New Dimensions

Sun explores breaking the cycles of fear and hurt by making conscious choices and connecting to one's own power and intuition. She sees current global challenges as indicators of an evolutionary leap in consciousness urging us to explore the integration of intuitive and rational thinking, also known as right brain/left brain thinking. Patricia Sun is a scientific mystic, philosopher, spiritual teacher, and consciousness pioneer. She has traveled the world empowering people to tap into their inherent creative capacity, resulting in new ways of thinking. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa in 3-1/2 years from the University of California, Berkeley, with degrees in Social Sciences and Psychology and Conservation and Natural Resources. She concentrates directly on creative solutions: "re-creating" thought patterns and "re-perceiving" experience. She’s considered to be a teacher's teacher and leads workshops and gives private consultations.

Interview Date: 5/23/2025.    Tags: Patricia Sun, genius, imagination, interconnectedness of life, paradox, rational mind, intuition, right brain, left brain, perspective, despair, collective consciousness, astrology, Niels Bohr, love, imaginal cells, duality, creativity, either/or thinking, trust, Health & Healing, Personal Transformation, Philosophy, Psychology

Guzmán shares her personal experience of growing up in a politically divided family. She highlights the need for in-person interactions, attention, and containment in dialogues. She also discusses the role of media in perpetuating polarization and the potential for small-scale conversations to impact larger institutions like politics and media. Mónica Guzmán is a journalist and entrepreneur and is the Senior Fellow for Public Practice at Braver Angels, a grassroots, cross partisan, organization working to depolarize America. She is cofounder of the newsletter The Evergrey out of Seattle Washington and is the proud liberal daughter of conservative parents and is a dual US/Mexican citizen. She is the author of I Never Thought of It That Way: How to Have Fearlessly Curious Conversations in Dangerously Divided Times (BenBella Books 2022).

Interview Date: 5/15/2025    Tags: Mónica Guzmán, listening, storytelling, uncertainty, assumption, biases, curiosity, Murial Rukeyser, Braver Angels, depolarizing America, attention, attention economy, Personal Transformation, Social Change/Politics, Community

There are no shortcuts in navigating growing older. As we pass into the second half of our lives, we will face the challenge of accepting the forces of limitation. The reality of aging is that it is an apprenticeship into life with the invitation of new ways of seeing, feeling, and being. Here we explore the challenges and gifts of growing older. Mark Nepo is a poet and philosopher and a most eloquent spiritual teacher. In 2015 he was given a Life-Achievement Award by AgeNation and in 2016 was named by Watkins Mind Body Spirit as one of the Most Spiritually Influential Living People. He was part of Oprah Winfrey’s The Life You Want Tour in 2014 and has appeared several times with Oprah on her Super Soul Sunday program on OWN TV. As a cancer survivor, Mark devotes his writing and teaching to the journey of inner transformation and the life of relationship. Mark Nepo is the author of many audio learning projects and over 20 books

Interview Date: 5/9/2025     Tags: Mark Nepo, aging, curiosity, limitations, Odyssey, Odysseus, Helen Luke, Tiresias, position of mastery, confidence, aging dog, Claude Monet, Personal Transformation, Philosophy, Community, Death & Dying

Design experts explore how we can engage with uncertainty and shape the future with clarity, creativity, and intention. Drawing from their work at Stanford’s d.school and their book Assembling Tomorrow, they offer tools for navigating rapid technological change while anchoring our creations in empathy, responsibility, and hope. Carissa Carter is the academic director at Stanford University’s Hasso Plattner Institute of Design (the d.school) and a former geologist. Her work focuses on systems thinking, climate innovation, and design futures. Scott Doorley is the creative director at Stanford’s d.school. He has worked at the intersection of storytelling, physical space, and creative education, and has a background in film and media. They are co-authors of Assembling Tomorrow: A Guide to Designing a Thriving Future

Interview Date: 4/4/2025     Tags: Carissa Carter, Scott Doorley, design, future, innovation, creativity, ethics, emotion, healing, runaway design, AI, synthetic biology, maps, metaphors, empathy, humility, Michael Bierut, Antonio Damasio, Gregory Bateson, Creativity, Philosophy, Technology, Design Thinking, Systems Thinking

Nelson-Isaacs tells us that synchronicity is defined as a meaningful coincidence that is personal and that it is nature’s language for communicating directly with us. He writes: “As you develop your personal sense of the meaning of events in your life, you enter into a cosmic dance with the divine that is totally unique to you.” He’s the author of Living in Flow: The Science of Synchronicity and How Your Choices Shape Your World (North Atlantic Books 2019).

Tags: Sky Nelson-Isaacs, synchronicity, cognitive illusion, quantum mechanics, fear, LORAX Process, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, flow, control, grief, joy, disempowerment, meaningfulness, purposefulness, Science, Personal Transformation, Philosophy

Gustin explores how we create our personal myths. This begins when, as toddlers, we start to use language.Our thoughts do a great job of defining us as a discrete individual with a particular narrative about who we think we are but this can contribute to a negative self-concept. She emphasizes the concept of “selfing” as an on-going process rather than as a fixed identity. She is the author of: The No-Self Help Book: 40 Reasons to Get Over You Self & Find Peace of Mind (Non-duality Press 2018) 

Tags: Kate Gustin, language, consciousness, no self, selfing, no-self, conscious, ground of being, Max Planck, identity, eating, PTSD, EMDR, rational mind, Philosophy, Personal Transformation, psychology

Patrice Vecchione is a teacher of poetry. In this interview she shares stories and poems of immigrant children and of the healing properties of poetry. One cannot help but share the sadness of a young person losing touch with their home culture. You’ll be inspired to make a difference in your community to include this large and mostly unheard population. She is the author of several books including Writing and the Spiritual Life: Finding Your Voice by Looking Within (McGraw Hill 2001), Step Into Nature: Nurturing Imagination and Spirit in Everyday Life (Beyond Words Publishing 2015), The Knot Untied: a Book of Poetry (Palaquin Press 2013) and Ink Knows No Borders: Poems of the Immigrant and Refugee Experience (coauthor Alyssa Raymond) (Seven Stories Press 2019)

Interview date: 4/15/2019 Tags: Patrice Vecchione, poetry, migrant children, empathy, compassion, Craig Santos Perez, Chamorro, Mohja Kahf, Javier Zamora, Safia Elhillo, Emi Mahmoud, Darfur, Writing, Social Change, Politics 

Here Yogacharia O’Brian describes the four principles of Yogic philosophy: Higher purpose, true wealth, pleasure and joy, and awakening to our true nature as enlightened. In her comforting and gentle way, she shares many stories and describes several metaphors that help us to understand the true nature of spiritual enlightenment. She is the author of many books including The Moon Reminded Me (a book of poetry)(Homebound Publications 2017), Living the Eternal Way: Spiritual Meaning and Practice in Daily Life (Center for Spiritual Enlightenment Press 2009) and The Jewel of Abundance: Finding Prosperity through the Wisdom of Yoga (New World Library 2018)

Tags: Ellen Grace O’Brian, Roy Eugene Davis, the Vedas, Hinduism, Kriya Yoga, Pantanjali, Paramahansa Yogananda, Yoga Sutra, Hatha Yoga, abundance, prosperity, material wealth, true wealth, spiritual wealth, creativity, pleasure, follow your bliss, joy, enlightenment, an awakened life, discipline, discernment, willpower, truthfulness, contentment, happiness, Spirituality, Personal Transformation