A Fine Time for Healing

Do you have all the symbols for success and still feel unworthy, tired and aimless? Have you tried to do it all but now realize you can't? Are you ready to disrupt patterns of behavior that aren't helpful and focus on what you really want?

Today's special guest, Cortney McDermott is here to help you change your patterns of behavior, grow a thriving business, and apply the physiology and psychology needed for success.

Cortney believes in human alchemy. She knows the confines of human potential and is passionate about sharing what has led her to this place in her life. Her book Give Yourself Permission offers a transformative guide to unlocking one's true potential, cultivating confidence, and embracing a life of fulfillment. She offers expert guidance on personal growth and self-empowerment from practical strategies and exercises to overcome obstacles and cultivate resilience, and inspirational stories and anecdotes that illustrate the power of embracing one's potential.

CORTNEY MCDERMOTT is a best-selling author, TEDx speaker, and mind-body expert, with a Master of Science from the London School of Economics. Her work in the field of self-development and business strategy has been featured in Inc., Women’s Health, SUCCESS, The Huffington Post, FOX News, and many other mainstream business and lifestyle media.

Cortney's career highlights include her time as an executive at Vanity Fair Corporation, Vice President at Sustainability Partners Inc., and then running her own businesses, with clients and audiences at Universal Music Group, Google, Nike, and Virgin Unite.

Cortney speaks four languages and lives between Italy and the US.

Jim Kleiger, Psy.D., author of psychological and psychoanalytical themed/based books, is back on A Fine Time for Healing for a second time. Today he will be discussing his intriguing new novel, Tears Are Only Water.

Tears Are Only Water is a mystery with powerful messages of trauma, healing, and transformation. The story incorporates topics such as suicide, narcolepsy, early trauma, maternal narcissism, psychotherapy, death, and indigenous healing. The overall message is that growth is not possible without facing the past and mourning. After many twists and turns it comes to a satisfying , uplifting ending with a profound message about mourning, integration, and personal transformation made possible through a healing relationship.

J. Herman Kleiger was born and raised in Colorado. He graduated from Harvard and the University of Denver, before serving as a psychologist in the Navy.  A clinical psychologist and psychoanalyst, his major works include Disordered Thinking and The Rorschach, 1999; Assessing Psychosis, with Ali Khadivi, 2015; and Rorschach Assessment of Psychotic Phenomena, 2017. The 11th Inkblot, the book we discussed on this show on July 7, 2020 was Jim’s first novel.

Knowing who you are and not BEING who you are: this is the starting point of every Transistional situation. Taking that first transitional step is TERRIFYING. The physical transition is the easy part.Making the mental transition is tough.

Knowing from childhood she was a girl, today's special guest Wendy Cole yielded to familial and societal expectations to fit in. At age 67, Wendy changed her life with her transition. Beginning in January 2015 she focused internally: accepting who she really was, confronting fears, doubts, and anxieties that held her back for decades. She took the leap of faith to find freedom and joy in being herself. By July 2015, Wendy was living as a woman. She had her long-awaited surgery at NYU Medical in 2017.

As a Transition Mentor, Wendy Cole helps her clients face significant life changes. Since 2017, Wendy has guided others through transition. Her life experiences are the tools she uses. She believes in the mind's powers; she paractices mindfulness, shifting her beliefs and energy to support herself going forward, making profounc changes in her life, health, and finding joy in being.

In today's special guest Brianna Ladapo's book Emerging From Darkness, she takes us through her troubled, tumultuous childhood in a deeply religious family who believed her extraordinary intuitive gifts to be the work of the devil. As she struggled to adapt to a world in which she felt completely alien, her desire for self-preservation and acceptance led her to actively suppress these gifts. The result was a great deal of suffering, including chronic migraines that regularly put her in the hospital, severe physical illness that nearly killed her, persistent, dark visions of tragedies she could not prevent, and countless sexual traumas and abuses that seemed to define every relationship in her formative years. This led to a deep distrust and fear of others, incredible self-doubt and loathing, and ultimately, a very dark depression.

Finally, an encounter with a divinely gifted healer reawakened her gifts and taught her how to truly free herself from her trauma and experience a life she loves, invulnerable to programming, fear, shame, or external influences.

Brianna Ladapo is an intuitive spiritual healer, movement therapist, and teacher. She has a master’s degree in English from Harvard University and has studied traditional naturopathy, plant and herbal medicine, and shamanism. She lives in Florida with her husband and three boys, where she works with nonprofit organizations to heal trafficked and exploited children.

After the study and collation of more than 500 Near Death Experience accounts and the identification of common observations and insights drawn therefrom, today's special guest, Douglas Hodgson authored the book Spiritual Revelations from Beyond the Veil: What Humanity Can Learn from the Near Death Experience. In his book, Douglas decouples spirituality from a religious context and perspective. It examines the intriguing accounts of people who have undergone a near-death experience (NDE) and what was revealed to them while outside their physical bodies.

The messaging brought back include, but goes well beyond, what can be found in religious scripture in relation to such things as Heaven(s), the higher spiritual realms, what happens upon the death of our physical body, the meaning and purpose of our Earthly life, what interconnectedness/oneness mean, so-called Universal Laws, the nature of positive and negative energy, the gift of free will and its purpose, the nature of soul agreements, and our spiritual rebirth and life-review.

Douglas' book provides comfort, validation and assurance for those who are still struggling to come to grips with their own NDE as well as for the terminally ill, those who have suffered a difficult bereavement, and those who fear so-called death.

Douglas Hodgson is a former Dean and Professor of Law, currently residing in Perth, Western Australia. He undertook postgraduate legal study at the University of London before embarking on a 35-year career in higher education in Canada, Australia and New Zealand as a teacher, researcher, scholar, human rights advocate and university administrator.

Today's special guest, Cindy Kaza’s first memorable encounter with a spirit happened when she was just 10 years old. A girl from her elementary school was killed in a tragic car accident. Shortly after her death, Cindy woke up in the middle of the night to find the ghost of this girl standing directly next to her bed. Cindy dismissed this chilling experience as just a dream and never spoke about it until her early 20s when she realized she was continually having mediumistic experiences. Since her “awakening,” Cindy has been searching for the truth about her gifts and testing the limits of her multifaceted abilities. 

Completing her role as co-host on The Dead Files and in the development of a new show with a prominent UK-based production company, internationally known Psychic Medium Cindy Kaza is turning her focus to art. Her aura art drawings specifically help us demystify our unique energy fields around us and the messaging they provide. 

Through her aura drawings, Kaza can read a person and search through their past, present, and even their future. Working in oil and pastels, her vibrant aura drawings, guided by spirit, help tell the story of a person’s life. Cindy says, “Every person has a unique energy field around them, called an aura. The aura holds a tremendous amount of information that can tell us about the past, present, and future. The colors of the aura all have meaning and the placement of the colors in the auric field shows the reader important information about a person’s life.”

One of Kaza’s true passions is channeling spirits through art. She is known for her ability to draw spirits, especially clients’ spirit guides and the spirits she encounters at haunted locations as well as aura art drawings.

We all learn toxic stuff from our parents but it’s our job to unlearn those patterns and behaviors because they often get replicated in both romantic relationships and friendships. Today's special guest, Florence Ann Romano, is an expert in relationships and understanding how to unlearn some of these toxic traits and better identify our relational habits in order to foster healthier long term bonds with those close to us. 

Her latest book, Build Your Village, delves into the significance of the connections, relationships, and influences that shape our identities. It offers readers a practical and strategic guide, not only to improve their lives but also to love more deeply and completely, benefiting everyone around us. Florence Ann is the leading voice on how to embrace this approach every day.Similar to a framework like love languages, she teaches several personas that make up a supportive village, and highlights that while individuals may possess traits from multiple archetypes, they primarily foster relationships based on one.

Florence Ann Romano is an author, philanthropist, businesswoman, personal growth strategist, and village and childcare advocate with a sparkling personality. With an eye for marketing, Romano flourishes as both an advisor for and the vice president of business strategy for Yakkety Yak. Florence Ann is a proud member of the board of directors at the Children's Research Fund as well as Female Strong. She is also a founding member of Sesame Street's Leadership Council. After spending more than fifteen years as a childcare provider, during which she was known as the Windy City Nanny, Romano is the authority on childcare and family support in this new millennium and has more than five hundred media appearances discussing these topics. For more information, visit www.florenceannromano.com.

An artist as a child, today's special guest Heather Eck set about on a path of Human Resources and coaching until 2017. Then she suddenly and intuitively returned to art making, creating portraits that capture the color she sees for people, spaces, and animals but also prescribes a healing color to support, balance and heal. Leaving her full-time job in 2019, Heather traded pens for paintbrushes and creates 'Spirit Portraits' where she reads someone's color and paints the aura she sees, plus the prescriptive colors that will help that person discover more about themselves and ultimately heal.

Heather Eck, Synesthesia Artist & Color Alchemist,brings extraordinary color insights, perspectives, and wisdom through her unique approach to perceiving, creating, and healing through her artwork. Her background as an HR Manager and Certified Authentic Leadership Coach, ACC, combined with her unique gift of synesthesia, gives her a special skill to communicate, in simple terms, the hidden dynamics and solutions to everyday challenges through clairsentience, intuition, and color reading. As an expert on color, chakras, spirituality, and energy healing, you will gain tips and new tools to uplift and inspire your heart and mind.

Heather is a renowned and award-winning artist, intuitive, thought leader, spiritual intuitive healer, passionate coach, and facilitator. Her work has been exhibited in more than 25 shows, and she offers an inspiring perspective on connecting healing through color, symbolism, and form. Her Instagram channel has over 4k followers, and she mentors hundreds of color lovers and students worldwide in her private Facebook group, The Color Club. Her original art, spirit portraits, art retreats, and courses are available on her websites.

Leadership, traditionally viewed as a vehicle for inspiring and guiding others towards a shared goal, can sometimes take a dark turn. Toxic leadership involves behaviors and attitudes that violate the legitimate interests of an organization and its members, leading to a deleterious environment. This form of leadership can emerge in various contexts, from corporate settings to political arenas, and its effects are often far-reaching.

Understanding the psychological roots of such behavior, recognizing its manifestations, and implementing strategies to mitigate its impact are crucial steps in fostering healthier, more productive organizational environments.

Today's special guest, Antonio Kalentzis is with us today to share several psychological theories and provide insights into why individuals may exhibit toxic leadership traits:

Antonio is a highly skilled psychologist with over 13 years of experience in providing individual and group therapy, psychological assessments, and evaluations. His areas of expertise include the treament of aniety and depression in a primary care setting, and he is skilled in using a variety of therapeutic modalities, He is a graduate member of the British Psychological Society in Divisions of Coaching, Psychology and Political Psychology, and a member of the International Society for Coaching Psychology.

Antonio has published two books and am promoting the concept of "Psychologized", which aims to help peope understand the role of psychology in their everyday lives using simple language.

Online dating is at an all-time high. Its industry is worth nearly $7 billion. Its popularity has increased in proportion to the increases in loneliness and social isolation brought on by Covid. Finding your soulmate in a largely online world can be tricky enough as it is, and this book aims to help you find a compatible partner without having to kiss too many frogs.

Deciding to write the book she couldn’t find on the market, today's special guest, author Janine Lowe set her aim toward helping people find their way every day with relationships, life, health, and wealth through Chinese Horoscopes and Feng Shui. Using thousands of years of Chinese Zodiac knowledge to help you find your soulmate, Love, Date, Marry, Avoid is a funny, practical, irreverent, and accessible guide to Chinese astrology, geared to help you learn what makes your personal sign tick and which animal signs are your most -- and least -- compatible. In these pages, Janine will help you determine which animal you are -- the Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, or Pig? -- and identify great date options as she decides whether to date, love, marry, or avoid. After all, there’s no point taking a Rat to the gym; you’ll never see him again! 

Janine Lowe has always been intuitive. She wasn’t designed for a 9-5 job, and she wanted to use what she was good at as a career. A friend suggested Feng Shui, and she trained with various masters and became a Feng Shui consultant. Then she found Chinese Astrology and Joey Yap. He became her mentor and taught her about metaphysics. That transformed her life.