Why am I posting a humorous three-minute video that I stumbled upon on stumbleupon.com? Well, this blog is all about inspiration and spirit, and I am inspired when people use their creative spirit to produce something fantastic that is uniquely their own. Try not to laugh—I dare you!
The woman, umm, strike that, reverse it . . . the man in this video is Darren Foreman, who hails from Brighton, a city on the south coast of England. Foreman is also known as (more…)
Paramahansa Yogananda
I felt so drawn to Paramahansa Yogananda that it felt like I was coming home. And I wondered why we all are drawn to different paths and different teachers. What were the determining factors—our stage of development, our scared contract, karma, style of teaching, similar wavelengths, all of the above? Then I read this passage in Eckhart Tolle‘s magnificent book, The Power of Now.
If you are drawn to an enlightened teacher, it is because there is already enough presence in you to recognize presence in another. There were many people who did not recognize Jesus or the Buddha, as there are and always have been many people who are (more…)
Wow. May we all be so young of heart, joyous of spirit, and fleet of feet—and not wait until we’re 87 to do so. Excuse me, I’m (more…)
The law of attraction states that whatever you turn your attention to grows. Why? Where attention goes, energy flows. And it is a fundamental law of physics that like energy attracts like energy. Therefore, whatever you think about, you get more of.
The state of your reality, then, is a reflection of your state of mind, which is determined by the quality of your thoughts.
The urgency implicit in this realization cannot be overstated. If you do not control your thoughts, they will control you.
You may believe that the world is menacing and chaotic, that no one can be trusted, that life is an endless series of bad breaks and hard knocks. After all, rare is the person who has not been bullied at school, fired from a job, or felt rejected and even humiliated by a member of the opposite sex.
Or, you may trust that the universe is benevolent and orderly, that most people are compassionate and good-hearted, that every day offers countless opportunities to celebrate life and extend kindness to others.
Each of these outlooks will attract the people, situations, and events that reinforce the worldview of the person doing the attracting. (more…)
When life seems as arbitrary as a coin flip, remember that even if you cannot make heads or tails out of what is in front of you, your job is to search for the golden nugget of divine wisdom that always lies just beneath the details.
How we feel about a challenge depends completely on how we choose to look at it. We can call upon the best in us, or let it get the best of us.
Motivational pioneer Dale Carnegie observed that when we have identified and accepted the worst that can happen in a given situation, we have nothing more to lose, which automatically means that we have everything to gain.
It is always in our power to reframe a hardship so that we instantly transition from fearing the worst to expecting the best. (more…)
As long as I was making a video for my book, Sixty Seconds: One Moment Changes Everything, I thought I’d also make a video for One Minute U, a site I subscribe to and get daily e-mails from.
Here is info about the site:
One Minute U lets you learn anything fast with FREE one minute educational, how-to video clips. We offer thousands of free educational, DIY videos about every (more…)
Sharing the joy in your heart through kindness to others is the equivalent of sending a thank you card to God.
You may never know how your simple acts of kindness—a friendly smile and greeting, carrying someone’s groceries, offering a few quarters to an exasperated driver at a parking meter—touches others’ hearts or restores their faith in humanity.
It is not the act of kindness itself that touches people, it is the caring, the love, the compassion that accompanies it.
Your kind gestures may inspire others to act in kind, and perhaps set off chain reactions of good will that karmically circle back to you.
Ultimately, we are all messengers. Let kindness be (more…)
Dr. Ibrahim Jaffe
I conducted this interview with Dr. Ibrahim Jaffe shortly after attending his 1998 weekend workshop, which was truly life-changing. Ibrahim’s love and wisdom resonated deeply within me and I have learned much from him, including the Awareness Release Technique, a powerful method to achieve deep and lasting healing.
We have kept in touch over the years and, in fact, I interviewed him for my book, Sixty Seconds: One Moment Changes Everything. In that story, he recounts how he redirected his healing path after witnessing a deathbed ritual involving three rabbis and a cage filled with doves.
DIVINE MARRIAGE
Ibrahim Jaffe, M.D., a licensed medical doctor, clairvoyant, healer and spiritual teacher, co-founded what is now the University of Spiritual Healing & Sufism in 1988. . In this interview, Dr. Jaffe explains how Divine Marriage can transform an ordinary relationship into a divine vessel of God realization.
What exactly is a Divine Marriage?
A Divine Marriage has been blessed by God and is a vehicle for the complete merging, spiritual evolvement and ascension of both partners. It is a deep bonding of love and commitment that is the foundation for peace which will extend to our families, others and to the world at large. (more…)
This lighthearted one-minute video is a good reminder to avoid procrastination at all costs. I remember laughing years ago when I first heard the aphorism, Eat a live frog the first thing in the morning, and nothing worse can happen to you the rest of the day.
Brian Tracy
In the summer when I turned seven, I came out of Capitol Drug in White Bear Lake with some packs of baseball cards. Standing on the sidewalk, I opened my treasures and . . . YES! . . . there was a card of Minnesota Twins first baseman Don Mincher! I couldn’t wait to show my dad!
When I was around four, my mom had prepped me for my dad’s arrival home from work on a day when the Twins played an afternoon game. My dad was a huge baseball fan, so when he came through the door at dinner time, I proudly announced “Don Minser hit a home wun and da Twins win!” My dad couldn’t have been prouder!
My dad and I shared a love of baseball. I used to sit on his lap with my baseball cards, cover up the names and have him guess who they were. We also used to trade initials. “Give me one!” I’d say, and he’d think for a moment, then say, “J.G.” “Jim Grant!” I guessed. If that wasn’t it, I’d go to Junior Gilliam, Jim Gentile, Julio Gotay or Jerry Grote. It was a great game for car rides. I remember getting him twice in a row with “J.C.”—Jim Campbell. I don’t know if he was humoring me or if he was paying more attention to his driving, but it’s a great memory that has stayed with me all these years.
My mom was also very loving and supportive of my baseball mania. I remember her surprising me with a box of baseball cards on a family trip when I was seven (I still remember getting Steve Barber, a pitcher for the Orioles). And it was her idea to take me out of school whenever a Twins player was featured at an autograph session at a local bank (see photos below). I couldn’t have asked for two better parents.
When I was in grade school, Dad went out in the back yard with a shovel, (more…)
My dad, Kent Bolsta
My dad, Kent Bolsta, died on May 1, 2005, after a lengthy decline from Alzheimer’s. Yet, he cheerfully welcomed all the guests at his own memorial service.
How? Nearly twenty years earlier, he had made a brief cassette tape which he labeled TO BE PLAYED AT MY FUNERAL. No one in my family had listened to it until after he passed away. Click on the audio player below to hear it:
Cracking jokes about his own death was just my dad’s style. One longtime friend told my mother after the service that she had come prepared to cry and be sad, but that she was leaving with joy in her heart and a smile on her face. My dad would have been pleased. That’s the kind of service he was after—a celebration of his life, not a mournful remembrance.
Oh, by the way, my dad also performed at his own funeral. We popped in (more…)
Joshua Bell
It’s morning rush hour. You don’t even notice the casually dressed young man holding a violin . . . until he begins to play. Would you notice him then? What if the nondescript fiddler was one of the finest classical musicians in the world, playing some of the most elegant music ever written on one of the most valuable violins ever made?
That’s the question posed by Gene Weingarten in his Pulitzer Prize-winning story in The Washington Post. The fiddler was none other than virtuoso violinist Joshua Bell, whom I wrote about in an earlier post. Here is Gene’s fascinating, expertly written story.
PEARLS BEFORE BREAKFAST
Can one of the nation’s great musicians cut through the fog of a D.C. rush hour? Let’s find out.
By Gene Weingarten
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, April 8, 2007; Page W10
HE EMERGED FROM THE METRO AT THE L’ENFANT PLAZA STATION AND POSITIONED HIMSELF AGAINST A WALL BESIDE A TRASH BASKET. By most measures, he was nondescript: a youngish white man in jeans, a long-sleeved T-shirt and a Washington Nationals baseball cap. From a small case, he removed a violin. Placing the open case at his feet, he shrewdly threw in a few dollars and pocket change as seed money, swiveled it to face pedestrian traffic, and began to play. (more…)
It is time to unleash the Sixty Seconds video on an unsuspecting world! I had flamed (more…)
I’ve always been a huge Billy Joel fan and have always wondered why this song never became as popular as I think it should have been. Yes, it went to #9 on the charts but it seems to be an afterthought in a discussion of Billy Joel’s greatest songs.
You’re Only Human (Second Wind) was written in 1985 and performed by Joel for the express purpose of preventing teenage suicide. I love the music and the message is a powerful one. I hope that it helped people in despair who were thinking of ending it all. According to Wikipedia: (more…)
When I first heard about elephants painting, I figured it had to be a hoax. But as soon as I started watching this video, my skepticism gave way to astonishment. It’s amazing and humbling how little we know about all of God’s creatures.
Here is insightful commentary that accompanies the video on YouTube:
Can your elephant paint? Watch this elephant, rescued from abusive treatment in Burma, now paint a beautiful image of an elephant. You’ll be amazed at how her talent unfolds as she carefully completes each stroke. Her mahout talks to her throughout the process as his gentle touch gives her confidence. She focuses on her work and seems to enjoy the approval of the audience and, of course, the sugar cane and banana treats. All of her training has been reward-based. (more…)
This wonderful little fifteen-minute film was released by Spiritual Cinema Circle to give people a sample of the kinds of films it has to offer. Spiritual Cinema Circle was founded by Stephen Simon, the movie producer behind Somewhere In Time with Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour and What Dreams May Come with Robin Williams.
Stephen Simon
When I interviewed Stephen for my book, Sixty Seconds: One Moment Changes Everything, he told me about a profoundly moving experience he had after filming What Dreams May Come. Here is an excerpt from that story:
Chuck showed the film to Amanda and some of her friends. Chuck said to me, “Stephen, I have to be honest with you. I didn’t watch the film, and I may never have the courage to watch the film. But I watched Amanda watch the film. And when it got to the painted-world sequence, I saw all the fear disappear from my daughter’s eyes. She became completely peaceful. The next day, she asked me to take her out to a park. She wanted to see the fall colors one more time. And the day after that, she died very peacefully.”
And here is information about Spiritual Cinema Circle from its website: (more…)
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Triumph of the Spirit 