New Dimensions

Diana Raab is an expert in journaling. She encourages each of us to make it part of our daily lives. Journaling can clear your mind, improve your mental status, and can help you find your joy. She shares some very specific suggestions about how to write poetry. Raab is an advocate of the healing power of writing and teaches nation-wide workshops and in the UCLA Extension Writers’ Program. She’s an award-winning memoirist and poet. She is the author of many books including Healing with Words: A Writer's Cancer Journey (Loving Healing Press 2010), Regina’s Closet: Finding My Grandmother’s Secret Journal (Beaufort Books 2007), Writers and Their Notebooks (editor) (University of South Carolina Press 2010), Writers on the Edge: 22 Writers Speak About Addiction and Dependency (co-editor with James Brown) (Modern History Press 2012), Writing for Bliss: A Seven-Step Plan for Telling Your Story and Transforming Your Life (Loving Healing Press 2017).Interview Date: 3/22/2012.  Tags: Diana Raab, addictions, depression, journal, journaling, suicide, poetry, Personal Growth, Religion, Self-Help, Spirituality, Work / Livelihood

In working with people in the helping professions who are most in danger of burnout or traumatic stress, Wicks has made many discoveries on how we can live our fleeting days with meaning, peace, compassion, and contentment. His reflections include many unforgettable stories that will live in your heart for years to come.  Robert J. Wicks, Ph.D. is a clinical psychologist and serves as a professor in the graduate programs in pastoral counseling at Loyola University, Maryland.  In 1994, he was responsible for the psychological debriefing of relief workers evacuated from Rwanda during their bloody civil war. In 2006, he delivered a presentation on self-care to health care professionals responsible for Iraqi war veterans with multiple amputations and severe head injuries at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland and Walter Reed Army Hospital. He's the author of many books including Riding the Dragon: 10 Lessons for Inner Strength in Challenging Times (Sorin Books 2012), Bounce: Living the Resilient Life (Oxford University Press 2009). Prayerfulness: Awakening to the Fullness of Life (Sorin Books 2009) and Streams of Contentment: Lessons I Learned on My Uncle's Farm (Sorin Books 2011)Interview Date: 11/3/2011  Tags: Robert J. Wicks, Robert Wicks, Amish, 3 calls, self-understanding, pruning, transformation, surrendering, surrender, signature strengths, ordinariness, Anam Cara, joy, wonder, tyranny of hope, Thomas Merton, Fr. Flavian Burns, faithfulness, Henri Nouwen, self-care protocol, silence, reliance, Philosophy, Spirituality, Self Help, Psychology, Personal Transformation

Ghareman describes the dilemma of women today who are especially culturally rewarded to say yes to most every request made of them. Most of us have dozens of stories about how we self-sabotage ourselves instead of building a more balanced life.. How can we say a soft but effective no? What are some skillful ways for us to move from stress to contentment? What is true frugality?  Azarm Gharman, Ph.D. is a licensed clinical psychologist, and holds advanced degrees in chemistry and business administration, and has conducted many professional training workshops. She is the author of Longing for a Land: A Persian Woman’s Story of Individuation (Mazda Connections 2005) and Six Life Secrets of Content Women: A Guide for Emotional Self-Care (Mazda Connections 2010)Interview Date: 6/7/2011  Tags: Azarm Ghareman, frugal, frugality, Iran, Persia, Self-care, self care, time, wellness, inner critic, archetypes, witch, fairygodmother, fairy godmother, gratitude, grief, mourning, emotional, first aid, Womens' Studies, Personal Transformation, Psychology, Self Help

Huebl describes two competencies that can improve the art of living. The first one is silence so we may know ourselves more intimately. The second one is movement: voluntarily letting go of the old version of ourselves and moving with the ever changing flow of life. This leads to a highly innovative and creative life. Thomas Huebl is a spiritual teacher and workshop presenter who has dedicated his life to the task of exploring consciousness and supporting people worldwide in this exploration. He founded The Celebrate Life Festival and The Academy of Inner Science. He resides in Germany. He is the author of The Power of We: Awakening in the Relational Field (CD) (Sounds True 2014)Interview Date: 4/1/2012  Tags: Thomas Hübl, Thomas Huebl, transparent communication, competent perception, silence, movement, symptoms of separation, spiritual competency, spiritual intelligence, inner science, education, competency of stillness, competency of movement, intuition, collective patterns of consciousness, consciousness, inner, intelligence, Philosophy, Education, Spirituality, Personal Transformation

Is time speeding up? It seems so as we fill our lives with so many “labor saving” devices. The 21st century mantra could very well be: There isn’t enough time. Here we explore how we can free ourselves from the tyranny of time, as we step out of the fast lane on to the off ramp, in order to enjoy a saner and more balanced relationship with time. Lama Surya Das, a renowned Western Buddhist meditation teacher and scholar, teaches and lectures around the world, conducting dozens of meditation retreats and workshops each year. He is the founder and spiritual director of the Dzogchen Foundation and founder of the Western Buddhist Teachers Network. He is the author of many books, including Awakening the Buddha Within (Broadway 1997), Buddha Is as Buddha Does (HarperOne 2008) and Buddha Standard Time: Awakening To the Infinite Possibilities of Now (HarperOne 2011)Interview Date: 6/20/2011Tags: Lama Surya Das, time, Dzogchen, nowness, stress busters, artificial time, natural time, linear time, awareness, letting go, meditation, mindfulness, mindful prayer, technology, techno-addiction, full-connection, meditation, cyclical time, perception, presencing, Buddhism, Spirituality

It is Norberg's experience that energetic patterns are established by the primary inhabitants of a house and that the houses themselves seem to have contracts to maintain these patterns. Part of his work is to renegotiate contracts with our homesas well as to clear out negative energies. He is the author of Healing Houses: My Work as a Psychic House Cleaner (North Mountain Publishing 2010)Tags: Sheldon Norberg, Academy of Intuition, energy patterns, five elemental washes, ghosts, medicine, Feng Shui, negative, psychic energy patterns, Parapsychology, Self Help

The medical choices we have regarding our health are multitudinous. Three main choices are Western, Eastern, Natural medicine. So how do we wade through the variety of options and how might they work together? Elson Haas, MD is dedicated to empowering each of us with the knowledge and resources we need to make the best choices for our health.Elson Haas, M.D. is an integrative medicine practitioner with more than four decades of experience. He’s the Founder and Director of Haas Health Online and the Preventative Medical Center of Marin (PMCM). He is the author of: Staying Healthy with the Seasons (Celestial Arts 2003), Staying Healthy Shopper’s Guide (Celestial Arts, 1999), The False Fat Diet: The Revolutionary 21-Day Program for Losing the Weight You Think Is Fat  (Ballantine, 2000), The Detox Diet, Third Edition: The Definitive Guide for Lifelong Vitality with Recipes, Menus and Detox Plans (Ten Speed Press 2012) and Staying Healthy with Nutrition: The Complete Guide to Diet and Nutritional Medicine (revised) (Celestial Arts 2006) and Staying Healthy with NEW Medicine: Integrating Natural, Eastern and Western Approaches for Optimal Health (Elson Haas 2016).Tags: Elson Haas, prescription drugs, exercise, Natural Medicine, Eastern Medicine, Western Medicine, insulin, thyroid, hormones, surgery, pain, Ken Pelletier, epigenetics, sleep, nutrition, regular exercise, managing stress, quality sleep, healthy attitude, Mediterranean diet, detoxification, genetic disorders, immune disorders, germs, inflammation, macrobiotics, vegan diets, vegetarian diet, Health & Healing

Every living system goes through a life cycle: birth, creativity, flowering, harvesting, and then death. Wheatley points out that we are at the end of a cycle and she warns us, “It’s important that we understand where we are in the pattern of collapse and not to throw up our hands in despair . . .but to understand, now that this is happening, who do I choose to be?” Her 's books include: Leadership and the New Science  (Berrett-Kohler 1998), Perseverance (Berrett-Kohler 2010),Turning To One Another: Simple Conversations to Restore Hope in the Future (Berrett-Kohler 2009), So Far from Home: Lost and Found In Our Brave New World (Barrett-Kohler 2012) and Who Do We Choose To Be: Facing Reality, Claiming Leadership, Restoring Sanity (Berrett-Kohler 2017)Tags: Margaret J. Wheatley, Meg Wheatley, Sir John Glubb, materialism, consumerism, General Gordon R. Sullivan, After action review, compassion, Joanna Macy, Shambhala warriors, activistm, Theodore Roosevelt, Order of the Sacred Earth, Chogyam Trungpa, John Daido Loori Zen Roshi, General William T. Sherman, Dalai Lama, Vaclav Havel, hope, Community, Community, Meditation, Philosophy, Buddhism, Social Change/Politics

Jennings is both a Buddhist practitioner and a psychologist. Here she talks about when it’s appropriate to bring our psychological struggles to our Buddhist teacher and when it is appropriate to bring them to a therapist, and the general differences between them. She also reveals the importance of the Buddhist concept of “friendly curiosity.” Her books include Mixing Minds: The Power of Relationship in Psychoanalysis and Buddhism (Wisdom Publications 2011) and To Heal a Wounded Heart: The Transformative Power of Buddhism and Psychotherapy in Action (Shambhala 2017)Tags: Pilar Jennings, psychotherapy, Tibetan Sakya practice, enlightenment, friendly curiosity, 9/11 New York, Muir woods, nature, mother, Kisa Gotami, Buddhism, Community, Meditation, Personal Transformation, Philosophy, Psychology, Religion

What we eat, drink, breathe, our stress levels, our use of pharmaceuticals, our interaction with the immediate physical and social environment are all essential factors in genetic expression. Here Pelletier describes epigenesis as the new science that focuses on the changes we make in our lifestyle that can make a difference in the expression of our genes. He is the author of many books including Mind as Healer, Mind as Slayer: A Holistic Approach to Preventing Stress Disorders (Dell Publishing 1977) and Change Your Genes Change Your Life: Creating Optimal Health with the New Science of Epigenetics (Origin Press 2018)Tags: Kenneth Pelletier, Human Genome Project, epigenetics, disease management industry, health enhancement system, individualized medicine, diet, intestinal tract biochemistry, biomic chemistry, genetic profile, complete blood chemistry, biome test, intestinal test, 23andMe, health assays, Arivale, Dr. Leroy Hood, DNAFit, Thorne nutraceutical, nutrigenomics, Mediterranean diet, stress, exercise, interval training, telomere, Health & Healing