Tag Archives: inner beauty

CBL#142 - Inner Beauty Miracles with Bernie Siegel

  By Admin | October 29, 2011 - 4:37 pm | ,
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"Healing is built into our bodies" - Bernie Siegel, MD

Dr. Bernie Siegel was my inspiring guest this week emphasizing the need to love ourselves, love our kids and love our world as a path to healing. He suggested to "live an authentic life," hang mottos to live by all over your house to encourage you daily to live from your heart. He has many miraculous stories to share, including his own marriage success of 57 years raising 5 children and numerous pets. It makes me happy to know that Bernie Siegel has left his imprint of love and compassion on the health care system. To listen to the entire interview, click the button below.

For many, Dr. Bernard Siegel—or Bernie, as he prefers to be called—needs no introduction. He has touched many lives all over the Planet. In 1978, he reached a national and then international audience when he began talking about patient empowerment and the choice to live fully and die in peace. As a physician who has cared for and counseled innumerable people whose mortality has been threatened by illness, Bernie embraces a philosophy of living and dying that stands at the forefront of the medical ethics and spiritual issues our Society grapples with today. In May 2011, Bernie was honored by the Watkins Review of London, England, as one of the Top 20 Spiritually Influential Living People on the Planet. He continues to break new ground in the field of healing, supporting changes in medical education to “humanize” medical practice.

Bernie was born in Brooklyn, NY, and attended Colgate University and Cornell University Medical College. He graduated with honors and holds membership in two scholastic honor societies, Phi Beta Kappa and Alpha Omega Alpha. He trained to become a surgeon at Yale New Haven Hospital, West Haven Veteran’s Hospital and the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh. In 1989, Bernie retired from Yale as an Assistant Clinical Professor of General and Pediatric Surgery to speak to patients, their families and caregivers.

In his latest book, his 12th, published in September 2011, entitled A BOOK OF MIRACLES—Inspiring True Stories of Healing, Gratitude, and Love, Bernie is described in the Foreword written by Deepak Chopra who tells us “Bernie Siegel began his writing career twenty-five years ago, and from the outset he didn’t shy away from miracles. The title of his first book—LOVE, MEDICINE & MIRACLES (1986)—flaunted his disagreement with mainstream medicine. An MD who advised more love as a path to healing would have been in enough trouble. Opening the possibility of miracles was grounds for dismissal. In his new book, Bernie reaffirms his original beliefs, and with a lifetime’s wisdom and experience, he trusts in miracles more than ever.”

Bernie’s writings in the 12 books he has published so far reflect his passion to reach people struggling with all of life’s challenges—not just the physical ones—so that each person can live life fully with the understanding that, as Bernie reminds us, “We only have today.” Believing that we are all here to love one another, Bernie has crafted eternal truths and the timeless wisdom of the ages into his reflections on the true stories of his patients in much of his work. But he has also produced wonderful resources for everyone like 365 Prescriptions for the Soul (Daily Messages of Inspiration, Hope, and Love), and 101 Exercises for the Soul (A Divine Workout Plan for Body, Mind, and Spirit). Bernie’s books also include those like Love, Magic & Mudpies, a great resource for parents and delightful, loving stories like Buddy’s Candle to help children of all ages cope with the loss of a loved one, be it a pet or parent. Reflecting on his work so far, Bernie quotes Woody Allen who once said, “If I had one wish it would be to be somebody else.” Bernie’s wish was to be a few inches taller, and can say now that he is a few inches taller because his work has been such a growth experience.

In 1978, nearly a decade before retirement, Bernie launched ECaP—Exceptional Cancer Patients, in which he and his wife and co-worker, Bobbie, remain active today. ECaP is a therapeutic approach Bernie calls Carefrontation that helps patients interpret their drawings, dreams and images to express their feelings about the healing process. The physical, spiritual, and psychological benefits that emerge strengthen the immune system, a direct response to the power of the Mind-Body Connection about which Bernie has written and spoken extensively. He is currently working on other books with the goal of empowering patients and teaching survival behavior to enhance immune system competency. Bernie believes that in the next decade, the roles of consciousness, spirituality, non-local healing, body memory, and heart energy will all be explored more intensively as scientific subjects.

All along the way, Bernie’s wife, Barbara H. Siegel—or Bobbie—has been a mainstay at workshops on helping patients interpret their drawings and especially, with a talent for very funny one-liners, at workshops on the healing power of humor. Bobbie, a graduate of Oswego State Teachers College with a BS in Early Childhood Education, credits her academic work as the preparation she needed to educate and train Bernie. On his part, Bernie does say that her guidance has helped him become the person he is today. Bobbie and Bernie raised five children together and now, as then, live in a home full of children’s things (for their eight grandchildren), pets, and especially love.

Read Bernie’s regular blog posts on his website where you will also find his books, articles, and CDs:  https://www.berniesiegelmd.com.

ARTICLE - Embracing the Miracle of Your Human-Ness

  By Admin | October 26, 2011 - 11:30 am |
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I have adopted a practice to embrace my human-ness. After I feel like I have “messed up” or “didn’t say the right thing,” I find a mirror and look right in my eyes. “I love you, I really really do,” said WITH feeling. My body knows the place of self-hatred, and it knows the place of self-love. It is a fine line between the two, and we have a choice in every minute of every day to tip the balance to self-love.
 
Do you suffer from perfectionism? 
 
According to psychologist and perfectionism researcher, Hamachek D.E., there are types: normal and neurotic. Normal or healthy perfectionism finds a person feeling a deep sense of pleasure from the tedious effort of working towards “perfect.” And then there are the neurotic or unhealthy perfectionists who never feel satisfied and strain compulsively toward impossible goals. These people often measure their own self worth entirely in terms of productivity and accomplishment.
 
So it ain’t all bad. The pleasure one derives from striving to make something better until filled up with pride and an expression of who you are is what I call “Living an Organic and Orgasmic Life.” However, it is imperative to notice if you are struggling and tense while trying to perfect your recipe, article, parenting, job, project, etc., you are fighting and resisting your own human-ness.
 
How do you know if you suffer from perfectionism?
 
• Are you afraid of making mistakes?
• Do you get impatient with others when they make a mistake?
• If you fail an assignment at work or school, do you feel like a failure?
• How long does it haunt you when you make a faux pas (like using the wrong fork at a fancy dinner or putting your foot in your mouth)?
• How do you feel when you read these questions?
 
Your relationship with yourself is the foundation for all of your other relationships. If you are hard on ourselves, then you will in turn be hard on others. It is inevitable? If we are unable to nurture our inner most beings, then our lives will reflect this deficiency in some way. Embracing your own human-ness is the doorway to seeing the miracle of who you are at your essence.
 
Dr. Bernie Siegel writes in his new book on miracles, “Our body loves us, but it needs to know we love our lives in order for it to do all it can to help us survive. The change in body energy activated by the love alters our internal chemistry and makes a difference. In many cases, this kind of miracle is damn hard work. But when you are willing to do the work, and live in your heart, magic can happen.”
 
There are many ways to approach “the work” Bernie mentions, and they all begin with awareness. And to become aware, you need to PAUSE from the pace of life.  LIFT yourself into the moment by noticing:
 
Lighting in the room
Interior of your belly
Feeling in your heart
Taste in your mouth
 
“You are unique, and if that is not fulfilled, then something has been lost.”- Martha Graham
 
 
 
 

ARTICLE - The Impact of Disconnected Beauty

  By Admin | October 19, 2011 - 2:33 pm |
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A good laugh at the insanity of how we define and design our marriages is surely in order. It’s not as funny as it should be though because so many people are affected by the enormous amount of emotional suffering.  Women give up on men, and men give up on women after failed attempts at relating, and both are left feeling misunderstood and unappreciated. Why do we keep hitting our heads against the wall with this marriage stuff?  Instead of continuing to do the same thing expecting a different outcome, let’s take a deeper look at the aspect of a woman’s inner beauty or disconnection to it that creates disharmony in relationships. 
 
What we need to know about women is that they are very disconnected to their inner beauty and sexuality which makes them feel inadequate and unhappy overall in their lives, and especially in relationships with men. A shocking 80% of women do not have a good body image, and 97% do not like something about their bodies. Below is an excerpt from an indepth study of college-age students on women’s body image published in “The Qualitative Report” in June, 2009. 
 
-Beyond an awareness of their bodies, our participants learned a particular set of attitudes regarding women’s bodies, and not one participant was currently satisfied with her body as it was. Moreover, our female participants all thought, to varying degrees, that a “better body” (one closer to the cultural standard) would make them happier and/or more successful. In our written interviews we asked all of the male and female participants the following question: “Honestly, if you could change anything about yourself, what would it be?” All of the female participants listed a body part, their weight, or their body image. In a follow-up question asking why, the following responses were given: envy other women, to gain confidence, to get boys, to get better clothes, due to self-consciousness, currently feels unattractive or otherwise dissatisfied with appearance, and as a result of cultural influence.-
 
Adding insult to injury, Americans alone spend over 200 billion dollars each year on beauty products and services without an ounce of difference in how content or satisfied women feel in their lives. This same amount of money would be enough to feed, clothe, educate, and provide health care for every child in the world. (Worldwatch Institute) How happy would women AND men be if that were a reality?!?
 
A resulting dynamic of unhappy women in our relationships is a little startling. Men are often the receivers of the rath of unhappy women. In countless Jerry Springer shows, a disgruntled wife or girlfriend is allowed to use her spouse or boyfriend as a punching bag, unleashing as much anger as is physically possible without any response whatsoever from the men. Sometimes the abuse is not so overtly physical, but statements of blame like “I am done with men.,” “He is so clueless!,” or “What a piece of work he is!”
 
Men need our guidance, love and understanding to navigate the waters of our emotions, especially with our body images.
 
 
Call to action…DABS everyday!
 
Deep breath
Act from love
Be kind
Smile alot :)
 

CBL#140 - Self-Love as a Path to Inner Beauty

  By Admin | October 15, 2011 - 10:33 am | ,
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Did you know that the Dictionary.com definition of Self-Love includes conceit, vanity and narcissism? It is a no wonder women are getting Fs in Self-Love, and why Christine Arylo has co-founded the Mean Girls Reform School. Christine says it like it is about how women feel like they are Falling Behind, living up to False Ideals, and Failing miserably at being a super-woman…lots of Fs.  If you are ready to claim Self-Love, she has a plan and will show you how with fun, creativity, and passion. She has helped over 500 people successfully navigate a 40 day fear cleanse at FearCleanse.com. Listen to the interview, and some pretty shocking WHOA Babies about how women feel about their bodies by clicking the "Listen" button below. 

A self-admitted, but recovering, achievement junkie and doing addict, Christine is an inspirational catalyst who writes and speaks about the  struggles and possibilities that this generation of woman — today’s 21st century woman — faces in getting the love and happiness she works so hard to find. 

 
The popular author of Choosing ME before WE, Every Woman’s Guide to Life and Love Christine is affectionately known as the “Queen of Self-Love.” A title earned due to her relentless commitment to teaching and inspiring girls and women from around the world to really, truly fall madly in love with themselves. 
 
After leaving her six-figure corporate career behind, Christine has spent the last 5 years dedicated to making self-love a tangible reality for all girls and women. She is the creator of Madly in Love with ME™ , an international self-love movement that includes an official  self-love holiday on Februrary 13th — put it on your calendar! She is the co-founder of Inner Mean Girl Reform School™, a virtual school and community that has helped over 10,000 women transform their self-sabotaging voices into self-loving ones. 
 
Christine loves to speak publicly to groups of women and girls. She has been a frequent guest on ABC, CBS, FOX and E! Entertainment TV, and she speaks often on college campuses, at retreat and spa resorts, and at women’s conferences around the country. When not online teaching or on the mic talking, she is hanging out with her 2nd best friend – her partner Noah – because as Christine says, ‘Every woman must be her own best friend first.’ 
 
Get your FREE self-love kit at Madlyinlovewithme.com.
 

 

ARTICLE - PAUSE for Pleasure and Inner Beauty

  By Admin | October 14, 2011 - 11:40 am |
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The system, “5 Ps to Peace, Passion, and Pleasure,” is designed for women to uncover their inner beauty. This kind of beauty is lasting and true no matter what kind of hair day you may be having, or how old you feel. This is important because women are disconnected to feeling good on the inside…wow, it really breaks my heart to write this AND I know that it is true. We have evidence of it everywhere with eating disorders, plastic surgeries, and the fast growing market of anti-aging products and services. Doesn’t it seem odd that it is inevitable to get older and yet we fight it as if it is a horrible fate? Especially women, and I believe it is because they are disconnected with their inner beauty so when the skin ages and wrinkles set it, they feel old and used up. However, the disconnection is not only for older women. Unfortunately, it is most women. Ninety-seven percent of women do not like something about their bodies.

The 5 Ps system is a step by step process. The first step is PAUSE, followed by Ponder, Plan, Prospect, and Pop. This article is focused on pausing because it is the hardest and most crucial step. If you do not pause, there is no time to ponder, the plan remains the same, prospecting feels like too much work, and popping is left for the corn in the microwave.
 
The reasons for the difficulty in woman’s ability to stop and focus on her  own self-care is being revealed with the brain science of the last two decades. Prior to the 1990s, all the studies in medicine were done on the male brain because a woman’s hormones would screw up the data. Even the pill was based on the male brain…now there is a scary thought! The corpus colosseum is the connector between the brain’s left and right hemispheres. In a woman’s brain, it is wider which makes it easier for her to take the kids to school, plan dinner tonight, prepare for the business meeting, and do her kegel exercises on the way.  Can you just feel how the brain is dancing around keeping her up in her head instead of in her body? It does not take a rocket scientist to know that peace, passion, and pleasure is felt in the body…not thought about in the head. I am here to tell you that you can not think your way to peace, passion, and pleasure.
 
I am also here to tell you it is much simpler than you think. The most convenient and least expensive method rendering the best results are to take 30 seconds at least 3 times a day to stop. Yes, I am asking for 1-1/2 minutes of your time to feel and apply a strategy with the acronym BEST. It is the BEST strategy for pausing, and here is how it breaks down.
 
B is to Breathe deeply - down into your belly
E is to Embrace Your Humanness-look into your eyes if possible
S is to Smile - let it turn into a laugh if you are feeling it
T is to Think - YOU are a beautiful soul
 
I said it was simple, but it’s not always easy. Practice everyday for 24 days. This will take one and a half minutes of your day. 
 
This movement towards more feminine energy and power in the world is happening. Let’s make sure it is a peaceful and loving feminine energy. The only way for that to happen is for women to learn to love themselves again, and feel their beautiful soul.
 
Ah, go on, take 30 seconds right now!
 

ARTICLE: The 5 Ps to Peace, Passion, and Pleasure

  By Admin | September 22, 2011 - 3:09 pm |
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How many Ps can you find in this article?  I'm feeling in a childlike mood today. :)

 

Penelope Piper Paused, Pondered, Planned, Prospected and Popped so that she could bring her Peaceful, Passionate and Pleasured self out into the world. 

 

And so it goes in the world of organic and orgasmic.

 

Are we having fun yet? When is the last time you felt like life was rolling along without conflicts or worries? How do you suppose the laws of attraction work when we feel worry?

 

Okay, Coach Betty, enough with the questions! Many of my clients say enough, just tell me what to do and how to feel. Sorry, it is an inside job, and Pausing and Pondering these questions will help you find that place. How you Plan the rest of your life could be quite a bit different than your current path. 

 

This is actually a 5-part proven system that you can begin to implement today, in this moment, without Purchasing a thing to begin on the Path of Peace, Passion, and Pleasure which are the Ps that follow the Os of Organic and Orgasmic. Sometimes, I am just too clever.

 

Let me cut to the chase with step 1. The only way to begin the path to peace, passion and pleasure is Pausing in the moment and paying attention to your senses. Sensuality is not something you can multi-task through. You must get off the hamster wheel of whatever cycle you are in the midst of, and give yourself as little as 30 seconds or 10 breaths to notice your solar plexus or 3rd chakra area. That is really all there is to understand step 1, Pause.

 

The 2nd step of Ponder is all about what you felt when you Paused. If your upper belly is tense and tight, you are in some state of worry. Breathe deeper into that tightness and assure your body that you are going to find ways to make peace and relax.

 

The 3rd step of Planning is to design ways to get to your inner beauty, sexuality, and peace. The common Prescription is to breathe for 30 seconds and notice your 3rd chakra 3 times a day, when you open your eyes in the morning, after lunch, and before you close your eyes at night. Simple as that and remember all the 3s….3rd step, 3rd chakra, 3(0) seconds and 3 times a day. Design little tricks to remind and re-program your brain.

 

After this becomes automatic, then you are ready for steps 4 and 5. Prospecting for your unique magnificence and popping that out into the world can be tricky for you to do for yourself. Remember Marianne Williamson’s famous quote “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate, our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.” I have personally experienced the fear of looking my power right in the eye and shrinking back from it. I repeatedly go back through steps 1-3, and more keeps popping out. It is very important to surround yourself with people who see you in all your beauty and sexuality, magnificence, wisdom, or whatever words for which you want to be known. 

 

Don’t let Penelope Piper have all the fun!  Pop it out there!

 

 

 

CBL#136 - The Wow of Inner BEauty and Sexuality

  By Admin | September 17, 2011 - 10:08 am | ,
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"Nobody teaches us how to be good at who we are," says my special guest, Lori Bryant-Woolridge.  She is the author of "The Power of Wow: A Guide to Unleashing The Confident, Sexy YOU." At her virtual Stilleto University, a 9 week online program, you can earn a Master's in Sensual Arts.  She has some interesting thoughts on how to redefine sex, and is breaking down the barriers to always being a "good girl." Don't wait for someone to turn your passion on…come to the party feeling desirable, urges Lori.  Click the button below to hear the entire interview.

Coach Betty shares a WHOA Baby about the controversy over Catherine Hakim's new book, "Erotic Capital." The book makes a case for women exploiting their beauty and sexuality, and enjoying the positive financial, cultural and social benefits. What cha think? 

Lori Bryant-Woolridge is the co-founder and past president of Mothers Off Duty, a non-profit organization that helps mothers stay balanced and committed to maintaining the woman within. This small group of working mothers also helps educate and mentor teen mothers through the Mothers Off Duty Scholarship Fund. She is also an Emmy award-winning tv writer and Essence bestselling novelist.

Get your "Individual Wow,""Social Wow," and "Sexual Wow" on and check out this dynamic and sexy lady.  LoriBryantWoolridge.com

 

FUN Organic and Orgasmic FACTS

  By Admin | September 14, 2011 - 1:00 am |
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One of my very favorite ways to explain what I mean by “Living an Organic and Orgasmic Life” is this…to understand the wisdom of living in the flow of nature and embracing all of life’s experiences. Organic is nature’s  flow, and orgasmic is the juice that results when you embrace ALL of life’s experiences.

 

When we resist the flow of nature then we are in pain, either emotionally, physically or both. Nature flows according to a grand plan that involves constant change. Look outside at flowers, trees, or the sky, and everyday you will see a difference if you look closely. Our bodies change everyday too, getting older and wiser as the moments tick by.  Have you ever felt the pain of resisting the flow of aging? You know, looking in the mirror and saying, “Oh no, a new wrinkle,” or “When did I get so old?” It is rare to hear someone embrace the inevitable process of aging.  In this moment, doesn’t that strike you as really crazy? What about the perks and wonderment of getting older?  There is a recent study out of Stanford University that shows that peak emotional happiness comes at age 70. I love to report good news about aging as it gets such a bad rap in life. 

 

“It’s likely that only vibrations of love and gratitude appear in nature, and observations of nature shows this to be true.”  - Masuru Emoto

 

Yet another wonderful reason to move with the vibrations of nature, you create love and gratitude. When you move with the flow of nature it is also much easier to embrace your experiences along the way. A traditional Tao story illustrates that it is better to accept the wholeness of life instead of dividing experiences into good or bad. Ask yourself, “Who’s to say what is good and what is bad,” when you hit a bump in your life path. How many times can you look back at an experience you thought was tragic in the moment, and it turned into a blessing in disguise. Why even have this phrase in our world? Because it happens all the time, and we can actually LOOK for it and find the blessings pouring out. You only have to become aware and look.

 

My experience with chronic pain for 26 years is my teacher for living an organic and orgasmic life everyday.  When I do not listen to my body’s pain whispers (nature) and resist, well guess what happens. My bones and muscles that have been so compromised over time start yelling at me and I, at times, must come to a complete stop because I am in such pain. Now that is not a situation anyone would say “Hey I want to live like that,”  and it has been an amazing blessing to me. I found my life’s work of coaching, experienced numerous forms of powerful natural healing modalities which I get to share with the world through my radio work, and I have learned from my own experience through pain that inner beauty and sexuality are some kind of potent medicine for the soul.

 

FUN FACTS about Living an Organic and Orgasmic Life

  • You don’t have to leave home do it
  • You don’t have to buy anything, so you never have to upgrade.
  • You will begin to smile more and you just can’t help it…because
  • You find the funny perspective which makes you laugh…and then
  • You start to feel this tingling sensation in your lower belly…and
  • You shout “OMG, this lives inside of me!”

And I’m here to tell you, yes it does.  Enjoy organic and orgasmic living!