Gabby Reece On Marriage

In her new book, “My Foot Is Too Big for the Glass Slipper,” beach volleyball star Gabrielle Reece opens up about her relationship with surfer husband Laird Hamilton. Reece talks about divorce, marriage, sex, relationships with others, and how she used the idea of being of service to her husband and children to save her marriage…

Brene Brown: ‘The Power of Being Vulnerable’ (Updated)

Brené Brown, Ph.D., LMSW is a research professor at the University of Houston Graduate College of Social Work. She has spent the past decade studying vulnerability, courage, worthiness, and shame — and a concept that she calls Wholeheartedness, posing the questions: How do we engage in our lives from a place of authenticity and worthiness? How do we cultivate the courage, compassion, and connection that we need to embrace our imperfections and to recognize that we are enough — that we are worthy of love, belonging and joy? Brené is a nationally renowned speaker and has won numerous teaching awards, including the College’s Outstanding Faculty Award. Her groundbreaking work has been featured on PBS, NPR, CNN, and has appeared in The Washington Post, Psychology Today, and many other national media outlets. Her 2010 TEDx Houston talk on the power of vulnerability (watch here) is one of the most watched talks on TED.com, with over 6 million views…

Dreams (Updated)

Pulse Resource Page on Dreams…

Quote: Steve Jobs

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.” — Steve Jobs

The Nine Common Characteristics Of The World’s Longest Living People (Updated)

Working with a team of scientists, we found the nine common characteristics of all the world’s long-lived people. The secret of how to live longer lies not in diets or excise programs but in creating the right surroundings. These nine characteristics we call Power 9™ can help you get up to 12 good years out of life and help you look and feel younger at every age…

Why Seventh-Day Adventists Live Longer, Happier, Healthier Lives

In one idyllic community in southern California, Adventists live 4 to 7 years longer — and more healthily and happily — than the rest of the country. A look at their diet, lifestyle, and philosophy…

Jill Bolte Taylor: Does Our Planet Need A Stroke Of Insight?

I’ve come to understand that the two issues of mental health and global health are closely linked — if not one and the same. Similar processes we use to improve our mental health can help us make better, more responsible decisions as a society — by focusing on the compassion and integrity of our right brain, rather than the judgment, punishment and deception of our left brain…

New NHNE Facebook Page on Relationships!

NHNE now has a new Facebook page on relationships. NHNE’s relationship page is dedicated to the rarest, most valuable of all earthly treasures: conscious, caring, healthy relationships — first, with our fellow human beings, and then with the rest of creation…

Panic Attacks & How To Row Your Boat Back To Saner, Calmer Shores (v1.1)

OK, something has happened (or hasn’t happened) and you notice that you are spending a lot of time worrying about it. What could happen. What might happen. How your life will probably be ruined by whatever real or imagined event you are pondering. You begin to feel panicky. Not too much at first, but the more you ponder your circumstances, they worse they seem, and the more panicky that makes you feel. A little voice inside you is telling you that you are over-reacting, but you are too upset to listen to it. And you don’t want to believe this voice anyway. So you keep focused on the problem. The more deeply you examine the situation, the more evidence you discover to support the idea that things are really awful. Terrible. Getting worse. By now, your thoughts and emotions are out of control. They are looping around and around. You’re starting to feel sick. Your head hurts. Your stomach aches. You feel like you might throw up. You’re having a full-fledged panic attack. Now that you are in the middle of an emotional hurricane, how can you row your little boat back to saner, calmer shores?

Mr. Happy Man – Johnny Barnes

Johnny Barnes is a Bermuda native found waving to passing traffic at the Foot of the Lane roundabout in Hamilton, Bermuda, from roughly 3:45 am to 10 am, every workday, rain or shine. A Bermuda institution mentioned in several guidebooks and profiled in a documentary film, he is known for waving and saying “I love you, God loves you,” to passing commuters during the morning rush hour into Hamilton…

All About Emanuel Swedenborg

All about Emanuel Swedenborg. “People who have had near-death experiences peek through the door of the after-life, but Swedenborg explored the whole house.” — Kenneth Ring, founder of International Association for Near Death Studies (IANDS)

The Pathwork Lectures On Relationships

The Pathwork Lectures provide the best, most clear and inspiring material I have ever come across when it comes to the importance of human relationships — especially male/female relationships. What follows are quotes from some of my favorite lectures, including Pathwork Lecture 44: “The Forces of Love, Eros, and Sex”, which presents the best overview of relationship dynamics and potentials I have ever encountered…

Shadow Work: Insights From The Pathwork Lectures

Before integral perspectives came along, the Pathwork Lectures of Eva Pierrakos provided the best, most inspired overview of personal growth and the spiritual path that I had ever come across. Along with being exceptionally “integral” in the way they view and encourage personal growth, the Pathwork Lectures are unique in terms of how much, and how clearly, they deal with shadow issues…

Robert Augustus Masters: ‘The Art of Listening’

He is speaking slowly and carefully, accurately describing the verbal dynamics of what has just happened between himself and his partner. Several times she starts to speak, but he gently waves her off, saying that when he’s done, she’ll have her turn to speak. On he goes, deftly dissecting the tiny argument they’d gotten into five or so minutes ago. She leans toward him, her eyes sad, her jaw tightening, as if fighting to hold back her speech; she is afraid that if she interrupts him, he will very likely label her as immature, or — though he’d never say it outloud — as a bitch. So she keeps quiet. Two more minutes pass. He’s still not done.
Finally, she breaks eye contact, looking down. He shows no sign of noticing. She’s thinking about leaving him, and he doesn’t have a clue. The signs are there, and have been for a while, but he’s missing them. When he stops a minute later, she has nothing to say. Tears cover her face. They never argue again. Such brilliant cognition, such an incisive, finely nuanced mind, but such emotional retardation — this is what she writes about him, a few months after she has left him…

11/13/12 Sedona NDE Class Notes

Notes from Sedona’s November 13th, 2012 NDE Class. This update includes information by or about NHNE’s new YouTube Channel, including several NDE play lists and two huge video archives of first-person NDE accounts, David Sunfellow’s “How Near-Death Experiences Are Changing The World” YouTube presentation, Becki Hawkins, Barbara Whitfield, Andy Petro, and a Vietnam War veteran who describes how his NDE left him unable to shoot anyone anymore…

The Island Where People Forget to Die

Doctors said that Stamatis Moraitis had lung cancer. They gave him nine months to live. He was in his mid-60s. Moraitis considered staying in America and seeking aggressive cancer treatment at a local hospital. But he decided instead to return to Ikaria, where he could be buried with his ancestors in a cemetery shaded by oak trees that overlooked the Aegean Sea. At first, he spent his days in bed, as his mother and wife tended to him. He reconnected with his faith. On Sunday mornings, he hobbled up the hill to a tiny Greek Orthodox chapel where his grandfather once served as a priest. When his childhood friends discovered that he had moved back, they started showing up every afternoon. They’d talk for hours, an activity that invariably involved a bottle or two of locally produced wine. I might as well die happy, he thought. In the ensuing months, something strange happened. He says he started to feel stronger. One day, feeling ambitious, he planted some vegetables in the garden. He didn’t expect to live to harvest them, but he enjoyed being in the sunshine, breathing the ocean air. Elpiniki could enjoy the fresh vegetables after he was gone. Six months came and went. Moraitis didn’t die. Instead, he reaped his garden and, feeling emboldened, cleaned up the family vineyard as well. Easing himself into the island routine, he woke up when he felt like it, worked in the vineyards until midafternoon, made himself lunch and then took a long nap. In the evenings, he often walked to the local tavern, where he played dominoes past midnight. The years passed. His health continued to improve. He added a couple of rooms to his parents’ home so his children could visit. He built up the vineyard until it produced 400 gallons of wine a year. Today, three and a half decades later, he’s 97 years old — and cancer-free. He never went through chemotherapy, took drugs or sought therapy of any sort. All he did was move home to Ikaria…

Forget Self Esteem; What Is Really Needed Is Self-Compassion

A growing body of research, including new studies by Berkeley’s Juliana Breines and Serena Chen, suggest that self-compassion, rather than self-esteem, may be the key to unlocking your true potential for greatness…

Twelve “Any Time, Any Place” Survival Tips (v3.2)

So, you live on Planet Earth and are wondering what you can do to insure a graceful passage through whatever changes may come your way. And you want advice that you can use any time, any place, even when faced with the kind of apocalyptic changes that are presently knocking on our global door. Here are a few practical suggestions…

The Healthy Relationship Preamble v2.0 (Updated)

The first version of “The Healthy Relationship Preamble” emerged in 2008. It grew out of a desire to understand the core qualities of healthy, happy, deeply integrated relationships — and fashion these core qualities into a simple, one-page statement. This is the second major version of The Preamble, which continues to change as more people read it and offer their feedback. Version 1 was called “The Integral Relationship Preamble”. Click here to download a printable copy of the current version…

Quote: Dalai Lama

“When you think everything is someone else’s fault, you will suffer a lot. When you realize that everything springs only from yourself, you will learn both peace and joy.” — His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama

TED: Michael Norton: How To Buy Happiness

At TEDxCambridge, Michael Norton shares fascinating research on how money can, indeed buy happiness — when you don’t spend it on yourself. Listen for surprising data on the many ways pro-social spending can benefit you, your work, and (of course) other people…

Quote: Robert Augustus Masters

‎”Intimate relationship is perhaps the ashram of the 21st Century — a place especially ripe with transformational possibility, a combination crucible and sanctuary for the deepest sort of healing and awakening, through which the full integration of our physical, mental, emotional, psychological, and spiritual dimensions is more than possible.” — Robert Augustus Masters

Secrets Of The World’s Healthiest Women

The places we’re usually told to emulate are known as Blue Zones or Cold Spots. Blue Zones were pinpointed by explorer Dan Buettner and a team of longevity researchers and are described in his book “The Blue Zones: Lessons for Living Longer from the People Who’ve Lived the Longest.” They’re areas in Italy, Japan, Greece, California, and Costa Rica where the people have traditionally stayed healthy and active to age 100 or older. Similarly, Cold Spots, as identified by integrative medicine physician Daphne Miller, M.D., author of “The Jungle Effect,” are five areas in Mexico, Iceland, Japan, Greece, and Cameroon with low rates of “Western” ailments like heart disease, depression, and certain cancers. So I took a look at a few key regions to see which habits we Americans could make our own…

Karma Kitchen & The Gift Economy

Karma Kitchen first opened in Berkeley on March 31st 2007, by several volunteers inspired to seed the value of a “gift economy”. Run by volunteers, their meals are cooked and served with love, and offered to the guest as a genuine gift. To complete the full circle of giving and sustain this experiment, guests make contributions in the spirit of pay-it-forward to those who will come after them. In keeping this chain going, the generosity of both guests and volunteers helps to create a future that moves from transaction to trust, from self-oriented isolation to shared commitment, and from fear of scarcity to celebration of abundance…

Quote: Dalai Lama

“Even more important than the warmth and affection we receive, is the warmth and affection we give. It is by giving warmth and affection, by having a genuine sense of concern for others, in other words through compassion, that we gain the conditions for genuine happiness. More important than being loved, therefore, is to love.” — Dalai Lama

Older Men Value Kissing & Cuddling, Older Women Value Sex

A Kinsey Institute study indicates that kissing and hugging are more important to the happiness of men than of women. Men who reported frequent kissing or cuddling with their partners were on average three times as happy with their relationships as men who reported limited snuggling. For women, such shows of tenderness didn’t have much impact on relationship satisfaction. The study involved 1,009 heterosexual middle-aged and older couples in long-term (average 25 years) committed relationships in five countries…

Quote: Eve Ensler

“When we give the world what we want the most, we heal the broken part inside of us.” — Eve Ensler

The Power Of Smiling

Smiling stimulates our brain’s reward mechanisms in a way that even chocolate, a well-regarded pleasure-inducer, cannot match. In a study conducted in the UK (using an electromagnetic brain scan machine and heart-rate monitor to create “mood-boosting values” for various stimuli), British researchers found that one smile can provide the same level of brain stimulation as up to 2,000 chocolate bars; they also found that smiling can be as stimulating as receiving up to 16,000 Pounds Sterling in cash. That’s 25 grand a smile… And unlike lots of chocolate, lots of smiling can actually make you healthier. Smiling has documented therapeutic effects, and has been associated with: reduced stress hormone levels (like cortisol, adrenaline, and dopamine), increased health and mood enhancing hormone levels (like endorphins), and lowered blood pressure…

Happiness Peaks In Our Eighties

We become happier when we grow older, according to scientists who claim our best years do not arrive until our late seventies and eighties…

Quote: Joseph Campbell

“Follow your bliss and don’t be afraid, and doors will open where you didn’t know they were going to be. If you follow your bliss, doors will open for you that wouldn’t have opened for anyone else.” — Joseph Campbell

Mindfulness Meditation Changes Brain Structure In 8 Weeks

Participating in an 8-week mindfulness meditation program appears to make measurable changes in brain regions associated with memory, sense of self, empathy and stress. In a study that will appear in the January 30 issue of Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging, a team led by Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) researchers report the results of their study, the first to document meditation-produced changes over time in the brain’s grey matter…

Interview: Counterclockwise – Ellen Langer

If we could turn back the clock psychologically, could we also turn it back physically? For more than thirty years, award-winning social psychologist Ellen Langer has studied this provocative question, and now, in Counterclockwise, she presents the answer: Opening our minds to what’s possible, instead of presuming impossibility, can lead to better health — at any age. Drawing on landmark work in the field and her own body of colorful and highly original experiments — including the first detailed discussion of her “counterclockwise” study, in which elderly men lived for a week as though it was 1959 and showed dramatic improvements in their hearing, memory, dexterity, appetite, and general well-being — Langer shows that the magic of rejuvenation and ongoing good health lies in being aware of the ways we mindlessly react to social and cultural cues. Examining the hidden decisions and vocabulary that shape the medical world (“chronic” versus “acute,” “cure” versus “remission”), the powerful physical effects of placebos, and the intricate but often defeatist ways we define our physical health, Langer challenges the idea that the limits we assume and impose on ourselves are real. With only subtle shifts in our thinking, in our language, and in our expectations, she tells us, we can begin to change the ingrained behaviors that sap health, optimism, and vitality from our lives. Improved vision, younger appearance, weight loss, and increased longevity are just four of the results that Langer has demonstrated.

Video: Nic Marks: The Happy Planet Index

Quote: Deepak Chopra

“The cosmos are structured to bring about growth, and growth is always in the direction of greater love and happiness.” — Deepak Chopra

Quote: Robin Sharma

“The secret of happiness is simple: find out what you truly love to do and then direct all of your energy towards doing it.” — Robin Sharma from The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari

Dream: The Healthier We Are On The Inside…

While I’ve been aware of and working with manifestation principles for years (we create our reality through the power of our thoughts, emotions, intentions), lately I’ve been getting a near-constant dose of reminders. My work with near-death experiences, for example, has led me to a tidal wave of stories wherein people describe how our inner world creates everything we experience in the outer world. A couple days ago, I was reminded of another amazing interview I encountered several years ago. In this interview, Andrew Cohen spoke with Peter Ragnar about a variety of manifestation-related issues. While almost everything Ragnar said struck gold with me, several parts of the interview leapt out with renewed vigor this time I read it. And this, in turn, led to an interesting dream…