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- The Big Mistake about Mistakes - by Submitted on Jun 24, 2009 from Intent.com AuthorsFreedom is not worth having if it does not include the freedom to make mistakes. ~ Mahatma Gandhi I have a very vivid memory of being in the 4th grade, standing at the blackboard with a long division problem in front of me, feeling completely in the ...
Views: 544 - The Biology of Belief - by Submitted on May 19, 2009 from Intent.com AuthorsMy dog died this morning. He was a small, black, mixed-breed, part Chihuahua, perhaps part miniature pinscher. I adopted him five years ago after someone dropped him off at a pet shop in South Miami Beach. The owners gave him to their parents, who are my friends, and I fell for his hyperactive ...
Views: 1107 - The Bottom Line - by Submitted on Aug 12, 2009 from Intent.com AuthorsMy father passed the following words to me when I was in my early teen years. These words have been, in many ways, the basic guiding principles in my life. I just wanted to share them with you. THE BOTTOM LIINE FACE IT. Nobody owes you a living. What you achieve or fail to achieve in ...
Views: 514 - The Butterfly Effect - How Your Choices Impact Your Tomorrow - by Submitted on Jun 22, 2009 from Intent.com AuthorsThe best way to make your dreams come true is to wake up. -Paul Valery In chaos theory the term Butterfly Effect is used to demonstrate the idea that one butterfly could eventually have a far-reaching ripple effect on subsequent events: For example, the flap of a seagull’s wing in Brazil could ...
Views: 1968 - The Call of the Calling - by Submitted on Jun 25, 2009 from Intent.com AuthorsIn this blog I’ve discussed public issues and also personal ones. Today’s blog is a personal one. I have touched on this topic before, but I am finding I need to discuss it again as I’m curious about other people’s experience with it. Here goes… I have been thinking a lot lately about callings, ...
Views: 685 - The Call on Your Life - by Submitted on May 24, 2009 from Intent.com AuthorsYour life is no accident. You are here for a purpose, some central mission that has the potential to make you extraordinary. Some main aim that - once focused on - breaks all chains that might have previously bound you. Your challenge is to discover that call. (Hint: it generally exists right ...
Views: 757 - The Closure Complex: Thinking in Categories, Eating in Categories - by Submitted on Jun 14, 2009 from Intent.com AuthorsYou’ve heard of the “clean plate club.” Some of us grow up with moralizing parents who instill an eating ethic of wasting no food. But there’s more to this than just cultural programming. The “clean plate” syndrome, at least in part, has to do with how our minds work, with our minds’ reliance on ...
Views: 1003 - The Dark Truth About Our Pain - by Submitted on May 13, 2009 from Intent.com AuthorsFor the last few weeks, I have been on a radio tour for the release of the paperback edition of Why Good People Do Bad Things. In my interviews, I keep hearing the same questions. Why did you write this as your sixth book? Why is this important to understand? Why do we do bad things? Why do we ...
Views: 694 - The Day After Mother's Day: Make Peace if Need Be - by Submitted on May 17, 2009 from Intent.com AuthorsFor some of us, mother’s day was wonderful and beautiful. Hopefully we can give thanks today for the wonderful times we shared yesterday with our families. For others, mother’s day was tearful and sad. My thoughts go out to all those in grief who no longer have mothers who are living in the ...
Views: 925 - The Dilemma of the "Good" Muslim - by Submitted on Jun 10, 2009 from Intent.com AuthorsEven before his inauguration, President Obama signaled a change of attitude toward Islam. He renounced the term "war on terror" and has never even flirted with another right-wing favorite, "clash of civilizations." Since taking office he has addressed the Islamic world with respect -- a key ...
Views: 966 - The Do's and Don'ts of Spring Renewal - by Submitted on Jun 28, 2009 from Intent.com AuthorsIn celebration of this week's theme on spring renewal. DO: Yoga classes at your local community center DON’T: Naked morning jogs DO: Picking up litter and recycling DON’T: Painting over freshly-tagged gang territory DO: Listening to the sweet twitter of birds DON’T: Excess ...
Views: 580 - The Doctors' Prescription: Oz, Weil, Ornish, and Hyman Talk Turkey to Senatorial Leaders - by Submitted on Jul 23, 2009 from Intent.com AuthorsNot every health problem is an emergency. Unless you wait around and do nothing until it becomes one. And that's what we've done ---as individuals and as a nation, now in the throes of a health care system in crisis with ballooning waistlines and ballooning costs. Supplying coverage to the 47 ...
Views: 845 - The Dogma for Success: The Inside Scoop to Live Your Life By - by Submitted on Jun 16, 2009 from Intent.com AuthorsThere are those who work like a dog to make things happen, there are those who watch things happen, and then there are those who wonder what happened. Be the person who makes things happen. Sometimes you have to work like a dog. If you want to be extraordinary, you must do the things that ...
Views: 805 - The Ecology Around You: Finding Nature in Your Neighborhood - by Submitted on Jun 08, 2009 from Intent.com AuthorsBecause both cities and tightly packed suburbs offer wildlife bountiful nooks and crannies in which to hide, it can be difficult to spot the animals that live in our midst. Many thrive among paved streets, sidewalks, buildings, parking lots, and high-rises. There are animals in abundance ...
Views: 594 - The Emotional Stimulus Package Part III: Saying Goodbye to an Old Life - by Submitted on Jul 06, 2009 from Intent.com AuthorsIn part two of this series on preparing for change I gave you a tool for observing your life and beginning to acknowledge that a cycle of life is ending. I instructed you to keep tabs of what interests you now as a contrast to what has become stale, boring, and not life giving. Over the next few ...
Views: 641 - The Energy of The Financial Meltdown - by Submitted on May 28, 2009 from Intent.com AuthorsWe are in a time of financial crisis. People are anxious. People are seeking solutions. People are scared. With all of this activity, tremendous bursts of energy are being expended, some positive but mostly negative. But the energy that we project into the cosmos is not an isolated event. Your ...
Views: 819 - The Evolution of My Peace - by Submitted on Jun 16, 2009 from Intent.com AuthorsHow my quest for racial harmony led me to personal conviction, inner-healing and ultimately peace. I was tired—tired of race being such a factor in our lives. For as long as I could remember, I had looked around me and wondered why people of different races could not get along and yearned for ...
Views: 650 - The Fascinating World of Pranic Healing: What in the world is it? - by Submitted on Sep 06, 2009 from Intent.com AuthorsOn the 4th of June, I had my most amazing experience in Pranic healing. I was treating someone who was recovering from a severe stroke that had left him a quadriplegic for six months, last year. His right side was very weak. In the first session that he received he saw a 50 percent improvement ...
Views: 1660 - The Fear of Appearing Dumb: Intelligence Speaks for Itself - by Submitted on Jun 17, 2009 from Intent.com AuthorsThe universal need to be accepted by others can be a barrier that prevents us from being ourselves around them. When we fear that the people we encounter will perceive us as inept or unintelligent, we frequently try to flaunt our grasp of large words or clever witticisms or our professional ...
Views: 2426 - The Four Not-Good-for-Anyone Effects of Worry - by Submitted on May 27, 2009 from Intent.com AuthorsMany people were taught that to shower the people you love with love, you shower them with worry -- to show them you care. And I do think that many of us will admit to worrying about our loved ones at one time or another. Then there are those who habitually worry about others, and themselves, as ...
Views: 781 - The Four Phases of Confidence - by Submitted on Sep 07, 2009 from Intent.com AuthorsToday I want to talk a little bit about confidence. It’s probably more a yang (masculine) quality than a yin (feminine) one. But I’ll just assume it’s of general interest and address both the men and the women. First of all, what the heck is confidence? It’s what linguists call a ...
Views: 769 - The Fruits of My Labor - by Submitted on Jul 26, 2009 from Intent.com AuthorsMany of us have been taught “do what you love and the money will follow.” But what if we’ve been doing what we love and the money hasn’t found its way to us yet – and isn’t even tagging along at a distance? There are many of us who are blazing forward with our passion, with our vision of how ...
Views: 716 - The Gentle Art of Slowing Down - by Submitted on May 17, 2009 from Intent.com AuthorsToday started in typical Monday style - all sorts of things needing to be done, some of which were rather time-consuming. I found myself wrestling with getting the video interviews onto my website, unsuccessfully. They are on Youtube, on Facebook, but not - as yet - on my website. Clearly this ...
Views: 596 - The Greater Cause: Some Good Reasons for Doing Good - by Submitted on Jul 30, 2009 from Intent.com AuthorsWith all that takes place in our lives, it can sometimes be easy to overlook the fact that we’re part of something greater than ourselves—a collective consciousness, the Universe, a greater cause. Because of our tendency to forget this, we might make decisions in our lives that don’t reflect ...
Views: 1742 - The Greatest Cup of Coffee Ever - by Submitted on May 21, 2009 from Intent.com AuthorsA tragic event took place last week. A man by the name of Jason William Schultz was sitting and waiting at a bus stop in Southern California when he was struck by an elderly driver who lost control of his car. A fireman at the accident site spoke with a witness…a woman was there with Schultz. ...
Views: 756 - The Healing Power of Journaling - by Submitted on Sep 23, 2009 from Intent.com AuthorsSpend a few minutes preparing your body through heart-opening stretching and breathing exercises to center yourself. Then, sitting comfortably, observe the inflow and outflow of your breath for a little while to quiet your mind. With awareness in your heart, ask yourself this important ...
Views: 1338 - The Heart Knows, The Heart Heals - by Submitted on Jul 28, 2009 from Intent.com AuthorsThe heart is your great communicator. It communicates with all the parts of your body, and with your brain. It communicates with the outside environment, picking up signals through its electromagnetic field, especially emotional responses. Your senses—sight, sound, smell, taste and feel—tell ...
Views: 569 - The Heart of Procrastination - by Submitted on Jun 04, 2009 from Intent.com AuthorsWe live in a culture that rewards people for getting more and more done. As companies downsize two jobs merge into one. Children have more scheduled activities, and entrepreneurs experience a constant pressure to be working. I wonder if this focus on productivity has anything to do with the ...
Views: 613 - The Heart of The Matter: Beyond Conventional Wisdom - by Submitted on Jun 10, 2009 from Intent.com AuthorsHave you ever come to the realization that something that was supposed to make you happy, didn’t? Conventional thinking tends to take us away from the essence/heart of things, as well as from our own heart. Yet, in the essence is where the fulfillment for which we yearn is found. For example, ...
Views: 647 - The Human Lessons of Iran - by Submitted on Sep 17, 2009 from Intent.com AuthorsPlenty has been said about Iran, and I can only say that there are many angry blogs offering solutions, and making demands, and calling names. I won’t be doing that. I’ll observe, though, that the US is now in a strange place. We, in the US, backed Saddam Hussein all those years before we ...
Views: 680 - The Importance of Play - by Submitted on Jun 24, 2009 from Intent.com AuthorsWhere an apple a day might keep you out of the doctor's office, doing something fun every 24 hours is a great rule of thumb when difficult times come your way. Reviewing Richard Dowden's new book, Africa: Altered States, Ordinary Miracles, author Pam Houston noted that by the mid 1990's, 31 of ...
Views: 1620 - The Independent Thinker - by Submitted on May 21, 2009 from Intent.com AuthorsI am drawn to Sri Aurobindo because he was an independent thinker and did most of his spiritual work on his own. On my spiritual journey I have been a bit of a loner, always sidestepping teachers who told me what to do or how to think. It is not that I do not want instruction, but I have never ...
Views: 1240 - The Invention of the Toothbrush - by Submitted on Sep 17, 2009 from Intent.com Authors“The first thing I do in the morning is brush my teeth and sharpen my tongue.” ~Dorothy Parker As I recall - the kid loses a tooth and it gets stuffed under a pillow before he or she drifts off to sleep. (Sometimes it’s stashed in a glass of water beside the bed...I’ve been told it’s ...
Views: 2770 - The Joy of Service - by Submitted on Sep 15, 2009 from Intent.com AuthorsI slept and dreamt that life was joy. I awoke and saw that life was service. I acted and behold, service was joy. - Rabindranath Tagore “Service.” The word alone can conjure up a daunting feeling of being responsible for doing something we might not like or want to do. Perhaps, ...
Views: 688 - The Joy of Uncertainty (Lessons from My Dog) - by Submitted on Jun 08, 2009 from Intent.com AuthorsUncertainty is difficult. But there is also a potential for joy in it. After all, the joy of surprise depends on not knowing. Take a lesson from my German Shepherd dog, Sherpa. When we go to the park she wants to play the Stick Game. What’s the Stick Game? First, I find a good stick to ...
Views: 543 - The Joys of Unplugging - by Submitted on Sep 06, 2009 from Intent.com AuthorsWe live in a constantly connected world. Between cell phones, smart phones with email, laptops and wi-fi, we can be available any time, any place. Add in MP3 players, and you complete the electronic cocoon most of us wrap ourselves in. Yet this electronic availability takes us away from the ...
Views: 856 - The Key to Staying Connected to Family and Friends - by Submitted on Jun 09, 2009 from Intent.com AuthorsWhen we’re stressed, women release the hormone oxytocin, according to Dr. Laura Cousin Klein, Assistant Professor of Bio-behavioral Health at Penn State University. This hormone encourages us to “tend and befriend” rather than reacting as men do, by “fight or flight.” It’s simply written in ...
Views: 586 - The Lakers Don't Exist: The Hidden Secret to Happiness - by Submitted on Sep 21, 2009 from Intent.com AuthorsI remember when I was a young pup, in the glory days of Showtime, I used to be a huge fan of the Los Angeles Lakers. You had Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Magic Johnson. You had James Worthy and Byron Scott. You had all these guys who were superstars in their own right, and they were all on the ...
Views: 718 - The Last Turnaround - by Submitted on Jun 04, 2009 from Intent.com AuthorsRecession, recovery, turnaround are notions I have always found hard to understand. Perhaps it is because I decided a long time ago to invest in smiles, hopes and tomorrows! But one cannot remain impervious to the happenings around us. One realises that one is in the midst of a deep crisis and ...
Views: 650 - The Law of Detachment - by Submitted on Jun 15, 2009 from Intent.com AuthorsQuestion: The 6th spiritual Law of Success, Law of detachment seems to be a tough concept for me to grasp. Does Law of Detachment mean you submit your desire to the universe and just trust it to manifest. Or does it mean that what your desire should not define who you are. For example, if ...
Views: 2082 - The Life Force Diet - by Submitted on Jul 26, 2009 from Intent.com AuthorsWant to lose weight, look younger, improve your memory or boost your immune system? The Life Force Diet can help you achieve your intention. Over the next month Michelle Schoffro Cook, author of The Life Force Diet: 3 Weeks to Supercharge Your Health and Stay Slim with Enzyme-Rich Foods, will ...
Views: 874 - The Life Force Diet: Go Bananas with Your Health! - by Submitted on Jun 21, 2009 from Intent.com AuthorsThanks to the low-carb craze, bananas have gotten a bad reputation. I've even had clients swear them off only to devour chocolate bars laden with sugar, preservatives, and artificial flavors. Not a good idea. Bananas are nature's fast food: they're pre-packed and ready to eat at a moment's ...
Views: 534 - The Life Force Diet: The Key to Health & Wellness - by Submitted on Jul 23, 2009 from Intent.com AuthorsDid you know that there is a nutritional factor missing from almost everyone’s diet? No, it’s not protein, water , carbs, fats, vitamins or minerals. The missing factor is enzymes. Yet, virtually every function in your body relies on enzymes to function properly. No wonder so many people are ...
Views: 525 - The Little Boy Lost - by Submitted on Jun 29, 2009 from Intent.com AuthorsLet me to tell you a story:...Once upon a time in a big city a little boy was born. His parents belonged to different faiths and both had their own families that they could not or did not want to leave. They both also had a little boy each from marriages they had not really wanted. They met, ...
Views: 899 - The Love Response--what it is - by Submitted on Jul 29, 2009 from Intent.com AuthorsWhen you live in the Love Response, you live a life filled with more balance, love and joy. Why? When you experience fear, anger, worries, anxiety, physical illness or anything else that is unpleasant, the physiology of your mind and body shifts into negative. What do I mean by ...
Views: 588 - The Magicians in Our Midst: Archetypes and Where We Find Them - by Submitted on Jun 07, 2009 from Intent.com AuthorsThe topic of Archetypes is one that's dear to my heart, as you might expect, since writing The Six Archetypes of Love. I'm aware, though, that many people will respond well to the concept of archetypes but then shrug and say, 'Ah, I'll never make it all the way to Magician level'. So perhaps ...
Views: 636 - The Many Faces of Connie Culp - by Submitted on May 21, 2009 from Intent.com AuthorsSeveral years ago when I was studying abroad in Singapore, I happened to be walking out of the bathroom of a public restaurant when I bumped into an Indian man who had white, irregular blotches on his entire face and body. It all happened so quickly, and my immediate reaction was to close my ...
Views: 980 - The Meaning of Life in America - by Submitted on Aug 10, 2009 from Intent.com AuthorsI recently listened to the video-taped lecture on the American financial situation by economics professor Richard Wolff. In addition to brilliantly describing the causes behind the current economic crisis in America he also makes the point that "success" in the American culture is defined by ...
Views: 621 - The Mirroring World: We Are Like Nature - by Submitted on Jun 09, 2009 from Intent.com AuthorsNature is a mirror, inspiring and teaching us, deepening our sense of belonging in the world. Wherever you look, you can see that our patterns and the patterns of the natural world are the same. You can find this resonance in every form, from molecules to plants and animals and to planets. We ...
Views: 562 - The Most Important Thing for Mental Health - by Submitted on Jun 02, 2009 from Intent.com AuthorsWhen considering the most important elements for mental health, a really basic one is often overlooked. It's not stress reduction, a healthy diet, exercise, healthy relationships, or taking your medications. What is it? When I worked at the state hospital, patients would be brought in by the ...
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