Authentic Living

Today we are very fortunate to get an opportunity to talk to bestselling author Andrew Solomon, writer and lecturer on psychology, politics, and the arts and winner of the National Book Award for The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression. He is an activist in LGBT rights, mental health, and the arts. His latest NY Times bestselling book, and the subject of our interview today, entitled Far from the Tree: Parents, Children and the Search for Identity, is also the winner of several awards, including being chosen at among the NY Times Ten Best Books of 2012. It has been called "A bold and unambiguous call to redefine how we view difference… A stunning work of scholarship and compassion (Carmela Ciuraru, USA Today) distinguished similarly by many other notables for its exceptional profundity, compassion and insight. Today we are going to take an intimate look at this entire concept of loving differentness. Don't miss this unique opportunity to gain insight into the power of love.

Most of us have been raised to be good. We were to share, be kind, be loving, say thank you when we didn't feel grateful, say I'm sorry when we weren't, hug people we didn't want to hug and say we loved people we didn't even know, much less love. But the idea of goodness held a magical quality for most of us. We thought that IF we were good enough, THEN we would be worthy, we would be loved and we could finally rest secure. We assume, therefore, that being real means being less than good—and the magic will go away. We assume that then we will not be worthy and we will not be loved. But being real doesn't mean being bad, mean, unkind or unworthy. Being real means being genuine. And this show is not only going to clarify the difference but it will bring home the reasoning for why we drop the act of being good and begin to adopt and adjust to our genuine Self. Don't miss it.

The first question before that, of course, is "Can people really change?" Well the answer is "yes," but we've all heard about those Road to Damascus changes that leave us scratching our heads and waiting for them to change back, right? Well, Bruce Grierson, author of the book, all about these kinds of changes, and entitled "U-Turn," is going to talk to us about the mystery of this kind of complete 180 degree shift in a person's consciousness. I read his wonderful article in the March 15, 2015 issue of Psychology Today, entitled "Eureka," and knew I had to get him for this show. This one is going to be fascinating. Don't miss it.

Joan Borysenko is back this week for the third time to talk with us about guilt, for guilt can be a major block to our resilience factor. Her latest book, "It's Not the End of the World: Developing Resilience in Times of Change" will be combined with one of her earlier books, "Guilt is the Teacher, Love is the Lesson" in an in-depth discussion of this devilish master craftsman of our lives. In the extreme, many of us live whole lifetimes driven by guilt and responsibility for other people's stuff. But most of us worry over guilt at least some of the time. It works us over and compels us at times to do things that are not only unnecessary but often come down to downright interference with other people's lives. And it eats at us from the inside out, through that niggling little voice that just won't seem to let go until we finally give into it. Well this week, we are going to help it let go. Don't miss this important discussion.

We hear the word "abundant" quite a bit these days. Mostly we think of this word in terms of money. We can't seem to help it. Our world is virtually run by money. When we want something, the first thing we think of is whether or not we can afford it. When we want to go somewhere, the first thing we think of is how we will pay for it. This is the way the world works. But it is not the way abundance works. In fact, abundance is the truth of our existence—we just don't see it. During this one hour show, we are going to learn all about the nature of abundance and how we can learn to see it. Don't miss it.

In our third week of our Countdown to Heaven, we are talking to Bruce Lipton, bestselling author of The Biology of Belief about his latest book, The Honeymoon Effect: The Science of Creating Heaven on Earth. We all understand either the actuality of the honeymoon effect, or the dream of it. But most of us see it as temporary—because we have to get back to "real life." The Honeymoon Effect is a state of bliss, passion, energy and health resulting from huge love. But we cannot imagine that we can have that on a regular basis. But Lipton tells us that the Honeymoon Effect is not a chance event that happened to us because the right circumstances collided, but rather it is a personal creation. In fact, he tells us that love is the most potent growth factor for human beings. How can we manifest this heaven on earth? Tune it to find out—and to hear the clip from Oprah's upcoming Super Soul Sunday. Don't miss it.

Do you find yourself doing all manner of things you don't really want to do? Do you often hear yourself saying "I have to…"? Do you find yourself having fantasies of saying what you've always felt about someone who gets your goat just about every time you see them? Do you look back on your yesterdays thinking of the many times when you have been used and/or abused by others? Well, you can get out of the game anytime you want. Really, you say. But you don't know my mother (or father or husband or wife). You don't know how hard it is for me. Or you might try saying, the most fatalistic of all excuses: "That's easier said than done," with a vacuous sigh that heaves responsibility back onto the world. But, really, you can. You can get out of the game anytime you want. How? Well, that's what we'll be talking about this week. Don't miss it.

For centuries we have been attempting to fight the good fight, to finally put an end to evil once and for all. Mostly we think that we will accomplish this through government, philanthropy, and the power of wealth in groups of people bound together on a mission to do away with evil. But we also think of it very personally, so that we must go to war within ourselves against the "evil" within. And if someone were to say to most of us that there is no such thing as good or evil, we would vehemently argue that a) it is just that kind of thinking that creates even more evil and b) that if we ever were to stop fighting the great battle, we would not only lose our sense of nobility, but we would be overwhelmed with all the evil that really is always lurking around trying to find an open door to fly through. We are terrified of realizing that though we have been fighting this battle for centuries, nothing has changed. And yet that is the truth. So, what is to be done? Tune in to find out.

"What's-a-mattah? Got a guilty conscience?" Remember hearing this as a child? I do. And I remember that having a "guilty conscience" meant that you'd done something wrong. When you put that in reverse, you come to understand that we might not know we've "done wrong" unless we have a "guilty conscience." We were all raised on this notion that guilt is a good thing. It helps us know when we've done or are about to do something wrong. On the other hand we all know those people who identify as "guilty". They introduce their problem with guilt by saying "I'm a good Catholic," or "I'm Jewish," or "I was raised Baptist." What these more extreme illustrations clearly demonstrate is that guilt is taught. In other words, guilt is not natural to us. Many would say, "well, of course it isn't, that's why we need to teach people to feel guilty." But what if guilt, any guilt, actually blocks the pathway to an authentic connection to the divine? Let's talk about it.

Today we are so honored to have Iyanla Vanzant here to talk to us about her latest book, Forgiveness: 21 Days to Forgive Everyone for Everything. Iyanla Vanzant, NY Times Bestselling author; host of the number one reality show on the OWN network, Iyanla: Fix My Life; and frequent guest on Super Soul Sunday and Oprah's Life Class, is easily one of America's most profound spiritual leaders, who empowers individuals all across the globe to live into the truest self. Her body of work spans over three decades and includes CDs, television, radio and on stage performances, 15 published books, and 5 New York Times Bestsellers, which have been translated into 23 languages. Iyanla's no nonsense approach to helping others to live healthy and whole demonstrates her clear capacity for delivering the absolute truth with love. She warms our hearts while pushing us to grow. Today we are going to get to talk with her about the purpose, the power and the freedom of forgiveness. Do NOT miss this show!