Learn to reprogram your inner critic... Using Affirmations to Raise Self-Esteem Wednesday, November 3, 2009, 6:00 PM - 8:30 PM. Kaiser Permanente, San Jose. Call 408-972-3370.

Relationship Skills for Individuals To have a successful and healthy relationship with another person you must first have a successful and healthy relationship with yourself. Six Thursdays, December 3 - January 21, 2010 (no class Dec 24 or 31), 6:00 - 8:30 PM. Kaiser Permanente San Jose. 408-972-3340.

Find out what Narcissism is and why you need to know how to deal with it. Narcissism in the 21st Century: A Call to Consciousness Wednesday, January 13, 2010 6:00-9:00 PM. Location: Divine Science, 1540 Hicks Avenue, $25.

NEW Audio Program
How to Make Affirmations a Powerful Force for Change
This is a recording of a live teleseminar providing everything you ever wanted to know about effectively using affirmations...

It is also available as an MP3 download from Amazon.com

Positive Affirmations & Prayers to Lift Your Spirits Audio Program.

Also available as an MP3 Download from Amazon

Affirmation: I move at the flow of life.

Quote: "...Surrender is the most important thing you can do to bring about positive change." Eckhart Tolle

I had an experience recently that brought home to me once again the power of our intentions. Not the intentions we think we have, but the ones we are actually living... As the minister of my church was talking about this, I sat there asking myself that very question. What is the intention I am living, the one that someone looking at me and how I'm living my life (if they really knew) would say I am living?

My uncomfortable and painful answer was "self-protection". Though I have worked long and hard to overcome the effects of many painful life experiences, still self-protection has been driving me.

The powerful truth of this exercise in self-awareness and discovery is that this intention we are living is creating our lives. So many self-help guru's today are focusing on our thoughts being the foundation from which we create, but in reality it goes much deeper. It is an unconscious intention based on our beliefs about the world, other people and ourselves. If you have been hurt repeatedly, you may conclude that relationships are painful and scary, that people aren't safe and that you have to have armor just to survive in this world. Thus, self-protection might be your intention.

Becoming aware of your unconscious intention is the first step in changing it which is all part of a process of learning and growing as an individual.

This and much more is explored and discussed in the Relationship Skills for Individuals class starting December 3, 2009. I invite you to join me in exploring what it means to have a relationship with yourself and some of the unconscious beliefs that may be creating your life.

Newsletter Archives:
October 2009 - Self-Sabotage and Procrastination/The Lost Art of Grieving

September 2009 - The Definition of Insanity/Affirmations Have Changed My Life

August 2009 - I Learn More From Failure/You Can't Push the River

Testimonials: Have you benefited from a program or service you've taken with me? I'm looking for people who would be willing to write testimonials for inclusion on my new website. Please contact me, and thank you in advance.

NEW: Please check out my new website as it grows and expands daily: www.theevolvingself.com

CD and Holiday Spiritual Counseling and Coaching Specials
I'm currently offering specials on my CD's and Spiritual Counseling and Coaching services. Learn more by visiting my new website: www.theevolvingself.com

According to the rules of war under the Geneva Conventions, waving a white flag would institute a cease fire and enable the defeated party to approach unharmed to begin negotiations for surrender. In this context, surrender represents loss, defeat, weakness and failure. In a spiritual context however, surrender is considered one of the most powerful things you can do. What does it mean to surrender, in a spiritual context?

In his book, Practicing the Power of Now, Eckhart Tolle says, "Surrender is the simple but profound wisdom of yielding to rather than opposing the flow of life." When we resist what is happening in our lives through negativity and anger, we are acting on the ego's false belief that we can actually control the situation with our minds. Our bodies react to what's going on in the mind, so we are also adding to our stress burden. There is so much that happens in life that we can't control and we often make it worse by beating ourselves against those things as if that will make a difference.

Surrender doesn't mean we passively sit back while negative things happen, it is rather a very powerful stance to take. It is a shift in attitude and energy that allows us first to be fully where we are now and then to turn our focus to what we can change and find the good that can come from even the most negative experiences.

If you find yourself overwhelmed by the things you can't control or change in your life, you may benefit from Spiritual Counseling and/or Coaching. I'm offering a Holiday Special on both starting in December. Click here for more details or email me to set up a complementary 1/2 hour consultation.