November 2011
1 post
Grit Is More Important Than Talent
In the late ’60s, Stanford psychologist Walter Mischel performed a now-iconic experiment called the Marshmallow Test, which analyzed the ability of four year olds to exhibit “delayed gratification.” Here’s what happened: Each child was brought into the room and sat down at a table with a delicious treat on it (maybe a marshmallow, maybe a donut). The scientists told the...
June 2011
1 post
The Possibilities in Hypnosis
“Like many others whose knowledge of hypnotism comes from movies and stage shows, my husband and Mrs. Kanter misunderstood what hypnosis is all about. While in a hypnotic trance, you are neither unconscious nor asleep, but rather in a deeply relaxed state that renders the mind highly focused and ready to accept suggestions to help you accomplish your goals.”
Recent Times...
April 2011
6 posts
Still Can't Buy Love
“…just as the human body didn’t evolve to deal well with today’s easy access to abundant fat and sugars, and will crave an extra cheeseburger when it shouldn’t, the human mind, apparently, didn’t evolve to deal with excess money, and will desire more long after wealth has become a burden rather than a comfort.”
Researchers at Boston College prompted the very rich—people with...
TedxEast - The Talks Continue →
Joining the conversation is one of the most powerful points of progress in the development of one’s existence. Don’t worry I’m not going to get all deep on you. I just mean that when one sits in a room and becomes a part of a discussion moving into the future, you feel that you are an agent of change…
March 2011
8 posts
Sigmund Freud, in an interview with Giovanni Papini, 1934.
… Everyone thinks,” he went on, “that I stand by the scientific character of my work and that my principal scope lies in curing mental maladies. This is a terrible error that has prevailed for years and that I have been unable to set right. I am a scientist by necessity, and not by vocation. I am really by nature an artist… And of...
Until One is Committed
“Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits one-self, then providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have...
The David Lynch Foundation
I was sent this New York Times article on a recent surge in the popularity of meditation and the David Lynch Foundation. It starts at a benefit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in December that was M.C.ed by Russell Brand, a practitioner of Transcendental Meditation, and delineates Hollywood’s relationship with meditation since the 70s. Mr. Lynch provides my favorite moment in describing...
My Most Loving and Best-loved Amazzi
If you ever thought you might be a romantic, read the letter below. Marsilio Ficino (far left) was one of the most influential humanist philosophers of the early Italian Renaissance, an astrologer, a reviver of Neoplatonism who was in touch with every major academic thinker and writer of his day, and the first translator of Plato’s complete extant works into Latin. His Florentine Academy,...
Poetry
Recently rediscovered this poem, Life’s Tragedy, by Paul Laurence Dunbar. First read it in High School and it spoke to me. Although I was too young to fully understand it’s message, I could hear how beautiful it was. Young people have a knack for spotting beauty. The poet, Mr. Dunbar, was the son of freed slaves, born in Ohio less than ten years after the civil war. He was a friend...
February 2011
5 posts
Community
I had the pleasure of meeting a group of fellow regression therapists, hypnotherapists and healers based in the New York City area this weekend. The group is coordinated by Dr. Laurie Greenberg and has been meeting in some form or another since the late nineties. I appreciate the opportunity to connect with others doing this exceptional work locally, there aren’t many.
Sacred Space →
Recently I’ve been engaging my community by visiting yoga studios, community spaces and holistic centers. On one of my strolls I happened upon Dharma Yoga. They offer classes for beginners to advanced yoga students rooted in the ancient tradition of Classical Yoga. Small, personalized classes are offered solely by donation. The space is in a historic building in the Park Slope neighborhood...
Dr. Stevenson's research
Dr. Ian Stevenson is the best known and most respected collector of scientific information that attempts to prove or disprove the existence of reincarnation. He didn’t use hypnosis, instead he chose to collect thousands of cases of children who spontaneously (without hypnosis) remembered past lives. Dr. Stevenson used this approach because spontaneous past life memories in a child can be...
The grandfather of present-day regression work
was Freud, with his innovative idea that making the unconscious conscious would restore choice and bring healing. This concept emerged during a period of trial and error when Freud was tapping repressed memories of early childhood, first through hypnosis and then through free association. We can appreciate the innovation and the courage of that search when we conceptualize a world in which only...
January 2011
5 posts
4. Work Until It Is Time To Stop
The fourth and final Principle of Work is “Work until it is time to stop.” It’s kind of boring right away. It hits me and I tune out because it assumed I would know when that time was. It doesn’t speak to me, I’ve never had a use for it. Aaand I’m hemorrhaging lost time.
I don’t usually cite eastern philosophies, I find them too esoteric for practical...
3. The Work is more important than our ideas about...
“I can’t do this. I’m gonna sound stupid. I wish I had a sandwich. If I had a sandwich this would be better. I have nothing to say. A ham sandwich would be good. I should be vegetarian. Ok, buckle down. How to begin, how to begin… Oh look it’s the cat.” These are examples of things that may or may not have just run through my head as I considered writing on...
October 2010
1 post
2. Trust the instruments to do the job
The second of the four Principles of Work is “Trust the instruments to do the job.” Seems simple, but the moment I think I understand it, suddenly it’s meaning gets lost. I interpret it as telling me to use the tools at my disposal, trust them. Trust the toothbrush to clean my teeth, trust the coffee maker to make coffee, trust this computer. And what if any of those should...
September 2010
7 posts
1. Attend to the working surface
This is the first of the four principles of work. Attend to the working surface. Seems obvious but do we overlook it too often? Yes. Some people can work in crowded coffee shops. Some can work with the TV on. Some can work while doing their nails, talking on the phone and driving their car. We are all precious little snowflakes, each different with our idiosyncrasies and habits. Where do you do...
I was confronted with some upsetting ignorance over the weekend. What was said struck at the heart of an important and personal matter for me.
There was inquiry into the certifying body and overseeing of regression therapists. (Basically “who polices?”) There was inquiry into my experience and qualification as a regression therapist. These matters obviously concern me too.
To...
Score!
Went by the Strand today, found Winafred Blake Lucas’ two volume Professional Handbook for Regression Therapists for $30! I’m sure I’m the only person in New York City looking for these books, but I found them, or them me, and for less than half the price. They usually retail for $70. The current reading list includes Dr. Roger Woolger’s book Other Lives, Other Selves, Deep...
August 2010
2 posts
The Problem
After spending some time with the Times Article posted below, I’ve decided that it doesn’t move the conversation forward for Regression Therapy or it’s professionals. The western world is too caught up on the proving or disproving of the existence of past lives. We can’t move past that to say “Ok. We’re probably not gonna figure that out, at least not like this...
New York Times: Remembrances of Lives Past →
The Times published an article on the growing interest in past lives and past life work in America today. My teacher and friend, Janet Cunningham was quoted in the piece. Janet has been doing past-life work for over 30 years. She’s written many books on the subject, teaches all over the world and is the President of the International Board for Regression Therapy.
December 2009
1 post
