Authentic Living

You know there are a lot of people out there talking about enlightenment, what it means and how to get it. The biggest hype about it is that if you are enlightened you are living in a constant state of bliss. But can most people really attain that? A better question is: Is that what enlightenment is really all about? Well our guest today is going to answer that question. He is Robert Forman, PhD, author of the book Enlightenment Ain’t What It’s Cracked Up To Be: A Journey of Discovery, Snow and Jazz in the Soul, in which he exposes his own journey to enlightenment in some very enlightening ways. The book is so candid as to become an opening in the psyche of the reader to allow room for the affirmation of one’s own journey, while simultaneously busting some of the mythology about enlightenment. If you are on your own journey to enlightenment, you are not going to want to miss this show.

For the first time in the history of the world, we are beginning to explore intimacy as the essential ingredient to healthy, whole relationships. But intimacy is not really all about sex. It’s about “dancing core to core”—as Judith Blackstone, PhD puts it in her lovely book The Intimate Life: Awakening to the Spiritual Essence in Yourself and Others. Judith is an innovative, and internationally recognized teacher of nonduality. She is the developer of the Realization Process, a method of embodied nondual awakening, and a practicing psychotherapist. This book, like her others, The Empathic Ground, The Enlightenment Process and The Subtle Self, opens its readers to a deeper more true essential beingness. So, our show this week is going to be about how to awaken to that beingness both alone and in relationship. Want to know how? Don’t miss this show.

You know for centuries now we’ve thought of ourselves as basically evil at the core, striving ever to be good enough to get the rewards that life gives to those who deserve them. It’s only been within the past 20 or 30 years that we’ve begun to even consider the concept that we are not innately evil—that maybe the concept of original sin doesn’t really fly. But then it also doesn’t fly that we are innately good either—for we are not even sure what the term good means. In fact, as we have grown into the practice of meditation and expanding consciousness, as we get closer and closer to the core of our own experience we discover neither goodness nor badness—rather something far more mysterious. We discover the existing one, the I AM that I AM, the ipseity, the divine self. So, while the law of attraction as we currently understand it has us seeking fulfillment by attracting our dreams, the ipseity continues to call us home. Don’t miss this show.

We welcome Dr. E back again to the Authentic Living show this week for the fourth time, this time to talk about her latest book, “Untie the Strong Woman.” For many years, Dr. E has been sending a message to the world that the feminine aspect of humanity is powerful, beautiful and essential. The depth of her understanding of the feminine aspect of human (both male and female ) consciousness has facilitated an increased global awareness of the essentiality of the conscious expression of this power. And that is exactly what we’ll be talking about on this show. Author of the bestselling “Women Who Run With the Wolves” Dr. Estés has also been conducting online events at Soundstrue.com on specific topics relevant The Dangerous Old Woman, topics on which previous interviews have here on Authentic Living have been conducted. This week we are going to learn how to untie the feminine. Don’t miss it.

Today we are so fortunate to be talking to the Director of blockbuster comedies such as Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, Liar Liar, The Nutty Professor, Bruce Almighty, Patch Adams, Accepted , and I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry, and the winner of four people’s choice awards, and one Golden Globe nomination. But, you might ask, why would Authentic Living be interested in comedies? Because due to his own personal life crisis, Tom Shadyac’s latest project is a documentary called I AM, in which he travels the world to ask some of the world’s most profound thinkers, these two questions: What is wrong with the world and what can we do about it? This film won two awards at its premiere at the Mountain Film Festival in Telluride, CO, the Audience Choice Award and the Student Choice Award. And it has the potential of advancing the evolution of global consciousness exponentially. So, you are not going to want to miss this discussion about it. Tune in.

Many—oh so many—of us are caught up in magical thinking without knowing it. We are magically thinking that we’ll be able to make the abusive husband stop abusing by being a good wife. We are magically thinking that overprotecting our children will help them to arrive at adulthood knowing how to manage life. We are magically thinking that the hounds at the financial doors will just go away if we keep running our vision boards. Collectively we magically thought when we agreed to lower the standards for mortgages and remove the financial rules for Wall Street financiers. And quite often we use magical thinking as a very poor substitute for spiritual thinking. But how do we know? Aren’t we taught to believe that anything is possible? Aren’t we taught to believe that we can move mountains with a mustard seed of faith (or vision boarding and affirming)? This show is going to clarify the difference. Don’t miss it.

The world was moved a few years back when Cherie Carter-Scott published her bestselling book, If Life is a Game, These are the Rules. It is a simple, but profound rendition of what we can expect on the journey. Not knowing the simplified rendition of why we are here, and what we can expect can keep us running into the walls we find everywhere in our consciousness. But Carter-Scott’s book provides us with a template for living that will not soon be forgotten once it is absorbed. And we are going to be talking with her today about these rules for the game of life. So, if you are wondering what the heck is going on—tune in. You are not going to want to miss this exciting and powerful show.

Dr. Bernie Siegel, or Bernie—as he is affectionately called—is back to the Authentic Living show for the second time today to talk to us about his latest book, filled with beautiful true stories about healing and love. Once upon at time, Bernie thought that a miracle was something for which there is no explanation. Now he believes that everything is a miracle. In his more than thirty years of practice, speaking and teaching, he has built up an impressive collection of riveting, warm and belief expanding stories—some of which are included in his latest book, “A Book of Miracles: Inspiring True Stores of Healing, Gratitude, and Love.” His first bestselling book, Love, Medicine and Miracles, led to several other self-help books on healing by learning to live authentically. More recently he’s written a children’s book, Smudge Bunny, a parenting book, Love, Magic and Mud Pies, and a book for anyone struggling with loss, Buddy’s Candle. Don’t miss this beautiful show.

This year, we’ve heard a lot about the bullying of gays and lesbians in schools all over the country. What we don’t hear so much about is the bullying of members of the GLBT population in churches and in Christian communities all across the nation. In fact, both overt and covert bullying is most often done by people who want to exclude members of the GLBT population based on the erroneous notion that God hates them, or wishes them punished or excluded. Well, today, we are going to be talking to United Church of Christ minister, Candace Chellew-Hodge, author of “Bulletproof Faith: A Spiritual Survival Guide for Gay and Lesbian Christians.” While far too many still think that the words “Christian” and “Gay” and “Lesbian” are oxymorons, Chellew-Hodge will tell GLBT Christians how to reclaim the authentic self and survive the onslaught of abuse coming from their own communities. If you fall on either side of this issue, you are not going want to miss this show.

While there is still much of mystery left in our world, there are some answers we can get to several of life’s most vital questions. And some of the most urgent questions of today are being asked by those who are trying diligently to make the law of attraction work for them, but are unable to do so. These questions seem to hold the balance of life itself within them. Well today, some of the previous guests of this show, profound spiritual leaders, who have reviewed the book, “The Law Of Attraction: The Soul’s Answer To Why It Isn’t Working And How It Can,” are going to be asking specific questions about the law of attraction, about a revision in the law of attraction and about the nature of the divine and humanity. These are YOUR deepest questions. And today, you are going to get your answers. So, do NOT miss this show. It might just change your entire approach to the law of attraction, and, indeed, to life itself.

Rosanne Cash comes to the Authentic Living show this week to discuss her latest book, Composed: A Memoir, the powerful, poetic and poignant story of her own inner journey, which touches us at a deep essential and spiritual core. Rosanne is one of America’s preeminent singers and song writers with fourteen albums and eleven # 1 singles to her credit. Her albums, which reach people from across the various music genres, include: Right or Wrong, Seven Year Ache, Somewhere in the Stars, Rhythm and Romance, King's Record Shop, Interiors, The Wheel, 10 Song Demo, Rules of Travel, Black Cadillac, The List and The Essential Rosanne Cash. First known as the daughter of Johnny Cash, she moved on to find and live into her own genuine perspective, talent and personality, as she created song after song that reflected on the deeper meaning of life. She is also the author of two other books, as well as several essays and short stories published in major national magazines. You don’t want to miss it!

It works just like gravity. The only way to get away from gravity is to go live in outer space, or find yourself an anti-gravity chamber—which, by the way, is being held down by gravity. But once you step out of that chamber, and once you come back down to earth, you are going to become a part of the law of gravity again. And the law of gravity works, even when things are working against it. It just includes itself into the ultimate equation and becomes an integral part of the process. And that is exactly how the law of love works. No matter what you’ve seen, how you’ve been hurt, or what you fear, the law of love is simply including itself into the equation and becoming an integral part of the alchemical process of becoming fully aware of who you are. So, even though we live in the world of duality, our antigravity chamber, that very chamber is being held down by love. Further, everything, absolutely everything ultimately falls down into love. Want to know more? Don’t miss this show.

Our current understanding of the law of attraction, as it has been set forth for us, is that what we need to be doing to fulfill our lives is thinking positive, imagining ourselves in the place of our dreams, perhaps creating a vision board or two and not allowing ourselves to think or feel anything negative. In this way, we will, by the power of our positive thinking, magnetize those things, places, people, financial means, and events which are certain to fulfill us. But what do we mean by positive and negative? What is a positive thought? What is a positive feeling? What is a negative thought or feeling? What if our definition of positive isn’t really positive at all? And is it possible that through our decision to square off against so-called “negativity” that we are taking away a huge portion of our power? Tune in to find out.

We’ve been told, by those who tell, that the Law of Attraction, as we currently understand it, can be found in the Sacred Texts of the various world religions. Well, this show is going to look at those texts to see what they really say. What we will find there is likely to surprise you, for they actually do tell us about a law of attraction, but not the one we’ve come to understand at all. If the sacred texts give us any wisdom, it will not be found in assumption and presupposition that tries to prove itself after the fact. Nor will it be found in taking words out of context or literalizing. Rather it will be found in the actual meaning of the words. So, let’s check this out together and see what we find.

So, here’s the question: How do you do it? As I talk to more and more people about the newer and truer version of the law of attraction, this is the question I get asked. That is, after all the questions like: “How can I get a million dollars in the next year,” and “How can I attract my soulmate?” Those questions are based on the old understanding of the law of attraction, which tells us that all we need to do to attract from the external world all that fulfills internally, is to think positive, do a vision board, and do the work of removing blocks from the unconscious—and then our dreams will come true. That old understanding has us further splitting ourselves in half. But the new understanding, the true understanding unites us with divine Self. So, now that we know that, how do we get into the flow. This show will answer that question. Don’t miss it.

Born in the South during the 1940s, an African-American girl with white skin, Pat Holland Conner was destined to live with secrets, shame and intolerance from her family as well as both the black and white communities. She grew up feeling unworthy and desperate to belong until, when she reached the bottom of the barrel of this terrible elixir, she courageously took a brand new path toward personal love and acceptance. Her book Doorways to Significance: Finding Peace, Power & Passion” tells that story. Pat is a writer, family therapist, substance abuse counselor and owner of Peaceful Path Consulting. She teaches self-esteem classes and has worked as a counselor, trainer and educator in the USA, Asia and the Middle East. Approval, it turns out, is one of the most highly sought after addictive drugs on the planet. If you are an approval addict, or know someone who is—tune into this show. You’ll be glad you did.

Years ago, we heard about something which has now come to be known as the law of attraction—which seemed to be the answer to all of our questions and prayers about how to live an abundant life. Many set right out to attract large sums of money. And a few years later, we all found ourselves in a financial crisis that took the jobs of many, and reduced the income and increased the expenses of many others. While there can be no correlation made between these two events, there are the many, who have spent years practicing the tenets of the law of attraction, and who are now left wondering what the heck is going on. This show will offer you some answers about money, about abundance and about the law of attraction. If you are worried about money—you are not going to want to miss this show.

Michael Mirdad is back to the Authentic Living show for the third time, to talk to us about his latest book, Healing the Heart and Soul: A five-step, Soul-level Healing Process for Transforming Your Life. Bestselling author of The Seven Initiations of the Spiritual Path, Sacred Sexuality: A Manual for Living Bliss, and You’re Not going Crazy, You’re Just Waking Up! Michael is also a world-renowned spiritual teacher, healer and counselor, who has facilitated thousands of classes, lectures, and workshops throughout the world on mastery, spirituality, relationships and healing. He is suitably named the “teacher’s teacher” and the “healer’s healer,” due to his ability to share the deepest teachings in a clear, applicable manner. From Michael, you can expect to learn all about how to move from dark nights of the soul to a new life. Don’t miss this powerful show!

As we’ve tried to implement the law of attraction and attract and manifest all of our dreams, we’ve run into some road blocks that have forced us to question ourselves. Many are advising that we look to the shadow—or the unconscious—to tell us how we are sabotaging ourselves. But the shadow holds far more within it than the darkness about which we typically hear. In fact, for most of us, the shadow also holds within it, the deepest essence of our truest nature. It is this nature toward which the law of attraction is actually driving us. Tune into this show to learn how the law of attraction really works in your life.

We all remember Dee Wallace, playing the mother role, in that wonderfully moving and uplifting movie, ET. Well, she’s had an amazing career as actress, playing in other movies, including Cujo, The Howling, Ten, The Frighteners and Critters, staring in four TV series and over 400 commercials. She’s one of Hollywood’s most sought after TV guest stars. And from there, she became a healer and spiritual leader. How did that happen? Her latest book, Bright Light, tells us all about that unorthodox path from actor to spiritual leader while inspiring us all to passionately follow our own heart and creative wisdom to wherever the bright light of the inner self takes us. Through her acting endeavors and the coaching she received she was able to tap into that intuitive river that some call the zone, and simultaneously let go of emotions and issues from her own past to connect with her inner light. This show will be all about how you can do that too.