Braden, Neale Donald Walsch, Mary Manin Morrissey, Dan Millman, Alan Cohen, Ram Dass, Jack Canfield, Jean Shinoda Bolen, Patch Adams, Ben and Jerry, Donna DeLory, James Twyman, Elizabeth Lesser, Michael Franti and Jean Houston. Her website is http://www.liveinjoy.org
Read more from VividLife.me contributors:
Our True Value by Edie Weinstein
LOVING A WABI SABI SLOPPY JOE by Arielle FordREAD: Walking On The Moon And Moments That Change Your Life Forever
January 18, 2012 by Ed and Deb Shapiro
Filed under •-Feature, Books, Insights, Intuition, Meditation, Meditation, Mindfulness, Personal Growth, Spiritual Guidance, Spirituality
Imagine walking on the moon and then returning to earth in Apollo 14? That’s what Edgar Mitchell, the 6th astronaut to walk on the moon, talked to us about for our radio show and in our book, Be The Change. Few of us ever get to see the earth from outer space, but it was entering the vastness of space that led Mitchell to a deep, personal transformation, one of those moments that change us forever: unexpected and unlooked-for moments that take us out of our normal, rational selves and offer us a glimpse into another dimension of reality.
“We were coming home after being on the moon. As we rotated, a 360-degree panorama of the heavens appeared in the spacecraft window every two minutes. As my job had been the landing craft on the moon, I could now sit back and enjoy the view. I became immersed in the vastness of space. Suddenly, I realized the connectedness of everything, like the ancient mystics all said, and it was accompanied by this feeling of ecstasy, an overwhelming experience that I had never had before.”
Having a glimpse of a different reality can have the effect of turning us inward, as if the outer world loses its relevance while the inner world becomes alive and vibrant. As Mitchell continues:
” I wanted to know what had happened in that transcendent experience so when I got back to earth I started talking with Eastern mystics and holy men, and with spiritual people from all over the world. I studied virtually all the meditation disciplines and techniques and practices that there are. The only answer I came to was that I was in resonance, a deep quantum resonance with the ground of my being. A theologian would say the ground of our being is God; I would say it is a field of infinite energy and potential and that when we have such experiences we are in quantum resonance with that deep reality. And when we get in resonance with that reality, we have this feeling of deep peace and the sense that everything is really okay.”
Such transcended moments can take the form of dissolving our sense of being a separate self. For Deb’s mother, it occurred when she was washing the dishes and heard the sound of a wild bird’s song; in that moment, she became the sound and lost any sense of being apart from it. For Deb, it occurred when a worm crawled over her foot: “I was barefoot and had been walking slowly and meditatively across the grass. I had stopped and was standing very still and silent when this worm crawled out of the earth and traveled across my foot before disappearing back into the grass. I felt this intense gratitude that it had deemed me safe enough to walk over, and then I suddenly became it, there was no difference or separation between us. I too disappeared into the grass. In that moment I ceased to be a separate, ego-defined human. It changed the way I saw everything.”
Transcendence also awakens our heart to the love that is the essence of all life. Ed had this experience when he was on the ferryboat going from NYC to the Statue of Liberty. It was evening and he was gazing at the starlit sky. “It seemed the sky was clearer than usual with the stars shining brightly. It was if the microcosm became the macrocosm and there was no separation, just one breath. The universe was breathing and I was part of this universal breath, my whole body was breathing along with the whole cosmos. I became breath, and then it all became a bright light. All I could feel was that everything is love. I spun around and in every direction it was love! Within and without was love! Up and down was love! My whole being was blissful love!”
Such moments stay with us; they alter our fundamental awareness and constantly remind us not to take ourselves too seriously, that we are way bigger than we realize, and that that vastness is always available to us.
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See our award-winning book: BE THE CHANGE, How Meditation Can Transform You and the World, forewords by the Dalai Lama and Robert Thurman, with contributors Edgar Mitchell, Jack Kabat-Zinn, Byrone Katie, Jane Fonda, Marianne Williamson, and many others.
If there is one book you read about meditation Be The Change should be the one. Hear about some of the cool people who are doing it and why you should do it too. – Sharon Gannon, founder Jivamukti Yoga.
Deb is the author of the award-winning YOUR BODY SPEAKS YOUR MIND, Decoding the Emotional, Psychological, and Spiritual Messages That Underlie Illness.
Our 3 meditation CD’s: Metta—Loving kindness and Forgiveness; Samadhi–Breath Awareness and Insight; and Yoga Nidra–Inner Conscious Relaxation, are available at: www.EdandDebShapiro.com
Ed and Deb Shapiro are the authors of BE THE CHANGE, How Meditation Can Transform You And The World, with forewords by the Dalai Lama and Robert Thurman and Winner of the 2010 Nautilus Gold Book Award. Deb is the author of the bestselling book, YOUR BODY SPEAKS YOUR MIND, winner of the 2007 Visionary Book Award. They are featured bloggers on Oprah.com/spirit, HuffingtonPost.com/Living, and Care2.com. They have 3 meditation CD’s: Metta — Loving Kindness and Forgiveness; Samadhi – Breath Awareness and Insight; and Yoga Nidra – Inner Conscious Relaxation. See: www.EdandDebShapiro.com
Listen to Ed and Deb’s VividLife Radio interview with Edgar Mitchell 6th Man to Walk on the Moon:
Shoot for the Moon with Astronaut Edgar Mitchell, 6th Man to Walk on the Moon
VividLife Radio’s Ed and Deb Shapiro welcome Edgar Mitchell, an American pilot, engineer, astronaut.and the sixth person to walk on the Moon to discuss realization , oneness and walking on the moon. Edgar Mitchell was presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1970 by President Richard Nixon.
