I was pleased to interview Dr. Ibrahim Jaffe for my book, Sixty Seconds: One Moment Changes Everything. Ibrahim, a licensed medical doctor, clairvoyant, healer and spiritual teacher, co-founded what is now the University of Spiritual Healing & Sufism. He told me two stories. I could only fit one story in the book but I am pleased to print the second one here.
I spend a lot of time sailing. In 1995, I sailed from St. Martin over to the island of Saba, four or five hours south of St. Martin. We got caught in a fairly bad storm. There were ten-foot waves on the ocean, twenty to thirty knot winds, which in sailing is a lot. You like to sail at around eight to ten knots. When you get up to thirty, you’re really getting kicked around out there. We were sailing into the wind and it got pretty nasty.
After thirty minutes, my wife and both kids started throwing up
I am haunted by the fate of a reluctant American soldier I read about. He was a young husband with a devoted wife who was desperately in love with him. He was a young father with a grade-school son who idolized him. On their last night together before he shipped out, they held each other and cried, and prayed that he would return safely home to his family.
And then he was off to Iraq where not long after, a jeep he was riding in flipped over. And his wife became a widow, and his son was robbed of the man who had been his hero.
And I think how lucky I was to have a great dad who loved me fiercely, who took a saw and made a home plate for the back yard so I could pitch to him after he came home from a long day’s work.
And I think how lucky I am to have a great daughter who I love fiercely, who stood in front of the tree in our back yard with a big, red plastic bat in her hands while I pitched to her until darkness fell.
And I try to think of all I would have missed had the unthinkable happened, but I can’t, because the pain rises up, raw and ravenous, and my heart Read the rest of this entry »
I felt fortunate to be able to sit down face to face with Malidoma Somewhile he told me a story for my book,Sixty Seconds: One Moment Changes Everything, I was fascinated by his experience with the mysteries of the universe and wish he were permitted to tell me more. At one point, he felt compelled to acknowledge that he had never told anyone this story before, but decided on the spur of the moment that perhaps it was time to share it with the world. I am grateful to be the messenger to deliver this important message for him. Here are excerpts from Malidoma’s story, beginning with his bio.
When the elders in my village approached me about becoming initiated into elderhood, my reaction was Why me, of all people? There were others in the village who were great healers with fantastic track records and I was nowhere near their level. I had always been fascinated with the traditions of my culture, but at forty-three, I considered myself too young to be an elder. Besides, I lived in the white man’s culture and only came home once in a while.
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Their reasons were convincing and I agreed to be initiated. Although I would also be responsible for the maintenance of three shrines, the primary responsibility of the council of elders was to Read the rest of this entry »
The Hindu deity Vishnu is portrayed as the divine dreamer of the world dream. Adherents view the material world as a dream of God, a projection of cosmic consciousness. We are not separate from God, and so we dream the dream along with God. The dream and the dreamer are one and the same.
We are literally God exploring God’s self in an infinite Dance of Life. Mellen-Thomas Benedict
The notion that all of creation emanates from, and exists within, the mind of God supports the contention that time is an illusion, a Read the rest of this entry »
Taken by NASA’s Chandra X-ray observatory from its orbiting 360 miles above the Earth, the photo of Pulsar B1509 captures the X-Ray nebula in a state shaped like a human hand. NASA estimates that the shape, composed of electromagnetic energy pumped out by a neutron star just 12 miles in diameter, spans 150 light years.
Four hundred years ago, Francis Bacon, an English philosopher and the father of inductive reasoning and the scientific method, concluded that expanding your vision inevitably leads to evidence of God’s handiwork.
It is true, that a little philosophy inclineth man’s mind to atheism; but depth in philosophy brings about man’s mind to religion: For while the mind of man looketh upon second causes scattered, it may sometimes rest in them, and go no further; but when it beholdeth the chain of them confederate and linked together, it must needs fly to Providence and Deity. Francis Bacon
Nineteenth-century Danish philosopher and theologian Soren Kierkegaard agreed, pointing out that expansion of vision can refer to a Read the rest of this entry »
It was a treat interviewing James Redfield for my book, Sixty Seconds: One Moment Changes Everything. James told me about a startling vision he experienced at the age of twenty-three that gave him the first inkling of the work he would be doing in the world, including writing The Celestine Prophecy, which quickly became a publishing phenomenon. Here is an excerpt from James’ story, beginning with his bio.
Back in 1973, I was hiking in Great Smoky Mountains National Park on the North Carolina side. I must have been two miles deep in the woods, far away from any roads, just getting in touch with the beauty of the pristine, old-growth forest. Suddenly, I had what I call a birth Read the rest of this entry »
Dave Carroll’s now-legendary United Breaks Guitar songs are a terrific example of how to deal with conflict. Instead of ranting and raging and threatening legal action, a little creativity and humor can go a long, long way.
The singer-songwriter, who formed a duo called Sons of Maxwell with his brother, Don, was on a United Airlines flight in 2008 and . . . well . . . I’ll let Dave tell the story:
In the spring of 2008, Sons of Maxwell were traveling to Nebraska for a one-week tour and my Taylor guitar was witnessed being thrown by United Airlines baggage handlers in Read the rest of this entry »
I wrote in an earlier post how thrilled (and later terrified!) I was that Dr. Bernie Siegel included a lyric I wrote in his book, Peace, Love & Healing. Nearly twenty years later I asked Bernie to share a life-changing story with me for my book, Sixty Seconds: One Moment Changes Everything. Here is Bernie’s intriguing story, beginning with his bio.
Siegel, a former surgeon whose book, Love, Medicine & Miracles, catapulted him to the forefront of the mind-body-spirit revolution, founded the Exceptional Cancer Patients support group (www.ecap-online.org) near his home in New Haven, Connecticut. His latest books are Love, Magic & Mudpies,365 Prescriptions for the Soul, and the children’s book Smudge Bunny. Click hereto visit Bernie’s website.
The Biblical story of Abraham and Isaac has always been difficult for me to accept because the idea of sacrificing one of my children is so unthinkable. Well, ten years ago, I had some experiences that gave me a deep appreciation of that story. While talking to a friend on the phone about my travel schedule, she asked, “Why are you living such a busy life?” I suddenly and literally went into a trance-like state and saw myself with a sword in my hand, killing people. The same thing happened again a month or two later as I was sitting in an airplane looking out the window. It felt like I was watching a movie with me as the main character. I was a knight, and my lord told me that I was to kill the neighbor’s daughter because the neighbor had been imposing on his land. I agreed to do it out of fear that I would be punished if I refused. I learned where the daughter slept but when I walked into her room with my sword drawn, she awakened and turned toward me. I saw my wife’s face, Read the rest of this entry »
Barbara, my literary agent, e-mailed me yesterday with a publishing dilemma. A translated copy of my book, Sixty Seconds: One Moment Changes Everything, was going to press in Brazil—but the publisher there said the book would not be taken seriously unless we changed my name on the front cover.
Why? Because my name, Bolsta, would be pronounced without the “l” . . . and “bosta” in Portuguese translates to . . . ummm, well . . . doo-doo.
Hilarious! I told Barbara to publish the book under the name Philip Charles, which is my first name and middle name. An easy fix.
The German edition of "Sixty Seconds"
Sixty Seconds is also being translated into German, Italian and Spanish. As far as I know, my name in those languages doesn’t equate to excrement or profanity, so we should be good to go!
Ironically, I had written an article for Twin Cities Business magazine about companies that come up with names for products and organizations. In the following sidebar to the article, I wrote about foreign business translations gone bad. Get ready for some good yuks!
FOREIGN FIASCOS
In 2002, Nametag International was wrapping up a project to name a new-generation healthcare information solution for one of the leading global manufacturers of engineering and electronics products. Nametag had screened the name Soarus in eight languages by running it through World Test, a linguistic screening tool that helps clients understand what a name might mean in other cultures. At the eleventh hour, the company mentioned it was planning a joint venture with an Israeli company, so Nametag added Yiddish and Hebrew to the mix. Oops. World Test spat out a sound-alike Yiddish word, tsoris, which meant “trouble and suffering.” Undaunted, Levin and Young began tinkering away. A few tweaks here, a few tweaks there, and they ended up with Soarian, a name that retained the strategic position of “rising above new heights” and allowed the company to own a truly global brand with no cultural difficulties.
Not all companies are so thorough. Here are our favorite naming nightmares.
• Coca-Cola in China was translated to Ke-kou-ke-la on thousands of signs. Unfortunately, the phrase means “bite the wax tadpole” or “female horse stuffed with wax” depending on the dialect.
I’m not a big fan of jumping rope but I was transfixed by this amazing performance. Watching it, I wondered why I hadn’t heard of these girls before because they’re good enough to be a finalist onAmerica’s Got Talent.
Grief, whether for the loss of a relationship, a loved one, or our health, is a necessary bridge between life as we knew it and the “new normal.” Yet, immersed in sorrow, we fear that we may never again drink deeply of the cup of life.
Grief is often tinged with regret. We dream of traveling back to happier times and making the most of second chances. Spare yourself such anguish; beginning today, make the most of your first chances.
When we lose one we love, our bitterest tears are called forth by the memory of hours when we loved not enough. Maurice Maeterlinck
I enjoyed interviewing former NBA player Jim Petersen about hit spiritual awakening for my book, Sixty Seconds: One Moment Changes Everything. Here is Jim’s story, beginning with his bio.
Petersen, a television analyst for the NBA’s Minnesota Timberwolves, played eight seasons for the Houston Rockets, Sacramento Kings, and Golden State Warriors. His best year as a professional came during the 1986-87 NBA season as a member of the Rockets, when he averaged 11.3 points per game.
I read Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda when I was with the Golden State Warriors toward the end of my basketball career. Yogananda had founded a religious organization called Self-Realization Fellowship (SRF) in 1920, and his book made such an impression on me that I decided to check out a service at an SRF temple if I ever had the chance.
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The next weekend would have been Yogananda’s one hundredth birthday. There was a big celebration at Mother Center, so Paul took me up to Mt. Washington with his whole family. I knew virtually nothing about SRF so Paul Read the rest of this entry »
Here are six more kids’ poems I wrote that I hope will make your kids smile!
BEDTIME
At night, if I’m a sleepyhead,
My Mommy tucks me into bed.
If I’m not tired, that is when
I like my Dad to tuck me in!
‘Cause when I say, “Dad, I love you,”
He does whatever I want him to!
I tell him I’m lucky to be his daughter …
He gets me an ice-cold glass of water!
I tell him my friends like his rugged good looks …
He reads me two of my favorite books!
Then I kiss his cheek with a nice loud smack,
And ask him to pretty please rub my back.
And if I play my cards just right,
I Read the rest of this entry »
Seeing every moment as a gift provides revealing glimpses into the mysteries of the universe. Slip any random moment under a metaphysical microscope and you will find that it contains the DNA of God’s master plan.
Life will give you whatever experience is most helpful for the evolution of your consciousness. How do you know this is the experience you need? Because this is the experience you are having at this moment. Eckhart Tolle
You would then understand why every thought you think, every word you speak, every step you take is an outright miracle cloaked in the guise of an ordinary moment. This awareness presents a thought-provoking paradox. You can view ordinary moments as miracles or miracles as ordinary moments.
The invariable mark of wisdom is to see the miraculous in the common. Ralph Waldo Emerson
Your perspective depends on how you define “ordinary.” The higher you elevate your consciousness, the more naturally you will behold the ordinary as extraordinary. Indeed, “miracle” is a word commonly used by those who Read the rest of this entry »
When I interviewedDr. Esther Sternbergfor my book, Sixty Seconds: One Moment Changes Everything, she told me how she came to understand and appreciate how the mind-body connection can enhance the healing process. Here is an excerpt from her story, beginning with her bio.
Dr. Sternberg, the author of The Balance Within: The Science Connecting Health and Emotions, is Chief of the Section on Neuroendocrine Immunology and Behavior at the National Institute of Mental Health. She is internationally recognized for her discoveries in brain-immune interactions and the effects of the brain’s stress response on health—the science of the mind-body interaction. Recognized by her peers as a spokesperson for the field, she translates complex scientific subjects in a highly accessible manner, with a combination of academic credibility, passion for science, and compassion as a physician. Click here to visit Esther’s website.
In the book proposal, my editor and I decided to include a chapter titled “Can Stress Make You Sick?” as well as a chapter called “Can Believing Make You Well?” The plan was to debunk the notion that believing could make you well, because there wasn’t much solid research that proved that believing in anything in particular could help a person heal.
As I was writing the book proposal at my new house on a rainy March afternoon, my next-door neighbors, Tarja and Dean Pappavasiliou, rang the doorbell to introduce themselves, carrying moussaka and all kinds of delicious Greek food. When they asked me if I was a writer. I said, Read the rest of this entry »
Don Jose Luis grew up in a world of magic, a gift of his heritage. His father, Toltec teacher Don Miguel Ruiz, author of The Four Agreements, oversaw his training in the ancient Toltec wisdom of the native people of southern Mexico. This teaching was handed down to Don Miguel by his grandmother, Mother Sarita, a Toltec faith healer, who learned the wisdom from her grandfather, Esiquio, a Toltec “nagual” or shaman. Through his workshops, steeped in Toltec wisdom, Don Jose shows participants how to illuminate their awareness and move toward transformation and authenticity. He also leads five-day Power Journeys to magnificent sacred sites in countries such as Mexico, Guatemala, and Peru. Click here to visit the Ruiz family website.
In June 2001, I drove from Malibu to San Diego for a dentist appointment. On the way back, I started feeling a terrible pain in my eyes when I looked to either side. It even hurt to look in the rearview mirror. When I arrived home, I told my wife my eyes hurt and that I was going to lie down. When I woke up, the pain was still in my eyes and I couldn’t see. I was very scared. I Read the rest of this entry »
