New Dimensions

This dialogue with the daughters of Alan Watts takes a deep dive into the colorful and controversial life of this late philosopher and popularizer of Zen Buddhism and other Eastern philosophies. Through his collected letters they show how he was always learning something new, how he was clear that wisdom is not a static thing and his views will always be under revision.Tags: Alan Watts, Joan Watts, Anne Watts, Joan & Anne Watts, Joan and Anne Watts, Christmas Humphreys, Toby Humphreys) Buddhist Society of London, LSD, genetic code, Mandalas, Native Americans, Buddhist term tathāgata, psychedelics, History, Philosophy, Psychology

Kaufman grew up in the Bronx, the Jewish son of a Holocaust survivor. He recounts a most poignant tale of his trek to follow the footsteps of his mother’s escape from the Nazis. His two traveling companions are inexplicably sons of Nazis. With disarming candidness, he shares his story of sinking into alcoholism and his road to sobriety and writing.Tags: Alan Kaufman, Holocaust, Israel, alcoholism, addiction, Jim Brodey, Holocaust survivor, Second Generation Writers, Jewish, Jews, poetry, 12 step program, recovery, sobriety, History, Writing, Alcoholism, Personal transformation

Ora Nadrich shares a series of fundamental and effective questions we can ask ourselves when we pay attention to our negative thoughts. Her “Says Who!” Method can transform fear-based and worried thoughts into thoughts that serve our well-being and support positive action. Tags: Ora Nadrich, Jungian analysis, fear-based thoughts, worry, negative thoughts, neural pathways, busyness, monkey mind, isolation, beliefs, mindfulness, thoughts as a cheering squad, road rage, Pollyanna, baby steps, Spirituality,Personal Transformation, Self Help, Psychology, Relationship

This dialogue is filled with practical wisdom to support us in growing calmness and well-being so we may be more effective and resilient in our lives. Hanson assures us that the core of our being is “calm strength.” It is the background of who we are; it is a fundamental quality, the “wallpaper of our mind.”Tags: MP3, Rick Hanson, resilience, resilient, neuropsychology, resistance, persistence, developmental psychology, calmness, calm, Foundations of Well-Being, desire, neuroscience, brain, motivation, liking something, wanting something, brain science, motivational brain circuit, dopamine, neurochemicals, empathy, mirror neurons, empathic, generosity, Forrest Hanson, Health & Healing, Psychology, Science, Personal Transformation, Self Help

Sometimes our activity for positive change in the world makes a visible leap and other times the impact of our work takes a seemingly long time to show any results. As Loeb points out, “You draw hope from the knowledge that whatever it is that you do, something unexpected is going to happen. And, it often happens at the periphery of your vision.”Tags: Paul Rogat Loeb, Paul Loeb, Vaclav Havel, Velvet Revolution, Keystone Pipeline, Rosa Parks, Raymond Parks, Dr. Benjamin Spock, Anti-Nuclear Proliferation, grassroots movements, Clarence Jordan, Koinonia Farm, Tiananmen Square, Tank man, Tolstoy, David Roberts, Grist Magazine, Climate Change, hope, optimism, renewable energy, Jay Inslee, Governor of Washington State, Ruth Bader Ginsberg, Dan Savage, Gay Rights Movement, getting out the vote, Walter Wink, Jesus and Alinsky, Bible stories, Turn the other cheek, nonviolent resistance, minimum wage, bike lanes, Cuiritiba Brazil, Bill McKibben, Peace/Nonviolence

Shakti, the feminine lifeforce energy that marries with our well-honed masculine skills, can fuel our creative endeavors.Our inner resources are like a tree, needing to be grounded like roots, giving and receiving love from the heart like the trunk of the tree. Connecting with spirit can be akin to the branches reaching upwards.  Tags: Lisa Schrader, sacred feminine, Shakti, tree of life, soul work, inner wisdom, showing up, masculine energy, beauty, pleasure, stress, sexuality, tantra, shame, resourced, self love, bisexuality, static masculine, static feminine, dynamic feminine, powerlessness, empowerment, oxytocin, Spirituality, Women's Studies, Personal Transformation, Meditation

As we deal with the many successes and challenges of life, Sluyter guides us in understanding the benefits of natural meditation and shares that tuning into our inner luminous silence is actually what we are at our deepest core level. He says that love is a lack of otherness and reminds us that fear and love cannot occupy the same place at the same time. Tags: Dean Sluyter, dharma, silence, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, luminous silence, emptiness, fear, addiction, anxiety, anger, Miles Davis, Rupert Spira, fear and hope, fear and love, karma yoga, grief, prisons, Vajrasattva practice, Aikido, silly walks, Personal Transformation, Self Help, Meditation, Buddhism, Death and Dying 

Octopuses are highly intelligent, show their cleverness in myriad ways, and love to play. Montgomery describes befriending several of them over a number of years and shares how they can make remarkable connections with individual people. This is a most fascinating dialogue about the meeting of two very different minds, human and octopus.Tags: Sy Montgomery, devilfish, Wilson Menashi, scuba diving, the Octopus Church in Mo’orea, octopus, Animals, Ecology/Nature/Environment, Science

Every day, it appears, the news about climate change is worse, as is the precarious balance of global politics. When it seems we are bent on destruction Bruce Lipton and Steve Bhaerman see our dire state as evidence of an evolutionary shift, as profound as the transformation of a caterpillar to a butterfly. Bruce Lipton, Ph.D. is an internationally recognized cellular and stem cell biologist and the recipient of the 2009 Goi Peace Award. He is an internationally recognized leader in bridging science and spirit. Steve Bhaerman is an author, humorist, and workshop leader. He’s also known as Swami Beyondananda, the “Cosmic Comic.” Tags: Bruce Lipton, Steve Bhaerman, Swami Beyondananda, Biology, Caterpillar, Butterfly, Imaginal Cells, Love, Fractal Mathematics, America, Baboons, Bonobos, Iain Couzin, Darwin, Social Change, Politics, Ecology, Nature, Environment, Global Culture, Science

Millions of people have reported having a dream or intuition that later came true. There is compelling data  from a growing mountain of research and fascinating theories about what it all means. Collectively, Dossey sees this information as one more clue that we’re all connected, each of us part of a great continuum that extends beyond space and time.Tags: Larry Dossey, ESP, premonition, consciousness, remote viewing, J. B. Rhine, 9/11 stories, John William Dulnne, David Bohm, Dreams, Health & Healing, Intuition, Psychic, Parapsychology, Paranormal, Science, Spirituality