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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 [...]

I am compelled to tell you about someone I discovered that left me awestruck. Some have called her a sound healer; others think of her as a sound oracle. My own reaction is that an angel is in our midst. Her name is Mei-Lan and when you hear her you may agree that she sings with the chorus of angels. I was searching for something on You Tube. I stumbled upon or was guided, depending on your point of view, to her duet Eternal Soul with Ali Pervez Mehdi. I was blown-away. Her voice is captivating, as is his. Even using the word ‘voice’ seems wrong. Of course, the sounds were coming through her but it was clear within seconds that they originated at a level far above the physical plane. So, it is not surprising that some have dubbed her [...]

Before I go too far into the topic, let me note that there may be more than one ‘voice’ that you are ‘hearing.’ Not audibly but nonetheless discernable. You can think of one voice as self-talk, a second as your higher-self and if there are others you may be detecting other higher beings assigned to you and commonly referred to as spirit guides. While we might be embarrassed or worried about admitting it, most know that there is a steady stream of ‘chatter’ that cannot be ignored. I have written about the latter two in earlier blogs, this week’s is about self-talk. To be honest, I am not certain if self-talk originates in our conscious or subconscious mind or is a chorus combining the two. But it hardly matters. What I am certain about is that our self-talk reflects the beliefs [...]

Nurturing the soul is important for our physical and emotional health and our spiritual growth and an important aspect of our soul’s plan for this lifetime. Soul plans often include lofty aspirations. And as these plans unfold, many of us become preoccupied with the excitement, frenzy or drama that unfolds. But these noble goals ambitions can soon obscure the need for us to nurture our soul. Despite the fact that most, if not all of us, yearn for this very thing. There is no better time than now to reconcile what your soul wants for your lifetime with ego-personality preoccupations, be they family, friends, romance, careers or hobbies. We often speak about self-care, make and implement plans to keep our bodies healthy and in shape, our minds sharp, and our emotions from going ‘off the rails.’ There are several practices that [...]

Peace on Earth Goodwill to People          Years ago, I read a message in MS Magazine that touched me deeply. It put words to my hopes and aspirations for humankind. For years, I would pull it out of its safekeeping place and include it in my holiday cards. I never tired of the universality of its message although card recipients eventually tired of receiving additional copies each year.     I may have included it an earlier holiday blog but no time to dig in the archives to confirm. So, if you have already read it, I ask for your indulgence and hope you will be inspired once again by the message that still resonates some forty years later. “PEACE ON EARTH GOOD WILL TO PEOPLE     We wish you what we wish for ourselves – a Christmastime of thoughtfulness and rest, of assessment [...]

Several years ago, I realized that many of my clients had three important things in common. They shared a deep desire to grow spiritually, they were aware that this pursuit was encumbered by emotional residue and they had concluded that spiritual hypnotherapy was the path to resolution. I then realized that there were several emotional challenges that seemed a common variable. Soon after, the idea to write Awakened Soul was born and as of December 6, 2021 it is available! Awakened Soul moves readers to imagine what it would feel like to wake up feeling joyful, at peace and knowing without a doubt that they are loved. Using excerpted transcripts from spiritual regressions she conducted, hypnotherapist, spiritual counselor and teacher Joanne Selinske, Ph.D., relays the awe-inspiring stories of dozens who realized this dream and deepened their capacity to love themselves. In [...]

Thanksgiving is near, a day when most in the USA stop and pause to express gratitude. I know that for many readers gratitude is both a daily practice and experience. Like many of you, the minute I awake each morning, I am grateful for another day on this majestic earth. For me, life itself is such an incredible gift. And on top of that, there are countless other blessings. In general, my list of things to thank the SOURCE of all that is, resembles previous years with important additions. After life itself, the things that top my list include love, health, freedom, safety and Mother Gaia. I am grateful for the love that abounds in my life – family, friends, and my friend’s dog Mattie who comes over for sleepovers to fill the void created by the transition of all our [...]