Life on Purpose returns with Episode #88, the third of several informal chats in a series I’m calling Seeing The Light In Uncertain Times.
My guest for this episode is spiritual teacher, entrepreneur, author, and coach Eric Klein of Wisdom Heart and Dharma Consulting, who returns to the show for the fourth time in the past decade.
Taped in April 2020 as people around the world were dealing with the ramifications and massive uncertainty with the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, Eric joined me for a wisdom-filled conversation on facing our fears and living free in uncertain times.
Life on Purpose returns with Episode #87, the second of several informal chats in a new series I’m calling Seeing The Light In Uncertain Times.
My guest for this episode is entrepreneur, speaker, and eternal optimist Elizabeth Shaw, author of The Optimist’s Manifestoand CEO of Davine.
Taped in March 2020 as people around the world were dealing with the ramifications and massive uncertainty with the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, Elizabeth joined me for a great conversation on Seeing The Light In Uncertain Times.
We discussed maintaining or cultivating optimism in challenging situations; optimism as a superpower; the importance of honoring where we’re at right now; being open to possibility; obstacles as opportunities; building your uncertainty muscle; and our own beliefs and faith.
About Elizabeth:
Elizabeth Shaw is an eternal optimist, entrepreneur, and speaker. She founded Davine Inc., a strategic consulting firm dedicated to using individual and organizational experiences, events, and engagement to build a world of optimism.
Elizabeth inspires everyone around her to believe in the best for themselves, in each other, and in the unlimited possibilities of the world. She divides her time between Boston and California, but also considers Bologna, Italy and Paris home.
Elizabeth believes that life is best lived with your head in the clouds and your feet on the ground. Optimism is her superpower.
For Life on Purpose Episode #82, my guest is author, speaker, and workshop leader Scott Stabile. He joined me for a fantastic conversation on his new book, Big Love: The Power of Living with a Wide-Open Heart, which answers the question, "What happens when you fully commit yourself to love?"
Endless good, he insists who found that out by overcoming plenty of bad. His parents were murdered when he was fourteen. Nine years later, his brother died of a heroin overdose. Soon after that, Scott joined a cult that dominated his life for thirteen years before he summoned the courage to walk away.
In Big Love, his insightful and refreshingly honest collection of personal essays, Scott relates these profound experiences as well as everyday struggles and triumphs in ways that are universally applicable, uplifting, and laugh-out-loud funny. Whether silencing shame, rebounding after failure, or moving forward despite fears, Scott shares hard-won insights that consistently return readers to love, both of themselves and others.
"I’d like this book to remind you that you are not alone, not by a long shot. We are all imperfect; we all have busy, fearful minds; and we all struggle. Every single one of us, every single day. I’d like the book to emphasize that you are as worthy of love as anyone who has ever lived, and that nothing you do could ever make you any less worthy. Or more worthy, for that matter."
About Scott:
About fifteen years ago, a friend asked me what I wanted to do with my life. I told him I wanted to spread as much love as possible. My answer’s still the same.
I know life isn't always a party. It's often hard, sometimes brutal. My parents were shot to death when I was fourteen. My brother OD'd on heroin nine years later. I grew up around a lot of addiction, dysfunction and tragedy. And with too much shame over the fact that I was gay. I hid my pain, and I hid my truth. Not anymore.
We all have our stories. We all have our pain. I've come to believe the only way to have a chance at healing our wounds is to be honest about them. Brave and willing enough to face them. The healing part may be out of our hands, but the brave and honest part is certainly within our power. And it changes everything.
For me, love supports it all. ALL OF IT. Love is the base note for everything good—compassion, forgiveness, kindness, authenticity—and choices made from love can only serve ourselves and our world positively. Love's got the power.
I've been fortunate enough to publish some books and write a movie and be a part of a supportive and wonderful social media community also committed to looking at their lives honestly and through the all-forgiving lens of love.
I've finally started doing what I want to be doing with my life—as I told my friend, spreading as much love as possible. Any which way I can do it.
I hope you'll join me.
To learn more about Scott and his work, visit: http://www.scottstabile.com/.
For Life on Purpose Episode #80, my guest is Suzanne Scurlock-Durana, one of the world’s leading authorities on conscious awareness and its transformational impact on the healing process. For over 30 years, she has been empowering people to experience joy in each moment without burning out. The practical tools and skills she teaches have helped people all over the world improve every aspect of their lives, from their health and well-being to their relationships, their careers, their creativity, even the growth of their businesses.
Suzanne joined me for an excellent conversation on her latest book Reclaiming Your Body: Healing from Trauma and Awakening to Your Body’s Wisdom, in which she provides the tools and guidance necessary to reconnect with our body’s inner guidance system of sensation, imagery, and inner knowing.
“While the English language frequently refers to what our bodies know — 'gut feelings,' hearts 'reaching out' to others, etc. — many of us have learned to ignore, deny, or even mistrust our body’s inherent wisdom. Even worse, a lot of people don’t like their bodies very much at all. As a result, we often cut ourselves off from one of our greatest allies."
About: Suzanne Scurlock-Durana is the author of Reclaiming Your Body: Healing From Trauma and Awakening to Your Body’s Wisdom and Full Body Presence: Learning to Listen to Your Body’s Wisdom.
As one of the world’s leading authorities on conscious awareness and its transformational impact on the healing process, she has been empowering people for over 30 years to experience joy in each moment without burning out. The practical tools and skills she teaches have helped people all over the world improve every aspect of their lives, from their health and well-being to their relationships, their careers, their creativity, even the growth of their businesses.
After decades perfecting her methods, Suzanne created the comprehensive Healing From the Core training curriculum in 1994. Today it includes a robust selection of international workshops, webinars, speaking engagements and audio programs. You can visit her online at http://www.healingfromthecore.com.
To learn more about Suzanne's work, visit: http://healingfromthecore.com/.
For Life on Purpose Episode #79, my guest is author and women’s leadership expert Tara Mohr, who gives women (and the men in her audience/community) the practical skills to voice and implement the changes they want to see—in themselves and in the world.
Tara joined me for a great conversation on her new book Playing Big: Practical Wisdom for Women Who Want to Speak Up, Create, and Lead, which was named a best book of the year by Apple’s iBooks. It provides real, practical tools to help women quiet self-doubt, identify their callings, “unhook” from praise and criticism, unlearn counterproductive "good girl" habits, and begin taking bold action.
“How did Playing Big come to be? I felt like all around me, I saw women playing small. Brilliant women with fabulous ideas, provocative questions, visions for how the world could be different and better. But those ideas and visions and questions weren't being voiced. And I was very attuned to that because I was struggling with that myself.
I sent out a survey and asked my readers and asked them, 'What's the biggest challenge in your life?' and I listed a bunch of the challenges that we typically think loom so large in women's lives. But because of what I'd seen again and again, I added one more challenge to the list, 'I'm playing small.' When the survey responses came back, 'I'm playing small' was what the most women deemed the biggest challenge in their lives."
About: Tara Mohr is an expert on women’s leadership and well-being. She helps women play bigger in sharing their voices and bringing forward their ideas in work and in life.
Tara is the author of Playing Big: Practical Wisdom for Women Who Want to Speak Up, Create, and Lead, named a best book of the year by Apple’s iBooks and now in paperback. In the book, she shares her pioneering model for making the journey from playing small–being held back by fear and self-doubt–to playing big, taking bold action to pursue what you see as your callings.
Tara is the creator of the Playing Big leadership program for women, which now has more than 1,500 graduates from around the world, and creator of the global Playing Big Facilitators Training for coaches, therapists, leadership development professionals and other practitioners supporting women in their personal and professional growth.
A Coaches Training Institute-certified coach with an MBA from Stanford University and an undergraduate degree in English literature from Yale, Tara takes a unique approach that blends inner work and practical skills training.
Her work has been featured on national media from the New York Times to Today Show to Harvard Business Review, and has captivated women from all walks of life.
To learn more about Tara's work, visit: http://www.taramohr.com/.
For Life on Purpose Episode #78, my guest is spiritual teacher, entrepreneur, author, and coach Eric Klein, who for the past three decades has been a leading voice in the movement to bring greater spirit, mindfulness, and meaning to the workplace through his writing, training, and speaking via his company Dharma Consulting.
Eric joined me for a very timely conversation on his new course Sacred Sanity for Crazy Times: Wisdom from the Bhagavad Gita, based on the teachings of one of the world’s most precious texts of spiritual wisdom, which Eric calls a guidebook for out times. We attempt to answer the question: "How can you stay connected to your deepest purpose and wisdom – even in difficult and uncertain times?"
We also discussed the concept of dharma; the difference between knowledge and wisdom; how to re-engage with the lantern of illumination; the benefits of a meditation; practice vs. non-attachment; and the three levels of awakening to our deeper purpose.
“The challenges of stress, struggle, and spiritual confusion aren’t new. People have been wrestling with how to live an awakened life for millenia. One of the clearest, deepest, and most practical answers to this profoundly human question is a yogic text that is over 2,500 years old. It’s called the Bhagavad Gita."
About: Eric Klein & Devi Bliss are ordained lineage holders in the Kriya Yoga lineage. As a couple, they’ve been practicing and teaching this path for over 40 years, integrating the deepest spiritual principles into a full life of marriage, children, entrepreneurship, and creativity.
Along with being a spiritual teacher, for the past three decades, Eric has been a leading voice in the movement to bring greater spirit, mindfulness, and meaning to the workplace through his writing, training, and speaking via his company Dharma Consulting.
He’s worked with over 30,000 leaders from a wide variety of settings: Fortune 500 companies, healthcare, governmental and non-profit organizations as well as mid-size companies.
Eric is the author of the bestselling book Awakening Corporate Soul: Four Paths to Unleash the Power of People at Work (over 200,000 copies sold) and To Do or Not To Do: How Successful Leaders Make Better Decisions based on research and experiences with more than 200 companies.
His book You are the Leader You’ve Been Waiting For won a 2008 Nautilus Award as a world changing book in the conscious leadership/business category.
To learn more about Eric's work and community, visit: http://wisdomheart.com/.
For Life on Purpose Episode #76, my guest is Dr. Eric Maisel, a retired family therapist, active life coach, and the author of more than fifty books.
Eric was one of my first guests on Life on Purpose and returns to the show for a wide-ranging conversation on meaning, life purpose, and the epidemic of phantom "mental disorders" in children. And we focus on his new book, Your Difficult Family: 8 Skills for Thriving in Any Family Situation, in which he shows how to stay sane when family isn’t, providing practical strategies that can be implemented immediately.
This empowering book is a “field guide” to common types of dysfunctional families, and a big helping of real life success stories that are dinner table tested and approved. Readers will learn to maintain inner peace in the midst of family chaos and maybe even create a better life for their whole family.
“There is no pill that can make family life easy. There is no pill that can spare you pain if one of your parents is alcoholic, one of your children is troubled, or your mate is cheating on you. M. Scott Peck begins The Road Less Traveled with a simple, eloquent announcement: “Life is difficult.” Tolstoy famously begins Anna Karenina in an equally eloquent way: “All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.”"
About: Eric Maisel was born in the Bronx, New York, where he lived until the age of 5. He grew up in Brooklyn, attended Stuyvesant High School in Manhattan, and briefly attended Brooklyn College. After serving in the Army from 1965 – 1968 he attended Oregon State University and the University of Oregon, where he received a B.S. in philosophy.
Dr. Maisel subsequently lived in Boston, New York and San Francisco and traveled extensively in Europe, spending time in London, Dublin and Budapest. He earned a master’s degree in creative writing from San Francisco State University while ghostwriting mysteries and nonfiction and self-publishing fiction. In the ’80s he returned to school and earned a second bachelor’s degree in psychology, a second master’s degree in counseling, and a doctorate in counseling psychology.
After completing training, Dr. Maisel became a California licensed family therapist and worked exclusively with creative and performing artists. In time he moved from therapy and the medical model to coaching, where he founded the profession of creativity coaching.
Dr. Maisel has a son, David Maisel, by his first marriage, and two daughters, Natalya Maisel and Kira Maisel, with his wife Ann Mathesius Maisel. In 2012 Eric and Ann celebrated 35 years together. They live in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Dr. Maisel served as adjunct faculty at St. Mary’s College (Moraga, California) for ten years and created and wrote Callboard Magazine’s Staying Sane in the Theater column. He has presented lectures and workshops for the American Psychological Association, the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists, the Paris Writers Workshop, the North Carolina School of the Arts, the Savannah College of Arts and Crafts, the U. C. Berkeley Counseling Center, and many other venues.
Dr. Maisel has been a guest on, quoted in, or interviewed by Redbook, Glamour, Cosmo Teen, Men’s Health, Body and Soul, KRON television news, Martha Stewart Living, Self, Marin Magazine, The San Francisco Chronicle, The New York Daily News, The Arizona Republic, Common Boundary, and has provided hundreds of radio, television, and print interviews.
Dr. Maisel has been the keynote speaker at the Jack London Writer’s Conference, Pikes Peak Writer’s Conference, William Saroyan Writer’s Conference, Indiana Arts’ Administrators Conference, Mendocino Writer’s Conference, Santa Fe Conference on Creative Tourism, Arizona State University Arts & Letters Convocation, and many other conferences.
He presents workshops at the Omega Institute, the Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health, the Esalen Institute, The Hollyhock Centre (in Canada), the Open Center, and Rowe; and at locations worldwide, including in San Francisco, New York, London, Paris, Antwerp, Prague, and Berlin.
Dr. Maisel writes the Rethinking Mental Health blog for Psychology Today online, a monthly print column for Professional Artist Magazine, and occasional pieces for the Huffington Post. He hosted a hundred episodes of The Joy of Living Creatively and Your Purpose-Centered Life with the Personal Life Media Network and provides core trainings for the Creativity Coaching Association.
To learn more about Dr. Maisel's work, visit: http://ericmaisel.com/.
For Life on Purpose Episode #73, my guest is the pioneering therapist Dr. Judith Orloff, a New York Times best-selling author and Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at UCLA who has helped patients find emotional freedom for more than 20 years. Dr. Orloff synthesizes the pearls of traditional medicine with cutting edge knowledge of intuition, energy, and spirituality to achieve physical and emotional healing.
In this enlightening conversation, we discussed her brand new book, The Empath’s Survival Guide: Life Strategies for Sensitive People (Sounds True), in which she offers an invaluable resource to help EMPATHIC people survive in an often insensitive world, plus her life and career as "the positive energy guru."
“Empaths feel things first, then think, which is the opposite of how most people function in our over- intellectualized society,” says Dr. Orloff. "The key to self-care is to recognize when you’re experiencing the first signs of sensory overload or when you start absorbing negativity or stress from others. The sooner you can act to reduce stimulation and to center yourself, the more balanced and protected you will be."
About: Transforming the face of psychiatry, Judith Orloff MD asserts that we are keepers of an innate intuitive intelligence so perceptive that it can tell us how to heal -- and prevent -- illness. Yet intuition and spirituality are the very aspects of our wisdom usually disenfranchised from traditional health care.
Dr. Orloff is accomplishing for psychiatry what physicians like Dean Ornish and Mehmet Oz have done for mainstream medicine -- she is proving that the links between physical, emotional, and spiritual health can't be ignored. Dr. Orloff is a New York Times bestselling author and is on the UCLA psychiatric clinical faculty. She specializes in treating empaths and sensitive people in her Los Angeles based private practice.
She has spoken at medical schools, hospitals, the American Psychiatric Association, Fortune Magazine's Most Powerful Women Summit, and alternative and traditional health forums -- venues where she presents practical intuitive tools to doctors, patients, and everyday people. In response to her work, The Los Angeles Times calls Dr. Orloff "a prominent energy-based healer."
Dr. Orloff's latest book “The Empath’s Survival Guide: Life Strategies for Sensitive People” (Sounds True, 2017) is an invaluable resource to help sensitive people of all kinds develop healthy coping mechanisms in our high-stimulus world without experiencing compassion fatigue or burnout. Then empaths can fully embody their gifts of intuition, creativity, and compassion.
In Dr. Orloff’s first book, "Second Sight" she chronicles her struggles acknowledging and then finally embracing her gift of intuition. Her second book, "Dr. Orloff's: Guide to Intuitive Healing" shows how breakthroughs in healing our body, emotions, and sexuality can be accomplished by listening to intuition.
"Positive Energy," which has been translated into 25 languages, takes a probing look at the American epidemic of exhaustion and how we can reverse it using specific strategies to build energy and combat draining people. Her New York Times Bestseller, "Emotional Freedom" describes how to transform negative emotions into positive ones with specific techniques.
Finally, "The Power of Surrender" describes the power of letting go in everyday life, health, and wellness--an enlivening and sane alternative to pushing, forcing, and over controlling people and situations.
Dr. Orloff's work has been featured in O Magazine, Forbes, Newsweek, USA Today, the Wall Street Journal, Self, Cosmo, The Washington Times, Teen Vogue, Scientific American, and the New York Post. She has appeared on The Today Show, The Dr. Oz Show, CBS Early Show, CNN, PBS, BBC5, and NPR. Dr. Orloff is also an Elephant Journal, Huffington Post, and Psychology Today, blogger.
To learn more about Dr. Orloff's work, visit: http://www.drjudithorloff.com/.
For Life on Purpose Episode #64, my guest is Zen priest and teacher Richard Diedrichs, whose work presents basic Buddhist teachings that keep you on the wholesome path of self-realization toward a happy life.
Richard joined me for an inspiring chat about his new book Living in Blue Sky Mind: Basic Buddhist Teachings for a Happy Life, in which he offers simple lessons, anecdotes of personal transformation, and reflective questions to guide us along Buddha’s enlightened way.
We also discussed the opportunity to learn, grow, and practice these principles when host Greg mistakenly lost the audio file of the original interview that was taped and had to admit his mistake and request a second interview.
Says Richard about the book: “Living in Blue Sky Mind began as short talks that I gave to children, parents, and grandparents at Daifukuji Zen Buddhist temple in Kona, Hawaii. (For the youngest among us in the family gatherings, I read a children's picture book.) To further spread the Dharma, I had the idea of publishing the talks in a blog that I called, "I Can See Clearly Now."
By the time I published about a hundred talks as posts, the blog had amassed nearly twelve thousand views. Like myself, I think people are searching for ways in which they can think, say, and do things that bring caring and wisdom into their lives and into the lives of everyone around them. We all want to be happy!”
About: We live with minds as open and spacious as the deep blue sky. Living in Blue Sky Mind presents basic Buddhist teachings that keep us on the wholesome path of self-realization and oriented toward a happy life. Zen priest and teacher, Richard Gentei Diedrichs, offers simple lessons, anecdotes of personal transformation, and reflective questions to guide us along Buddha’s enlightened way.
Richard Gentei Diedrichs grew up in Los Angeles. He edited travel and health magazines in Seattle, worked as an editor at the schools of Engineering and Public Health at the University of California, Berkeley, and then taught in public elementary schools in the San Francisco Bay Area.
The author of four books, Richard was fully ordained a Zen priest in 1990 by Genki Takabayashi Roshi. Currently, he is a Dharma teacher at Daifukuji Zen Temple in Hawaii.
To learn more about Richard and his work, visit: https://richardgenteidiedrichs.wordpress.com/ or https://livinginblueskymind.com/.
For Life on Purpose Episode #63, my guest is author, actor, teacher, and creativity/productivity specialist Samantha Bennett, who has counseled thousands of artists in all disciplines on their way to success.
Sam is the creator of The Organized Artist Company – a multi-six figure business she has built by hand, from scratch. Her previous book, the bestselling “Get It Done: From Procrastination to Creative Genius in 15 Minutes a Day” received rave reviews, including Seth Godin, who called it, "An instant classic."
Sam joined me for a high-energy chat about her new book Start Right Where You Are: How Little Changes Can Make a Big Difference for Overwhelmed Procrastinators, Frustrated Overachievers, and Recovering Perfectionists (New World Library), which is based on the premise that small shifts in the right direction can yield big results in the realization of our creative dreams.
Start Right Where You Are offers 66 small, doable changes that will help readers:
• Complete projects that are dear to their hearts
• Change their relationship with their bodies and improve their physical health
• Transform their relationships with people who are important to them
• Get their work out in the world
“When you decide that you want something and you move toward it physically, emotionally, or spiritually, then your movement opens up new pathways by which things can appear in your life. Even a very small step can cause a radical change in your relationship to the thing you want. Even a small shift in perspective can allow you to see new opportunities.”
About: Originally from Chicago, Samantha Bennett is an author, actor, teacher and creativity/productivity specialist who has counseled thousands of artists in all disciplines on their way to success. She is the creator of The Organized Artist Company – a multi-six figure business she has built by hand, from scratch.
Her bestselling book, “Get It Done: From Procrastination to Creative Genius in 15 Minutes a Day” (New World Library) has received rave reviews, including from than the great Seth Godin, who called it, "An instant classic."
She is an an email marketing and small business automation expert and was named the 2010 Ultimate Marketer Finalist by Infusionsoft, and she is an Infusionsoft Certified Consultant, Reseller and Partner.
Sam has self-published four books: “By The Way, You Look Really Great Today,” "An Artist Talks to God," “365 Reasons To Write” and "Less Crazy, More Money: 52 Secrets to Running a Serene, Profitable Business."
Her latest book is the critically- acclaimed, "Start Right Where You Are: How Little Changes Can Make a Big Difference for Overwhelmed Procrastinators, Frustrated Overachievers and Recovering Perfectionists" - the book that emerged from this workshop.
Still a working actor (Modern Family, Drew Carey Show, Strong Medicine) Samantha has also written several plays, including, “Kiss The Monster,” “Miss Millicent’s Fall Recital” and “In A Booth At Chasen’s.” As an alumni of The Second City in Chicago, ComedySportz LA, The Open Fist Theatre Company and LA TheatreWorks, Samantha is known for her quick wit and warm heart.
Her 12 years as a professional Personal Branding Specialist with Sam Christensen Studios has given her an uncanny ability to help people recognize and capitalize on their own brilliance.
Sam abides in a quiet little beach town outside of Los Angeles, where she hangs out with the dolphins and the seals, living the life of her dreams.
To learn more about Sam and her work, visit: http://www.startrightwhereyouare.com/.
For Life on Purpose Episode #61, my guest is speaker, professional coach and mentor, trained licensed therapist and tenured associate professor of counseling Dr. Tiffany Stewart.
Dr. Tiffany joined me for an inspirational chat about her L.E.A.P. Success System and how it helps others shift their mindset and create the lives they want. We also discussed her own life story — how she went from being a single parent who had been fired from four jobs in two years with very little money ("failing at life") to building a successful business and life lived on her own terms in just a few short years.
“Failure is a part of the process. You can ALWAYS recover from it. And the transformation that I have been through in a few short years is not because I am a lucky person. You do not need lady luck on your side to create the life you want. I went from literally losing everything I had to creating the life I want.”
About: Dr. Tiffany is national speaker, professional coach and mentor, trained licensed therapist and tenured associate professor of counseling. She works with individuals teaching step-by-step how to actually create the very life they want and desire.
Dr. Tiffany is a trained licensed therapist with years of training in the counseling profession and as a tenured associate professor of counseling. Soon after entering the world of academia, Dr. Tiffany recognized it fostered an environment of constant criticism, people telling you what you could not do and how good you were not. She then made it her mission to do the opposite by empowering people, helping realize their gifts and showing them how to obtain them.
Through working with a mentor and learning the best methods to use, Dr. Tiffany created a formula to teach others who feed into the belief of not being good enough or not knowing the next steps to take to create a life they love.
Her passion is to help individuals who may be stuck in some area of life, tap into their power and give themselves permission to step into their purpose and create the create life they want to live. She is the creator of the L.E.A.P. Success System.
To learn more about Dr. Tiffany and her work, visit: http://www.tiffanystewartphd.com/.
For Life on Purpose Episode #60, my guest is certified life coach, mindfulness meditation teacher, author, and blogger Ora Nadrich.
Ora joined me for a great chat about her new book, Says Who? How One Simple Question Can Change the Way You Think Forever, how her own life story — including her sister's nervous breakdown when Ora was 14 years old influenced her work, and the Says Who? Method she developed.
In the book, she vividly illustrates and breaks down her simple yet highly effective method, based on the principle that while we all face obstacles and negative thoughts in our lives, it is not enough to simply examine and be aware of them — we must question and challenge them in order to bring about true change.
“We think 60,000–70,000 thoughts a day, and sadly, it’s the negative ones we tend to hear the loudest. But using a set of daily, simple questions, we can stop them the instant they pop up to sabotage us. It’s as simple a practice as brushing your teeth.”
About: Ora Nadrich is a certified Life Coach, and Mindfulness Meditation teacher. She is a frequent blogger for the Huffington Post on Mindfulness, and leads workshops on “Living a Mindful Life.”
Ora was an actress and screenwriter, where she worked in film, episodic television, and commercials for more than a decade, which she feels provided her vast experience in exploring motivation and the process of self-discovery. During that time, she simultaneously embarked on a two-decade psychological and spiritual journey towards self-awareness and transformation.
Ora retired from acting, and devoted her time to studying the workings of the mind. On her psychological and spiritual journey she explored Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), and a multi-year, intensive study of various disciplines and techniques, including the Technology of Change with Robert Lorenz, and extensive Jungian analysis.
She studied Kabbalah and Buddhism, and met some of the finest spiritual teachers and leaders like, Gurumayi of Siddha Yoga, Sonam Kazi, the Dalai Lama’s interpreter, and, ultimately, His Holiness himself, the Dalai Lama. Her exploration of self-realization continues today.
Ora lives with her husband, Jeff, and two sons, Jake and Benjamin in Los Angeles.
To learn more about Ora and her work, visit: http://www.oranadrich.com/.
For Life on Purpose Episode #58, my guest is artist, executive coach, author, actor and filmmaker Aaron Anastasi.
Aaron joined me for an inspirational chat about his new book, The Voice of Your Dreams, a practical guide about silencing the voices of limitation that may be impeding your progress and living a life full of greater possibility.
We also talked about his own unique life journey (surfer, singer, theological student, actor, and more!), overcoming fear, the "Rackets" that can limit us in life and how to shift those, "the Work" of Byron Katie, and MUCH more!
“All fear comes from contemplating the future. Action eradicates fear, as does shifting the focus from self to the end user—those being served by you.”
About: Aaron Anastasi is a Southern California native who graduated with a master’s degree from Princeton Theological Seminary, where he studied philosophy, psychology, and theology.
He’s also a serial entrepreneur with online businesses such as Superior Songwriting Method, Signing Success, and the internationally recognized, Superior Singing Method, an online singing lesson program that grosses seven-figures annually.
Aaron has the #1 singing/life lesson channel on YouTube and has over 11.5 million organic views and over 130 thousand subscribers total on his three channels.
Having a love for adventure, he was a pro snowboarder in Vail, Colorado, scaled Glacier Lake mountains in Bolivia, and cut pathways through the jungles of Contagem, Brazil.
Along with being a Los Angeles based actor and filmmaker, Aaron is also a prominent success coach for clients in industry-leading roles, ranging from film directors to marine biologists to TEDx speakers.
His new book, The Voice of Your Dreams, was released in April 2016, and reached Amazon's top 100 best sellers within the first week of release.
To learn more about Aaron and his work, visit: https://thevoiceofyourdreams.com/home-a.
For Life on Purpose Episode #57, my guest is author and psychotherapist Susan Anderson, who has devoted more than 30 years of clinical experience and research to working with the victims of abandonment trauma, grief, and loss and teaches people around the world how to overcome abandonment and its aftermath of self-sabotaging patterns.
Susan joined me for a powerful chat about her new book, The Abandonment Recovery Workbook: Guidance through the Five Stages of Healing from Abandonment, Heartbreak, and Loss, as well as how her own life journey paved the way for her most powerful work, and MUCH more!
“Learning the steps to take after surviving a great loss is a hopeful process. You discover your ability to benefit from the experience rather than be diminished by it,” says Anderson. “Many of you are going through heartbreak, getting separated or divorced, or feel isolated and alone. Many of you are grieving over someone close to you who has died. Some seek recovery from childhood wounds that impinge on the quality of your current life. But our journey will take us beyond the specifics of your loss, all the way to the underlying source of the fear and despair —abandonment — the crux of the human condition.”
About: Susan Anderson is a psychotherapist who has devoted over 30 years of clinical experience and research to working with the victims of abandonment trauma, grief, and loss. Author of Taming your Outer Child: Overcoming your Self Defeating Patterns; Journey from Abandonment to Healing; Black Swan: Twelve Lessons of Abandonment Recovery; and The Abandonment Recovery Workbook, she is founder of the Abandonment Recovery movement, a worldwide program of techniques and support groups that help people heal their abandonment wounds past and present, overcome their self-defeating “Outer Child” patterns, and find greater life and love.
Through extensive clinical research, group work, and scientific study, she has developed a treatment protocol specific to overcoming the impact of abandonment trauma in adults and children. Her five universal stages of abandonment recovery (Shattering, Withdrawal, Internalizing, Rage, and Lifting) are based upon scientific findings related to the psychobiology of separation and attachment. Through her books and public appearances, she shares her own experiences with abandonment, grief, and recovery, speaking passionately from personal and professional experience.
In addition to her national tours to promote abandonment recovery, she continues in private practice in Manhattan and Long Island.
To learn more about Susan and her work, visit: http://www.abandonment.net/.
For Life on Purpose Episode #53, my guest is internationally renowned teacher, speaker, and coach Zen Cryar DeBrücke.
Zen joined me for a fascinating conversation about her new book Your Inner GPS: Follow Your Internal Guidance to Optimal Health, Happiness, and Satisfaction, what that is, and how to use it.
“You were born with a factory-installed guidance system. It is like the GPS in a car. This system is called your Internal Guidance System, or IGS,” writes Zen. “The guidance it gives you has many different purposes. The most important one is to get you from one end of your life to the other with as much joy, ease, and fulfillment as possible.”
We began the interview with a short interactive exercise that listeners can use to better understand what we're talking about. We also discuss the concepts of opening, closing, and some simple, straightforward techniques for accessing this powerful source of inner wisdom on a daily basis.
About: Zen Cryar DeBrücke is an internationally renowned teacher, speaker, and coach whose programs have helped people all over the world transform their personal and business lives for the better.
As a Master intuitive coach and stress expert, she teaches about the physical sensations in your body that are called anxiety, worry and fear. She uncovered their relationship to one's thoughts and how to manage them for optimal health and happiness.
Zen is a member of the Transformational Leadership Council with experts such as Marianne Williamson and Jack Canfield, who said "Zen Cryar DeBrücke us a master who takes us by the hand and shows us that we all have deep wisdom within.”
In her brand new book Your Inner GPS: Follow Your Internal Guidance to Optimal Health, Happiness, and Satisfaction (New World Library), she says that each of us is born with access to a powerful tool called an Internal Guidance System (IGS). Not unlike the GPS system that is built into cars, its purpose is to guide us through our lives by letting us know whether our thoughts and actions are moving us closer to, or further away from, the things we most want to create in our lives.
To learn more about Zen and her work, visit: http://zeninamoment.com/.
For Life on Purpose Episode #50, my guest is psychotherapist, award-winning writer, former Buddhist monk, and teacher Donald Altman.
Donald joined me for a excellent conversation about his new book Clearing Emotional Clutter: Mindfulness Practices for Letting Go of What’s Blocking Your Fulfillment and Transformation (New World Library). In the book, he offers readers easy-to-use daily practices designed to dissolve emotional clutter, whether it is old emotional wreckage from their childhood or new emotional clutter that they take on every day.
“The purpose of Clearing Emotional Clutter is to help you heal and move on from pains, insults, traumas, toxic stressors, and emotional clutter from the past and the present — without blaming, shaming, or punishing yourself,” says Altman. “I like to think of it as a mindful lifestyle reboot — a way of clearing out the old, habitual methods of living and thinking that keep us stuck in emotional clutter to the point that we can’t imagine a way out.”
About: Donald Altman is a prolific writer and expert on mindful eating whose career spans more than twenty-five years. He's authored several pioneering books on mindfulness, beginning with his 1998 Art of the Inner Meal. His book The Mindfulness Toolbox is the winner of two 2015 Ben Franklin National Gold Awards,
Another book, The Mindfulness Code, was named as "One of the Best Spiritual Books of 2010." He has also authored Living Kindness, Meal by Meal, The Joy Compass, and a personal guide to developing a mindfulness pratice, A Course in Mindfulness.
In addition to his books, he was a staff writer for an EMMY-Award winning children's television show (The Magic Door, CBS Chicago), he won an American Medical Writer's Association Award, he co-created the first interactive comic strip on America Online, and has had articles appear in New Age Journal, The Los Angeles Times, and Independent Business Magazine, among others.
Donald is also a practicing psychotherapist and former Buddhist monk who teaches in the neurobiology program at Portland State University.
To learn more about Donald and his work, visit: http://www.mindfulpractices.com/.
For Life on Purpose Episode #46, my guest is is certified relationship coach, author, blogger, and speaker Kira Asatryan, an expert on loneliness, which she believes is a problem of epidemic proportions in our modern times. In her new book, Stop Being Lonely: Three Simple Steps to Developing Close Friendships and Deep Relationships (just published on New World Library), she says it’s not a lack of people in our lives, it is a lack of feeling that speaks to the heart of this new loneliness.
But there is good news — YOU have the power to create closeness with any willing partner. Closeness is the foundation of all happy and long-lasting relationships, whether romantic, platonic, familial, or business, she writes.
About Kira Asatryan: I'm a certified relationship coach, author, blogger, loneliness expert, and speaker. I love to speak publicly on the topic of loneliness, as it's a problem of epidemic proportions in our modern times. I maintain a private coaching practice in San Francisco where I help business partners, couples, and individuals develop closeness - the antidote to loneliness - in their relationships.
I have a unique passion for those who feel lonely in this world. I understand the unique challenges that lonely people face because I face them as well. I've struggled with loneliness my whole life and have come to find that there are many others out there like me.
We are the people who, despite excellent intentions, find it hard to get to know people and find it hard to believe that anyone cares about us. If you relate to this, I can assure you you're not alone.
I've spent my coaching career researching, pondering, and reflecting upon what specifically makes relationships feel good or bad. The results of my efforts can be found in my book, my articles, my talks, and I believe they will help you immensely.
You can stop being lonely. You've already taken the first step.
To learn more about Kira and her work, visit: http://www.kiraasatryan.com/.
For Life on Purpose Episode #44, my guest is internationally recognized stress-management expert, author, and teacher davidji. He's a former COO, apprentice to Deepak Chopra, and the decade-long dean of Chopra Center University plus he's been named one of the top 100 trailblazers in yoga & ayurveda by Spirituality & Health Magazine.
davidji joins me for a fantastic chat about his latest book, the Amazon #1 Bestseller destressifying- The Real-World Guide to Personal Empowerment, Lasting Fulfillment, and Peace of Mind and real-world tools for achieving that, as well as meditation (we do the first ever in-show 16-second meditation!), the latest discoveries of frontier science, his own unique life journey, and much more!
About: davidji is a former COO, apprentice to Deepak Chopra and the decade-long dean of Chopra Center University AND he's been named one of the top 100 trailblazers in yoga & ayurveda by Spirituality & Health Magazine. He's an internationally recognized stress-management expert, corporate trainer, meditation teacher, and Nautilus Book Award-winning author.
He is credited with creating the 21-day meditation process, which spawned hundreds of 21-day meditation experiences & challenges around the world. Often referred to as the Velvet Voice of Stillness, he can be heard on more than 500 guided meditations, available on iTunes, Amazon, HayHouse, GooglePlay, Spotify, Pandora, SoundCloud, Insight Timer & on his own website.
His latest book, the Amazon #1 Bestseller, destressifying- The Real-World Guide to Personal Empowerment, Lasting Fulfillment, and Peace of Mind, is a bleeding edge, new stress-management book for mainstream America. Published last August on Hay House, the book shares the secrets and techniques he has used in training the global business community, US military, Dutch Special Forces, and Law Enforcement throughout the U.S..
destressifying is the first mainstream book to reveal both sides of stress, its damaging emotional aspects and its powerful healing properties. Drawing on decades of the author's experience working with individuals in extreme, high-pressure situations — including business leaders, world-class athletes, members of the military, and those in crisis — destressifying teaches the practical steps we all can take to effectively navigate life to a place beyond stress, and handle any type of stress that life throws at you.
To learn more, visit: http://davidji.com/.
For Life on Purpose Episode #36, my guest is syndicated radio host, bestselling author, and life coach Joel Boggess. Joel is the host of ReLaunch, which was named by John Lee Dumas' Podcasters’ Paradise as the “Most Inspirational” and the “Best Overall” podcast of 2014.
Joel joins me for an impactful "mini-sode" (30 minutes) in which we discuss both nearly dying at a young age and how those events changed each of our lives; along with the importance of his three-Rs: Resources, Relationships, Routines; and tips for ReLaunching your life towards the one you really want to live.
About Joel Boggess:
Joel Boggess is the go-to guy for clarity, confidence and direction. He’s the guy people call when they’re feeling stuck, under-challenged, or overwhelmed.
As a syndicated radio host, bestselling author, and life coach, Joel teaches people how to relaunch their lives and start over with confidence.
Originally from San Antonio, Texas, Joel earned his undergraduate degree at Texas Tech University, an MBA from Amberton University, and a Master’s in Counseling.
His latest book, Finding your Voice, hit the #1 spot on Amazon for success, happiness, and in the self esteem categories. And his podcast, ReLaunch, was named by Podcasters’ Paradise as the “Most Inspirational” and “Best Overall” podcast of 2014, and has recently passed the one million listens mark.
Joel and his wife Pei live in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, and have two Golden Retriever, retired therapy dogs, Bubba and Jake.
To learn more about Joel and ReLaunch visit: http://relaunchshow.com.
What is a life worth living? How do change your behavior and establish lasting habits? Which wolf do you feed?
For Life on Purpose Episode #35, my guest is podcast host/producer Eric Zimmer from The One You Feed, which was named one of the Best Health Podcasts of All Time by The Huffington Post.
Eric has spent the past two years asking these questions of thought leaders, scientists, and teachers such as Simon Sinek, Byron Katie, don Miguel Ruiz, Sharon Salzberg, Bob Proctor, BJ Fogg, Dan Millman, and many more.
He joins me for a great, in-depth conversation about his own life journey (being addicted to drugs and homeless 20 years ago), what he's learned doing the show, tools and tips for self-awareness and behavior change, and much more!
About: Eric Zimmer is the host of a weekly podcast called The One You Feed- Conversations about Creating a Life Worth Living, based on the parable of the Two Wolves. One You Feed was recently named one of the Best Podcasts of 2014 by iTunes.
It was also named one of the Best Health Podcasts of All Time by The Huffington Post and it's been the #1 ranked podcast in the Health, Philosophy. and Spirituality categories, respectively, on iTunes.
He's also been helping to build companies for the past 15 years and has been involved in technology for longer than that. He's led a major software program for a Fortune 20 company and he started a solar energy company called Tipping Point.
Eric is also a musician, a passionate leaner, and loves to meet new people.
To learn more about Eric and The One You Feed visit: http://www.oneyoufeed.net.
What is the feminine soul? And how do women access their deepest source of personal power, inner wisdom, and authentic expression? For Life on Purpose Episode #34, my guest is bestselling author Sara Avant Stover.
Sara joins me for a deep conversation about her new book The Book of SHE: Your Heroine’s Journey into the Heart of Feminine Power, in which she guides both women and men to a powerful new understanding of and appreciation for every aspect of femininity.
About: Sara Avant Stover is a yoga and meditation teacher, bestselling author & founder of The Way of the Happy Woman®.
Sara graduated Phi Beta Kappa and summa cum laude from Columbia University’s all-women’s school, Barnard College.
After a cancer scare in her early twenties, Sara moved to Thailand, where she lived for ten years and embarked on a decade-long healing and spiritual odyssey throughout Asia. She has since gone on to uplift tens of thousands of women worldwide.
A pioneer in contemporary women’s work, she’s the creator of the world’s first Women’s Yoga Teacher Training, Reversing Our “Curse,” and The SHE School. Sara has been featured in Yoga Journal, the Huffington Post, Newsweek, Natural Health, and on ABC, NBC, CBS, and more.
Sara currently lives in Boulder, Colorado with her fiancé, Keith Martin-Smith, and their dog Amia.
Her new book, The Book of SHE: Your Heroine’s Journey into the Heart of Feminine Power, is now available.
To learn more about Sara visit: www.thewayofthehappywoman.com.
For Life on Purpose Episode #29, my guest is Marc Allen, the internationally renowned author and president/publisher/co-founder of New World Library, which has published numerous classics in the personal growth field including Eckhart Tolle's The Power of Now, Shakti Gawain’s Creative Visualization, and The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success by Deepak Chopra.
Marc joins me for a deep and inspirational conversation about the updated edition of Tantra for the West: A Direct Path to Living the Life of Your Dreams, in which he introduces a brand new way to experience the ancient and yet modern tradition that is called tantra.
About: Marc Allen is an internationally renowned author and president and publisher of New World Library, which he co-founded (with Shakti Gawain) in 1977. He has guided the company from a small start-up with no capital to its current position as one of the leading independent publishers in the country.
Marc is a well-known musician and composer as well, having released five albums of his music for the label he co-founded with Sky Canyon and Robert Powell, Watercourse Media.
His latest book is The Greatest Secret of All. It may be Marc's most important book, because it gives us not only one of the clearest explanations of the "secret" of creating what you want in life, but also the far greater secrets of a life well-lived, a life of happiness, inner peace, ease, and fulfillment, where you contribute to making the world a better place for all.
His previous book, The Type-Z Guide to Success, has been released both in print form and as an innovative multi-media ebook. His most popular book is The Millionaire Course: A Visionary Plan for Creating the Life of Your Dreams. It is an entire course, filled with keys to success.
Over the years, he has written and published several other books, including Visionary Business: An Entrepreneur’s Guide to Success, which brought his principles to those in the business world, and A Visionary Life, which remains one of the best books ever written on personal fulfillment. He has also published The Ten Percent Solution: Simple Steps to Improve Our Lives and the World, and produced a popular audio CD, Stress Reduction and Creative Meditations.
His books, audios, and workshops have been highly rewarding — even life-changing — experiences for thousands of people, and he has produced a 12-part audio version of his powerful seminar called The Success with Ease In-Depth Course.
He lives in northern California, with his wife and two children. Marc and his wife Aurilene have founded the Brazil Hope Foundation to help street kids in Brazil.
To learn more about Marc and his work, visit: http://marcallen.com.
For Life on Purpose Episode #26, my guest is psychotherapist, workshop facilitator, and former journalist Kim Schneiderman. Kim joins me to discuss her brand new book Step Out of Your Story: Writing Exercises to Reframe and Transform Your Life, a self-help writing program designed to help anyone who can compose a simple sentence get a fresh perspective on a familiar story— their own. As a psychotherapist and freelance journalist, Kim utilizes research-inspired methods to help people who are stuck — in a dead-end job, relationship, or stage of life — to imagine themselves as the star of their own stories with the power to reframe and reclaim their personal narratives.
About: Kim Schneiderman, LCSW, MSW, is a psychotherapist, workshop facilitator, former journalist, and spiritual essayist who lives and works in New York City. She counsels adults through her private psychotherapy practice and has facilitated therapeutic writing groups at the 92nd Street Y, the JCC in Manhattan, FEGS Health and Human Services, the Jewish Board of Family and Children’s Services (JBFCS), Art Studio NY, Limmud New York, and various other venues.
When she’s not seeing clients, Kim writes a psychological advice column for the New York, Boston, and Philadelphia Metro daily newspapers http://www.metro.us/newyork, which have an aggregate circulation of roughly 4,000,000 readers. She has also worked as an adjunct professor for the Long Island University’s School of Social Work and served as a Guest Lecturer for NYU’s Post-Graduate Social Work and Spiritual Care certificate program. She also completed a year-long certification at the Association for Spirituality and Psychotherapy in New York.
Before pursuing her MSW at the University of Maryland, Kim worked as a journalist for a chain of weekly newspapers in the Bay Area. Subsequently, she has written dozens of freelance articles, including cover stories, for major Jewish newspapers, including The Jewish Week, the Baltimore Jewish Times, and the Northern California Jewish Bulletin.
To learn more about Kim and her work, visit: www.stepoutofyourstory.com.
For Life on Purpose Episode #24, my guest is Master Coach, NLP Practitioner, and author Sandi Amorim. Sandi joins me to discuss her new book The 100 Day Promise, which is designed to guide you over the course of one hundred days to create a promise based on a change you want in your life, and to develop your capacity to follow through with daily actions to bring that promise to life.
About: Sandi Amorim is a Master Coach, NLP Practitioner, and creator of the 100 Day Promise, a successful online program created to help people change with greater ease and effectiveness and the title of her BRAND new book. She has spent the past twenty years studying what makes us tick, what keeps us stuck, and most importantly, what helps us thrive.
As a seasoned professional in the field of coaching, she holds coaching certificates from Erickson Coaching International in the Art & Science of Coaching, and Neuro-Linguistic Programming, as well as a Master Coach designation from the Harmony Integration Academy. In 2014 she became one of the first coaches in the world licensed to lead Danielle LaPorte’s Desire Map workshop.
About The 100 Day Promise: Change can be challenging, frustrating, and sometimes impossible, but we all want to change something about ourselves. The problem isn’t that you want change; the problem is that you judge yourself harshly when you fail to change the way you want. So how do we get there – to our desired change – from here, the feeling of dissatisfaction and longing?
Frustrated by the popular belief that change only takes 21 days, author Sandi Amorim decided to answer that question for herself and her clients. It was a question that led her down a rabbit hole of neuroscience, the cycle of change, the law of attraction, and positive psychology. Like Dr. Joe DiSpenza, she believes that we have to “Go beyond knowing … to know how.” She shares what she discovered in The 100 Day Promise, a guide to changing from the inside out.
What will you have at the end of one hundred days? You get to decide. For some, it’s a new habit or practice in life. For others, it’s releasing an old habit or fear. The best part is that The 100 Day Promise gives you resources and strategies you can use over and over again that will help you shift from struggle to ease, and a newfound sense of freedom.
The 100 Day Promise is a journey that goes deeper with each promise you make, and this will have a profound impact on how you see yourself. You'll realize - maybe for the first time - you've got what it takes to change.
To learn more about Sandi and her work, visit: http://sandiamorim.com/.
For Life on Purpose Episode #23, my guest is author, ghostwriter, "flourisher," and free-range home-worker Cheryl Rickman. Cheryl joins me to discuss her latest book The Flourish Handbook: How To Achieve Happiness With Staying Power, Boost Your Well-Being, Enjoy Your Life More and Reach Your Potential, as well as some of the tools she uses to live a purposeful life.
About: Cheryl Rickman is a Hampshire (UK)-based author/ghostwriter, "flourisher" and free-range home-worker. Her practical books and products empower and enable people to enjoy and appreciate their lives more, boost their well-being, start-up in business, pursue their purpose and reach their potential.
Cheryl's latest book, The Flourish Handbook, is a compelling and easy-to-digest practical guide on how to flourish; packed with worksheets, guidance, to-do lists and planners to help people find their forte, boost their positivity, and bolster their resilience, mindfulness and gratitude. Drawing on extensive research and her own methods of coping with adversity and tragedy, achieving dreams, and harnessing the power of gratitude, The Flourish Handbook is about much more than merely achieving happiness. It's based on the five pillars of well-being as set out by leading positive psychologists: positive emotion, engagement, supportive relationships, meaningful purpose, and achievement.
Meanwhile, The 7-Step Flourish Challenge has been designed to help busy people to flourish. It provides a comprehensive workbook along with daily e-mail reminders to maximise positivity, minimise negativity, bolster resilience, focus and action steps towards growth and achievement.
To learn more about Cheryl and her work, visit: http://www.cherylrickman.co.uk.