Joanne

My first glimpse of the pictures taken by the James Webb telescope brought me to tears. I was overwhelmed, perhaps you were as well. Subsequent peeks at these magnificent photos have had the same effect. Imagine, we are peering back in time over 13 billion years! Seeing long after the fact the birth of stars and the apparent clash and early demise of galaxies. I frequently talk and write about eternity in my work - the concept of time with no beginning, with no end. Often, I sense that the word falls short of the grandness it represents. The Webb telescope photos gave this word texture and depth in a way that often evades its utterance. The photos are mesmerizing in their beauty and in the thoughts of our eternal journey that they prompt. When I thought about my emotional reaction [...]

Often people approach spiritual hypnotherapy with the hope that they will receive the answer to the question – what is the purpose of my life? Many hope that the answer will give them a sense of direction for their external life – what career to pursue, what life change to make, what to plan for retirement. The answer often surprises but from my perspective delights regardless of how it is expressed. My favorite articulation is when the spirit guides answer to love and be love. Five simple words that are easy and lovely to hear but not necessarily easy to implement. It's easy to love your favorite people be they relatives or friends. It’s a lot harder to love people who hold beliefs that are directly opposite to yours. Possibly the best examples of this, are people who victimize others, who [...]

Sometime in the distant past, we began our journey through human life. In the beginning of this stage of our existence as human beings we were individuated from the Creator Source – we were pure and perfect albeit quite new and undeveloped. Little slivers of the Divine, we set out on a series of lifetimes. The light of the Divine shining brightly in us. Some souls are older than others and as a result have had more lives, more time to learn and acquire wisdom. On the surface this appears to be good news. But depending on what occurred and how these souls coped, it may not be. Life events shape us – our thoughts and beliefs, our feelings and in turn our behavior. So, it follows that even a single event affects people in diverse ways. Despite our initial pure [...]

I woke up today trying to recover from a virus. I was instantly pleased and grateful that I felt better than the previous few days. It started me thinking about the simple blessings that we tend to take for granted. Waking up each day is huge, which causes many to pause in gratitude. But what about the many smaller things that may go unnoticed. The day is full of them. The bed you slept on is one of them, and the pillows another. Both come in endless configurations and styles to maximize your sleeping experience. We have come a long way since sleeping on horsehair, straw mats or curled-up in caves. And then there is the convenience of indoor plumbing. It tops my list! People lived for millennium without it, and still today not everyone in the world enjoys this luxury. [...]

Shining the Light Within I saw this picture of the Quadirikiri Cave in Aruba and it reminded me of the beauty of shining the light within. During the last two years as COVID upended our lives, many of us found ourselves with a resource that previously had seemed in short supply – free time. Negative reactions to the disruption aside, the free time afforded the opportunity to accomplish long-stalled projects and to reprioritize personal interests. For others it offered the opportunity to shine the light within. I have long viewed time as my most precious resource. After all, you cannot earn it, buy it, borrow it, steal it or even save it. Our lifetime has an expiration date which is unknown. So, for me, when circumstances change and time becomes more bountiful, I consider it a bonanza. Speaking of time, you [...]

The essence of love - meaning something to someone, touching somebody's heart and in return having them touch your heart along the way.

Sharon's Relationships The following is one of the more than 40 cases included in Awakened Soul: Discoveries of Healing, Self-Love and Spiritual Growth.   Sharon is a 48-year-old tennis instructor with two college-age children. She is on the brink of separating from her husband Robert of 23-years. Despite a tumultuous last six years, including individual and couples counseling, she has been unable to let the marriage go. Several years ago, Sharon began studying eastern spirituality. In a class she met Brian, a kindred spirit who shares this interest. Over time, their connection deepened. Although not romantically or sexually involved, the intensity of their relationship has left them both feeling like there is a soul connection. Sharon scheduled her session hoping to gain insight into her inability to end her troubled marriage and to understand the nature of her connection to Brian. [...]

In the next few blog posts, I will be including sections from Chapter 2 of Awakened Soul: Discoveries of Healing, Self-Love and Spiritual Growth. Chapter 2 is about the Role of Relationships in the Soul's Growth. Relationships are of particular importance to most of us. In this post, you will understand why they are so important to the soul. The Role of Relationships in the Soul’s Growth From the moment of birth in each life, you are embedded in relationships that shape your experience of life. You learn about life and how to live in this complicated world through your relationships with others. In your earliest days, this learning is localized with your parents. As you grow, your instructor-pool expands to include siblings, other relatives, neighbors, teachers, religious figures, friends, co-workers, partners, and your fellow global citizens. Similarly, your soul learns [...]

Today, like people everywhere, I prayed for peace in the places on the planet where people are dying in war and countless lives are upended. Quite frankly feeling powerless to do anything other than pray, I wondered what else I might do? I was surprised to get an answer – let peace begin with you. It did not take long for me to connect the answer to the challenge I face daily to ignore life’s annoyances, to overlook slight or even large offenses or to disregard the abhorrent behavior of others. Perhaps you understand. If you work or live with others, you know that trivial things take on importance when they accumulate. While it may be easy to ignore one small thing, it is more difficult to ignore patterns of behavior that you find annoying. Certain circumstances irritate – it may [...]

We often look away from the difficult realities of life – the horror of war, the suffering of subjugated and victimized peoples, the senseless acts of brutality and killing. The search for understanding is too often confused with acceptance. Ascribing these acts to the work of the devil may seem enough. Oversimplification is tempting, to label it as a mere struggle between light and dark, but falls short. Those seeking to understand within a spiritual context are beyond blaming God for allowing such atrocities, because humans enjoy the gift of free will. Notwithstanding, the harsh realities of the dehumanized mistreatment of others leaves them bewildered and grappling to comprehend. A new book Lost Soul, Wise Soul: How Challenging Past Lives Shape Our Future by my Michael Newton Institute colleague Karen Joy, offers insight through the debilitating struggles souls may endure on [...]