Authentic Living

Meagan O'Nan is one of those people who has a story to tell, a story that allows us to see the person behind the label. Her book is called Courage and she tells us that agreeing to disagree is no longer enough. Gay rights is just one of the many areas of bias and discrimination that run rampant through our country, and our world. Today we open the door to a further discussion.

Maybe we can de-stress in these times by turning down the volume of the terrible news we are getting almost daily. But the answer to real peace runs deeper than that. Many of us have heard that what is happening "out there" is "just an illusion." But is it? Perhaps, since we are living here on planet earth we need to consider having at least one foot here, even as the other is walking in another dimension. The answer here is to step into truth. To step into the truth of our nature. To step into the truth of the power and presence of who we truly are. To learn to trust the process of divinization that is always a part of our unfolding evolution. Tune in to this important message to learn how to find peace in the time of turmoil.

Most of us were taught that we were supposed to love all people, right? But what does that mean when it comes to those difficult people in our lives? Are we meant to pretend that we "love" them when we really just wish they would go away and leave us alone? How are we to deal with this? Well, there are lots of ways we do deal with difficult people. Some of those are healthy ways of dealing and others, not so much. Today we will not only discover some of the unhealthy ways of dealing, but we are going to talk about some practical and healthy ways of dealing with the difficult people in your life. You don't want to miss this one.

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.

Don St John, Ph.D., is a Psychotherapist, Somatic-Relational Teacher, Coach, Public Speaker and Author. He is an Authorized Continuum Movement Teacher and a Hellerwork Structural Integration Practitioner and Trainer. He has taught classes and given presentations in several states in the US, Canada, New Zealand, and Brazil. His book, Healing the Wounds of Childhood is based both in his own personal work, learning to walk the walk he talks, and in his work as a psychotherapist.

Why do all the great spiritual leaders down through history and even of the present teach of silence and stillness? Why is silence even a thing? Aren't we supposed to be working hard, striving after a righteous life? Aren't we supposed to be working hard to serve our brothers and sisters? Aren't we supposed to be doing the work of growing at all times? Why do they talk about stillness, about silence, about effortless effort? Well, perhaps it is because silence or stillness is the answer to everything. Maybe it is possible that our effort, our work, our doing could be the result of silence, of stilless. Don't miss this important message.

John Povlovitz comes to the Authentic Living show today to remind us of what could be the 11th commandment: "Thou shalt not be horrible." He wants us to imagine what the world would look like if we all obeyed that command. He reminds us that the way we treat others is the most tangible and meaningful expression of our belief system. And he's come here today to talk about his book: "If God is Love Don't be a Jerk: Finding a Faith that Makes Us Better Humans." In today's world, where we see professed Christians carrying signs with Bible verses on them into the fray of an insurrection right along with Nazis and White Supremacists, one has to wonder what is happening to Christianity. John is going to tell us both what is happening and what we can do about it. Be here for this.

Author of the book, IF GOD IS LOVE DON'T BE A JERK: Finding A Faith That Makes Us Better Humans (Westminster John Knox) John Pavlovitz is a pastor, writer, and activist from Wake Forest, North Carolina. He's spent nearly three decades teaching, studying, dissecting, deconstructing, and reconstructing the Christian faith. Committed to equality, diversity, and justice, John aims to teach a single, elemental truth: Faith in a supernatural being should make you a better human being. His blog, Stuff That Needs to Be Said, recently surpassed one hundred million views, and his previous books include A Bigger Table, Hope and Other Superpowers, and Low.

Dr. Lindsay Gibson comes to us today to bring us some of her expertise on the subject of surviving and thriving even though one was raised by immature parents. The central challenge of our adult lives is unloosening the toxic ties in which we were bound by immature parents. In fact, I would say that we do not mature into adulthood ourselves until we can heal from the wounds and the distortions of reality presented to us by immature parents. Somehow this wound becomes the pathway to freedom, hope and authenticity when we can begin the process of recovery. Dr. Gibson is going to talk to us today about her latest book, "Self-Care for Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents." Don't miss it.

Lindsay C. Gibson holds both a masters and doctoral degree in clinical psychology. She has been a psychotherapist for over thirty-five years, working in both public and private practice. In the past, Dr. Gibson has served as an adjunct assistant professor for the Virginia Consortium Program in Clinical Psychology, teaching doctoral students clinical theory and psychotherapy techniques. She specializes in working with adults on personal growth and dealing with emotionally immature family members. Dr. Gibson is the author of four books: Who You Were Meant to Be, Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents, Recovering from Emotionally Immature Parents, and Self-Care for Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents. She has also written a monthly column on well-being for Tidewater Women and Tidewater Family magazines for over twenty years. Her website is available at www.drlindsaygibson.com. Dr. Gibson lives and works in Virginia Beach, Virginia.

We are so happy to have Dr. E back again to the Authentic Living show to talk to us about her third part in the Sounds True online event series, The Dangerous Old Women, entitled The Joyous Body. We do tend to either focus wholly on the body as image, or leave it out entirely from our conscious experience until it acts up. And we rarely if ever think of the body as a repository of joy. It's a work horse to be whipped into shape, or it's just a ball and chain we carry around that sometimes gets us into trouble. But what if the body were incrementally tied into the soul? If that were true, wouldn't we want to do more with it than just keep it enslaved to the ego? If you don't quite know what to do with this material essence of who you are, this show is for you. Or, if you struggle with body issues of any kind—this show is for you too. Come learn from one of the world's most profound keepers of wisdom what gifts your body has to give to you.

Clarissa Pinkola Estés, PhD, is an internationally recognized scholar, award-winning poet, diplomate senior Jungian psychoanalyst, and cantadora (keeper of the old stories in the Latina tradition). She is the author of the bestselling book Women Who Run with the Wolves (Ballantine 1992, 1995), which sold over a million copies, the multi-volume audio series The Dangerous Old Woman (Sounds True, 2010, 2011), and the topic for today, from that series, The Joyous Body. For more information about the author, please visit http://www.clarissapinkolaestes.com.

How did you grow up? Did you grow in a sea of toxicity, where parents were abusive, immature, addicted and/or emotionally or physically unavailable? Were they ambivalent toward you, being kind and considerate one minute and unkind, inappropriate or abusive the next? What did you learn about life and about yourself from that formative period in your life? What did you learn about religion and/or about spirituality? How has that period of time impacted your spiritual experience today? Are there ways that you still struggle with spirituality because of those early experiences? Or perhaps you are unable to have spiritual experiences at all because of those early experiences? This show will be an exploration of the impact of toxic parents on spirituality. Don't miss it.

The afterlife is one of, rather, THE biggest mystery of life here on plane earth. Most of us are curious about it, and have serious questions about what will happen after death. Well today we have some answers as explained by our guest today, medium Hollister Rand. Do you have questions? Wouldn't you like to know? Well, Hollister Rand has written the book, "Everything You Wanted to Know About the Afterlife, But Were Afraid to Ask." And she asks and answers some of those questions. Don't miss this unique opportunity.

Hollister Rand is an internationally renowned medium known for her extraordinarily detailed work. Hollister's first book, I'm Not Dead, I'm Different, was released by Harper Collins. Her award winning book Everything You Wanted to Know About the Afterlife but Were Afraid to Ask, was published by Beyond Words/Simon & Schuster in May 2020. Her TV and radio appearances include Oxygen's Tori & Dean: Home Sweet Hollywood, SiriusXM's The Seance with John Edward, Coast to Coast with George Noory, KOST FM's Angels in Waiting, and KBIG FM's Radio Medium.