Image
  • Movies
  • Books
  • Television
  • Music
  • Interviews
  • About
  • Contact

Author Archive for Matt Welsh

Q & A with Laurie Nadel, PhD, author of THE FIVE GIFTS: Discovering Hope, Healing, and Strength When Disaster Strikes

Posted by Matt Welsh 
· April 24, 2018 
· No Comments

1. What led you to write this book? When did you start?

I started the book in the spring of 2012. As a reporter covering the marine environment around Long Island for “The New York Times,” I was witnessing significant change in the high tide patterns. For several years, the sea levels were covering the marshlands of the South Shore Estuary. It confirmed what I had been told by several indigenous healers whom I had met in the 1990’s. “All of Nature speaks,” they said, warning that unless we, in the industrialized North started to listen, Nature’s voice would get louder.

Soon after I started the first draft, their words rang true when Hurricane Sandy destroyed my home on a barrier island near New York City. I was one of approximately one million people along the northeastern coast who suffered extensive damages.

2. You lost your home to Hurricane Sandy. Can you please tell us about that?

The night of the storm was like the opening scene in a disaster movie that went on and on…and from what I hear, is still going on for far too many people. In my first career in TV news, we always had to battle our way through rough weather to get to work. I must have written hundreds of storm stories in the newsroom, so I wasn’t fazed when the water burst through the back of my house. But when my washing and couch were bobbing up and down in four feet of water, I knew this wasn’t just another storm. Fortunately, I was well trained in the art of staying calm during emergencies, so my partner and I were able to rescue our cat and supplies we would need later on. The town’s sewage treatment plant broke during the storm, and when the tide ebbed, everything the flood had touched was contaminated with raw sewage. There was no electricity on the island. Since the remains of my home was toxic and we had no heat, water or power, I became a FEMA refugee, carrying what remained of my life from airport to airport as I crashed with family members and friends. A catastrophe shows us who our real friends are and I am ever grateful to everyone who helped.

3. What led you to start two long-term support programs for people on the barrier island who were traumatized by losing their homes to a natural disaster?

When the electricity came back one month later, I returned to the barrier island to camp out in a family member’s apartment. There were volunteers from around the country who had come to help people clean out moldy debris. While I couldn’t strip sheet rock, could do heavy emotional lifting. In my twenty years as a trauma specialist, I had directed a program for teenagers whose fathers were killed in the World Trade Center and worked with hundreds of people whose lives were shattered by assault, accidents, and other catastrophic events. When I submitted my proposal and CV, the City of Long Beach opened the courtroom for us to meet every week. Two years later, as people reported higher levels of anxiety and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, I was invited to start a new group at St. James of Jerusalem church where we focused on the deeper, long-term psycho spiritual issues arising from ongoing financial trauma and institutional betrayal. (The Five Gifts is the first book to address the long-term financial trauma resulting from a catastrophic event.)

4. What are The Five Gifts? How did they come to you?

If the night of the storm was the first scene in a disaster movie, the next year was an exercise in sheer survival. If you had a mortgage, the bank that held your paper seized your insurance settlement check and doled it out after your construction project passed certain inspections. My paperwork—and that of hundreds of thousands of Sandy survivors—got “lost” multiple times. We spent hours on the phone every day being lied to and accused of not having complied with paperwork demands which we then had to resubmit again. (I thought it was just happening to me until it became the lead story in our local paper. “The bank. The insurance company. The government. They are not your friends,” a lawyer told me after I hired him to fight off an extortion threat from a demolition company.)

My stress levels went through the roof when the bank tried to get my property insurance canceled so they could put me into a high risk pool where premiums would triple…well, I lost it.

Then it hit me. If I was my own client, what would I tell her to do? Since becoming a therapist in the early 90s, if there was one personal lesson I had learned it was that it is very hard to live your own advice. I try not to give advice to others; rather, I see my role as facilitating discovery so that the other person has an “Aha!” moment about the question that was troubling him. Maybe I am a slow, stubborn learner and it took something like this to wake me up but my “Aha!” moment was realizing that if I was my own client, I would tell her to take 48 hours off. No phone calls about anything to do with the storm damage. No emails. No conversations. I would tell her to do whatever she needed to do to relax.

Despite the cold, I took a few bracing walks along the ocean. Got a massage. Drank lots of water. Took naps. And when my mind finally stopped racing, I sat in a wide leather chair overlooking the ocean and meditated. I asked my Unconscious to show me my future self. The real question bubbled up: Would I have a future self or was this it for the rest of this incarnation?

As my breathing slowed, I entered a quiet mindspace; translucent grey, like the inside of an oyster shell. In the background, an unlikely afternoon wind swept in from the southwest: a wind that spoke of summer, and sunshine, and a new season. My heart opened to that hope and I heard a quiet inner voice: “Humility. Patience. Empathy. Forgiveness. Growth,” it said.

Then came a message: “Write them down. These are the gifts you need for healing. Give them to those who need them.” These gifts became my foundation for believing that things would improve.

5. Are they like the five stages of grief? How do they differ?

Elisabeth Kubler-Ross who developed the five stages of grief, told one of her students that she never meant for them to be taken as sequential steps. Grieving is complex and emotions frequently blend, mix and blur. Denial. Anger. Bargaining. Depression. Acceptance. They don’t necessarily follow in 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 sequence. I believe the Five Gifts allow us to be kind to ourselves when we are in pain. They can help alleviate the harsher elements of grief. Humility allows us to accept the unacceptable. Patience is the gift that helps us when we are still hurting long after we thought we would be “over it.” Empathy is what allows us to connect to others…to receive their support and to support those we love who are also grieving. Forgiveness often means forgiving ourselves for not having been able to prevent the loss. Growth is how we look back and say that while we never would have wished for that to happen, we wouldn’t be who we are today if we hadn’t gone through that.

6. You talk about “gratitude guilt.” What do you mean?

It’s hard enough losing someone you know to violence, or becoming a survivor or a witness. Even first responders who are trained to deal with life and death situations are often disturbed by what they see, hear, and smell. As civilians, we are even more vulnerable to feeling flooded and less likely to be thankful in that moment. But it is not uncommon for hear comments like, “At least you aren’t living in Syria. You should be grateful.” Being told what to feel, then feeling guilty about not feeling grateful for a traumatic experience only serves to prolong heartache. Getting to gratitude usually takes time.

7. What if you can’t forgive?

We tend to think of forgiveness as an on-off switch. It’s either yes or no. You forgive or you don’t. But if we think of forgiving as a process that fluctuates, it can be to forgive a little bit at a time. Maybe today, we can forgive 10 percent and tomorrow 43 percent and then only 4 percent. You may never be able to forgive that person or event 100 percent but forgiveness is a gift, not a regulation.

8. Is it possible to prepare for a sudden, violent event? (Sometimes yes, sometimes no.)

In terms of prepping for seasonal events like blizzards, wildfires, and hurricanes, packing a psychological go-kit can help you stay calm throughout the event. Chapters Two, Three, and Four have practical tips for getting ready to stay steady. But when you expect the unexpected, it is easier to allow for the possibility that anything can happen. We can learn from the mindset of people in other countries who have lived with war, terrorism, and repression about how to stay balanced when the world around them is in turmoil.

9. Why has PTSD become a household word?

Trauma is a word that has become interchangeable with “upsetting.” But trauma is not a bad hair day. It means you have survived, escaped, or witnessed a sudden, violent event. Or you have lost someone due to such an event. There has been very little accurate reporting on the difference between acute stress reactions that occur immediately after an event and post-trauma reactions that can surface months or years later. Without a real understanding of trauma and how it can affect people down the road, PTSD gets tossed into the narrative whether or not it is appropriate.

10. Does everyone have PTSD? Can you get PTSD from watching MCI’s (Mass Casualty Events) on TV?

Please see #9. Only eight percent of Americans are believed to have PTSD—that’s more than 24-million people—the population of the state of Texas. I believe that millions of us suffer from Vicarious Traumatization (secondary PTSD) due to hours of exposure to violent images showing the aftermath of MCI’s.

No Comments
Categories : Books, Exclusive Interviews

Secret Techniques & Powerful, Transformational Energy-Portals of the Egyptian Sephiroth

Posted by Matt Welsh 
· April 23, 2018 
· No Comments

By Jill Mattson

The secrets of the sacred Tree-of-Life in the Kabbalah tradition originate from deep within the Ancient Egyptian Temple Traditions. Both traditions regard each circlein the Tree-of-Life Blueprint (see the above figure), called a Sephiroth, as a portal of higher dimensional energy.

Recall that Moses, a Hebrew, was raised as a Pharaoh’s son, giving him access to all the deepest secrets of powerful Egypt. The most important secrets of Egypt (pyramid building, mummification) were not written down (the more precious the secret, the greater the silence). Yet, the oral tradition of the Hebrews was written down…. in the Kabballah. The prize secret of the Hebrews was the Tree of Life and the 10 Sephiroth, originating from ancient Egypt.

In an analogy, think of Moses’s god, YWHY, as one clear quartz prism. Light shining through spreads into rainbow colors (or the Sephiroth). The powerful pharaohs of Egypt believed that their Gods guarded and embodied these Gateways of Powerful Uplifting Energies: the Sephiroth. The combined power of all of the Egyptian gods and temples combines into a matric of supreme power… the Tree of Life and it’s Sephiroth.

There are ten portals in the Tree-of-Life diagram. Legends tell that God, or All That Is, descended into matter to experience life at the human level. Beginning at the highest circle (above) we begin with the essence of God. As we move down the diagram we successively step down and compartmentalize energies; each step down becoming denser- a progressively smaller – more limited – pocket of energy.

 “As above, so below”.Humans experience a weak shadow of this divine energy. Humans experience thumb prints of this consciousness, but in a less powerful form. The energies in duality are malleable (often negative) … and create denser, slower versions of the Holographic, Higher Dimensional Energies. This limitation enables us to experience being human, embodying the denser form of these energies.

These High Energy Streams were locked from human beings. The keys to the Sephiroth were hidden, in plain sight, carved – time and time again – in indelible stone!  The Sephiroth “breadcrumbs” are a trail to help us find our way back home, to ALL CONSCIOUSNESS and ALL AWARENESS.

The Higher Beings that created these “quantum energy locks” were thinner in substance, quicker (think of an elf or faery) than humans are. How would “Higher Evolved Beings” keep subtle and quantum energies blocked? They could penetrate steel or iron! Modern physicists’ String Theory is based simply on different vibrations of an infinitesimal string. Sound, colors, lights and shapes would tangle energies – creating huge, impossible knots in infinitesimal strings – locks.

Humans always long for the divine and sweet remembrance of higher energies. Ancient disciples focused on each Sephiroth symbol to resonate with the Higher powerful streams of transforming energies.

The spiritual mastery of the Egyptians was their key to their enduring power. The Egyptian fascination/obsession with Life after death… is reflected in their pyramids, monuments, mummifications, death rituals …AND the Sephiroth. The Sephiroth … are Resurrection Frequencies… Tree of Life Transformations.

We are children of god, with a weak potion of His energy. Now it is time to unleash the full power of the resurrection codes– as we are the children of God – growing up.

Sound Codes – the Sephiroth Attunements

Within each Sephiroth are ancient Hebrew letters, which are vibrational codes, dictating frequencies, harmonics and spelling a word. Ancient systems, such as gematria, converted energy between symbols, numbers, musical notes and alphabet letters. The writings on each Sephiroth can be depicted as sound energy.

The Sephiroth were also reflected by numerical energy: each Sephiroth is numbered 1 to 10. Pythagoras said, “All is Number!” Just what does that mean? Everything is energy. Energy vibrates. Pulsations of energies can be counted and are called frequencies. Modern physicists’ String Theory is based simply on different vibrations of an infinitesimal string. Therefore in our world all is number, expressed as vibrating strings (or frequencies). Numbers can also be expressed as cycles per second or sound.

The method of converting the Sephiroth’s shapes to frequencies and harmonic patterns was one of the deepest ancient secrets, but now these methods are returned to us – as we journey back to the divine. The author has created the powerful sound version of the Sephiroth! Sound, being the most powerful subtle energy dosage possible, enables us to propel our energies into powerful realms, quickly.

The Sephiroth Energies are the Blueprint of Divine Energies! What are blueprints of energies? Think of E=mC2. A simple formula underlies the basic universal energies. How about our DNA? Life’s secret code in a helix blueprint containing all our physical body’ plans. In a similar way,each Sephiroth has its own energy, one that we experience in a dense and less powerful form. Yet, when we look at the symbols of the Sephiroth or listen to their powerful sounds, we sync with the energy version of the High DimensionalPowerful Sephiroth. It is powerful & divine medicine!

Jill Mattson Bio

Jill Mattson is a prolific Artist, Musician and Author. Jill is widely recognized expert and composer in the field of Sound Healing!   She has produced nine CDs with intriguing, magical tracks using ancient & modern techniques, & special healing frequencies to achieve profound benefits.  Jill is a four – time author. (The Lost Waves of Time – Best Book of 2016 and Best Alternative Science book of 2016, Deep Wave Body Healing CD– Best Sound Healing CD of 2016, Contacting Angels & Masters CD – Best CD of 2015 and Deep Wave Beauty CD – Best New Age CD – Silver Award).  Jill has participating in many hundreds of teleseminars, radios shows, and magazines! She offers an online Sound Healing School. Jill presents new ways of approaching health and everyday issues using the benefits of sound! Free music & School of Sound Healing… and Sephiroth attunements at the “school of soundhealing” at www.jillswingsoflight.com

No Comments
Categories : Guest Posts, Music

How to Keep Calm and Carry On

Posted by Matt Welsh 
· April 22, 2018 
· No Comments

Life is full of surprises. Every day you are bound to face several challenges that will continually test your strength and character. These can greatly affect your productivity and even influence the choices you make in life. It can be very tiring, stressful, and may greatly affect your lifestyle, health, and overall well being. Read on and learn some of the simple yet effective ways on how to keep calm and carry on when you’re experiencing these situations.

Breathe Deeply

Breathing exercises will effectively help you during stressful moments. Based on studies, deep breathing will help calm your body and quiet your mind. The anxiety and stress levels of a person are associated with proper breathing. The more anxious and stress a person is, the lesser the chance to breathe properly which in turn leads to more anxiety and stress.

Try investing in an air purifier. This product will help you breathe fresher and better air, especially at home. It improves the air circulation by clearing out the allergens and dust present in the environment. Additionally, some purifiers are equipped with lights and sounds that can help you to relax and sleep better.

Have regular exercise

Stressful moments will make you feel tired, lazy, and vulnerable. Try to ignore these negativities by getting off your bed, doing some stretches, and going out of your house. Take short walks to the park for leisure or to the grocery store for errands. This short but helpful activity will help release endorphins in your body which will make you feel happy. Also, it will not only give you adequate exercise but also let you save money and appreciate nature.

Going to the gym may be another option if you have more time. This will allow you to do the exercise routines that are perfectly fit for you and your body. Also, these will open doors to new companions that will eventually become friends and even families.

Listen to Music

Music is said to be the gateway to the soul. Most people listen to music when they are anxious or stress. This relaxes and clears the mind from all the worries. Choose and listen to happy and uplifting songs that will help you get through the day. Sad songs can be part of your playlist but be sure that this will inspire you to become better and not drag you to more sufferings.

Try using several music applications that offer a wide array of songs. This will offer the best playlist depending on your mood.

Eat healthily and drink more water

Stress eating is probably one of the worst issues that occur during these tough times. It makes you eat and crave for more foods within the same period of time. Sadly, these cravings usually include unhealthy options such as pizza, soda, noodles, chocolates, and soda.

You may feel happy and satisfied at the moment. However, these will eventually change and you’ll end up feeling worse than before. Never forget those added calories to your body. Good thing there are available weight loss pills that you can try when the need to lose some pounds occur. Treat yourself at least once but never ever indulge yourself to the horrifying world of binge-eating.

Take your power back

You are the ones in control of your feelings and emotions. Do not let other people, things, or situations affect you negatively. Never give away your power to anybody. You are the only person allowed to tell yourself what to do, what to feel. Doing this will make you feel better and be amazed at what’s your true worth.

Stay Positive

Always be positive and have a happy disposition in life. Keep in mind that the words you say and the things you have in mind reflects who you are. The feeling of depression tends to create negative emotions which can greatly affect all of your actions. When this happens, take a break and think of the good things that happen in your life. Think of your family, your friends, your pet, and other important things that make you truly happy and satisfied.

Try this technique – write down three positive things that happened to you before going to sleep. This will allow you to leave positive vibes and beautiful images in your unconscious mind which will give you a good and sound sleep.

Stressful situations may occur ones in a while. But don’t let this hinder you in achieving what you want. Instead, learn to manage your worries by keeping calm and moving on. Remember that every day is a new day. All you have to do is live your life to the fullest and never ever let anyone or anything drag you down.

No Comments
Categories : New Media

How to Return to Glorious Natural Sleep

Posted by Matt Welsh 
· April 20, 2018 
· No Comments

Sleep is near-universally accepted by health practitioners and experts in high-performanceand low-anxiety individuals to be one of the most important areas of one’s routine. Studies abound about the negative effects of having less thansix hours of sleep a night; they likewise warn against oversleeping, which can be as detrimental to one’s health and energy levels. The problem is, so many people in the world habitually experience awful slumbers; here are some top tips to get you back on your natural sleep cycle, which will, hopefully, in turn,lead to a happier and more peaceful life.

Remove Screens from Bed

 The most major change in the last 100 years when it comes to human sleeping patterns has been the insertion of the television, the laptop, the tablet or the smartphoneinto the bedroom, and often into the bed itself. While the television is usually located somewhere beyond the foot of the bed, it still spills out light and sound so that our brains (which are programmed with a natural sleep cycle spurred by sound and light levels) find it even harder to fall asleep.

The LED pixels present in more modern screen technology are even more damaging to your sleep. You hold them closeto the eye, and they are as bright as a sunny midday street. Thistricks the brain, again, into believing this is no time to be shutting systems down. The added negative when it comes to smart devices is their addictive quality and their push notifications, which both stimulate you to check the device even as you are preparing for sleep. The upshot of this is that you lose a good deal of slumber each night. The solution, however, is to leave your devices outside of the bedroom, where they can cause no disruption.

Try Natural Relaxation

 A good proportion of the US population are habitual takers of sleep medication, and others still self-medicate in ways which unfortunately precludes the beautiful feeling of naturalsleep. Instead of sleeping pills, which one can very quickly become reliant on, why not try natural sleep remedies which are proven to be effective and are often more about a mentalassociation than the presence of a certain drug in your system that forces your body into its nightly sleep mode.

Examples of natural remedies for relaxation abound and can range from sandalwood incense which is often usedin meditation and sleep practice, all the way to melatonin-infused tea (caffeine-free, of course) which will prepare you for a rich and rewarding slumber. There are hundreds of such remedies. To find the right one for you, it’s perhaps the best idea to search online and read some product reviews before investing in natural remedies to replace any sleeping pills you may be presently taking.

Sound Therapy

 How many of us go to sleep with the radio, a podcast or a TV show providing some form of background noise? Some use classical music, while some use ‘brown noise’ which is the static sound that blocks out the sudden sounds out in the street that may keep you awake. Thisis not to mention noisy neighbors or those who are forced to sleep at noisy times in the day or night due to split shifts or on-the-job sleepers such as doctors.

More and more people are looking foralternative sound therapies to help in this department, asking for instance: do binaural beats work? There is scientific backing for the ability of binaural sounds to coax you into deep relaxation and a deeper sleep which could be your answer to enjoying a natural and fulfilling, energizing sleep. Some enjoy the sound of gentle waves lapping on a shore, or woodlandat night chirping with magical and serene sounds. Give these remedies a go if you’re someone who loses sleep over disruptive sounds beyond your control.

Food and Exercise

 A healthy sleep can be affected by those two cruxes of a healthy lifestyle: regular exercise and a decent diet. More specifically, having gone out for a run, a swim or a cycle tires out your body so that you feel you want to dive into your bed at the end of the day. Ensure you warm up and cool down after such exercise to avoid aching muscles that keep you awake and instead enjoy the sensation as you slip into the sleepof a welcome rest for weary bones and muscles.

When it comes to your diet, there are some obvious foods and drinks to avoid before bed. Sugar, including that which is producedin your body through the break-down of carbohydrates, is an energizing element of your diet and should be avoided at all costs in the hours before you hit the hay. Indeed, your digestive system should not be working at full capacity when you head to bed as this will keep your body awake for longer than you’d like, so ensure you eat your final meal of the day a good amount of time before you attempt to slip into sleep.

Routine

 In busy and varied lives, it is sometimes difficult to establish a reliable routine. There’s after-work drinks, dinner parties, late-night shows, stressful days, and a host of obligations and worries that can keep you up late at night and wrench you awake before you’ve had your full sleep. A sleepagenda is, however, one of the most important factors in achieving fluid and glorious natural sleep, so you should do whatever you can in your power to set yourself a regular 7 or 8-hour sleep cycle that is as consistent as possible.

You should work back from the time at which you have to wake up for work or to get your kids up for school. It might be that you wake up at 7 am, in which case you should set midnight as your absolute latest hour to be in bed ready to sleep. This way, you’ll always be giving yourself the right segment of time to sleep in, and your body and mind will reward you for this foresight and preparation with better sleep.

Take these tips with you in order toimprove your sleep cycle, making for a more satisfying slumber that will play out in positive effects in all areas of your life.

No Comments
Categories : New Media

Four Spiritual Guidelines For Manifesting And Living The Best Year Of Your Life

Posted by Matt Welsh 
· April 19, 2018 
· No Comments

By Lerone Graham

We’re in the second quarter of the year.

If you, like many people, plan your marathon of annual goals and growth by setting benchmarks, this transition provides an excellent opportunity for you to shift your focus and take inventory of where you are right now.

In this regard, there are some sound spiritual principles that you can use as compass as you move forward. By considering the tenets expressed below, you’ll be able to retain your grounding, while making 2018 a year of expression, experience and manifesting your dreams.

Make Gratitude Your Default

Too often, we miss the blessings right in front of our nose, because we’re tied to the ego and desire of things we don’t have.

When you make gratitude your default, you shift your focus to giving and expressing. In doing this, you appreciate what you have, which allows you to more gracefully fill your cup with what you hope to receive.

As soon as you open your eyes each morning, think or say aloud two simple words — “thank you.”

You’re alive and able to play this game one more day, and for one more moment. You have your basic needs met. You have friends and family that you love.

Thinking these thoughts swells your heart with an influx of love, which makes it easier for you to start your day with confidence, rather than anxiety. Expressing gratitude opens your chakras, from a spiritual standpoint, and from a health standpoint, gives you sounder sleep, promotes brain health, and lowers your cortisol levels.

Become Accustomed To Observing Your Thoughts

We all trip ourselves up at times by getting carried away with our thoughts.

Your mind runs on a non-stop loop, which can become maddening if you don’t step outside of it and put it in its place. The best way you can do this is through meditative practices.

When you meditate, you’ll have an easier time dealing with negative thoughts, which allow you to feel them in your body without judgment, and then let them go. You can also replace your negative thoughts with positive affirmations, which retrain your brain and keep you operating with your higher purpose, rather than your ego.

Even if you’re not a big meditator, jogging, hiking, cleaning, and other regular tasks, when done with intention, can work wonders for your spirit and psychology.

Recognize And Embrace The Connection Between Your Body And Mind

Both science and spirituality back the fact that our brains and bodies are intrinsically linked.

When you embrace this link by accessing your bodily intelligence, you’ll expand your mind, and vice versa. This is why yoga is such a timeless practice.

Embracing yoga will allow you to think more clearly and enjoy a sense of spiritual wholeness and calm. By thinking of yourself as a whole being, rather than a person at the mercy of your thoughts or bodily functions, you’ll walk in your power and experience your full capability as a human.

Study Some Spiritual Texts That Can Serve As A Guide

There are countless texts that you can study when you want to learn more about who you are.

For instance, Eckhart Tolle’s “The Power of Now” is a favorite, as are David Deida’s “Way of the Superior Man”, Laozi’s “Tao Te Ching”, and the bible.

It’s all about what you put into your study, so make sure that you seek deeper understandings and apply your newfound knowledge to the best of your ability.

Using these four tips will promote grounding and understanding, as you seek greatness and higher purpose this year.

No Comments
Categories : New Media

The Best Ways to Motivate Yourself and Others

Posted by Matt Welsh 
· April 18, 2018 
· No Comments

For some people, motivation is super easy, and you jump out of bed in the morning, ready to face the day head-on. Other, though, this is a very different story. However well you think you cope with getting motivated, sometimes it can feel difficult to try and get things done or accomplished, regardless of how small the task. These barriers can make you feel demotivated but taking some steps to improve your self-motivation could be the key to unlocking a whole host of new lifestyle changes. This drive, passion and determination to succeed will help push you through some of the hardest times and help get you back on track to a happier and more fulfilling life.

If you’re looking to get your motivation back or want to inspire others, check some top ways to take charge of your goals.

Recognizing your self-confidence

One of the main factors of how motivated you feel is primarily contributedto how confident you are. This self-assurance helps you to set goals and measure accomplishments with a resilient attitude. If you don’t believe in yourself, then you’ll start to find it harder to recognize that you can take on challenges and succeed in them. A big part of self-confidence is also resilience, as this helps you to take setbacks in your stride and continue to push on regardless of any failures. If you are able to recognize some key elements in self-confidence, it will skyrocket your motivation. Some areas to think about include:

  • Utilize your strengths and focus on your accomplishments.
  • Create achievable goals and enjoy the process of working towards them.
  • Ask for help when you need it.

Focus on your goals

When you’re building your motivation and confidence, you need to set solid goals to work towards. The end result of these objectives will help you to realize either the successes or failures of them and help you gain a stronger outlook. These goals could form part of any aspect of your life from long-term health goals to shorter-term aspirations. Goal setting should incorporate some crucial elements including having a clear and concise plan, committing to it and monitoring your progress throughout.

This goal setting is great for you and others around you and could include anything from improving health such as quitting smoking and switching to Broke Dick juice as an alternative or losing weight to lead a healthier lifestyle. These motivations are ideal for motivating yourself to stick with it and can provide inspiration forothers around you to succeed in their own goals.

Surrounding yourself with supportive people and minimizing any negative energy around you will also help to bring your confidence out and your motivation bounding to the surface. Self-confidence and motivation doesn’t come naturally to everyone so just making some small changes and implementing some of the above tips can help to give you a renewed outlook on goal setting and help you accomplish more for the future, whether that’s in lifestyle, career on general happiness.

No Comments
Categories : New Media

Clawing My Way Out of the Darkness

Posted by Matt Welsh 
· April 17, 2018 
· No Comments

By Rebecca Rose, Author of It’ll Be Fine: A True Story and It Tickled the Whiskers of My Soul

For over a decade, I teetered on the brink of depression. I’m not sure if it was indeed depression or suffering from some grisly side effect of putting unreasonable performance pressure on myself. My ego had grown an insatiable need to be “the best” in everything.

The more achievements I hoarded, the more I raised the bar of performance expectations, and failure to meet them was never an option. And this, of course, was not limited to academia. The more compliments I received on my appearance, the more I elevated the bar of beauty expectations. The more popular I became, the higher I set the bar of social expectations. After a while, there were a lot of towering bars, too many, in fact, for me to live up to. My ever-growing ego had taken almost complete control of my perspective of what it meant to be successful.

Realistically, though, whatever was going on with me emotionally was probably related to a combination of many things. It usually is, isn’t it? We’re all complex beings, and we can rarely point to just one instigator. To name just a few other issues I was struggling with: 1) going from working out every day to never working out, 2) eating VERY unhealthily, 3) losing my faith in many ways, and no doubt, 4) drug abuse.

I did a remarkable job hiding the symptoms of my depression from other students, coworkers, friends and family. For example, most people who knew me would never in a million years suspect I smoked pot several times a day just to get through it. All of those years of my youth keeping my nose jammed in books and never missing Sunday mass had apparently given me some kind of goody-two-shoes force field. People assumed I was principled and virtuous and never suspected anything less of me. I was committed to keeping my condition concealed, so I used my force field on a daily basis to whitewash my life in the eyes of others, continually trying covering up the dark truth.

I knew in my core there was no valid excuse for me to feel the way I did, so I didn’t want others to know about it. Looking in from the outside, I had it all: a full ride scholarship, beauty, and close-knit family, and handsome boyfriend. What more could one want?

Leading one life on the outside but experiencing a different one on the inside was an awfully isolating practice. It was also tiresome. The superhuman effort it sometimes took to appear normal exhausted me. Unhappiness fatigued me like a disease. I couldn’t escape the feeling of anxiety. It was like a dull current surging through me, and it flowed into everything I did.

When I finally hit rock bottom, a moment in time that marks the greatest heartbreak I have ever known, I decided I had to change my life or end it. But I could no longer go on the way I was.

Looking back at this time, there’s now one thing I know for sure. I’ve come to understand that when pain is the greatest, it’s actually a hidden opportunity for equally great spiritual growth. Oftentimes at the root of our most harrowing experiences lie the seeds of spiritual awakening.

I realize how daunting that sounds. I’ll be the first to admit that pain is hard to appreciate. For the longest time I thought pain was pointless and mean, and above all else, served as hard evidence of God’s indifference toward me and my loved ones. I blamed Him for not protecting us from it. It took me a long time to learn that not all pain is pointless.

For me, the answer to my depression was 100% spiritual.

In my most recent book, I summarize the spiritual teachings that guided me from my lowest to where I am now (a much better place!). My spiritual journey started with the challenging task of changing my thoughts. It’s like Lao-tzu said, “If you correct your mind, the rest of life will fall into place.”

Since beginning the journey of correcting my mind, my life really has fallen into place. I’m finally at peace with myself and in my relationships. I’ve discovered how to squeeze joy and positivity out of just about everything. Every single aspect of my life as improved.

That doesn’t mean, of course, my life is without challenges. It just means I’m better equipped to address those challenges and find ways to turn them into growing experiences.

It Tickled the Whiskers of My Soul is a short series of letters written to my “darling little loves” for when they’re older, just in case I’m no longer here by the time they’re old enough to truly grasp what they’re about. I tried to simplify and summarize the spiritual teachings that changed my whole world. I decided to publish these intimate letters because something in them might help someone in desperate need, like I once was, and if they happen to help just one person, then that is enough.

Here is a link to my author page on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B01N7OF1DH

No Comments
Categories : Books, Guest Posts

Why a Bedtime Routine Can Improve Your Wellness

Posted by Matt Welsh 
· April 16, 2018 
· No Comments

Sleeping contributes a lot to our mood. If we are tired, we can’t concentrate, we are grumpy and we are miserable. If you are finding it hard to sleep, this could be a constant state of mind that you are trying to change. If this is the case, a bedtime routine can help us sleep and can improve our wellness. Focusing on sleeping, rather than the stressors around us, can help us relax and have a good sleep.

Rid Yourself of Technology in The Bedroom

Technology is taking over our lives. We use it everywhere we go and our minds need some time away from it to switch off. If you look at your phone before bed, your brain will be tricked into thinking it is daytime and it won’t produce the hormone melatonin, which is needed before we sleep to start to shut our bodies down. If this is something you are really struggling with, you can get melatonin supplements until your bedtime routine begins to work on its own and your body gets used to it.

Listen to Your Body

You do not need to live by what the experts say. Everyone is different and every night is different. Sometimes, we might be fine on six hours sleep; other times, we may want eight or nine hours to feel fully rested. This depends on the person and what the day has been like. If you usually go to bed at ten but you are falling asleep on the couch at nine, don’t let yourself fall asleep there; you will only wake up and break your sleeping pattern. If you are exhausted at nine, then go to bed at nine. Likewise, if you get into bed at your usual time and find yourself not tired, do something positive with your time. The longer you lay there staring at the ceiling wanting to sleep, the harder it will be. Have a book beside your bed, or a notepad if you enjoy writing or drawing. Just remember- no phones.

Have Something You Do Each Night

Having a routine that you do each night such as applying a certain moisturizer or having a bath or shower with certain bath scents can help tell your brain it is time to switch off. If you do the same thing each time before you are going to sleep, your brain will associate these sounds, smells, or actions with the fact you will soon be sleeping, and you may begin to be able to sleep better each night. Lack of sleep can cause things such as dark eyelids and, therefore, the more we begin to fix our sleeping pattern, the better we will feel in ourselves, and our body will show it too.

A bedtime routine is a great way to improve our wellness and get more sleep. Sleep is important for every aspect of our minds and bodies and the better our sleeping pattern, the better we will feel day to day.

No Comments
Categories : New Media

Innovative Ways of Improving Your Mental Health

Posted by Matt Welsh 
· April 15, 2018 
· No Comments

In the modern world, people are struggling with ill mental health in ways nobody has seen before. Though there are many factors that contribute to this, lots of the root causes remain relatively unknown. Despite such a rise, it has also meant that people have been coming forward with new ways in which to improve their mental health and help those struggling aroundthem. You will be aware of how eating a balanced diet, exercising regularly, and sleeping enough can help tackle such problems, but there are some emerging tips you can try if you want to start feeling like your usual self again.

Take up yoga

The benefits of exercise are unparalleled in how they can help people improve their mood, due to the chemicals your brain releases that invoke feelings of content. Yet, people have picked out one exercise to calm anxieties and treat depressive symptoms: yoga. In fact, many scientists have found that regular practice has been shown to decrease stress in lots of people. This is because of the meditative aspect to it, which combines with the exercise component to induce a sense of relaxation.

Keep your brain active

It is easy when you feel down to disconnect from the world around you. This means you could feel as though your exercise routine is less appealing than usual. Although you should try and stick to it, there will be days when you can’t, but that doesn’t mean all hope is lost. In fact, keeping your brain active can release a similar amount of endorphins to exercise, which are essential chemicals in securing a happy mind. You can either play mind teasers from your handheld deviceor step outside and try the Escape Room Columbus to truly stimulate your brain.

Switch off

Some researchers have found the link between the rise of social media and mental health problems such as Anxiety, Anorexia, and Body Dysmorphia. This is particularly true for younger generations, many of whom have not seen a world without social media. In times like this, it is often best to switch off from the virtual world; as a parent of a young person, you can encourage days away from handheld devices where you can step outside into nature and reconnect with the natural world. Switching off is much easier said than done, so try building up to it by hiding your phone away for a few hours each day.

Bring the spa home

Forthousands of years, people have been reaping the benefits of spas, where steam and massages can help your body and mind relax. Yet, spending time in spas can be expensive, and not everybody can afford it. This doesn’t mean people should miss out on the benefits it can bring to their mental health, so you can take steps to invoke a spa in your own home. Splurging on scented candles, fluffy towels and aromatherapy body oils can revamp your bathroom, and your bedroom can encapsulate relaxation by having soft furnishings and welcoming lighting.

No Comments
Categories : New Media

Stepping into Wild Solitude with New Book Wild Awake

Posted by Matt Welsh 
· April 13, 2018 
· No Comments

“I had not met or interacted with a human being for weeks. I had just spent the night alone on a cloud-shrouded mountain. And now a fox and I looked intently at each other.…”

What is it like to spend time offline and on one’s own in nature? Vajragupta is a long term ordained Buddhist with the Triratna movement, and he has been walking into the wild on so-called ‘solitary retreats’ for twenty-five years, since he encountered Buddhist practice. In his newest book Wild Awake: Alone, Offline and Aware in Nature, he recounts how these ‘solitary retreats’ have changed him, how he fell in love with the places he stayed in and the creatures there. He reflects on how the outer world and his inner world began to speak more deeply to each other, how there were moments when the barrier between them seemed to dissolve away.

Subhadramati, author of Not About Being Good and a practising Buddhist in the same (Triratna) movement, comments:

“Vajragupta gives us a wonderful evocation of how to use solitude as a way of deepening our resonance with the natural world. But, even more than that, he shows us how this vivid aliveness to the world leads to ‘a quietening of the self’ which, paradoxically, leaves us ‘saturated with life’.”

In today’s busy world, we may have few chances to put technology down and surround ourselves with the living Earth. When we do, the experience we have can surprise us with its richness.

Vajragupta comments on what he hopes Wild Awake will achieve:

“I hope to encourage people who haven’t done solitary retreats to think about giving it a go. Many people, once they’ve had that taste of solitude, discover something really precious. Hopefully the story of how I developed my solitary retreats over twenty-five years will also be interesting to people who’ve done them. I’m also hoping the way I write about nature, the descriptive writing, will appeal to people who love nature.”

Sara Maitland, author of Gossip from the Forest and lecturer in Creative Writing at Lancaster University believes the book is indeed encouraging.

“This is a seriously beautiful book – beautiful writing about beautiful places – and a wise one too. With its practical good sense, lack of self-indulgence and purity of heart, it will encourage, ‘give courage to’, those who have longed for but have not dared to try out solitude in nature, in wildness. It is grounded in authentic knowledge and experience. Get out there – but take Wild Awake with you.”

People who regularly reflect in solitude and nature may resonate with Vajragupta’s reflections as he stays in small cabins in England, Scotland, Wales and Spain. Readers who have never been out in nature on their own and would like to give it a try may find the A-Z guide on how to do solitary retreats at the back of Wild Awake helpful.

The book is now available from Windhorse Publications (an independent publishing house based in Cambridge, UK), which ships worldwide, or other online retailers and bookstores in the UK/Europe. It will appear in bookstores in the US and Canada this summer.

https://www.windhorsepublications.com/product/wild-awake-alone-offline-aware-nature-paperback/

  • by Giulietta M. Spudich (Windhorse Publications)

No Comments
Categories : Books, Guest Posts
Next Page »

Subscribe to our Newsletter and receive a free report on the hidden messages in the top 10 spiritual movies from the past year.

Email: 
Home
About
Contact

Categories

  • Books (271)
  • Exclusive Interviews (168)
  • Guest Posts (259)
  • Movies (194)
  • Music (26)
  • New Media (142)
  • Television (73)

Listen to our Podcast
and hear interviews
with leaders in the
spiritual entertainment industry:
Subscribe with iTunes
Podcast Feed

Copyright © 2018 - Spiritual Media Blog