Tuesday 10 November 2015

Angel Astrology 101 (Part 2)

Angel Astrology 101
If you have been reading my recent blog posts, you know I am working with angels more and more these days. Angels have sustained me through my cancer journey. Click here to read more.

Each chapter of Angel Astrology 101 starts with a chart that shows which areas of your life that angel can help you with.  
For example:
  • Archangel Chamuel helps with money matters and finding lost objects; 
     
  • Archangel Raguel helps us to hear the answers to our prayers; 
     
  • Archangel Sandalphon helps with creativity and creative projects; and so forth.
I find these charts particularly useful. Whatever problem or challenge you are facing, look for the appropriate Archangel in Angel Astrology 101, and ask for help from that angel.  

You may be familiar with some off the Archangels, such as Gabiel, Michael and Raphael.   Angel Astrology 101 can help you get to know less well-known Archangels.  

Doreen Virtue is well known for her work with angels, and teaming up with astrology Yasmin Bolan is an inspired idea.   





Monday 26 October 2015

Angel Astrology 101

Angel Astrology 101
At first, I thought Angel Astrology 101 was a useful resource.  But it's much more than that.

As I said in What Are Angels?, I never used to believe in angels.  But I know now they are real.

I don't know what they are, as I do not operate within a theistic system, (which means there is no "god" in my life) but they are a very positive influence.

Angel Astrology 101 explores the influence of 12 Archangels.

You can look up which angels are associated with your Sun, Moon and Rising Signs (Ascendant) as well as your Venus and Mars signs.

You can also learn about all of the Archangels listed in the book.

I work with the angel cards a lot now.  In addition to wisdom and guidance, they provide a lot of loving, healing energy.  The angels' energy is very beautiful.  The I Ching is often very clear, but also very cold.  The Tarot can be confusing.  But Angel Answers cards, in particular, are very clear and to the point.

The more you work with Archangel Oracle Cards, and read about Archangels, the more you gain guidance.  Problems and difficulties I have struggled with for years are starting to clear up.

Have fun with these.  Enjoy! 

Saturday 24 October 2015

Dian Killan, Connecting across Differences

Dian Killan, Connecting across Differences
NVC (Nonviolent Communication) trainer and author Dian Killan explains in the interview below how we can use NVC in daily life and to engage with diversity and social change.

How can we get our children to do what we want?  

How can we use NVC with neighbours, family and friends - and ourselves?  How can we apply it to larger social issues?   Dian gives practical examples.  Read below. 

This blog is part of the Blogging Carnival for Nonviolence 2015. Dian is the co-author of Connecting across Differences

Please share this blog post with your networks, and please leave your comments below.  Thanks. 

How, when and why did you first come across NVC and start to practice it?

I was a contributing writer for a local alternative paper and heard about this guy leading workings for adults with puppets. I thought that was pretty funny! I decided to go and write some kind of humorous article.

When I actually saw what Marshall Rosenberg (the creator of the NVC model) was doing, I immediately got how profound and challenging it is - NVC is game-changing, for people individually and for society as a whole. At the time, I was also working on a PhD so was reading a lot of work (on dialogic theory, which is all about power relations in society). Foucault talks about how insidious domination culture is, working on both a structural level ("power") and on the level of ideology or ideas (what he calls "knowledge").

I saw that what Marshall was teaching is a radical way to address this. When I say "radical", I'm using this word in two ways - true to its etymology (of getting to the root of things) and also in that this inherently challenges the status quo and current beliefs and systems.

As a scholar, journalist and social activist, I'd seen repeatedly how people wanted to change things and would fall back into old patterns (of power over, using force); in the last century, we had some powerful examples of what can happen when people break out of that paradigm - the independence movement in India, the Civil Rights movement in the US, and the breaking of Apartheid in South Africa and also, in some ways, the anti-war and gay rights movements in the US (thought not as consistently as I'd like). Yet overall, including everyday - when working with people, interacting with family and friends, and attempting social change, I think we most often fall back into what's familiar and, ironically, not especially effective in the long run.

We can get people do something via force, sometimes. We can get our way. And at what price? I see a direct relation between how we treat others and how treat ourselves.

There's a fascinating book I read years ago about British colonialism and how British practices and treatment of those colonized had a direct parallel to how people were treated in Britain, especially women and children. I also see the connection in the US, looking at US foreign policy and violence in the US. I am making broad strokes here and I do think there is a connection.

The NVC models offers an profound level of integrity in how we speak to ourselves (including our thoughts), how we speak to others, and our actions. Marshall was very influenced by Gandhi, which is why he called the model Nonviolent Communication - he saw it as a communication model based on Gandhi's practices of Nonviolence. Most people would think of language as an alternative to violence. Yet we all also know that words can be very hurtful. And it's our words and our thoughts--our judgements and enemy images of others - that ultimately lead to violence or, at least, that makes it acceptable somehow.

We as human beings are social creatures and naturally empathic. All the research is showing this now. So you actually need strong ideology and enemy images to make it okay to want to bomb or kill someone. NVC addresses violence - and peace-making, and compassion, on all these levels. I've been a CNVC trainer for nearly 10 years now and have studied extensively different models. I still am in awe of how profound this model is and what can happen for us as human beings when we are heard and hear others. All kinds of creativity and openness and good will and possibility emerges. It's so transformative, it can almost seem magical. In the end, it's the most need of all: to be heard. That's what Marshall ultimately taught people how to do.

BTW what's really funny about this story is that after thinking it funny that this guy was leading workshops with puppets, now I do too! It's very helpful sometimes when teaching and you're doing a role play, and to get concepts across. It's also very satisfying for me too that before Marshall retired, I was asked to lead a nine-day International Intensive Trainer (IIT) with him; being part of his training team really brought things full circle for me, after writing two different articles/interviews about him about a decade before. 

How did you come to write Connecting across Differences

Jane Connor, my friend and co-author, were both part of a year-long leadership training program in NVC, in the process of our becoming trainers. She was teaching NVC at SUNY in the psychology department and wanted materials that would speak to college students and really engage them, including around diversity issues. 

Having a background in writing and editing and also teaching third level at that time, and also having an interest in social change and diversity, I offered to help her with the project. Because it was originally intended in effect as a textbook, we included from the beginning both text and many exercises in the book, so in effect it's a combined book and work book. The book is now in its official second edition (there were actually two earlier editions before Puddle Dancer picked it up) and is available in German as well as English. It's also evolved over the years and now is focused on readers of all ages and stages of life, though I still think it's highly accessible  - in the way it's written - for young people too in the late teens and early 20s. We also hear consistently that it's the most comprehensive NVC book available - we cover different applications and aspects of the NVC practice. 
 
What types of differences can we connect across? Please give examples.

Wow - so many differences, every day! From who's going to take out the garbage and who will do the dishes and when, to do we want to have sex tonight or go out to see a movie, to stay in, to how do I get my kids to do their homework? Or that co-worker at work to pull his weight or reply to my emails? Or get my boss to give me a raise or the budget I need for a project? That's on the inter level and local level between people every day at work and at home.

Then there's the intra level - how do I talk to myself: what do I do if I haven't gotten my taxes done or paid my bills on time? Or not exercising as much as I want or not eating foods that support my well being? Or hundreds of other tasks/behaviors we want ourselves to pay attention to and attend to.

How do we talk to ourselves about that? I find the greatest level of violence occurs every day in how we talk to ourselves. It's heartbreaking - when you actually hear what people are saying to themselves, and how. I want to protect them - from themselves! And of course I can do that too - I think we all can. It's so part of our culture. It's endemic.

So how do we mediate internally, and resolve that part of us wants to lay in the hammock, and part of us thinks we should be cutting the lawn (or something else)? How do we do that with self-kindness and compassion? And on a larger/broader level, how do our political parties resolve differences? And states and nations? It's all connected. NVC offers practical transformative tools to address these differences, on multiple levels. 
 
Please give a couple of examples of how you have used NVC to connect with others.

My book, Urban Empathy: True Life Adventures of Compassion on the Streets of New York, gives numerous, actual examples of practicing NVC both with people I know and complete strangers, including in some tense situations.  There also are stories mixed as an examples in Connecting across Differences.

The most recent, dramatic example that inspired me was resolving an issue with my neighbours. We live in wood frame row houses in Brooklyn and share a wall. They'd gotten upset because my plumber had run a 1/4 copper pipe though a stud, which their contractor said was a load bearing (structural) wall.

I wanted them to have accurate information to I asked an engineer to come and look at the work. He explained to them that contractor had, in effect, given them misinformation - the stud is not load-bearing, it is used to attach sheet rock to the walls, and the pipe did not impact that use or the integrity of the wall, and running pipes this way through shared wall space is very common in NYC, given the space availability. My neighbours got triggered hearing this - and started saying, in an agitated way, "We're not stupid." I think, in effect, when they heard the engineer explain it, what he said made sense to them and they probably felt embarrassed... but the way it came out was in this agitated way.

As a side note, for context, I am of European/white background and they're of African-American/Black background, and based on other things I've heard them say, such as, "It's not right, just because you have lighter skin," that this larger social-economic dynamic was also impacting how things were being seen. Anyway, when they became irritated in this way, the engineer started disagreeing with them, saying, "No, I didn't say that you're stupid... I just said that this pipe..." and started repeating himself. This of course just escalated things.

So I jumped in and said to the engineer, "Hold on for a second, I just want to see if I'm hearing what they're saying" and then made some “empathy guesses”. In NVC, an “empathy guess” is basically your extending yourself to the other person and checking in about how they are feeling, and what they're needing, on a core level. The pipe going through a stud matters to them, of course, because they care about the safety and integrity of their home. And that issue has been addressed. So clearly there were other needs at play.

The father was there and two of his daughters. After making a few guesses - such as that they're irritated because they want to be seen for their experience, which, didn't, by the way, fit exactly for them, one of them said pretty directly, "Well, your plumber should have talked to us about it first. You should have talked to us."  That made complete sense to me.

So I basically recapped that back to them, and then added what I was hearing as their core needs in this case: "OK you would have liked me to talk with you about it first - just out of consideration and respect."  They responded very strongly in the positive to that.  "Yes, because it's our house - it's our wall too!" Once I made that guess, and empathised a bit more, everything shifted. The daughter who was most agitated visibly relaxed.

And I honestly told them that I agreed with them - that I am wishing that I or the plumber had spoken with them, and that I regretted that. I then also reminded them that I was overwhelmed at that time (after buying the house, I discovered the whole roof, and roof beams, were rotten - and the back of the house as well - and was dealing with all this major renovation), and other issues, like a contractor not finishing work I'd contracted with him to do, etc. That all made sense to them - it matched their experience of what was happening at the time. I then made a clear agreement moving forward: that if ever again I did work on my house that in any way might impact theirs, that I would discuss it with them first. They were happy with that plan. This conversation basically resolved the whole situation.

By the way, the reason I could respond in this way is because I was also practicing self-empathy during the conversation - focused internally on my own feelings and needs, so I could respond in the connected an conscious way that I did. When practicing NVC, we are simultaneously listening to ourselves and to others. It's both that create connection. 

What are your plans for the future? 

I'll be leading a two-day program in Germany - in English - in December.  Click here for info and to book.   

An event that I am VERY excited about and not yet up on the site is an international NVC women's retreat that I'm planning in Ireland for March 2017. 

For more details of Dian's upcoming events, see http://workcollaboratively.com/upcoming-events/

Please share this blog post with your networks, and please leave your comments below.  Thanks. 

  

Thursday 22 October 2015

8 Books about Nonviolent Communication (NVC)

I have listed below some books about Nonviolent Communication (NVC).  Many of these feature in the Blogging Carnival for Nonviolence 2015

If you haven't already, you need to add these to your reading list. Learn practical ways to connect with your own feelings and needs - and those of others - to bring about positive change.  Enjoy! 

Please share this blog post with your networks.  Thanks. 


Wednesday 21 October 2015

Eat by Choice, Not by Habit - Sylvia Haskvitz

Sylvia Haskvitz, Eat by Choice, Not by Habit

Listen below for my interview with Sylvia Haskvitz, author of Eat by Choice, Not by Habit

Most of us don't think about food and eating in the context of Nonviolent Communication (NVC).  But, as Haskvitz explains, the way we talk to ourselves around food and eating has an effect on our lives.

This blog post is part of the Blogging Carnival for Nonviolence.

Please share this blog post with your networks, and please leave your comments below.  Thanks. 



Sylvia will be leading a three-day workshop on Eat by Choice, Not by Habit, in England on December 3rd-6th.  Click here for details and to book




Monday 19 October 2015

Subhadramati: A Flock of Wild Geese

Subhadramati
This post by Subhadramati, a member of the Triratna Buddhist Order based at the London Buddhist Centre, explores why nonviolence is a cornerstone of Buddhist practice.  This is excerpted from her book Not about Being Good.  

This blog post is part of the Blogging Carnival for Nonviolence.   

Please share this with your networks, and please leave your comments below.  Thanks.   

On our last winter retreat, a woman told me about a moment of realization. She began by saying she’d never been able to understand why Triratna Buddhism emphasizes vegetarianism. She had been adamant that she was not going to become a vegetarian in order to be a ‘good Buddhist’, and of course she could reel off examples of eminent Buddhists who are not vegetarian.  
Not about Being Good

But then, in meditation, she had a spontaneous vision of a flock of wild geese flying overhead. They were so beautiful and so free. It suddenly seemed appalling to diminish such freedom and beauty by shutting those creatures in a cage, then killing them and eating their flesh.
 


Simultaneously she realized that in some way the geese were part of her, and she was part of them. She said, 'I knew that to hurt them would be to hurt myself'. I can still remember the radiance of her expression as she spoke. She had had a glimpse of the deeper truth that the practice of vegetarianism is trying to point to, the truth of the connectedness of all.



It was a concrete experience of the fact that, the more you resonate 


with other living beings as living beings, the more you’ll become unable 


to harm them. It will be more natural to help them, and, in doing so, 


you yourself will realize your humanity more deeply.  


 

However, if, through a lack of this resonance, you negate the lives 


of others, you will negate your own humanity – as do certain of the 


characters in Martin Amis’s, God’s Dice. The hero of the story is Bujak, 


who is endowed with super-human physical strength. He arrives home 


to find his mother, daughter, and granddaughter all brutally murdered – 


and the two murderers still on the premises. He could easily kill them 


but doesn’t. ‘I had no wish to add to what I found’, he says. 





'I saw that they weren’t human beings at all. They had no idea what 


human life was. No idea!  Terrible mutations, a disgrace to their 


human moulding.' 
 
 
Here the murderers, by their violent act, have absolutely negated the 


solidarity of one human being – as a human being – with another. 





They have become, in Bujak’s term, ‘mutations’ – although in human 


form – because they are so destitute of the fellow feeling that is part of 


the nature of being human that they have deprived their fellow human 


beings of the thing that was most precious to them – their very lives. 



 
 
Killing may be the most extreme form of violence. But violence can be 


defined as ‘doing to another person, by whatever means, what he 


does not want us to do to him’.  This means you are violent every time 


you try to assert yourself at the expense of another.  



 

The Oxford English Dictionary tells us that being ‘inhuman’ is being 

‘destitute of natural kindness’.  Being truly human then must consist 


in being able to recognize and act from that sense of natural kindness, 


that sense of solidarity between one living being and another. 


That means that every time you breach that solidarity, you are going 


against something that is natural to human nature. You are in fact 


negating your own humanity. In contrast, becoming more deeply 


human means learning to affirm others. You’ll tend to affirm others 


where you have an imaginative identification with them, and you’ll 


tend to negate others where you lack that.

 

Saturday 17 October 2015

Ike Lasater - From Conflict to Connection

Ike Lasater, from Conflict to Connection
Listen here for my interview with Ike Lasater.

This blog post is part of the Blogging Carnival for Nonviolence.

Ike is the co-author of From Conflict to Connection and one of the founders of the Mediate Your Life training company.  As an NVC (Nonviolent Communication) trainer, he has worked internationallly in places as far afield as Afghanistan and Pakistan, as well as in the U.S.A.

I found this interview particularly inspiring as he gives practical examples of how to move from conflict to connection.  This truly touched my heart.

Ike uses some intellectual terms with which not everyone will be familiar.  But please keep listening!  Please share this with your networks and leave your comments below. 

Go here to listen to this interview.  


Click here for the Mediate Your Life Training Manual

Click here for more blogs from the Blogging Carnival for Nonviolence.


Wednesday 7 October 2015

Positive EFT Tapping with Ferris J

My understanding is that we need to tap on the problems and difficulties FIRST.  Tap on what is getting in the way.  Once we have reduced the intensity on the negatives, then we can do positive tapping.

Below is a great video on how to do positive tapping for joy and joyful energy.  Enjoy!

For more about EFT, click here for Relaxation and Stress Release.  

Please share this with your networks and please leave your comments below.  Thanks.  


Thursday 27 August 2015

Are You the Number One Hater?


Actually, I disagree with one thing this article on Overcoming Fear and Self-Doubt says, although it is a great article.  It says, nobody is rooting for you to fail”. There is always going to be somebody who is rooting for you to fail. There are always haters. 

 Do you allow fear of other  people's criticism to stop you from pursuing your goals?  

You may be the Number One Hater. You may be the person who is rooting for your failure the most. Why? Because your success will require you to change your beliefs about who you really are – what Buddhists call your “fixed self-view”. In order to succeed, you will need to change.

But failure is a habit. So is success. You can develop successful habits.


For lots more great articles, click here to join The Key to Everything.   It's free!  

Monday 24 August 2015

10 Things I Love to Do to Brighten up My Day

I recently saw this great blog post:  10 Things I Love to Do to Brighten up My Day.

What do you do to brighten up your day?  Plese add your thoughts below.

And have a great day!


Thursday 13 August 2015

How Many Positive Words of Encouragement Can You List?

Saw this great article recently:  What If Happiness Is a Skill

How many positive words of encouragement - for yourself and others - can you come up with?  Please list them below. 

Some of my favourite encouraging phrases are:  "You can do it", "You are doing it" and "You have done it"! 

Please share this with your networks.  Thanks! 

Wednesday 1 April 2015

How to Beat Exam Stress

Feeling stressed about your forthcoming exams? Listen below.  



Want help in preparing to take your exams?
 
For more information on how you can learn to relax and handle your stress better, and for more in this audio series on How to Get Results, click here.  

Click here for help with relaxation and stress release.  




 

Monday 30 March 2015

The Magic of Your Mind

Listen below for a free audio.  

If you have ever watched the magician and illusionist Derren Brown in action, you know that his work demonstrates the power of the human mind.

The mind is incredibly powerful.  We can choose the thoughts and images that inhabit our minds.

This is about taking control of your life.  Listen below for more.




Click here for my Personalized Healing Journeys.

Click here to download The Power of Affirmations.

Click here for my audio on How to Get Results.  

Click here to download this and other audios in this series by Zhana.  


Saturday 28 February 2015

Spock Is Dead

Spock is dead, and my heart is breaking. 

Leonard Nimoy, the actor who played Spock in Star Trek the original series and the movies derived from it, died yesterday aged 83. 

I remember Star Trek being on TV when I was a young child.  At the time, I had a mild interest in the series because my father and sister watched it avidly every week.  Later on, I became a true fan.  Spock was always my favourite.

Star Trek was an essential part of my youth.  My father always called me "Spock" because he said my mind was so logical.  Spock was the one who taught us to "live long and prosper" and, later, that "the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few and the one" - and vice versa.  His death in Star Trek II:  The Wrath of Khan is one of the most moving scenes in the entire Star Trek franchise.  Blog continues below. 



Star Trek was known for breaking taboos about race and the portrayal of people of colour on TV, and for challenging racial stereotypes.  This was partly because of the casting of African American actress Nichelle Nichols as Uhura (the intergalactic receptionist, but still an officer).  The Uhura character was updated in the reboot. 

In Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, his friends travel across the galaxy to recover his essence, i.e. his soul.

Star Trek IV:  The Journey Home is and shall always be my favourite Star Trek film.  Directed by Leonard Nimoy, IV is the funniest of all the Star Trek films.  And, of course, Nimoy was the only actor from the original series to appear in the reboot. 

Star Trek is still referenced today in TV shows such as The Big Bang Theory, in which Nimoy (or at least his voice) made a guest appearance.

Spock, you are loved and you will be missed.  Live long and prosper. 




Tuesday 24 February 2015

Paul McKenna: Change Your Life in Seven Days

I can write you an individual, personalized process to help you achieve your goals, similar to this one but unique to you.  Click here for details.


To be successful, you need to have a success mindset.  Click on the video above for more. 

This is a great audio from hypnotist Paul McKenna to help you improve your self-image and build your personal power.  I have listened to it several times and I strongly recommend it.  Enjoy!


Wednesday 4 February 2015

How to Get Results Part 2: Detox Your Life

Detox Your Life
Listen below for a free audio.  

If you are not getting the results you want, you need to change your thoughts, feelings and emotions. 
 
If you are focusing on problems rather than solutions, you need to detox your life. You may need to clear the physical clutter from your home, your car or your office. You almost certainly need to detoxify your patterns of thought and behaviour.  

Listen below for more.  
Detox Your Life





 

Wednesday 28 January 2015

How to Get Results

Successful People Have Successful Habits
Listen below for a free audio on How to Get Results.  

You are getting results all the time. The results you are getting may or may not be the results you want. 

In order to achieve the results you want, you need to take all different parts of yourself into account, to motivate yourself in a way that is holistic.

Listen below for more.   


 








Wednesday 21 January 2015

How to Change Old Habits

How can we change our behaviours?  And how can we change our mental habits?  We can interrupt our negative habits. 

Listen here to this short audio on How to Change Old Habits.

You may also want to listen to my audio on How to Get the Results You Want.  

Click here for The Power of Affirmations.  When you focus your mind, you focus the power of the universe,. 

Wishing you every success!   



Monday 5 January 2015

How to Transform Your Relationships

If you have read my blogs or my ebooks, you know I am passionate about Nonviolent Communication.  NVC really has the power to transform our communication and our relationships.

Marshall Rosenberg, author of Nonviolent Communication, has referred to NVC as "making life more wonderful". 

Whether you are single, in a couple, a parent, an employee, an employer, or a business owner, you can use NVC to make your life more wonderful.  

I am delighted and privileged to be leading a session of the NVC Meetup group on Monday the 12th of January.  Click here for details.  I hope you can join us. 

For more about how to use NVC to transform your relationships, click here for my ebook The Key to EverythingClick here for Affirmations for Parents.