We are so excited this week to have Dr. Clarissa Pinkoa Estés (Dr. E, as she is affectionately known) back on our show for the fifth time. Bestselling author of “Women Who Run with the Wolves,” which sold over a million copies; and the multi-volume audio series “The Dangerous Old Woman,” and her most recent book, “Untie the Strong Woman: Blessed Mother’s Immaculate Love for the Wild Soul,” which we will be talking about today; Dr. E is also an internationally recognized scholar, award-winning poet, diplomate senior Jungian psychoanalyst, and cantadora (keeper of the old stories in the Latina tradition). Her warmth and wisdom have captivated millions with humor, enlightened discussions and profound insights. The feminine in all of us—male and female—is moved and grown every time she touches us with her stories and gifts from the soul. You are not going to want to miss this one.

What do we do with the enormous suffering created by such things as deadly illness and trauma? They say, what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. But when the miracles come, what is it that happens within us, around us, about us? What is it that transforms us? Mark Nepo is coming back to the Authentic Living show to discuss his latest book, Inside the Miracle, in which he reveals his own miraculous recovery from cancer and all of the profound insights that came with it during, right after and in the years since. Mark is the bestselling author of The Book of Awakening, a poet, philosopher and spiritual teacher who has published 16 books, and 11 audio projects. This interview is going to be moving, profoundly insightful and it will offer powerful guidance to those suffering right now. Don’t miss it.

The words “being present” have recently become common vernacular. But what do they really mean? Most people mean, by presence, that we are attendant, that we notice; we are aware and responsive. What we don’t always know and are not always present with is the fact that presence is something that heals us, that holds us, that awakens us to the deeper nature of who we are. And practicing presence, yes, means being attendant, aware and responsive—but of and to that deeper essence. What we don’t often know is that our mental and physical illnesses are often made up of lack of presence—that somehow we are floating around outside of our own awareness and we do not connect self to Self. So, today, we are going to be talking about both the floating around and the presence that heals. Don’t miss it.

To date, most religions have wanted to claim their own God. In the West the Christian religion has claimed that their God is the only God. That every other God is actually a false god. But what if, like Pope Francis says, we are all meeting the same God in different ways. What if, in fact, each religion, each language of each religion, each ritual, each path, each prayer is but a different language meant to reach but one divine entity, a universal entity who knows we each have different ways of finding our truest spirituality? Would that be such a terrible thing? Or is it that our bias is keeping us from allowing that possibility? Today we are going to learn about an interfaith/interspiritual God. Don't miss it.

What is the difference between spiritual guidance and spiritual abuse? Certainly, most of us would deny that when we offer spiritual guidance we might also be spiritually abusing. But it is most important that we understand the distinction if we are to serve others in any spiritual capacity. Typically, we think of abuse only in terms of its physical, emotional or sexual forms. But what is beginning, over time and experience, to be exposed is a kind of abuse of the spirit, that creates a great divide between the soul of a person and his or her identity. This show is going to clearly differentiate spiritual guidance from spiritual abuse. If you are in any kind of spiritual leadership capacity, this show is for you.

Just let it go! Don't we hear that all the time? But the problem is that we just can't seem to do that. We can let it go. IT has hold of us. IT controls us, for we think that we have to control IT. Letting go then, turns out to be one of the hardest things we ever do. Surrender sounds like waving a white flag and letting the IT take over. Won't it all just fall apart, our plans, our dreams, our relationships--won't they all just fall apart if we don't stay in control? But all the wise masters tell us that letting go is the key to life, the key to peace, the key to all wisdom, all love. How can we find our true power by letting go of all power? How can we let it go? This show is going to explore the letting go process as an evolutionary stage of existence. Be here NOW.

Today we are talking to Dr. Don St. John, author of the book “Healing the Wounds of Childhood,” as this is one of the most important of all of the subjects we could discuss. Very often it is these wounds that keep us trapped, even as we are striving to get past them in some kind of way. How do we grow into our full potential while these wounds remain yet unhealed? How do we increase our ability to receive and absorb love, enjoy more life-giving love connections, deal more effectively with stress and improve our resilience and health all while expanding our sense of who we are? These questions and more will be answered during today’s show. Don’t miss it.

During the past two live episodes, we began to look into the specific root language in the earliest parts of the sacred text Christians know as the Bible. What we have learned is that some of the most basic concepts utilized by the leaders of what I am calling the Mistaken Christianity—the literalistic teachings of fundamentalism—are based in mistranslations of that text and turn out, therefore, to be false. Today we will continue and finalize that discussion moving into what has come to be known as the New Testament to look at the root language of some of the most basic concepts of modern-day Christianity. The root language turns out to be very different from what these teachers are teaching. Don't miss it.

Last week we began to look into the specific root language in the ancient book we know of today as the book of Genesis. What we learned was that some of the most basic concepts in the Mistaken Christianity—the literalistic teachings of fundamentalism—are based in mistranslations of that text. Today we will continue that discussion adding more to our understanding of what we are actually being told in the sacred text of the Christian Bible about being spiritual beings having a human experience. Don't miss it.

On another show in the past we discussed an overall summary of some of the mistakes made even by well-intended Christians because of the mistranslations passed down to us. Today we are going to begin a process of getting more specific about some of these mistranslations. What has happened is that fundamentalism—or what many today are calling Evangelical Christianity—is based in these mistakes in translation. If we are going to consider sacred text as a viable source of wisdom and guidance, we need to be careful about how we are translating it. Be here for this—you are not going to want to miss it.