Category : Health

Meditation: Reverse the Ravages of Time

Have you ever daydreamed of turning back the clock to a more youthful, more energetic, more carefree time in life? Or perhaps having at your disposal a magical cosmic Undo button that could erase certain effects that have accumulated over the course of time—from stress, abuse, or other erosive habits that have left you with less than perfect health or a waning enthusiasm for life.

I experienced the need for a second chance at a clean slate earlier in life than most. I was only 25 when I received a diagnosis of cancer. That cancer was just the last in a whole host of serious problems I’d had. Those of you who are familiar with my story know that I had a horrendous childhood filled with sexual and emotional abuse. I’m certain I had post-traumatic stress disorder by the time I was four. By my teenage years, I was a complete wreck. At that point, I began doing everything possible to numb my feelings and run from them—I smoked, drank, took drugs, and acted out promiscuously. I was anxious. I was depressed. When my cancer announcement came, it was really time for a change. By then, I needed some truly powerful help to undo all that I had been through so that I could continue to live.

Amazingly, I found it—the way to turn back time and release the many effects of all of the stress that my mind and body had endured. That way was meditation. A daily practice of 20 minutes, twice a day, gave me much more clarity to address my disease and ultimately helped me to heal my cancer, release my addictions, and end my destructive streak and get on my true life path. I can honestly say that meditation is the best thing I have ever done for myself. So much so, that I haven’t missed a single day of it in 30 years.

I am not alone in this discovery. Science and religion alike have studied and documented the vast numbers of benefits of meditation, revealing that meditation has a positive effect on people suffering from or at risk for many physical and mental health conditions, including high blood pressure, atherosclerosis, congestive heart failure, stroke, diabetes, menopause, ADHD, memory loss, anxiety, obesity, and much more. It was even found to be twice as effective in helping people to quit smoking than the other popular remedies. Given that smoking is the number one cause of preventive death in the U.S., this is no small benefit! The studies also show advantages in other areas of our lives, such as making us more effective on the job and in school.

So what is meditation and how does it create so much good for our bodies and minds?

A big part of meditation’s success on improving conditions like those listed above is its powerful ability to reduce and release stress, as stress is often a precursor to so many of our physical and emotional problems. But the manner in which it does this happens at a lot deeper level than many people might think. Meditation works at the level of our consciousness.

There are four states of consciousness: waking, sleeping, dreaming, and meditating. So, meditation is actually a different state of consciousness from our waking life. It is a far more expanded state. Many people think that the purpose of meditation is to tune out, to get away from it all. While that’s partially true, the real purpose of meditation is actually to tune in—to take the journey into expanded consciousness that meditation provides.

Meditation expands our consciousness by helping us to get into the space, the gap, between our thoughts and taps into the incredible energy that exists there. So you have a thought, and then another thought, but between the two, there’s a little space. According to the ancients, this space between the thoughts is the portal to the infinite intelligence of the universe, our Source. Some people call this energy “Spirit”; some call it “God”; some call it the “Universal Energy Field” or the “Unified Field.”

Once you get into that gap, you’ll find that, through this all-pervasive web of energy, everyone and everything is connected to everything else. You also discover that this universal field of energy is unlimited; it’s pure potential, and anything can be accomplished when you’re connected to it.

When we connect to the Unified Field through meditation, our bodies and psyches are cleared, leaving us refreshed, restored, and balanced. Just 20 minutes of meditation offers as much rest as 1-2 hours of sleep! The effect is truly a turning back of the clock, where we look and feel healthier and younger.

We can experience other profound changes by tapping into the Unified Field through meditation. To heal ourselves and fix our lives, we need information. We need to root out the true cause of what is ailing us, and find the most expeditious and effective route to a cure. I certainly learned this with my experience of cancer. When you tap into the Unified Field, you are accessing life’s great encyclopedia—where every fact of the universe, past, present and future, exists and is accessible. You are also connecting to your own highest wisdom., and the insights that come from meditation help us to heal every area of our lives.

In this way, meditation paves the way for emotional healing. On an energetic level, it helps to remove any blockages that come from holding on to anger and resentment. Meditation thereby ushers in what is perhaps the most crucial part of the healing process, forgiveness. It opens us up to our connection to other people, and to All That Is. In this way, meditation also paves the way for global peace and well-being.

That brings me to the most important reason I can think of to meditate. Even after all of the benefits I’ve touched upon here—the better health, becoming wiser, doing better at school or work, experiencing forgiveness, and having less anxiety, more creativity, greater joy, looking and feeling younger—I still haven’t told you the real purpose of meditation.

The most important outcome of your meditating every day is that by expanding your awareness, by bringing yourself into balance and experiencing greater peace, by raising your consciousness—you are actually assisting every other person and creature on the planet to do the same. Remember, we’re all connected by one vast field of energy. The ripple of energy you send out into the world is a reflection of your inner state of being. Your ripple touches and affects others. If you’re uplifted, you uplift them too. If we’re all in a higher state, we just might feel more inclined to help one another and come up with some harmonious and creative solutions to our global problems. What a different world that would be!

I can’t recommend enough that you learn to meditate—for your own well-being, for those you love, and for making a positive difference on the planet and fulfilling your life’s potential. To be done correctly, meditation must be learned from a qualified teacher; it’s not possible to learn from a book or a CD. If you’d like to learn, please find a qualified teacher in your area, or learn with me; I teach both in person and via live feed over the internet.

For more information on learning to meditate, please click here.

50/50 movie review

Near the end of 50/50, one of characters asks, “What now?” And that pretty well sums up the theme of this amazing little gem of a cancer film that is a “must see.” Maybe you’re trying to decide whether or not to get in our out of that relationship or job or city or apartment, but you do assume that something will follow. Compare the experience of 27 hear old Adam, played skillfully by Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who has to contemplate a world where there might be nothing coming after “what now.” Really an inconceivable state of affairs to most people, certainly to a twenty-something.

Adam walks into the doctor’s office with a backache and walks out with a grim unpronounceable cancer diagnosis; he researches it on the Internet and finds out his chances are 50/50. But hold on, this film is not depressing. With a brilliant screenplay written by Will Reiser, who had his own successful battle with a similar cancer in his twenties, and co-starring Seth Rogen, hilarious as Adam’s best friend, and coincidentally, Will’s best friend in real life, the two main guy characters create the most real, most entertaining 99 minutes slice of life about cancer you will see.

Seth’s approach is a blend of backslapping friendship and a steady diet of chatter and crude jokes that would entertain even the most distressed cancer patient. (His list of supposed celebs who beat cancer includes Patrick Swazye) Director Jonathan Levine (The Wackness) takes this memoir and smoothly rolls it out without a hitch. The dialogue is spot on and will have you rolling in the aisle. And you’ll love Anna Kendrick (remember her great performance in Up in the Air with George Clooney) as Katie, Adam’s therapist. She’s so young (even younger than he is) that he asks her if he is her first, second or, possibly at best, third patient ever. Other supporting roles that round out this film include Bryce Dallas Howard as Adam’s departing girl-friend; she simply can’t “do” cancer, as many friends and family in real life find they can’t either.

Overall, the film succeeds because it never succumbs to sappy sentiment; often funny, even more often angry, very true to life and well worth seeing. And what really makes it work is the undying (no pun intended) friendship between Adam and Seth, a bro movie through and through. Bring the popcorn and enjoy!

Mind vs. No Mind

When I was speaking at a conference not long ago, I met a woman named Sandy. She told me that she was 62 years old and had fallen twice in the previous year, breaking bones each time: a couple of ribs in the first fall and a hip in the second. The doctors told her that she had advanced osteoporosis and, naturally, she was quite worried. Sandy didn’t have any idea what was causing such an advanced case at a relatively young age, so she’d come to me for help.

I began by asking her about her childhood, as I had a vague knowing that somehow it was related to her condition. At the same time, I felt into her energy field using my own body as a sensing mechanism. Sandy said that she was born with a hip deformity and had undergone several corrective surgeries before the age of two. This information dovetailed with what I got when she first walked up to me: a lot of fear and a disconnection from the natural world—that is, she didn’t feel connected to the earth and she wasn’t grounded. I concluded that this was likely the result of her early surgeries’ damaging impact on her base chakra.

In Sandy’s energy field, I sensed that her first chakra was distorted in shape and circling in the wrong direction, which means it was unable to take in energy and caused her to exhibit a distorted view of reality. She thought the nature of the world was trauma and pain and that there was danger lurking around every corner. She was also unable to receive any sustenance from Mother Earth, the source of all our strength and health. This explained the weakness of her bones.

Throughout this process, I went back and forth between “Mind” and “No Mind.” We all know what the first term refers to: when we’re thinking with our left brain. In my Mind, I was reviewing what I knew about the condition of osteoporosis and how it’s often a result of a poorly functioning first chakra. From No Mind—that place in ourselves where we sense and feel, and from which we get our intuitions—I received information from the unified field and all of my senses, both normal and paranormal. This is how I obtained the information about Sandy’s childhood and the fact that the base chakra’s condition was a factor.

Next, I focused my attention directly on her physical body and found that her bones had that porous feel I associate with osteoporosis. Again, I moved between Mind and No Mind to arrive at this conclusion. At this point, I was pretty much done with the intake part of the session.

Working in an expanded state, I checked and deepened the connection with my guides (from years of doing this work, I am linked with them constantly). I specifically requested that they work through me, and then I expanded and raised my own energy field to accommodate their higher vibration. The guides began to resolidify Sandy’s bones, using my body as the vehicle.

At the same time, I “heard” what Sandy needed to do in order to get well. Using that information, I gently explained to her that her bone problems were associated with those early childhood surgeries that had separated her from the earth. Therefore, reconnecting to it would help build bone health. I suggested that she walk barefoot on the beach (she lived very near the ocean) and spend time sitting with her back against a tree. These activities would put her in direct contact with earthly energies to further sustain bone strength.

When the guides had finished their work, I used my focused intention to firmly root Sandy’s first chakra and sacrum directly into the earth. I did this without thinking; for me, it’s as automatic as driving a car or brushing my teeth. I also recommended that she take up a practice like yoga, Pilates, or dance to bring her more fully into her body and aid in keeping the grounded connection I had helped her establish.

Some months later, I heard from Sandy. She reported that she was less anxious, more balanced, and peaceful. She had followed my suggestion and was taking dance classes. She had also formed the habits of eating outside at noon, sitting with her back against a tree, and walking barefoot in the sand at least three times a week. Her osteoporosis tests had improved dramatically, and she no longer needed to take medication for the condition.

Much of the information I received about Sandy, you would have picked up, too. In fact, you’re probably already getting more than you realize about people’s emotions and their health. When you become your own shaman, you will know how to go from getting occasional hunches to having fully developed intuitive skills. These are wonderful gifts of the spirit, and you will know that what you receive is highly accurate. Our culture calls advanced abilities “paranormal” or “beyond the norm,” but that’s only because 99 percent of modern humans have turned these sensing abilities off. The good news is that they can be turned back on rather easily.

Excerpt from Be Your Own Shaman by Deborah King (Hay House 2011)

What do the colors in your aura mean?

Everyone has an aura—the colors that portray the electromagnetic field that emanates out from the human body. Of course, every living thing and every object in the world also have auras, as we are all composed of particles of vibrating energy. In a person, the aura extends out about 2-4 feet from all sides of the body (as well as above the head and below the feet) in an egg-shaped field.

I teach how to sense auras and what the colors indicate about someone’s feelings, thoughts, behavior, and health. Once trained, you’ll be able to sense where imbalance exists and what needs to be corrected. Keep in mind that you can sense colors, using your whole body, and that “seeing” is less reliable than whole body sensing.

So what do the colors of the aura mean? There are some generalizations, but there are many gradients of colors, each with subtle differences in meaning. For example, the color red in the aura often relates to the life-force of the physical body, including the heart and circulation. We usually associate red with the first chakra, and indeed a deep red can indicate that someone is well-grounded, realistic, or oriented to survival.

Red is the densest of all colors, which means it can create the most friction, as in anger, anxiety, or obsessions. But look at the range that is possible: a muddied red can point to anger, while a clear red is powerful and passionate—just think of a woman who can carry off wearing a bright orange-red dress: she’s confident about herself and her sensuality. If it’s a bright and clear color, chances are that person has a healthy ego.

When red veers off into pink, new meanings arise. If the pink is light and bright, there may be a new romantic relationship happening. Or it can indicate clairaudience, artistic leanings, sensitivity, or tenderness. A murky dark pink, on the other hand, shows that the person may be immature or have a dishonest nature. A dusty pink can mean that someone is being “nice” instead of being “real.”

Each of the colors—red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, as well as gold, silver, black and white, and earth colors—can change constantly, depending on your mood, what’s happening in your life, and what you’re up to at any given moment. Those who are trained to “read” auras have to have a lot of flexibility in their interpretations because different tones of the same color can have such different meanings. There is also confusion caused when someone else’s energy is in the aura.

Be careful of believing what someone tells you about your aura unless you totally trust that person’s abilities and integrity. It takes a lot of intuitive wisdom to interpret the colors of your aura.

Diabetes: Where is the sweetness in your life?

If you are over the age of 45 and overweight, you should take a moment and consider the risks of diabetes. A recent news article stated that more than a third of a billion people around the world have diabetes, a number that’s growing as more people adopt a Western lifestyle. There are almost 18 million Americans with diabetes, and about 5 million more who haven’t yet been diagnosed (in some cases of type 2 diabetes, there are NO symptoms). And that’s not counting the 57 million who are pre-diabetic.

Genetic predisposition, obesity, and lack of exercise are certainly factors in diabetes and need to be considered, but in energy medicine we can often trace the non-physical origins of the disease back to control issues, especially overbearing parental control and a propensity for bottling up emotions. When difficult emotions are not expressed, they are stashed in the body and held down so as not to have to deal with them. This emotional “lid” puts pressure on systems, organs, and glands, especially the circulatory system and the pancreas. It makes sense that the leading cause of death for diabetics is cardiovascular disease, ending in heart attack or stroke.

What I frequently hear at the cellular level of someone with diabetes is where is the sweetness in life? Sugar has been substituted for love, and the body’s mechanisms that regulate sugar are out of whack. In my experience, both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes can be dramatically improved through a change in one’s core beliefs and the release of stored emotions, along with changes in diet and exercise.

Have you let someone hijack your personal will? Have you turned to soda, cake, and candy rather than facing your relationship with a controlling parent? Have you given up trying to do something about your weight? Have you convinced yourself that you have no time or ability to exercise? Are you resigned to having the same disease that crippled a member of your family?

Of course, if you are diabetic, you’ve got a lot of company, including Halle Berry, Nick Jonas (of the Jonas Brothers), Patti LaBelle, Larry King, Randy Jackson (hey “Dawg”), Sharon Stone, Elizabeth Taylor, Billie Jean King, Delta Burke, Dick Clark, Meat Loaf, Della Reese, Morgan Freeman, Aretha Franklin, and B.B. King. Diabetes can strike anyone of any age, race, or gender.

I urge you to get tested if you think you might be at risk. The American Diabetes Association has a short simple test at http://www.diabetes.org/diabetes-basics/prevention/diabetes-risk-test/ to help you become aware of your risk factors for this prevalent disorder. Diabetes is fully treatable, so the more you know about your risk, the better. Remember, knowledge is power!

If you do get diagnosed as having diabetes, watching what you eat and exercising are absolutely essential, but you also need to treat the mind and spirit. It can be difficult to overcome emotional eating habits that you have learned in childhood, but you can vastly improve your health by working through the emotions that have led you to this point, and by finding ways to reduce your internal stress.

It’s time to wake up, check your risk of diabetes, and see what you can do to prevent it. If you do have diabetes, you can regain control of your life and regain a sense of self-worth. You do have it in your power to relieve or eliminate your symptoms, reduce and eliminate your risk of serious complications, and live a happy, healthy, and full life.

The Heat Is On!

 

Yes, it’s summer. Yes, it’s hot. And hotter than usual, whether you blame global warming or not. Although I’m always telling people to get outside to spend time in nature, which is a wonderful way both to get grounded and to expand your consciousness, there are certain precautions to take at this time of year.

Extreme heat is dangerous, like any “extreme” is. When the temperature rises to the high nineties and low hundreds, your body goes into overdrive, trying to cool off through perspiration and evaporation. Obviously, if you stay indoors and the electricity is working so your air conditioner works, you’re okay. This is about when you are outside.

The very young and the very old are at risk in the heat, as are people with mental illness or chronic diseases or those who are obese. But even those who are young and healthy can be in trouble if they are doing anything physically strenuous outside. And for those who live in cities, the stagnant air traps pollutants that can trigger respiratory problems.

When the heat is up and humidity is low, the most common problem is dehydration. If you’re in direct sun on days when the temperature is higher than 90 degrees, you can lose as much as half a gallon of water every ten minutes, which seriously mucks up your internal thermostat and can lead to heat exhaustion, which can lead to heat stroke, which can be deadly. Drink lots and lots of water!

That warmth you longed for all winter is now the hot air you’re trying to escape. Clearly, an excess of anything creates problems. When the elements go to extremes, we get hurricanes, tornadoes, tsunamis, flooding, forest fires, and earthquakes. When alcohol or drug use or gambling or sex becomes excessive, you have addiction. When emotions go to extremes, they can lead to mental disturbances, illnesses, panic attacks, and negative behaviors, even murder.

It’s important to avoid excesses in life, or try to get back into balance as soon as possible. Excess makes the senses weak and inhibits will power. It’s hard to get anything done, either on the outside or within your own mind. To avoid excess, think about simplifying your life. The less “stuff” you have to deal with, the easier it is to stay in balance. Think of the yogis, the true renunciates, who can control their inner heat; they can create enough heat in their bodies to melt snow and ice, or they can stay cool in the parching heat on the plains of India.

So kick back in these dog days of summer. Stay out of the midday sun. Wear sun screen and protective clothing when you have to go out. Consume lots of water and non-alcoholic beverages (alcohol adds to dehydration). Get to the pool or the beach early in the day or in the late afternoon/early evening. Visualize cooling images: sitting in an igloo, plunging into icy waters, floating on an ice floe, whatever works for you . . . Make sure to clean/change the filter in your air conditioning unit.

And while you’re sitting outside in the shade of a swaying tree, looking at the stretch of sky and sand and water before you, feeling the cool breeze as you sip another iced tea, take some time to review the excesses you are prone to. What would bring you into better balance? Less chocolate? Less worry? Less money spent on clothes? Less time on Facebook? Less workaholism? What do you have to add? More exercise? More veggies? More time for friends and family?

There is a simple exercise called the see-saw that can help you find your balance point. Visualize a see-saw. At one end, put your favorite excess. Put its opposite on the other end. Now focus on the fulcrum, the center point. What would that look like for you? What would bring the see-saw into perfect balance?

The heat may be on, but you don’t have to burn. Stay cool!

Scared of Your Emotions?

When you see a mother with her baby, are you jealous? Or are you relieved it’s not you? Or maybe angry that she could have one, but you can’t? What about your feelings about your partner, or lack of? How do you feel walking in to work? When your kid flunks a test? When your computer crashes?

Are you afraid of what you feel? Scared that the emotion will cover you over like a tsunami and drag you out to sea? Take over your life?

If you’re trying to heal yourself, you will have to learn to release the toxic emotions you buried because you were afraid to feel them. You won’t want to dwell on the feelings as they come up or beat yourself up about them or try to change them. You’ll want to observe the emotions as if they are passing clouds—you feel the emotion arising, acknowledge it, and then watch as the storm clouds blow away.

Of course, it takes some time to be able to get comfortable with your emotions and not get caught up in them. I remember being in a courtroom as a young attorney during the time I was learning to name and acknowledge my emotions. I would write down what I was feeling in the margins of my brief, which was usually jealous, jealous, jealous. That’s how I felt about all those other lawyers who seemed so self-assured. It took a long time for me to feel comfortable with my jealousy and to stop trying to make it disappear. But when I did, I was able to uncover the fear that had created the jealousy, so I could then deal with it.

If I were to ask you, What are you feeling right now? would you be able to answer?

Here are words for some of the emotions, to get you started.

• Fear is always the basis of the other emotions. It ranges from anxiety and nervousness (including worry, distress, dread, dismay) to fright, horror, or shock that can lead into panic, terror, or hysteria. Or maybe you’re just shaking in your shoes or have butterflies in your stomach!
• Jealousy includes envy, wanting what other people have, or you can be filled with resentment, bitterness, or spite.
• Anger goes from irritation to rage. You can be annoyed, mad, furious, disgusted, or spiteful. Do you see red? Maybe your anger is nothing more than displeasure or pique rather than being infuriated.
• Sadness moves from feelings of self-pity to suffering hurt or anguish or grief. We can be wounded, upset, devastated, or simply unhappy, miserable, or gloomy. Maybe you’ve just got the blues.
• Shame can come from disgrace or dishonor, humiliation, embarrassment, or indignity. It is closely related to guilt—remorse or plain old regret.
• On the other hand, you can be filled with love and affection, be cheerful, proud, full of optimism and joy. Are you content and happy? Hopeful? Maybe blissful, in good spirits, without a care in the world.

As you can see, there are a lot of choices when it comes to naming your emotions. Let your choice be guided by your “gut feelings.” When you feel a sense of connection with a particular word, write it down in your journal and try to elaborate on what is causing it.

Now can you answer the question: What do I feel right now?

Just pick a word. It would be nice once in a while to have words like peaceful, happy, and cheerful. But whatever the word is, be really honest about it. Don’t try to change it and don’t criticize yourself; instead, congratulate yourself for the awareness. Absolutely everything starts with awareness.

Get Grounded for Earth Day: 7 Steps to Connect to Earth

Millions will gather together around the globe to share love and concern for our home, this beautiful planet Earth. Most of the time, we walk unconsciously over the Earth, our heads in the clouds. We are in our minds, thinking thinking thinking about all we have to do, about all the hurts we are experiencing, about how we don’t have enough, or how we aren’t enough. On this one day, we need to stop long enough to shift our awareness from who we are and what we need, to thank Earth for all she provides and to offer ourselves as helpers in the great task of repairing the world.

But first we have to repair our consciousness. After all, how can we help repair the world if we are not standing firmly upon the earth?

Often in meditation we focus upward to commune with Spirit, raising our energy up to and out the crown of the head. But to get grounded, we need to travel downward to tap into Earth’s energy.

Here are seven steps for connecting to the Earth and grounding your energy:

1. Turn your focus to your feet. What do the soles of your feet feel like? Have they been squashed into uncomfortable shoes? Do they ache or itch? Have you massaged them, treated them with the respect they deserve? Your feet carry you everywhere. How have you thanked them?
2. Imagine there’s a large wheel of energy, or a sphere, about 12-18 inches below your feet in the Earth. This is the doorway that allows you to receive energy from the Earth and to be supported by it. Visualize a cord of energy, like the roots of a tree, going down from the bottom of your feet and connecting to this sphere below your feet.
3. Feel your connection to the earth. Ask Mother Earth to help you stay grounded and stable. Honor her. Promise to help her by remembering to water your plants, pet the cat, admire the sunset, listening to the messages she sends to you through the natural world. Remember the feeling of this space, and tune into it whenever you get ungrounded, anxious, too much in your head.
4. Breathe in gently and feel your feet becoming more and more connected to the earth. You are a tree, a tree of life. You are grounded through your roots into the earth, which send sends strengthening, grounding energy up through the roots to nourish you. Feel the flow of energy going upward into your legs, thighs, hips.
5. Release any heaviness or pain from your fingers, arms, shoulders and neck. Let a beautiful green energy fill you as it flows from the earth below your feet and into the planet’s ecosystem, out beyond the planet into the solar system, and throughout the multitude of universes.
6. Gently pull your attention inward and come into your heart. You are home. Home in your body. Home on the earth. Feel great gratitude for being allowed to live upon the earth. For the shelter, warmth, and security you feel as you are held in the womb of the earth, strong and safe.
7. Thank the earth for the land you live upon, for being allowed to steward life upon the earth. Thank the earth for its wisdom and the joy it brings humanity. For the daisy’s sparkling smile, the orchid’s elegance, the thorn’s fierce defense of its environment.

We go into the darkness of the earth, its rich depths, to reconnect with the parts of ourselves we have tried to hide. Now that we have our roots planted in this nourishing earth, now that we are stable in our grounding, we can acknowledge what we have tried to hide, to ignore, to pretend wasn’t who we are.

We are light and dark, yin and yang, earth and sky, male and female. We are one with it all. The polarities merge. There is only One. There is no more fear. We are whole, and holy. From this place of Oneness, we are now ready to repair the world.

May every day be Earth Day.

Weighing in on Journaling

Either for health reasons or for sheer vanity, or a little of both, losing weight is always an issue for millions of women and men. In the U.S. today, a shocking 63.1 percent of adults are either overweight or obese, with a third being overweight and a quarter being obese. That’s an awful lot of people who have to lose weight.

You can win the battle of the bulge without declaring total war on all the foods you love. What you’re looking for is a way to eat a basically healthy diet without feeling deprived. And right there is the clue to success—your feelings.

Do you crunch a bag of chips rather than acknowledging how angry you are at your boss? Do you need the melt-in-your-mouth smoothness of ice cream to soothe a broken heart? Do you graze mindlessly all day because you’re bored or anxious?

In order to become aware of your emotional connection to food, you need to become aware of your emotions. There’s no better way to do that than by journaling. Read my latest blog on Psychology Today, called “5 Steps for Writing Your Way Down the Scale!” at http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/mining-the-headlines/201104/5-steps-writing-your-way-down-the-scale.

Negative Energy, be gone!

It’s happened to everyone. You’re talking with somebody who’s in a bad mood and suddenly you’re feeling miserable, too. Yup, you’ve been “slimed.”

I’m not talking about the really heavy negative energy of a major psychic attack, like when someone’s stalking you, or you’re a victim of abuse, or your mother-in-law hates your guts because you stole away her precious son. Here, I’m talking about low level negative energy—just enough to put you off your game. You feel off-balance somehow, disjointed.

You might not even realize what’s happened to you. There you were feeling great, and now, out of the blue, you can’t shake the blues. Or you feel really tired, or cranky, like a three-year-old who’s just missed nap time.

Fortunately, it’s fairly easy to get rid of slime. I give the basic recipe for clearing away low level negative energy in an article called “Cleaning off negative energy” that is featured in Deepak Chopra’s new website—http://www.deepakwellbeing.com.

This brand new site is inspired by Chopra’s visionary work. Time magazine called him “the poet-prophet of alternative medicine!” He’s someone I admire, and hope you’ll support his efforts.

Here’s the direct link to the article: http://www.deepakwellbeing.com/Blogs-Transform/cleaning-off-negative-energy.html