The New Dimensions Café

Eric Maisel, Ph.D. is a licensed family therapist, a creativity coach, and author of more than 40 books. He also conducts writing workshops and trains creativity coaches. His books include Life Purpose Boot Camp: The 8 Week Breakthrough Plan for Creating a Meaningful Life (New World Library 2014), Secrets of a Creativity Coach (Motivational Press 2014), Why Smart People Hurt (Conari Press 2013, Fearless Creating (Tarcher 1995), Van Gogh's Blues: The Creative Person's Path Through Depression (New World Library 2007), Mastering Creative Anxiety (New World Library 2011), Making Your Creative Mark (New World Library 2013), Natural Psychology: The New Psychology of Meaning (Natural Psychology Press 2012), Rethinking Depression (New World Library 2012), Brainstorm: Harnessing The Power of Productive Obsessions (New World Library 2010), Creativity For Life (New World Library 2007) and Coaching the Artist Within (New World Library 2005)

Interview Date: 1/15/2015   Tags: Eric Maisel, writing, creativity, Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the American Psychiatric Association, DSM5, mental health reform, morning writing, meaning boost

Margaret Wheatley is an internationally acclaimed writer, speaker, and teacher. She began caring about the world's peoples in 1966 as a Peace Corps volunteer in postwar Korea. She is cofounder and President Emerita of The Berkana Institute, a charitable foundation that works with people around the world to strengthen their communities using the wisdom and wealth already present in their people, traditions, and environment. She is a guide in leading people back to understanding who we are as humans, being able to create the conditions for our basic qualities of generosity, contribution, community, and love. She is a grand contributor in creating an Island of Sanity in the midst of wildly disruptive seas. Her books include Leadership and the New Science: Discovering Order in a Chaotic World (Berrett-Koehler 1992), Perseverance (Berrett-Kohler 2010), Turning To One Another: Simple Conversations to Restore Hope in the Future (Berrett-Koehler 2009), So Far from Home: Lost and Found in Our Brave New World (Berrett-Koehler 2012) and Who Do We Choose To Be: Facing Reality, Claiming Leadership, Restoring Sanity (Berrett-Koehler 2017). 

Interview Date: 8/19/2010 

Douglas Grunther is the creator and host of the “Woodstock Roundtable” an award winning radio talk show covering philosophy, depth psychology, and spiritual insight. He is also a dreamwork facilitator. He is the author of The Quantum & The Dream: Visionary Consciousness, AI, and The New Renaissance (Epigraph Books 2024)

Interview Date: 11/15/2024      Tags: Douglas Grunther, scientific materialism, climate change, dream appreciation, intuition, collective intelligence, swarming bee intelligence, collaboration, Black Plague, empathy, wisdom, dream appreciation, Jeremy Taylor, Elias Howe, sewing machine invention, creative visualization, daydreaming, intuitive flashes, perception, Marshall McLuhan, Buckminster ”Bucky” Fuller, Science, Personal Transformation, Dream, History, Social Change/Politics

Brenda Peterson is a novelist, nature writer, and writing teacher. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, Chicago Tribune, and O: The Oprah Magazine. Her books include Build Me an Ark: A Life with Animals (W. W. Norton 2001), Duck and Cover (Backinprint.com 2004), I Want to Be Left Behind: Finding Rapture Here on Earth (Da Capo Press 2010) and Your Life is a Book: How to Craft & Publish Your Memoir (co-author Sarah Jane Freymann) (Sasquatch Books 2014)

Interview Date: 9/11/2014.   Tags: Brenda Peterson, memoir, self publishing, query letter, eBooks, Editing books, typography, Spirituality, Religion

Susan Magsamen is the founder and executive director of the International Arts + Mind Lab, Center for Applied Neuroaesthethics (known as the IAM Lab) at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, where she’s a faculty member in the Department of Neurology. Ivy Ross is Chief Design Officer of Consumer Devices at Google and has led teams that have won hundreds of design awards. She’s a National Endowment for the Arts grant recipient and was ninth on Fast Company’s list of the 100 Most Creative People in Business in 2019. Susan Magsamen and Ivy Ross are Co-authors of Your Brain on Art: How the Arts Transform Us. (Random House 2023)

Interview Date: 10/14/2024     Tags: Susan Magsamen, Ivy Ross, aesthetic mindset, curiosity, playful exploration, sensorial experience, colored pencils, color is a vibration, chromasonics, Art & Creativity Health & Healing, Personal Transformation

Hope Johnson is a teacher of mysticism who draws on the teachings of Jesus from A Course in Miracles, as well as the Buddha, the Bhagavad Gita, yogic philosophy, quantum physics and other traditions. She leads free weekly online wisdom dialogues and free daily lessons on A Course in Miracles that involve reading a lesson with insightful commentary for practical applications in daily life. She also offers one-to-one guidance towards recognizing and embracing the ever-present reality of love. She is also the founder and creator of Miracle Botanicals Essential Oils. She is the author of Unschooling For Parents, Protecting Innocence, A Mystics Guide To Awakening With Children  (Hope Johnson 2019)

Interview Date: 11/1/2024     Tags: Hope Johnson, A Course in Miracles, fear, enlightenment, perception, guilty consciousness, guilty mind, uncertainty, weaving world with concepts, ego, the great awakening, Armageddon, new renaissance, being the love of God, relaxing the ego, Holy Spirit, cult, Personal Transformation, Psychology, Religion, Spirituality

Mark Gober is a senior member of the Sherpa Technology Group in Silicon Valley, California, a firm that advises technology companies on mergers and acquisitions and business strategy. He previously worked as an investment banker analyst in New York. Mark graduated Magna Cum Laude from Princeton University and has collected and surveyed a large body of research of various scientific papers and books about consciousness, biological processes, psychic phenomena, near-death experiences, and quantum physics. He is the author of An End to Upside Down Thinking: Dispelling the Myth That the Brain Produces Consciousness, and the implications for Everyday Life (Waterside Press 2018)

Tags: Mark Gober, scientific materialism, consciousness, conventional view of science, psychic phenomena, remote viewing, clairvoyance, previous lives, rencarnation, savants, brain filters, Diane Hennacy Powell, autism, Dr. Jefffrey Mishlove, epigenetics, Max Planck, Science, Death & Dying, Parapsychology/Paranormal, Personal Transformation, Philosophy, Intuition/Psychic

David Bedrick, J.D., Dipl. PW, holds a doctorate in Jurisprudence and is a Diplomate of the Process Work Institute. He founded the Santa Fe Institute for Shame-Based Studies. His work focuses on addressing shame at its root and helping people forge new and compassionate relationships with their authentic selves. Bedrick is a contributor to Psychology Today magazine and has shared his teachings with thousands of students globally through books, social media, articles, and online courses. He is the author of several books including Talking Back to Dr. Phil: Alternatives to Mainstream Psychology (Belly Song Press 2013), Revisioning Activism: Bringing Depth, Dialogue, and Diversity to Individual and Social Change (Belly Song Press 2017),You Can’t Judge a Body By Its Cover: 17 Women’s Stories of Hunger, Body Shame, and Redemption (Belly Song Press 2020) andThe Unshaming Way: A 3-Part Model for Dismantling Shame (North Atlantic Books 2024)

 Interview Date: 9/25/2024   Tags: David Bedrick, shame, dismantling shame, nonjudgmental witnessing, unshaming, language of the body, stuttering, shame bag, Health & Healing, Personal Transformation, Psychology

Mirabai Starr has taught philosophy and world religions at the University of New Mexico, Taos, for 20 years and now teaches and speaks internationally on contemplative practice and the interspiritual dialogue. She's a certified bereavement counselor and travels the world speaking and giving workshops on contemplative practice and the teachings of the mystics. She is the author and editor of many books including: Dark Night of the Soul: St. John of the Cross (Riverhead 2003), The Interior Castle: St. Teresa of Ávila (Riverhead 2004), Devotion, Prayers & Living Wisdom (Sounds True - six-volume Christian mystics series 2008), God of Love: A Guide to the Heart of Judaism, Christianity & Islam (Monkfish 2012), Wild Mercy: Living the Fierce and Tender Wisdom of the Women Mystics (Sounds True 2018) and Ordinary Mysticism: Your Life As Sacred Ground (HarperOne 2024)

Interview Date: 9/13/2024    Tags: Mirabai Starr, Daily mysticism, spiritual practice, intimate relationships, deconstructing religion, direct spiritual experience, creativity, nature, rituals, personal growth, Spirituality, Personal Transformation, Relationships, Nature, Creativity, Self Help

Michael Gelb, Ph.D. is a fifth-degree black belt in Aikido and a teacher of Tai Chi and the Alexander Technique. He’s a pioneer in the fields of creative thinking, accelerated learning, and innovative leadership. Gelb leads seminars for organizations such as DuPont, Merck, Microsoft, Nike, and many others. He’ s the author of Innovate Like Edison: The Success System of America’s Greatest Inventor (co-author Sarah Miller Caldicott) (Dutton 2007), How To Think Like Leonardo da Vinci (Dell 2000), Brain Power: Improve Your Mind as You Age (co-author Kelly Howell) (New World Library 2012), Creativity On Demand: How to Ignite and Sustain the Fire of Genius (Sounds True 2014), Walking Well: A New Approach for Comfort, Vitality, and Inspiration In Every Step (co-author Bruce Fertman) (New World Library 2024)

Interview Date: 8/30/2024    Tags: Michael Gelb, walking, Alexander Technique, Aikido, Bruce Fertman, curiosity, walking megatrend, Joan Juliet Buck, walking for joy, Health & Healing, Personal Transformation, Philosophy, Psychology