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Fire It UP with CJ

So you’re not a monk, but you still want to live a spiritual life? Then Fire it UP with CJ is the place to go! Yep, no shaved heads or orange garments needed to stay grounded, expand your awareness and be inspired to live your best life. Every week CJ interviews some of the most provocative trailblazers in the fields of spirituality, environment, relationships, and parenting. Gandhi had it right when he said change comes from the inside out. Open your mind, open your heart, and make the world a better place just because you’re in it. - See more at: http://www.fireitupwithcj.com/about/#sthash.CNmwzNt0.dpuf
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Aug 15, 2016

A new era can began when a critical number of people change their perceptions and behavior.  Jean Shinoda Bolen and I will talk about the power of woman’s circles and how the sacred circle can bring strength and energy to feed activism and fuel change.  If you can’t make the live show this Wed then you can get the MP3 published a few days after by subscribing to the show or following the Fire it UP with CJ page on Faceboo

 SHOW HIGHLIGHTS

  • Link to Segment 1 The Goddess in Everywomen: What is the inner Goddess that you most resonate with? Jean Shinoda Bolen discusses how knowing your Goddess archetype can help keep you on your life path and open up personal growth areas.
  • Link to Segment 2 Energizing the Women movement: Is the women’s movement dead?  What are the successes we’ve had to-date? How could women circles energize the women’s movement?

BLOG POST FROM OUR GUEST

Never doubt that small groups of committed women can change the world:
we did before, we can do it again! — Jean Shinoda Bolen

 CREATIVE ACTS OF EXPRESSION—CATALYZED IN CIRCLES BY JEAN SHINODA BOLEN, M.D.

I know, as so many of us who are fortunate to be in one know, how supportive a sacred circle can be–as an incubator-womb space in which the courage to be authentically ourselves leads to creative acts of expression. This may include what is usually meant by expressive arts—writing, painting, sculpture, dance, theater, films—or political and personal activism, transforming relationships to others, or changing institutions. Inevitably, perhaps because experiences of the sacred are so deep and deeply personal, creative acts of expression are expressions of awakening that begin with trusting our own feelings and perceptions, of realizing it is up to us to be real and act on the premise that what matters to us, really matters. This is soul knowledge that becomes soul work when we take steps to bring what we know into our personal world and into the world.  At times of crisis, what we do — or not, can tilt a situation in either direction.

In the silence of undirected inner reflection, prayer, or meditation, which is an element in this kind of a circle, we tap into a center in ourselves that is also at the center of the circle. In Jung’s psychology, this is the archetype of meaning, the Self.  By meeting as a circle of women, we invite the sacred feminine to come into our midst. This form is archetypal. It connects us to suppressed sources of women’s spiritual power, much as an aquifer lies below the surface until it is tapped into, bubbles up and flows. We tap into an awareness that goes back in time to when divinity was worshipped in many forms, as female, as the Great Mother, Gaia. In the last third of the twentieth century, Merlin Stone’s When God was a Woman got archeological support from Marija Gimbutas and other archeologists who literally dug up evidence.   Scrolls that had been hidden and preserved by the dryness in Egyptian caves near Nag Hammadi, were found in this same period. These became known as the Gnostic Gospels through Elaine Pagels. These early Christian writings were rich in metaphor and included Sophia, the Sacred Feminine.  Gnostic churches were egalitarian rather than hierarchal in form, leadership was shared: who did what—the sermon, communion, greeting newcomers, could be chosen by lot. Everyone was welcome. Women served in all roles. Once the Church at Rome had the power to condemn heresy, the Gnostic Christians were persecuted, its gospels destroyed. Our only knowledge of them came from the church fathers, which systematically had destroyed all previous copies of these gospels. This time, it was different. Circumstances had changed. Through the influence of feminism and the women’s movement, there now were women scholars in all fields including theology.

In the United States before the women’s movement, women did not define themselves; men did–using religion as authority. “Women’s spirituality” emerged after women spoke for themselves and about themselves. Only then, did we speak of what we experienced as sacred and what we knew to be spiritual information.  This is gnosis, intuitively felt soul knowledge, it is what we recognize in the marrow of our bones, what our heart recognizes as true for us—and from this insight, true for other humans and for the planet.  Sacred circles support trust in our own perceptions of divinity which can be felt as transcendent spirit or felt in embodied holy moments. This is empowering, especially for women who have been told that God is male, demands obedience, and that women since Eve are the source of evil, when her choice was knowledge of the difference between good and evil. Re-imaging God as other than and more than a male authority, will shake the foundation of patriarchy, which is historically based upon theology and hierarchy to justify having and using power over others. Monotheism has brought us fratricidal wars of religion in Europe during the Middle Ages as well as the current conflicts in the Middle East. Jew, Muslim, Christian — all descend from Abraham, and thus are brothers. Women’s spirituality is in conflict with monotheistic, Abrahamic beliefs based on words attributed to what prophetic men in ages past said God said.

Five women friends sitting around a round table began the women’s suffrage movement in 1848, an effort that took seven decades for women to achieve, until women got the right to vote in 1920. Once accomplished, it became a non-issue. Of course women vote! This is what success looks like. This same pattern is seen in the economic and social gains for women by women in the late 1960s and 70s. In consciousness-raising groups, women learned about being stereotyped and stifled. Speaking truth to power emerged as a ringing intention, done through demonstrations, conferences, marches, legal suits, and personal confrontations. The idea of equal rights spread.  Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique was a starting point. Others wrote articles and essays, many were published in Ms. Magazine or in anthologies of women’s writings. Women challenged the invisible assumptions of women’s inferiority and the right of men and male institutions to limit access to education, professions and occupations. The consequences of sexism and the idea of equality brought about a huge cultural change in the United States and influenced the world. That gains are taken for granted is a measure of success. Young women now assume that they have opportunities and rights that women never have had as a gender before, and still do not in many parts of the world. Just like the right to vote, once the perceptions and voices of a critical number of empowered women are heard, what was radical and opposed becomes the new normal.

When I wrote The Millionth Circle: How to Change Ourselves and The World as a guide to women’s circles in 1999, the mechanism through which women’s circles with a spiritual center could bring about an end to patriarchy was based upon theoretical biologist Rupert Sheldrake’s work on morphic fields and morphogenesis. The millionth circle like the allegorical hundredth monkey that inspired my title, was a metaphoric number. It was the final one to tip the scales, the one that added to all the rest formed a critical mass, after which a new idea or attitude or behavior becomes accepted. A recent example would be Global Warming, an idea that was resisted and even ridiculed, until almost overnight, a critical number of people accepted it. I was aware that it happened between the hardcover publication of Urgent Message From Mother: Gather the Women, Save the World in 2005 and the paperback edition in 2008. Also pivotal for me, was Malcolm Gladwell’s The Tipping Point based on geometrical progression, another way of explaining how evolutionary ideas spread. It’s how a virus spreads or a YouTube video goes viral. It’s like how a snowball starts as the size of a baseball, gathers snow and momentum and as it rolls downhill could become an avalanche. It is what I sense is happening:  there is momentum, circles form easier and easier, and the more there are, the easier it is and the less time it takes for more to form.

A circle with a spiritual center provides support for authentic acts of expression, to discern and commit to what I call your “assignment.” Mine is about writing and speaking and spreading the word about circles and assignments. The current vehicle for my message is  Like a Tree: How Women, Trees, and Tree People Can Save the Planet. I call upon mystical activists and Sacred Feminine feminists, the men and women I call “tree people” who feel deep connections to trees and the sacred world.

If you find yourself wanting to give back or make a difference and are drawn to the possibility, I suggest that you will recognize an assignment that is yours by three characteristics, by your answers to three questions that only you can answer: One: Is it meaningful — to you?  Two: Will it be fun? If it draws upon your skills and experience, calls on your creativity and if you are in the company of people who share your values and commitment –it will be fun. And three: Is it motivated by love?  In the first half of adult life, parenting can fit this description as can developing an innate talent that will require years of perseverance and discipline, or following a calling into a helping profession. Like Joseph Campbell’s “Follow your bliss.” it does not mean that this will be easy, or that you will be successful or that others will understand. It is however, living your personal myth, which we do through the choices we make. Heed the Goethe quote that begins, “Whatever you can do or dream you can do, begin it now!”

Once you make a heart commitment to take up an assignment or sacred mission, a trustworthy circle provides spiritual and emotional support. In circle, what is meaningful is important. Prayers are requested. Gratitude expressed. Often a candle is placed in the center. With or without awareness, the sacred feminine is represented by it. For this is a symbol of Hestia the Greek Goddess of the Hearth and Temple, who was present in the fire at the center of a round hearth; her fire was the source of light, warmth and nourishment.  In women’s circles such as these, we are catalysts, witnesses, and midwives for each other’s growth and path of individuation.

Meanwhile, the world is now in crisis—danger and opportunity exist side by side.  There are more than 6.7 billion of us on the planet, doubling since 1960, adding about 78 million every year. For all the concern about sustainability and global warming, left out of the solution is the need for reproductive rights for all women, and universal education that includes girls. Conflicts that could escalate into nuclear warfare continue, while political leaders posture and threaten each other. Conflict resolution knowledge and women are notably not brought to the table, at a time when growing numbers of us and weapons of mass destruction could make this beautiful planet uninhabitable. Demonstrations for democracy and social justice, a resurgence of feminism, research support that humans are born good and that meditation changes brain patterns, and at the quantum physics level, we are all one suggest the potential for evolutionary change. It depends upon what we do. It would be fair to say that whether matters will get better or much worse will be decided in our lifetime.

I take to heart, the Dalai Lama’s words at the Vancouver Peace conference in 2009, when he said that it is up to Western women to save the world. I’d expand “western” to mean everywoman anywhere who has been liberated by the women’s movement to define herself by the choices she makes. Western women are the beneficiaries of education, responsibilities, authority, opportunities, democracy, medical advances, and reproductive choice that women have never had in history. As members of the female gender, women respond to stress differently than men, and have empathic, collaborative and communication abilities that to contribute to decision making and conflict resolution. When women’s maternal concerns for their children extend to all children, when women have an equal say with men in making decisions at every level, when women’s ability to look after others and budget limited resources is valued, then peace and a sustainable world will be possible.

Never doubt that small groups of committed women can change the world: 
we did before, we can do it again!

With love and hope,
Jean Shinoda Bolen
(1943 words)

 

Article written for Women of Spirit and Faith anthology: Women, Spirituality and Transformative Leadership: Where Grace Meets Power. Edited by Kay Lindahl. Kathe Schaaf, Kathleen Hurty, Rev. Guo Cheen, publisher: Skylight Paths Publishing, a division of Longhill Partners, Inc.Woodstock, VT. Pubdate in 2011-2012. Copyright Jean Shinoda Bolen, 2011, jeanbolen@gmail.com (www.jeanbolen.com) Permission granted to share this with others.

 

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About our Guest

Jean Shinoda Bolen, M. D, is a psychiatrist, Jungian analyst, and an internationally known author and speaker. She is the author of The Tao of Psychology, Goddesses in Everywoman, Gods in Everyman, Ring of Power, Crossing to Avalon, Close to the Bone, The Millionth Circle, Goddesses in Older Women, Crones Don’t Whine, Urgent Message from Mother, and Like a Tree with over eighty foreign translations. She is a Distinguished Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and a former clinical professor of psychiatry at the University of California at San Francisco, a past board member of the Ms. Foundation for Women and the International Transpersonal Association. She was a recipient of the Institute for Health and Healing’s “Pioneers in Art, Science, and the Soul of Healing Award”, and is a Diplomate of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. She was in two acclaimed documentaries, the Academy-Award winning anti-nuclear proliferation film Women—For America, For the World, and the Canadian Film Board’s Goddess Remembered. The Millionth Circle Initiative (www.millionthcircle.org) was inspired by her book and led to her involvement at the UN. She is the initiator and the leading advocate for a UN 5th World Conference on Women (www.5wcw.org), which was supported by the Secretary General and the President of the General Assembly on March 8, 2012.

Jean Shinoda Bolen shares the power of woman’s circles & how the sacred circle can feed activism & fuel change.  Environmental | Inspirational | Motivational | Spiritual | Spirituality | Self-Improvement | Self-Help | Inspiration | Motivation

For More Info Visit: www.FireItUpWithCJ.com

 

Aug 5, 2016

Meditation doesn’t have to be silent.  Learn how to literally tap into your inner voice and answer the questions of Who am I? What is my purpose?  For one year Will Hewett sang in a stream of consciousness way for one hour a day.  He sang on planes when travelling. He sang in Australia, South Africa, and Nigeria during business trips.  He just SANG.  As he sang he discovered many things including a new relationships to his work-life balance.  Join vocata (voh-kah-tah) and find your project that will help you develop your capacity for self-expression, creativity, leadership, conscious participation and enjoyment.

SHOW HIGHLIGHTS:

1)  A simple way to inspire your Creativity: Learn how Will developed his daily singing practice and how he found a greater sense of his own creativity and spontaneity in his life. Listen to Part 1

2) Sign15- A simple 15 minute practice toward a more vibrant life:  How do you overcome your fears and commit to adding aliveness in your life and getting out of your habitual routines? Getting clear with “why” you are engaging in this practice?  Listen to Part 2.

3) Hear Will sing and transcend time: What personal lessons and insights Will Hewettgot from singing every day for 15 minutes?  Listen to Part 3

4) Finding your Song:  Start your own singing meditation practice right now!  No time like the present to change your life.   Listen to Part 4

ABOUT OUR GUEST:

 

Will Hewett is an organizational transformation consultant, executive coach, learning designer, vocalist and improviser. As consultant and practice leader with JMJ Associates, Hewett works with corporate clients around the world to raise their capacity to act inside complexity, and to bridge their deepest commitments with their daily work.

Will is an engaging speaker and workshop leader, offering groups an opportunity to step out of the hubbub of life and into a deeper connection with themselves and their world.

RESOURCES:

Will Hewett shares how to use song & stream of consciousness literally tap into your inner voice & answer tough questions such as Who Am I and What is My Purpose. | Spiritual | Spirituality | Meditation | Singing | Self-Improvement | Self-Help

For More Info Visit: www.FireItUpWithCJ.com

Aug 4, 2016

Are you feeling dazed and confused and in need of good advice?  Do you want people to “get you” at a soul level?  Join us as we talk about “What is a soul?” and more as our guest, Michelle Vickers, offers practical advice and shows us how you can bring back power and control in your life.

Show Highlights: 

Part 1: Who and where should you go for life advice?  What is the soul? Why is talking to your soul the best resource? What are your natural abilities that you came to express in your life according to your soul’s wisdom?  Listen to Part 1

Part 2:  Do you get yourself at a soul level? Michelle offers a real-life experience with what it feels like to connect to your own soul. What does your soul feel like? How can you make a soul connection with others?  Listen to Part 2

 Part 3: How can you connect to love, illumination, purity, truth, respect,etc. during your everyday experiences?  Let’s say you are about to go to a business meeting.  How would you tune into truth, movement, etc. during that meeting to be integrity with these higher values?  Listen to Part 3

Part 4: What does it mean to tune into your heart and soul?  How you could have 2000 soul mates? Listen to Part 4

 About our Guest: 

Michelle’s gifts offer you the opportunity to experience feeling the fullness of your Soul energy; free from any of your personal challenges or illusions. Michelle connects you directly to your Soul and then holds the “space” so you are able to nurture and develop your relationship on a physical level. Cultivating this relationship with your Soul brings you a deeper clarity and awareness of the powerful gifts and talents you have within you.Michelle has spent lifetimes cultivating a greater understanding of the Universe, how it works and why we are here. It is through her past experiences and dedication to personal change that allows her to offer others ancient knowledge on a Universal level explaining who we are and why we are here.Resources: 

  • Michelle’s website: www.michellevickers.com
  • Booking either private Soul Connections or 3 day Soul Awakening Intensives: www.michellevickers.com

 

Michelle Vickers, offers practical advice on “What is a soul?” and shows us how you can bring back power and control in your life. Inspiration | Inspirational | Motivational | Spiritual | Spirituality | Self-Improvement | Health | Love | Self-Help

For More Info Visit: www.FireItUpWithCJ.com

Jul 8, 2016

RADIO INTERVIEW ABOUT SUSTAINABLE FARMING

  • Learn what sustainable farming is and the damage done by big factory farms.
  • What are the hidden costs of factory farmers and prices you see at the grocery store?  What is the environmental impact of fertilizers and pesticides?
  • How can you make more educated choices when you are at the grocery store?  What do labels such as cruelty free and free range really mean?

MISSIE APRIL-  CO-OWNER OF LEARNING RUN GARDEN, A SUSTAINABLE FARM

Missie Aprill owns and operates a small family farm in Cape May County, NJ. She and her husband also own an award-winning public flower garden and replica colonial farm, called Leaming’s Run Gardens. Located on a historic site, the gardens cover over 20 acres of native woodlands and are home to one of the oldest whaler’s homes in the state, built in 1706. The gardens have been open to the public since 1978, and are maintained completely by Missie and her husband, Gregg.

Missie is past president of the South Jersey Shore chapter of Slow Food USA, and is an organic farmer and an open-hearth cook.

Missie April shares about slow food &sustainable farming & how your food decisions can help the planet.  Slow food is food that’s good for the people who grow it, good for the people who eat it & good for the planet | Environment | Health | Self-Help

For More Info Visit: www.FireItUpWithCJ.com

Jul 8, 2016

Jeffrey Marks, a spiritual medium and real-life Ghost buster, talks to 14 people of different religions, ages, and asks 52 questions to unlock the deeper possibilities inherent within people and to discover more about what it means to be a Soul.  Plus, hear his answers to really important questions about life after death.  Do you still have sex in Heaven?  Can you look like the 20 year old version of yourself?  Plus, we’ll find out all about Ghost busting.

Show Highlights: 

  • Segment 1:  How mediums do their thang?  How mediums work with clients that want to talk with those that have passed?
  • Segment 2: What happens when you die? How did Jeffrey Marks traverse territory that few mediums have explored?  What do you need to know about the afterlife that will allow you to live more fully today?
  • Segment 3: What are ghosts?  How do ghost explorers communicate and verify the presence of a ghost? Why don’t ghosts just cross over to the other side? Why are ghosts so gosh darn scary?
  • Segment 4: What are demons?  Why do they exist? Should we be scared of them?

About our Guest: 

Jeffrey A. Marks is a research and spiritual medium, paranormal investigator, and author of Your Magical Soul: How Science and Psychic Phenomena Paint a New Picture of the Self and Reality(winner of 2012 Nautilus Silver Book Award in Science & Cosmology and silver finalist for the 2012 IBPA Benjamin Franklin Book Award in Body, Mind & Spirit), and theThe Afterlife Interviews: Volume I. A Columbia Gorge native, Jeffrey is a compassionate voice for the spirits, and has connected for both individuals and groups in the Pacific Northwest. Starting from a left-brained perspective, Jeffrey’s explorations take him into the right-brain and deep into the Other Side and provide him with the insight to present knowledge with humble authenticity, making him a true Consciousness Explorer. He is also the co-host of the Internet talk radio show Explorers of Consciousness, a founding member of the Northwest Mediumship Association, past president of the Washington State Ghost Society, and is a dynamic educator and speaker on spiritual potential.

Jeffrey’s intent is unique among psychics and sets him apart: “My interest in being a psychic medium is not to use the ability to go out and do what other mediums are doing, or trying to duplicate them in hope of being John Edward or James Van Praagh or any of the others. I am using it to unlock the deeper possibilities inherent within people and to discover more about what it means to be a Soul. Yes, I can connect and pass messages and there’s incredible value in that (which I do a lot of the time), but I am also wishing to apply it to what I feel could answer the greater questions of life and consciousness. I am using the ability to learn more about what we are, what we are capable of, and hopefully reach a greater audience with it — in the hope of making the world a better place when I leave it than when I entered it.  I think, ultimately, that has the most value to me in the nature of this work.”

Resources: 

Jeffrey Marks, a spiritual medium and real-life Ghost buster, talks to 14 people about Life after Death | Inspirational | Spiritual | Spirituality | Religion | Mediums | Mediumship | Self-Improvement | Health | Self-Help

Jul 7, 2016

Are you feeling dazed and confused and in need of good advice?  Do you want people to “get you” at a soul level?  Join us as we talk about “What is a soul?” and more as our guest, Michelle Vickers, offers practical advice and shows us how you can bring back power and control in your life.

Show Highlights: 

Part 1: Who and where should you go for life advice?  What is the soul? Why is talking to your soul the best resource? What are your natural abilities that you came to express in your life according to your soul’s wisdom?  Listen to Part 1

Part 2:  Do you get yourself at a soul level? Michelle offers a real-life experience with what it feels like to connect to your own soul. What does your soul feel like? How can you make a soul connection with others?  Listen to Part 2

Part 3: How can you connect to love, illumination, purity, truth, respect,etc. during your everyday experiences?  Let’s say you are about to go to a business meeting.  How would you tune into truth, movement, etc. during that meeting to be integrity with these higher values?  Listen to Part 3

Part 4: What does it mean to tune into your heart and soul?  How you could have 2000 soul mates? Listen to Part 4

About our Guest: 

Michelle’s gifts offer you the opportunity to experience feeling the fullness of your Soul energy; free from any of your personal challenges or illusions. Michelle connects you directly to your Soul and then holds the “space” so you are able to nurture and develop your relationship on a physical level. Cultivating this relationship with your Soul brings you a deeper clarity and awareness of the powerful gifts and talents you have within you.Michelle has spent lifetimes cultivating a greater understanding of the Universe, how it works and why we are here. It is through her past experiences and dedication to personal change that allows her to offer others ancient knowledge on a Universal level explaining who we are and why we are here.Resources: 

  • Michelle’s website: www.michellevickers.com
  • Booking either private Soul Connections or 3 day Soul Awakening Intensives: www.michellevickers.com

Michelle Vickers, offers practical ‘soul level’ advice and shows us how you can bring back power & control in your life. Inspiration | Inspirational | Motivation | Motivational | Self-Improvement | Spiritual | Spirituality | Health | Self-Help | Love

For More Info Visit: www.FireItUpWithCJ.Com

Jul 6, 2016

Eldon Taylor offers insight and advice for self-hypnosis and for creating your own subliminal program.

  

Show Highlights: 

  • Segment 1:Introduction to Hypnosis: What is hypnosis?  How does it work? You’ll be shocked when you learn what % of our decisions are made by our unconscious.  Listen to Segment 1
  • Segment 2:The Power of Hypnosis: What are the root causes of our fear?  What are all the potential uses of hypnosis? Hear how Eldon Taylor used forensic hypnosis as a criminologist to reveal hidden facts in a criminal case. Listen to Segment 2
  • Segment 3:Subliminal Messages: What are subliminal messages? How are they different than affirmations? Listen to Segment 3
  • Segment 4:Creating your own empowering subliminal tape :  Get a high level step-by-step instruction of what you need to do to create your own empowering sound track. Listen to Segment 4

About our Guest: 

Eldon Taylor, Ph.D., is a world renowned author, dynamic speaker, former criminalist and one of the world’s foremost experts on preconscious information processing, who’s prestigious career over the past twenty-five years, has taken him to packed lecture halls throughout the U.S., U.K., Germany, Hong Kong, Mexico and Malaysia. His unique, charismatic and energetic style captivates his audiences, compelling them to take control of their life with a style and approach that is unique and empowering. He is the author of five books regarding the subject of subliminal communication and the inventor of the proven and patented technology InnerTalk®. Eldon is also the author of more than three hundred InnerTalk® personal empowerment audio and video programs and his work has been published in the likes of Newsweek and Annals of Psychotherapy. In his latest International best-selling book, Choices and Illusions, Eldon shares his life story, integrated with his work and research, that reveals how and why we get locked into self-imposed limitations and false self-images – negative “self-talk” — and demonstrates how we can retrain our mind with positive “self-talk.” Moreover, he qualifies us to make an immediate life change just by revealing how we can look at things differently and therefore affect our entire existence. Indeed, he makes the process of change so simple and clear that his readers and listeners alike walk away with the feeling of great hope and self-realization. Eldon believes that self-empowerment is a journey, not a rags-to-riches scheme. In fact, his business operates on a business model different from most. He offers many free products and website content designed just to help others. He shares his genuine and candid belief that the spiritual content of his programs and in his work are essential to the success of what he does and who he is, holding steadfast that this is what contributes to everyone’s happiness, health, and longevity—his research and data conclusively supporting these beliefs. Eldon has earned doctorates in clinical and pastoral psychology. He is an ordained interdenominational minister and a Fellow in the American Psychotherapy Association. Listed in more than a dozen Who’s Who publications, he was awarded the 2005 International Peace Prize by the United Cultural Convention for his “outstanding personal achievements to the good of society as a whole.”

Eldon Taylor offers insight and advice for self-hypnosis and for creating your own subliminal program. | Spiritual | Spirituality | Self-Improvement | Meditation | Self Hypnosis | Inspirational | Motivational | Healing | Self-Talk | Self-Help

Jul 5, 2016

It’s often a combination of feeling both scared and relived when you discover that your child or you have a learning disability.  While some see these conditions as disabiling or use it as an excuse not to live up to their full potential, Dr. Hallowell, an ADHD expert and child and adult psychiatrist, approaches the challenge in an entirely new way.  Dr. Hallowell offers a powerful approach towards learning disabilities that is positive, pragmatic and loving.  Learn the gifts of this condition and how to defend your child from teachers or work associates who could still benefit from learning the best way to create a supportive environment.  Plus, hear Dr. Hallowell’s first hand experience of how he used his gifts of ADD and dyslexia at Harvard University,  Tulane Medical School, and as a Harvard Medical Staff faculty.

About our guest:

Edward Hallowell, M.D., renowned ADHD expert and child and adult psychiatrist, is a graduate of Harvard University and Tulane Medical School and the director of The Hallowell Centers in Sudbury, MA and New   York City.   He was a member of Harvard  Medical School faculty until retiring from academics in 2003 to devote his attention to his practice, lectures, and writing.  He has authored eighteen books on various topics including ADHD, happiness, marriage and other psychological and social topics. He is a highly recognized speaker world-wide and has appeared on Oprah, CNN, The Today Show and many other popular shows.

Show highlights:

  • Part 1: How to manage your response and your child’s reaction to a recent diagnosis of ADD?
  • Part 2: What may be your child’s experience at school and how can do damage control?
  • Part 3: How can you support your child to be confident, happy, and embrace their unique brain?
  • Part 4: How would you know if you had ADD?

Show highlights:

Dr. Edward Hallowell, As Seen on Oprah, Offers Help & Guidance For Childrend Diagnosed with ADHD & Their Parents | Inspirational | Motivational | Health | Happiness | Attention Deficit Disorder | Learning Disabilities | Self-Improvement | Self-Help

Jul 3, 2016

What does healthy parent involvement in sports look like? What is non helpful involvement for a sports parent? What are the valuable life lessons your kids get on the field? Hear what author and speaker Coach Brown says about sports and how it can develop your child’s character.

SHOW HIGHLIGHTS:

  • Why do 70% of kids age 13-14 lose their natural love of playing an organized sport? What do kids want your involvement in sports to be?
  • Everyone wants their kids to compete effectively in the world, but sports can help your child build character too? Hear key character building lessons that sports can offer your child.
  • Is your kid confident on the field? If not, why not? Bruce will help you find out what you can do to help your child be confident on and off the field.
  • What do your kids want you to do before, during, and after the game?  Is the post-play analysis after the game helpful or hurtful?

RESOURCES:

Check out the following websites and podcasts to get you on your path

ABOUT OUR GUEST:

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Bruce Brown is a man of many talents, a multi-dimensional man in an often single dimensional world. Brown has been a Teacher, Coach, and Athletic Administrator with 35 years experience working with youth from junior high through the college level. He is the Director of Proactive Coaching, an organization which conducts workshops and furnishes materials designed to instruct coaches, parents, businesses, school districts and athletes in how they can be effective in building teams and promote character and competence.

Brown has coached several sports including football and basketball and was employed by the NFL for 24 years. Brown currently travels the country giving presentations on character based coaching.

He believes that developing character in our youth can help change the culture of our nation. It’s that belief that motivates this coach and educator to spend countless hours and thousands of miles on the road, speaking to athletes, parents groups, coaches and businesses. Sports, which can play a vital role in the development of our youth, is the foundation upon which Brown builds his presentation. As Brown puts it, “The culture of sport is out of perspective.”

Every night on SportsCenter, we see $8-million athletes who say, “I don’t have to practice”. They have a sense of entitlement. The danger is in the trickle down effect of that attitude from the professional athlete to the 10-year-old kid. What they see affects how they react to a coach, teammate or official. Brown has produced six instructional character based coaching DVD’s and six basketball instructional DVD’s.

He is the author of eight coaching books and 17 booklets. Some of his accomplishments are: * A Teacher, Coach, Athletic Administrator with 35 years experience working with youth * Director of Proactive Coaching * Coached several sports including football and basketball * Employed by the NFL for 24 years * Was the former special presenter for the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics * Clinician, speaking to Athletes, Coaches, Parents, School Districts and Corporations Nationwide * NAIA National Co-Athletic Director of the Year – 2002

Jun 27, 2016

How do you keep love and affection alive? What does a healthy and renewed sex life look like when you are middle aged? Learn how you can keep sex a after 50 alive and thriving. 

About our Guests:

Dr. Pepper Schwartz is Professor of Sociology at the University of Washington in Seattle. She holds a B.A. and an M.A. from Washington University in St. Louis, where she was a Woodrow Wilson Fellow, and an M.A. and Ph.D in Sociology from Yale University.

As the industry’s leading relationship expert, Dr. Pepper Schwartz, Ph.D, has created the Personality Profiler, similar to the Myers Briggs Type Indicator®, exclusively for the committed adults seeking long-term relationships on Perfectmatch.com. As the most effective and sophisticated leading-edge romantic matching tool on or off the internet, the Personality Profiler significantly helps Perfectmatch’s members to identify their significant other’s “Similarity Factors” and “Complimentary Factors,” which will ultimately lead them to finding their perfect match.

Dr. Schwartz has received many awards, including the 2005 American Sociological Award for the Public Dissemination of Information, the Matrix Award for Achievement in Education and the International Women’s Forum Award in Career Achievement in Washington State. She is the author of 14 books, including many popular books such as: The Great Sex Weekend, The Lifetime Love and Sex Quiz Book, Everything You Know About Love and Sex is Wrong and Ten Talks Parents Must Have With Their Children About Sex and Character with Dominic Cappello, 201 Question to Ask Your Kids / 201 Questions to Ask Your Parents (Avon/Morrow).

Dr. Schwartz wrote the monthly column “Sex and Health” for Glamour Magazine, with coauthor Dr. Janet Lever, for more than seven years, and “Talking About Sex” for 8 years for American Baby Magazine. She also wrote a weekly column called “Sex.Net with Dr. Pepper” for Microsoft Corporation’s One Click Away.

Dr. Schwartz has contributed to many magazines, journals and newspapers including the New York Times “Parent and Child” column, Sexual Health, Psychology Today and Contexts. Dr. Schwartz was a regular member of the KIRO-TV (Seattle) news staff for twelve years and appears regularly on national TV news, documentaries and other programs. She is the author of more than 40 scholarly articles and has served as a consultant to many national organizations. Dr. Schwartz lectures nationally and internationally on relationship topics, women’s issues, parent and child issues, communication between men and women in intimate and work relationships, and maintaining personal and family well-being in today’s world.

Show Highlights:

  • Pepper Schwartz shares information on the life cycle of sex and how your sex life will change each decade.
  • Do our kids still have myths, fear and ignorance about sex and relationships? What Pepper believes are the true causes of teen pregnancies?

Show Highlights

Check out the following websites and podcasts to get you on your path:

  • http://www.drpepperschwartz.com

Resources:

Check out the following websites and podcasts to get you on your path:

  • Check out Pepper’s books.  http://www.drpepperschwartz.com
  • Ambassador of Relationships: Dr. Schwartz on AARP: http://www.aarp.org/relationships/experts/pepper_schwartz.html
  • Pepper’s advice column.  Lots of answers to common issues: http://www.aarp.org/relationships/love-sex/info-03-2010/naked-truth-q-and-a.html

Dr. Pepper Schwartz shares how you keep love and affection alive, what does a healthy and renewed sex life look like when you are middle aged, and how you can keep sex a after 50 alive and thriving! Inspirational | Motivational | Health | Self-Help

Jun 26, 2016

Did you ever wonder how some people can get a date anywhere, even at the supermarket? Neil Ward will share with you how a 5’4″ man with an average build and average looks managed to talk to 15,000 women in 5 years. All for the sake of research of course:) How can you read someones body language and know that there not into you before asking them out? How does the law of attraction play in dating? Tune in to hear all the juicy secrets on how to find a date.

EXPERT ADVICE ON HOW TO FIND A DATE

Did you ever wonder how some people can get dates while standing in line at the supermarket? You won’t believe the ease in which Neal uses his pick-up artists skills to get s a date after a yoga class.
How do approach the beauty who has a hands off approach? Neal shares his story on how you can read body language, and how you too can approach the hot girl or guy in the bar and get away with it.
How do you play the field effectively? New social media can be a god send when trying to keep in contact with your upcoming date.
How does the law of attraction apply to dating? Focus your mind, body, and spirit on finding your love match and see what Neal says will happen.
NEIL WARD- UK’S BEST DATING COACH

 

Neil Ward, widely regarded as the UKs best dating coach, became an unusually versatile dating coach after exploding onto the UK and later world scene back in 2009; he boasts a 100% client success rate with outstanding life changing testimonials from around the world. After finding out at the age of 18 that his childhood girlfriend was with another man on Valentine’s Day and that they had decided to pursue a relationship, Neil moped around for a whole year feeling worthless and sorry for himself. It was only 1 year later that the transformation to dating expert started when he finally broke out of his ‘feeling sorry for himself stage’ and decided to take serious action.

At 19, Neil went on an adventure like no other; he set himself targets and goals each month, reading literally hundreds of books on dating, psychology, NLP, hypnosis and personal development. He attended countless seminars around the world, studied under world class Pick Up Artists and dating experts, took life coaching, hypnotherapy, hypnosis, a personal trainer, dietician, image consultant, voice coach, posture consultant, health consultant, acting and improvised comedy classes, you name it, he did it! His action and drive was pursued on such an enormous scale that for some, it would take half a lifetime to replicate what he achieved in just 5 years. Neil devoted a minimum of 6 hours of study and research per day, almost every day in his dream for dating mastery and success in his life.

This did not come without its difficulties and problems; he found himself drifting away from his old life and friends and into a new world which became almost an obsession in the pursuit of women, personal development, and happiness. It was only through studying the law of attraction that he eventually learnt about balance and control and created the life he lives now in absolute happiness.

Now aged 26, Neil has coached hundreds of 1-on-1 clients, both men and women across 13 Countries and 4 continents around the world. He has also helped to improve the lives of thousands of people through his dating advice email newsletter and social media groups. Born in the summer of 1984, into a very normal, middle class and hard working family in England; he received no further education after school, finishing with average grades.

His teachers told him in his final school report that if only he applied 1% of his brain to something of value, as opposed to being the class clown and chasing the girls, he could change the world! Neil started his business: Top Dating Coach, in September of 2009 after a string of requests to offer coaching for people and to write articles for various media sources. Trained as a Coach and NLP practitioner, Neil controversially avoids the usual line of coaching and has adopted his own unique methods of teaching based on his own journey and experience.

Unlike some coaches, Neil is not a 6’2”, handsome, muscle bound flash kind of guy driving around in a sports car. He is 5’4” with an average build and average looks. This only enforces his training further to prove that if a short average looking guy can achieve dating success, then anyone can do it. Neil devoted over 5 years and thousands of hours of his time to achieving mastery in dating and social interactions.

He approached and spoke face to face with over 15,000 women in London alone over the 5 year period, which doesn’t include the thousands of women with whom he communicated with over various online dating and social media sites. Nor does this include the women with whom he approached and spoke to in other Countries around the world during his research stage to test the consistency of his method.

Neil travelled to over 15 diverse Countries to research his ideas and test the results to determine a system that could work for anyone, anywhere regardless of culture, race, religion or sexuality. His specialist skills cover the following areas: Face to Face Dating, Online Dating, Speed Dating, Social Interactions, Confidence Building and finally and most importantly: creating an amazing and fulfilled lifestyle that people are naturally drawn towards being a part of. You can read what people have said about Neil by reading his testimonials.

How can you read someone’s body language and know that there not into you before asking them out? How does the law of attraction play in dating? Tune in to hear all the juicy secrets on how to find a date. | Relationships | Self-Improvement | Self-Help

Jun 25, 2016

Looking for true love in all the wrong places? Online dating is one of the fastest and easiest ways to screen for your match. Get tips on creating just the right online profile, picture, and your first ice-breaker email. Whitney Casey,an Emmy Award-winning journalist, former CNN Correspondent/Anchor, Newspaper Columnist, Author and Relationship Insider for Match.com gives you the inside scoop to online dating.

ONLINE DATING TIPS FROM RELATIONSHIP INSIDER FOR MATCH.COM

  • What 3 prong approach does Whitney recommend to get back into dating? Whitney offers pragmatic advice and helps you get a realistic expectation in the numbers game you must play with online dating.
  • Do you have some issues with  putting yourself out there on an online dating site? How to develop a tough skin and get over any excuse you have for why you shouldn’t go online.
  • How can you hit the jackpot with your online listing? Whitney offers some creative ideas on how to generate an interesting online conversation, what to do with your photos, and what types of simple daily updates you can do to increase your successful matches.
  • How do you play the online dating game? Whitney gives her personal etiquette advice for online communications.
  • Also check out: online dating tips http://fireitupwithcj.com/2013/05/01/dating-fake-it-before-we-make-it/and finding your ideal partner: http://fireitupwithcj.com/2012/06/14/feb-2-tyler-young/

WHITNEY CASEY- AUTHOR AND RELATIONSHIP INSIDER FOR MATCH.COM

Whitney Casey: Having trouble picking that perfect profile picture? Don’t know what to say in that first ice-breaker email? Well, when it comes to all things dating and mating, Whitney’s got answers. InStyle Magazine calls her, “Instant Style,” and when it comes to advice the New York Daily News says, “She’s on to something!” Whitney’s background as an Emmy Award-winning journalist, former CNN Correspondent/Anchor, Newspaper Columnist, Author and Relationship Insider for Match.com has given her access to the world’s leading experts in all arenas of single life. Additionally, she has interviewed hundreds of single men and women across the country (not including the ones she actually dated!) Her book, The Man Plan (Penguin-Perigee), gives singles the inside scoop from first date fashions to great conversation starters. Although she is now blissfully married; Whitney has been dating for nearly two decades since attending the University of Virginia where she was a legitimate ‘playah’…errr…volleyball player and Academic All-American.

Whitney Casey, insider for match.com shares tips for online dating, creating just the right online profile, picture, and your first ice-breaker email. Inspirational | Motivational | Relationships | Romance | Happiness | Self-Improvement | Self-Help

Jun 23, 2016

Do you think that changes from your home environment can help you change on the inside?  What does the clutter around you say about your mind’s state? 

Robin Stephens, Chief Energy Officer, Shares how to change your home environment to change you on the inside. Learn what the clutter around you says about your mind’s state and how to change it! Self-Improvement | Self-Help | Spiritual | Spirituality

Do you think that changes from your home environment can help you change on the inside?  What does the clutter around you say about your mind’s state?  Call us or leave us a message with your most vexing organizational issues and clutter problems.  Start 2011 with a sense of clarity, direction, and purpose.

About our Guest:

Robin Stephens is the CEO (Chief Energy Officer) of YourLifeinOrder.com, Life Design Systems for Soul-Inspired Women.  She is a wellness coach and professional organizer and combines the best of both to help today’s woman – YOU –  identify and create a sustainable, energy-rich, on-fire life and business of your dreams – one step at a time. 

Show Highlights:

  • Do you really need to clean your clutter or will your life be fine without doing anything? Check out Robin’s POV that shifted my perspective on clutter, will it shift yours?  What are your core values and how the heck does it relate to your clutter?
  • Is your home enhancing, supporting and motivating you? If not, why not? Learn practical ways of getting motivated to get organized and hear Robin’s step-by-step advice on how to start organizing your home.  Get to the “why, that makes you cry” and motivates you into action.  How much time should you schedule for a big clutter buster session? What are simple and easy ways to get started?
  • Are emotional reasons the real reason you haven’t let go of stuff you don’t need? Hear some practical tips on how to move your clutter out of your living space and still have it available when you need it.
  • Also check out more Clutter Busting tips:  http://fireitupwithcj.com/2012/05/31/may-31st-clutter-busting-your-life/

Resources:

Check out the following websites and podcasts to get you on your path:

  • Read Robinstop 25 tips for getting organized– http://yourlifeinorder.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Domestic_Diva_25_Tips_to_a_Soul_Nurturing_Home.pdf
  • Get started onorganizing your desktop: http://yourlifeinorder.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Organize_Your_Workspace.pdf, http://yourlifeinorder.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Setting_Up_Your_Home_Office.pdf
  • Check out section 5 withhow to get your kitchen organized: Step-by-step advice on getting your kitchen in order- http://yourlifeinorder.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Life_by_Design_Do_It_YourSelf_Care_Toolbox.pdf.
  • A new way to think of  To-do lists– I learned a whole new way of organizing my to-do’s list-  http://www.blogtalkradio.com/lifebydesignforsoul-inspiredwomen/2010/11/10/release-your-inner-fitchick
  • Great radio podcast with lots of tips: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/lifebydesignforsoul-inspiredwomen/2010/11/17/release-your-inner-fitchick

Robin Stephens, Chief Energy Officer, Shares how to change your home environment to change you on the inside. Learn what the clutter around you says about your mind’s state and how to change it! Self-Improvement | Self-Help | Spiritual | Spirituality

Jun 22, 2016

Learn how Taoist philosophies can bring success. This best selling and award-winning author will share beautiful and captivating stories that make the Tao accessible to beginners, while still being powerful to practitioners. Spark your creativity, channel your negative energy into motivation, create tranquility, and reveal your True Self.

About our Guest:

Derek Lin is an award-winning, bestselling author in the Tao genre. With native fluency in both Chinese and English, he offers Tao Te Ching: Annotated & Explained, an original translation that sets a new standard for accuracy and captures the lyrical beauty of the original. His The Tao of Daily Life, a breakout Eastern wisdom bestseller, integrates Taoist stories with dharmic lessons for life in the modern world. His The Tao of Success reveals the secrets of the ancients to transform the self in order to live life to the utmost.  Lin serves as the Director of Tao Studies at the Great Tao Foundation of America in El Monte, California, where he is an active speaker and educator on the Tao Te Ching as well as Tao spirituality in general. Lin applies the Tao to his work everywhere, from the financial industry to cutting-edge technology. Working in such diverse fields has given Lin an outlook that integrates the wisdom of the ancients with the practical experience of reality today—a powerful, synergistic way of life he is sharing with his readers..

Show Highlights:

  • Want to have a life with more joy, lasting happiness, and peace of mind? How can you push for results and success in your work life and have mental clarity and purity?  Check out how Derek discovered Taoism after 15 years of searching.  Learn how these ancient teachings help him live a deeply spiritual life even while amidst chaos as a manager in the fast paced world of technology.
  • Does  letting go of attachment mean you should be apathetic?Listen to how Westerners often misinterpret the intention of this  idea of letting go and how to create the best balance in your life.
  • How do you live a real life, make money, and still find time to meditation?Derek offers his advice on how to fit it all in. 

Derek Lin shares how Taoist philosophies can bring success. Spark your creativity, channel your negative energy into motivation, create tranquility & reveal your True Self. Inspirational | Happiness | Spiritual | Spirituality | Meditation | Self-Help

Jun 20, 2016

Feeling a bit overwhelmed about the big push before and after Thanksgiving? How can you stay calm  during all the planning and preparations? How can stay true to the real meaning of Thanksgiving- giving thanks to your family, friends and good fortune? Is being with family a blessing and challenge?  Learn how to negotiate various agendas at play during the holidays. 

INTERVIEW: HOW TO CREATE A PEACEFUL HOLIDAY WITH FAMILY?

There are many valuable insights that Ragini offers in this show.  A caller asked what to do when you run into a relative that you know hates you and you can never converse with.Listen to hear Raginis advice.

With each holiday I experience the insight that Ragini shares in this show.   There are a lot of things happening during holidays.  There are various traditions and a tug of war on which tradition is right.  Each holiday is full of family dynamics and in some cases dysfunction. There are usually unresolved family dynamics and relationships that occur when you were 16 and still exist as a 40 yo.  If no one has done their personal work to resolve these issues, these dynamics continue to be there. Didn’t realize that the holidays were so rich with conflict?  This show will give you a sense of why your holidays are so peaceful, or why you want to leave a day earlier.

RAGINI MICHAELS- BEHAVIOR CHANGE, AUTHOR, NLP EXPERT

Ragini is the founder of Facticity® Trainings, Inc., a training and consulting company established in 1988 offering certification trainings inParadox Management, Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) and Ericksonian Hypnosis.

Her original work on the Psychology of Paradox has received critical acclaim and taken her throughout America, Canada, Europe, and India presenting workshops and seminars. She is the creator of eight hypnosis/meditation CD’s, and the author of two books on paradox with her third, Unflappable – 6-Steps To Staying Happy, Centered, and Peaceful No Matter What, available May 2012 (Conari Press).

Ragini is a true expert on human communication styles and practical spirituality. 

Her approach relies on the practical application of her behavioral change skills and personal wisdom from 35 years of exploring meditation and stress release as it relates to living in a paradoxical world. These elements create a unique perspective and style that supports people’s desire to blend the wisdom of their spiritual lives into the fabric of their material lives to produce results, a sense of purpose, and more joy and inspiration from daily living.

Is being with family a blessing or a challenge?  This show will give you a sense of why your holidays are so peaceful, or why you want to leave a day earlier. Ragini Michaels | Inspirational | Motivational | Spiritual | Joy | Spirituality | Self-Help

Jun 19, 2016

Have you tried every pain medication and still in pain?  Richard Moss, a former Emergency room doctor, shares the process he’s developed over the last 37 years that have helped many of those suffering from pain.  His simple and profound program may surprise you.  It’s natural, free, and you don’t have to travel anywhere to get it.

SHOW SUMMARY

  • Segment 1:Being Present- Why bother?  What does it mean to be present and why it’s different than just being focused on one thing?
  • Segment 2:Presence – Better than Aspirin – Richard Moss used to run marathons, back pack, and more.  Now, his back pain has left him in a wheel chair.  He explains why this is the happiest time in his life.  What is the number one area in life that causes the most pain and suffering?
  • Segment 3:A check-up for your mind– Where does your mind go when it’s not in the NOW?   How can you train it to move to the present?
  • Segment 4:How can your wife penetrate you?  How can you go beyond the words spoken in a relationship to a much deeper place of truly relating to someone?

YOUTUBE OF OUR GUEST

ABOUT OUR GUEST

http://fireitupwithcj.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/richardmoss.jpg

Richard Moss is an internationally respected leader in the field of inner transformation, subtle body-mind dynamics, and living a path of conscious relationships. In 1977 Richard was a practicing medical doctor when he experienced a spontaneous spiritual illumination that awakened him to the multi-dimensional nature of human consciousness. This realization profoundly transformed his understanding of the roots of emotional suffering, and inspired him to explore the almost limitless human potential for growth and healing.

Impelled by this opening, he released the practice of medicine to devote his life to mentoring individuals and couples whose lives have brought them to the point where they hunger to explore the mystery of their being. Whether called to his work by their soul’s yearning to awaken and grow, or impelled by a health, career, or relationship crisis, his comprehensive and evolutionary approach to healing and forging loving relationships has transformed the lives of tens of thousands of people. He is particularly renowned for the innovative, experiential nature of his workshops and longer retreats that offer individuals direct experience of life-changing states of consciousness and provide them with very effective models and practices for on-going personal growth.

He guides seminars and retreats in North and South America, Europe, and Australia, and is available for private mentoring for individuals at his home in Colorado. He has published 7 seminal books on his visionary approach to human evolution which have been translated into 6 languages.

Richard Moss, a former Emergency room doctor, shares the process he’s developed over the last 37 years that have helped many of those suffering from pain. Health | Healing | Spiritual | Spirituality | Inspirational | Alternative | Inspiring | Self-Help

Jun 18, 2016

Do you have Faith and courage in yourself and others? Explore the true meaning of faith at a spiritual and psychological level.  How do you regain your faith in yourself and others? How do you overcome the fear of the unknown? Learn how to bring Faith and courage back into your life.

Show Highlights: 

  • Understanding Faith and Courage:  What is the difference between our beliefs and our faith?  How we sometimes mistake beliefs as faith?  How do we limit our true potential to live in faith through this limited understanding?
  • Cultivating Faith and Courage: Our fear of the unknown and insecurity about our self-worth keep us from fully experiencing the upsides of faith and courage.  Learn how we can be at peace with being in doubt and cowardice and use these signals to move toward courage and faith.  How can we escape the downsides of blind faith?
  • Regaining your Faith and Courage in Relationships:  How would you approach having a healthy relationship after your spouse or boyfriend cheated on you? Learn how our hurtful experiences result in drawing generalizations about the opposite sex, dating, marriage, etc.  We’ll discuss a framework for examining your beliefs and how you can regain faith in others when you feel a sense of betrayal.
  • Regaining your Faith and Courage after a layoff:  It’s common to feel pretty awful after you have been laid off or fired.  Learn how to regain your faith and courage and find another job even after a painful experience with your past job.

About our Guest:

Ragini Michaels is the founder of Facticity® Trainings, Inc., a training and consulting company established in 1988 offering certification trainings in Paradox Management, Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) and Ericksonian Hypnosis.

Her original work on the Psychology of Paradox has received critical acclaim and taken her throughout America, Canada, Europe, and India presenting workshops and seminars. She is the creator of eight hypnosis/meditation CD’s, and the author of two books on paradox with her third,Unflappable – 6-Steps To Staying Happy, Centered, and Peaceful No Matter What, available May 2012 (Conari Press).

Her approach relies on the practical application of her behavioral change skills and personal wisdom from 35 years of exploring meditation and stress release as it relates to living in a paradoxical world. These elements create a unique perspective and style that supports people’s desire to blend the wisdom of their spiritual lives into the fabric of their material lives to produce results, a sense of purpose, and more joy and inspiration from daily living.

Ragini Michaels shares how to bring faith & courage into your life. Explore the true meaning of faith at a spiritual & psychological level. Spirituality | Inspiration | Intuition | Relationships | Hypnosis | Neuro-Linguistic Programming | Self-Help

Jun 17, 2016

Do you want some tips on how to start dating again? Learn how to conquer your worst dating fears. Are you expectations of dating realistic? Get an update from Dating Coach, Katherin Scott, on what’s new on the dating scene and how to make dating easy, fast, and painless.

KATHERIN SCOTT- AUTHOR AND INTERNATIONALLY RECOGNIZED DATING EXPERT

Katherin Scott is an internationally recognized authority on dating and attracting love. The author of “ABC’s of Dating: Simple Strategies for Dating Success” and “Date2Mate Secrets: Discover Secrets Most Singles Will Never Know About Dating & Attracting Love”, Katherin is affectionately named “Coach Cupid” by the media and many of her now happily married clients. The Wall Street Journal, Cosmopolitan Magazine, Match.com, The Discovery Channel and Precious Magazine of Japan are among the prestigious media outlets that routinely seek out the sassy, studied and provocative commentary of America’s Premier Date2MateTM Coach. Katherin coaches singles in their 40’s and beyond who believe their cup in life is half-empty without love and guides them to feel full to overflowing with love from perfect partners. She travels the tropical beaches of the world to attend weddings of grateful clients. Their happily-ever-after stories are proof positive of the impact Katherin’s time-tested systems and approaches deliver for those who are ready for love now.

ADVICE: HOW TO START DATING AGAIN?

  • How many dates do you need to go on before landing your dream mate?Katherin shares with you the shocking details to shake you out of your state of denial and into action.
  • Is there a way to pre-qualify your date before investing your time on countless dates?It’s as simple as 5 questions.  Katherin Scott offers her secrets on how to know within the first 5 minutes if your date is a good long-term prospect.
  • What are the key 3 things that men want in a women? What are the 3 key things that women need from men?Learn how our caveman instincts are still at play today in finding your perfect mate.
  • Are you looking for simple ways to get psyched up for dating?Throw all you inhibitions away, Katherin Scott let’s you in on her top tips for embracing your inner vixen or viking.

Katherin Scott shares tips to start dating again. Learn how to conquer your worst dating fears & get an update on what’s new on the dating scene & how to make dating easy, fast & painless. Self-Improvement | Inspirational | Relationships | Self-Help

 

Jun 16, 2016

Imagine if you could take 18 months of your life and follow your seventh and eighth grader to the mall, summer camp, and in school and get a first-hand experience of the life of a 21st-century teen.   Join award-winning author Lauren Kessler  and unravel the mysteries of being a teenager today.   Lauren’s recent book  My Teenage out now in paperback, My Teenage Werewolf  http://www.myteenagewerewolf.com/book/shares her story with the eye of a reporter, the curiosity of an anthropologist and the open—sometimes wounded—heart of a mother.

  

SHOW HIGHLIGHTS:

  • Why would a mom spend 18 mos following her daughter around every class at school? Learn about her anthropological study.
  • Sex, Drugs, and Rock and Roll- What did Lauren learn about what are kids know, don’t know, and are doing?
  • Connecting with your Teen- Laura offers her advice on simple ways to to connect with your teens?
  • A sneak preview of Counterclockwise Laura’s new research project investigating how much control we have with aging?

About our Guest:

 Lauren Kessler is the author of six works of narrative nonfiction, including her newest (summer 2010), My Teenage Werewolf: A Mother, A Daughter, A Journey Through the Thicket of Adolescence. She is also the author of Pacific Northwest Book Award winner Dancing with Rose (published in paperback as Finding Life in the Land of Alzheimer’s), Washington Post bestseller Clever Girl and Los Angeles Times bestsellerThe Happy Bottom Riding Club – which David Letterman, in fierce competition with Oprah, chose as the first (and only) book for the Dave Letterman Book Club. Kessler appeared twice on his late-night show. She is also the author of Oregon Book Award winner Stubborn Twig, which was chosen as the book for all Oregon to read in honor of the state’s 2009 sesquicentennial.

Her journalism has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, Los Angeles Times Magazine, O magazine, Utne Reader, The Nation, newsweek.com and salon.com. She is a national speaker and workshop leader. The founder and editor of Etude, the online magazine of narrative nonfiction, she directs the graduate program in literary nonfiction at the University of Oregon. She lives in Eugene, Oregon, with her writer husband, Tom Hager, her three brilliant and faultless children and a cat that thinks it’s a dog.

 Resources:

Jun 15, 2016

Staying cool and comfortable during the summer can be a challenge.  Explore all the ways to beat the heat waves this summer and keep both the planet and you happy and healthy.  Join CJ as she talks to Stan Cox about his book “Losing Out Cool” and get some tips on how to use less air conditioning, save money, and why it’s so important. Discover why Stan was named in The Atlantic magazine 2012 Reader’s Choice for being a Brave Thinker.

SHOW SUMMARY

  • Segment 1:  What are the environmental and societal costs of AC? 
  • Segment 2:  How could using less AC result in losing weight? What are the health benefits of using less AC? How much heat can we tolerate without a huge impact to our comfort?
  • Segment 3:  Save money on your monthly bill.  Simple habits to try at home that will lower your electric bill.
  • Segment 4:  Some simple things you can do right now to save the planet and lower your gas bill.
  • More Shows by Stan: http://fireitupwithcj.com/2013/06/05/65-earth-harmony-solutions-for-living-in-harmony-with-earths-limits/

BLOG POST BY OUR GUEST IN THE HEAT WAVE, THE CASE AGAINST AIR CONDITIONING (SOURCE: WASHINGTON POST- SUNDAY, JULY 11, 2010)

By Stan Cox

Washington didn’t grind to a sweaty halt last week under triple-digit temperatures. People didn’t even slow down. Instead, the three-day, 100-plus-degree, record-shattering heat wave prompted Washingtonians to crank up their favorite humidity-reducing, electricity-bill-busting, fluorocarbon-filled appliance: the air conditioner.

This isn’t smart. In a country that’s among the world’s highest greenhouse-gas emitters, air conditioning is one of the worst power-guzzlers. The energy required to air-condition American homes and retail spaces has doubled since the early 1990s. Turning buildings into refrigerators burns fossil fuels, which emits greenhouse gases, which raises global temperatures, which creates a need for — you guessed it — more air-conditioning.

A.C.’s obvious public-health benefits during severe heat waves do not justify its lavish use in everyday life for months on end. Less than half a century ago, America thrived with only the spottiest use of air conditioning. It could again. While central air will always be needed in facilities such as hospitals, archives and cooling centers for those who are vulnerable to heat, what would an otherwise A.C.-free Washington look like?

At work

In a world without air conditioning, a warmer, more flexible, more relaxed workplace helps make summer a time to slow down again. Three-digit temperatures prompt siestas. Code-orange days mean offices are closed. Shorter summer business hours and month-long closings — common in pre-air-conditioned America — return.

Business suits are out, for both sexes. And with the right to open a window, office employees no longer have to carry sweaters or space heaters to work in the summer. After a long absence, ceiling fans, window fans and desk fans (and, for that matter, paperweights) take back the American office.

Best of all, Washington’s biggest business — government — is transformed. In 1978, 50 years after air conditioning was installed in Congress, New York Times columnist Russell Baker noted that, pre-A.C., Congress was forced to adjourn to avoid Washington’s torturous summers, and “the nation enjoyed a respite from the promulgation of more laws, the depredations of lobbyists, the hatching of new schemes for Federal expansion and, of course, the cost of maintaining a government running at full blast.”

Post-A.C., Congress again adjourns for the summer, giving “tea partiers” the smaller government they seek. During unseasonably warm spring and fall days, hearings are held under canopies on the Capitol lawn. What better way to foster open government and prompt politicians to focus on climate change?

At home

Homeowners from Ward 8 to the Palisades pry open double-hung windows that were painted shut decades ago. In the air-conditioned age, fear of crime was often cited by people reluctant to open their homes to night breezes. In Washington, as in most of the world’s warm cities, window grilles (not “bars,” please) are now standard.

In renovation and new construction alike, high ceilings, better cross-ventilation, whole-house fans, screened porches, basements and white “cool roofs” to reflect solar rays become de rigueur. Home utility bills plummet.

Families unplug as many heat-generating appliances as possible. Forget clothes dryers –post-A.C. neighborhoods are crisscrossed with clotheslines. The hot stove is abandoned for the grill, and dinner is eaten on the porch.

Around town

Saying goodbye to A.C. means saying hello to the world. With more people spending more time outdoors — particularly in the late afternoon and evening, when temperatures fall more quickly outside than they do inside — neighborhoods see a boom in spontaneous summertime socializing.

Rather than cowering alone in chilly home-entertainment rooms, neighbors get to know one another. Because there are more people outside, streets in high-crime areas become safer. As a result of all this, a strange thing happens: Deaths from heat decline. Elderly people no longer die alone inside sweltering apartments, too afraid to venture outside for help and too isolated to be noticed. Instead, people look out for one another during heat waves, checking in on their most vulnerable neighbors.

Children — and others — take to bikes and scooters, because of the cooling effect of air movement. Calls for more summer school and even year-round school cease. Our kids don’t need more time inside, everyone agrees; they need the shady playgrounds and water sprinklers that spring up in every neighborhood.

“Green roofs” of grass, ivy and even food crops sprout on the flat tops of government and commercial buildings around the city, including the White House. These layers of soil and vegetation (on top of a crucially leak-proof surface) insulate interiors from the pounding sun, while water from the plants’ leaves provides evaporative cooling. More trees than ever appear in both private and public spaces.

And the Mall is reborn as the National Grove. 

ABOUT OUR GUEST

Stan Cox is a senior research scientist at The Land Institute in Salina, Kansas, where he works with a team of scientists on breeding perennial grain crops for future, ecologically resilient food-production systems. He has a PhD in plant genetics from Iowa State University and served as a research geneticist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture from 1983 to 1996. He lived in India from 1980 to 1982 and from 1996 to 2000; in the later period, he worked with the Institute for Rural Health Studies in Hyderabad on a study of cervical cancer in rural areas. He has published approximately 80 scientific papers and book chapters.

Cox’s columns have appeared in the Denver Post, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Chicago Sun-Times, the Baltimore Sun, the Hartford Courant, the Kansas City Star, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, the San Jose Mercury-News, the Cleveland Plain Dealer, the Providence Journal, and scores of smaller papers in 27 states. He has been writing investigative environmental pieces for AlterNet since January 2005 and writes frequently for CounterPunch and CommonDreams.org. He is on the editorial board of the Green journal Synthesis/Regeneration.

He is the author of Sick Planet: Corporate Food and Medicine and contributed a chapter to Edible Estates: Attack on the Front Lawn.

Jun 14, 2016

A new era can began when a critical number of people change their perceptions and behavior.  Jean Shinoda Bolen and I will talk about the power of woman’s circles and how the sacred circle can bring strength and energy to feed activism and fuel change.  If you can’t make the live show this Wed then you can get the MP3 published a few days after by subscribing to the show or following the Fire it UP with CJ page on Faceboo

 SHOW HIGHLIGHTS

  • The Goddess in Everywomen: What is the inner Goddess that you most resonate with? Jean Shinoda Bolen discusses how knowing your Goddess archetype can help keep you on your life path and open up personal growth areas.
  • Energizing the Women movement: Is the women’s movement dead?  What are the successes we’ve had to-date? How could women circles energize the women’s movement? 

About our Guest

Jean Shinoda Bolen, M. D, is a psychiatrist, Jungian analyst, and an internationally known author and speaker. She is the author of The Tao of Psychology, Goddesses in Everywoman, Gods in Everyman, Ring of Power, Crossing to Avalon, Close to the Bone, The Millionth Circle, Goddesses in Older Women, Crones Don’t Whine, Urgent Message from Mother, and Like a Tree with over eighty foreign translations. She is a Distinguished Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and a former clinical professor of psychiatry at the University of California at San Francisco, a past board member of the Ms. Foundation for Women and the International Transpersonal Association. She was a recipient of the Institute for Health and Healing’s “Pioneers in Art, Science, and the Soul of Healing Award”, and is a Diplomate of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. She was in two acclaimed documentaries, the Academy-Award winning anti-nuclear proliferation film Women—For America, For the World, and the Canadian Film Board’s Goddess Remembered. The Millionth Circle Initiative (www.millionthcircle.org) was inspired by her book and led to her involvement at the UN. She is the initiator and the leading advocate for a UN 5th World Conference on Women (www.5wcw.org), which was supported by the Secretary General and the President of the General Assembly on March 8, 2012.

 Jean Shinoda Bolen & CJ Liu talk about the power of woman’s circles & how the sacred circle can bring strength & energy to feed activism & fuel change. Spiritual | Spirituality | Inspiration | Inspirational | Self-Improvement | Self-Help | Meditation

 

Jun 13, 2016
How do women and men’s psyches differ? What is color psychology at a deeper level? Dougall Frasier, a Cosmic coach and Psychic, offers his unique perspective as a gifted clairvoyant.  Plus, we’ll discuss YOUR colors and what they mean.  Our exploration goes beyond the superficial of what look good on you, and we’ll figure out how colors effect you at the soul level.

SHOW SUMMARY

  • Link to Segment 1:  Psychology Research: A Psychic Perspective- How does a women and man’s psyche differ?  You will be amazed how much information is revealed through the energy field that surrounds each of us.  Find out what a clairvoyant sees when they look at your psyche and what it means.  Dougall Frasier offers his perspective on dark and light energy and a more neutral way of looking at one’s dark side.
  • Link to Segment 2: Color Psychology: A Psychic Perspective- Each of us has a core soul color and each color has meaning.  How does knowing your color help in building your self-awareness of yourself and help you create more balance in your mind, body, and spirit?

BLOG POST FROM OUR GUEST

I’ve had writers block.  Or is it blogger’s block?  Whatever it is, I’ve been blocked. My mind can conjure up a dozen good reasons as to why I haven’t written a blog in almost six months.  Maybe it was reading some of the negative comments from the last blog that I wrote.  Perhaps it was the lawsuit against me based on a previous blog (don’t ask).  The truth is that once our minds get used to a specific identity, it can be difficult to change.  For a long time I was in a good creative flow, and comfortable with the identity of being a writer.  I would come up with ideas and the words would flow freely.  I created goals and achieved them, like getting published on the Huffington Post.

Then life happens.  I took a family vacation, and figured that I would stop writing to “recharge.”  Time passed, and I noticed that new ideas were not popping into my head when I sat down to write.  Slowly, my perspective transitioned from that of an author to a person with writer’s block.  David would sweetly say, “How about we brainstorm ideas for a new blog today?” “You brainstorm ideas for a blog today,” I would sarcastically mumble like a 15 year old.  Admittedly this was the not the most mature response.

I would lament with friends about having writer’s block, constantly saying things like, “I can’t think of anything.  I’m not inspired.  It feels like too much pressure.“  Without realizing it, I became comfortable with the identity of not writing.  I spend a majority of my day advising people on how to jumpstart their lives.  Whether it is career, love, or spiritual life, we are guaranteed to get stuck somewhere along the journey.  The goal is to remind yourself to jumpstart your “engine.”  Today, I swore to myself that I would blog.  I know that writing will help me forge a new writer’s identity, even if my first blogs don’t flow freely from my mind.  The dominant voice in my head will no longer be about the perceived block.  I will push through the resistance and connect with my creative voice, understanding that the wheels may be a bit rusty at first.

Perhaps you have an area of your life that is blocked.  Here are some simple ideas to jumpstart key areas in our lives.

Career: Unfortunately, many people can identify with being out of work.  I often counsel clients who are struggling to find employment.  Lawyers, teachers, real estate agents and so many others have been affected in this economy.  These are all qualified people who need to feel an identity of productiveness.  I was recently working with a coaching client who came to me after having been out of work for over two years.  She was in her mid 30’s and had been laid off from a six-figure salary job in finance.  “This week, I want you to call small companies in your town and offer to work a day there for free.”  “What? Why on earth would I do that?  Can’t you just give me an affirmation to help manifest a paying job?”

My client was pretty aggravated by this suggestion.  Let me explain my process.  If you are out of work, or even if your business is slow, your subconscious mind gets comfortable with an identity of lack.  You start thinking of yourself as an unemployed person.  You process it with your friends, family and in this case your coach. “I am out of work” repeats itself in your head, and this stagnant energy becomes a self-fulfilling manifestation.  We have to shift that energy and get it moving.  There are so many ways to feel productive during your day.  Call your local soup kitchen and volunteer.  Offer your services to a small business or non-profit organization for a short time.  The goal here is to end the day thinking I worked today.  If someone asks what you did today, the response will change from a demoralizing “nothing” to “I worked.”  This will powerfully change the energy of your identity, and will help you to manifest work.  At every job interview, the interviewer asks what have you been up to for the past two years.  Your response will shift to a more positive place, because you will have been keeping busy and helping others at the same time.  I have used this technique with my unemployed clients and have received an overwhelmingly positive response.

Romance: I recently had dinner at our friend Sharon’s house.  Sharon was giving us details on her new adventures in online dating.  She’s never had a significant relationship and was reluctant to “waste time” with the wrong guys.  We scanned some of the profiles of people who asked her out, and joked about some of the inappropriate guys who had emailed her.  I could feel her desire to find a good partner for herself, but she consistently turned down every date request for one reason or another.  When I asked why she did this, Sharon kept returning to the idea that she didn’t want to waste time with someone who didn’t have the potential to be her soul mate.  “You just need to go to a bar and make out with a cute guy,” I offered.

She seemed a little thrown off by that advice, but allow me to explain what I mean.  Sharon was identifying as a single woman who was unlucky in love, and just couldn’t find a soul mate.  If you are in a dating slump, you need to let the Universe know that you are open to finding love.  I’m not encouraging you to go have a one night stand, or to do something that makes you feel unsafe.  But sometimes, to increase your dating energy you need to just jump in there.  Have a date with a nice person, and flirt to experience some chemistry.  Don’t expect him to be your instant soul mate, and don’t start planning your wedding after one nice evening together.  In fact, it is more likely that you will not find a perfect match right away.  The point here is to be open to love, so that you can attract it from the Universe.  And as far as wasting time, I prefer to look at every bad date as an opportunity to learn what you don’t want in a relationship.  After all, you will appreciate it that much more when you do meet the right person.

If you are experiencing a romantic block, try going out on a minimum of three dates next week.  It can be through an online dating site, a blind date, or any other opportunity.  Remember, you are simply getting the energy moving by shifting to a more “dateable” identity.

Fitness: I tend to go through phases of eating well and going to the gym every day.  If I feel good as a result of a specific exercise, it can become part of my routine.  I find a class that I like and a teacher who inspires me.  The alarm clock rings and my entire morning is laid out.  I finish my cup of coffee, drive to the gym and am greeted by my favorite teacher.  I feel better about myself the more that I go.  I’m stronger and I feel like I belong there.  But as most of us experience, life happens.  My gym changed their entire schedule of classes, and my favorite teacher isn’t available at the times that I like to go.  So I stop going for a few weeks, and once again begin to identify with being a couch potato.  It is the hardest thing in the world to start going again.  I was overweight as a teen, and can easily take on that identity if I am not careful. Eventually, I commit to exercising every day for at least 15 minutes.  I give myself permission to leave the gym after 15 minutes but I have to go.  Once you step foot in the gym, your subconscious mind identifies as an active person.  Even if you leave after a few minutes, you were there.  No one will know how long you have worked out that day.  Maybe the girl at the front desk notices, but who is she to judge?

The most successful people in any area of life will come across a block or stagnant energy.  There is nothing wrong with taking a break or having some down time.  Our goal is to make sure that the down time doesn’t become a crutch that limits our ability to create and be in alignment with the law of attraction.  I invite you to scan your life right now and think about that goal list you have in your head.  Feel free to comment below with an area that you need to improve.  Seeing it in writing might be just the jumpstart that you need!

ABOUT OUR GUEST

 

Everyone wants to know when they will find true love, if they should change careers, and how to follow their dreams. In short, everyone would like a peek into their future! Psychic and Cosmic Coach Dougall Fraser, who provides life coaching, is an expert in the business of futures. Whether you want to examine your past, present or beyond,Dougall Fraser has a special ability to tune into your life. His relatable voice, down to earth humor, and dead-on predictions got him named Best Psychic in Dallas at the age of 20. Thirteen years later he has garnered international recognition in countless media outlets.

 

Dougall knew at a very early age that he saw the world and others differently. He could easily perceive the issues, secrets and desires in people’s lives. This trait was not always welcomed by others (especially at a party). He gave his first reading at the age of 8 and was regularly counseling adults while still in grade school. By the time he was 14, Dougall began to better understand his abilities and how to best use them for the greater good. He has studied meditation, psychology and healing extensively to enhance his natural talent.

Dougall has maintained a professional practice for more than fifteen years and is recognized as one of the country’s best psychics. His international clientele ranges from CEOs and celebrities, to people just like you who may need extra insight. With his own spiritual belief system, Dougall feels that we all have a blueprint for our lives. His main purpose is to help people assess and attain the life that they dream of.

The self titled “Queer Guy with a Third Eye” Dougall maintains a refreshing and humorous approach to his new age practice. Dougall utilizes clairvoyance, intuition, empathy, color therapy, interior design, and practical advice to help people achieve their goals and dreams.

Dougall has been featured on many national TV shows, including The Real Housewives of O.C., Dancing with the Stars, VH1’s Best Week Ever, The John Walsh Show and Good Day LA! He has also been recognized as one of the country’s top clairvoyants/psychics by Spin magazine and The New York Post. He is the author of the bestselling book, But You Knew That Already: What a Psychic Can Teach You About Life. He currently lives and works inLos Angeles with his husband.

Jun 12, 2016

What are the core competencies that women offer in the workplace?  How can women use this information to better market their skills during promotions and finding a job?  Bonita Banducci, a Gender Expert who teaches at Santa Clara University, helps companies find ways to retain women and bring more innovation and competitive advantage to their companies.

 

SHOW SUMMARY

Link to Segment 1: Most companies lean toward evaluating their workforce based on male-oriented competencies.  What are female-oriented competencies that companies should consider if they want to tap the full potential of their women employees?  Find out about a whole category of thinking and skills that women bring that can be used to generate innovation and better solutions to problems.

Link to Segment 2: There are core competencies that have a female and male expression.  For example, a women will demonstrate being a team player in a different way than a man.  Often a women’s way is misinterpreted.  What are other competencies that women and men express differently?  How can women narrow the divide? How can men shift their perspective on these competencies?

Blog Post by our Guest

Rise!-as you Lean In!

There is a confidence and freedom as well as joy that my women graduate engineering students discover in my Gender and Engineering class at Santa Clara University. The men, too, discover a new way of seeing the world and how to work effectively with differences with Gender Competence, as one student put it, “I feel like I have a strategic advantage.”

There is one lesson about an everyday practice that drives women’s ideas and eventually drives women themselves out of organizations and out of engineering, that when understood and managed applying RISE, not only retains women, building confidence and freedom to contribute, but also increases innovation.

RISE is a model and formula for having different “competencies” of women and men working together. Relational & Individualistic = Synergy (the whole greater than the sum of the parts) and mutual Empowerment.

Many women see the world through a Relational lens of relationship and demonstrate competencies of “connecting the dots” systems thinking, multi-tasking, and sharing information to create new information.

Many men see the world through an Individualistic lens of status and independence, that give us traditional competencies of prioritized, linear thinking, focus on one thing at a time, and sharing information only as needed.

The everyday practice of playing Devil’s Advocate is the ability to poke holes and find faults using deductive reasoning to bullet proof an idea. As one Individualistic Executive of a local space agency said to me, “We do science here, Devil’s Advocate is science.” Relational people often respond to Devil’s Advocate as an indicator that their idea is not good—and often drop it, sometimes taking it personally that they are not competent. Then they show up to others as not confident and not competent. Point out that you bring another competency, Collaboration or Angel’s Advocate, to build on an idea with “what could make it work” and “what else is possible with the idea,” using inductive reasoning. You frame a competency that is otherwise invisible, unarticulated and unrewarded.

You bring a new competency into the organizational culture. You can teach your Devil’s Advocates by insisting, “Before we play Devil’s Advocate, I want to play Angel’s Advocate and bring your best thinking to this.” It will be a new muscle for them. You may have to prime the pump for them, demonstrate what you mean. You can also engage them in teaching you how to stand up to Devil’s Advocate, when that time comes. You will never back down again.

The first time I did an exercise to practice both Devil’s Advocate and Angel’s Advocate, two men who had been working on an environmental engineering problem together, came up with a solution they had not thought of before. This drove home, to me, just how foreign Angel’s Advocate collaboration can be.

At the space agency, the executive who said “Devil’s Advocate is science,” responded to the exercise with a woman colleague with“we had so much fun with all the new ideas bubbling up, we didn’t even play Devil’s Advocate.” He could see that Devil’s Advocate had been keeping the lid on  innovation, people proposing new ideas, realizing they did not want to stand before a firing squad.  Indeed, the highest ranking woman, next in line to run the agency, told me she had a new vision for the agency she had only shared with some women because she did not want to stand before the firing squad. With anticipated budget cuts to space projects, she envisioned taking on Homeland Security, Global Warming and Renewable Energy—her secret—until she saw her male colleagues learn to play Angel’s Advocate and could “trust” them with her vision.

Business schools are beginning to teach “improv,” responding to ideas with a “yes, and…” to not block ideas. Women need to teach this Relational competency too.

Notice that many Relational competencies are what you think is common sense, but they are not common, they are different and can be misunderstood unless you define them as competencies. Bringing all your Relational competencies to the table, speaking about them, pointing out the value and working them together with traditional competencies will have you, your colleagues and your organization RISE.

ABOUT OUR GUEST

Bonita Banducci teaches Gender and Engineering for Santa Clara University’s School of Engineering Graduate Program in the Core Curriculum, Engineering and Society. She is an Gender expert on how to retain and promote women in the Engineering Workplace for Mentornet, which provides professional mentors to women and underrepresented minorities in Science Technology Engineering and Math (STEM) majors in hundreds of universities throughout the United States. She is President of Banducci Consulting based in Hayward. Her original research in one of Silicon Valley’s Fortune 500 companies “What is the Contribution Women Make that Could be the Strategic Advantage in the Global Marketplace?” launched her specialization in Unmasking the Gender Effect. Banducci is a founding faculty of the Santa Clara University’s Global Women’s Leadership Network, sponsored by the Leavey School of Business and is a faculty member and coach for the Women Leaders for the World Program. She has taught Leadership Experience at the Leavey School of Business.

Banducci’s training work in gender differences and leadership, based in brain science, language, perception, paradigms and “Competencies,” adds a powerful dimension to coaching women and men, facilitating change and accelerating new behaviors. Her workshops and focus group work provide new thinking to leadership, and increase productivity, innovation, and promotability for both women and men.

As Senior Consultant for Banducci Consulting, she has worked with Adaptec, Amgen, Booz Allen Hamilton, Cisco, Hewlett Packard, Intel, Johnson & Johnson, KLA-Tencor, Leadership Sunnyvale, Lifescan, Sun Microsystems, NASA Ames, Navy Corps of Engineers, US and California Environmental Protection Agencies, Xilinx, as well as organizations from local government, Santa Clara County and City and County of San Francisco and social benefit sectors, The Girl Scouts, YWCA and Center for Philanthropy at Indiana University.

Banducci represented the Santa Clara County Commission on the Status of Women at the UN World Conference on Women in Beijing leading a workshop on “Creating Partnership of Women in Business with Women in Development for Sustainable Global Development.”

She has delivered workshops at Santa Clara University, University of San Francisco, Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley, Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis, and Stanford’s Institute for Research on Women and Gender as well as women in technology conferences, WITI, Society of Women Engineers, Santa Clara University Women and Business.

Bonita Banducci, a Gender Expert who teaches at Santa Clara University, helps companies find ways to retain women & bring more innovation & competitive advantage to their business | Self-Improvement | Motivational | Inspirational | Career | Self-Help

Jun 11, 2016
Are you sick and tired of waking up worried about your kids, your husband, and all your action items?  What ever happened to your life? Where did “YOU” go?   Join us as we talk to Mal Duane, author of Alpha Chick: Five Steps to Passion, Purpose & Personal Power is about “becoming” the person you were meant to be—living the life filled with love, honesty, and self-worth that you are meant to experience.

SHOW HIGHLIGHTS

  • Link to Segment 1:  Women start giving their power away at a very early age.  Mal Duane explains how we give our power away with each passing day and how you can regain your passion and power in your life.  Mal offers her 5 step program on how to regain your life back.
  • Link to Segment 2: Mal continues describing her 5 step program and how she used it to resolve her addiction issues with alcohol.  Get inspired to make the changes you need to get your life back on track.

 

Blog Post from our Guest – Women Empowerment

THE LIFE RECOVERY FORMULA™

APRIL 15, 2013 BY Mal Duan
 
When life presents us with excruciating challenges, who do we take care of last?

I am honored to be teaching a class for an amazing group of women in a recovery facility. Over and over, the topic of abusing ourselves comes up. These women recognize that they put themselves last and take care of others first. Even people that have harmed them or been unkind come before they do?

Sadly, this is a common situation with women in general. We habitually put ourselves last. My thoughts are if American airlines is telling you to put your mask on first if the plane is going down, is a pretty strong statement about taking care of yourself before helping others. If we don’t, we run out of oxygen. Get the picture!

The practice of self-care over a period of time creates a stronger, self-loving confident woman that becomes a better contributor in everything she does. Her relationships, her employment and physical demeanor all become measurably improved.

Here are some tips on how to put you first.

  1. Take one hour in the morning for meditation/spiritual practice. If you need to get up an hour earlier than everyone else.
  2. Schedule a treat for yourself weekly. Maybe a mani/pedi or a message. How about a new book?

I just finished reading Debbie Ford’s “Courage”. Great information about pushing through life’s challenges.

  1. Take a walk in the middle or the end of the day, get some exercise and fresh air. It is a great place to think through important decisions.
  2. A new perfume, lipstick, or makeup can be a real refresher when we need it.
  3. Maybe watch an old romance movie on TV? Curl up with a cup of lavender or green tea.
  4. Create a vision board with pictures of things you would like to attract into your life. This is a very powerful practice. (Worked on my getting my home and my dog)
  5. Get a personal Life/Recovery coach for a session on how to create the life you deserve.

I would love to know about some of your favorite things that you do to nurture yourself. Feel free to comment here.

Remember, grab your mask first. It will all the difference to the ones you love.

Live Faithfully,

Mal

Self-care+Self-worth+Happiness=Recovery

ABOUT OUR GUEST

Mal Duane is a Best Selling Author and Personal Life and Recovery Coach who has overcome life challenges using the steps in the Alpha Chick Process. Her personal mission is to help women excel in all areas of their lives from business to personal relationships. Mal has been featured with Fox 25 Boston Morning Show, Aspire Magazine, Healthy Living and Metrowest Daily News. She has also been a featured guest on over thirty Blogtalk Radio shows discussing recovery and personal transformation.

Mal’s book, Alpha Chick, Five Steps for Moving from Pain to Power, is a best selling book and is available on Amazon.com.

Jun 10, 2016

What do you imagine one of the best captains on the entire east coast to look like?  The first image that pops into my mind is a burly gray bearded gristly old man.  How about if I told you the captain was an attractive brunette women? Everything about Linda Greenlaw, a best selling author and television celebrity, defies tradition in the very best possible way.  She is a women who empowers other women and helps us challenge what it is to be a woman, what it means to be a mother, and how to live life to its fullest.  Join us as we talk to her about her book Lifesaving Lessons- Notes from an Accidental Mother, when she shares her adventures as a mother of an adopted teenage girl, who had been sexually abused.

 

SHOW SUMMARY

Link to Segment 1: Linda Greenlaw, described as one of the best captains on the entire east coast, shares her story of how at 46 yo she accidentally became a mother of a 15 year old teenager. How did Linda’s life change after deciding to become a mother?  What did she learn about herself and life after adopting a teenager?

Link to Segment 2: Linda Greenlaw, author of Lifesaving Lessons- Notes from an Accidental Mother, shares the story of how her idyllic community and she changed after discovering a pedophile had been living among them for years.  How could an entire close knit community be duped for so long? Why didn’t her daughter reach out to the community for help?

Link to Full 24 min episode

BLOG POST FROM OUR GUEST

SOURCE: FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTION FROM LINDAGREENLAWBOOKS.COM

How did you go from fishing to writing? 
It was thanks to Sebastian Junger’s very generous portrayal of me in his book, The Perfect Storm. After that, publishers basically invited me to write a book. I ended up getting an agent, who told me to write what he explained was called a proposal, for a book that ended up being The Hungry Ocean. He sent it around to editors.Then there was a phone auction and Hyperion won. It wasn’t something I’d ever imagined doing. In college, I’d majored in English because I liked to read, but I’d never taken creative writing courses. I am an old-fashioned letter-writer, but that’s not the same as writing a book. I guess I just had some confidence that I could do it.

What was your impression of the movie The Perfect Storm? Did you like the way you were portrayed? 
I was thrilled with Warner Bros choice of Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio to play Linda Greenlaw, and I was amazed at the special effects. The movie was Hollywood’s version of speculation as to what could have happened to the Andrea Gale, and maybe it was a little far-fetched. I don’t necessarily agree with their speculation. But I thought the movie was a nice tribute to a way of life of people who choose to go to sea.

Are you still fishing? 
I was hauling lobster traps up until July 7, when I started the book tour. Unfortunately I’m going to miss most of the season on the book tour.

Who hauls your traps while you’re away on book tour? 
My dad takes care of the traps and the boat while I’m gone. He actually prefers it when I’m gone, because it’s more fun to captain the boat than to be sternman. I’m very lucky to have my dad, that’s for sure.

How is your mother? 
My mother is a breast cancer survivor. She’s feisty as ever, so I think she’s doing great.

How do you write – what is the process? 
I am very disciplined about my writing. I treat it like I do fishing, in that it’s a job, its hard work, and I have to do it every day to do it well. I write every day from when I get up in the morning to about lunchtime and then I try to do something physical and outside the rest of the day. I write longhand in a notebook, making all of my corrections and changes on paper, and eventually I take the time to type it in to MS word.

Did you ever get married?
No, I’m not married but I have a very nice man in my life right now.

ABOUT OUR GUEST

Linda Greenlaw, America’s only female swordfishing captain, is author of three New York Times bestselling books about life as a commercial fisherman: THE HUNGRY OCEAN (1999), THE LOBSTER CHRONICLES (2002) and

ALL FISHERMEN ARE LIARS (2004). She is the winner of the U.S. Maritime Literature Award in 2003, and the New England Book Award for nonfiction in 2004. Time Magazine called her 2005 RECIPES FROM A VERY SMALL ISLAND, co-authored with her mother Martha Greenlaw, a “must-have cookbook”. Additionally, she’s written two mysteries: SLIPKNOT (2007) and FISHERMAN’S BEND (2008).

 

Linda is featured in the hit Discovery Channel series Swords: Life on the Line. The second season of Swords will premier in August 2010.

Greenlaw’s latest book SEAWORTHY: A SWORDFISH BOAT CAPTAIN RETURNS TO THE SEA is a chronicle of her return to swordfishing after ten years as a lobsterman and marks her return to non-fiction and high-seas adventure.

Greenlaw first came to the public’s attention in Sebastian Junger’s THE PERFECT STORM, where Junger called her “one of the best captains  … on the entire east coast.” She’s also been featured on Good Morning AmericaTodayCBS Sunday MorningThe Martha Stewart Show, and National Public Radio.

She lives on Isle au Haut, Maine.

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