While Mt. Agung was threatening to erupt in Bali a fellow traveler suggested hiking up Mt. Rinjani, the volcano on the island next door towering to 12,224’. It sounded intriguing however I wasn’t in shape for such a hike and was not sure I wanted to invest the time in preparing for it. I was very indecisive until I jogged around a tiny island nearby as the sun was rising. The mountain was perfectly silhouetted and magnificent. I looked at the peak at a distance away and knew I wanted to be there at the same time looking back at the little island.

I researched some tour companies online that looked good but couldn’t get clear communication with any of them. So instead I found a travel booth with a nice big map of the mountain. I confirmed they were the same company as one I had found online that was rated well. They promised me they would provide good hiking equipment, cater to my food allergies with a nourishing diet, and give me a nice private room the night...

Within the interviews with health and healing experts for my book Healing Happens: Stories of Healing Against All Odds, one of the most common reasons for someone healing is because they focused on their vision for life.

Sometimes we get dissuaded by that vision because of others’ or our own disbelief in its potential success. Or maybe you feel you are not deserving or capable so the idea never even enters your mind. Now is your chance to imagine if anything were possible in six months, what would you want to see in your life? If you had all the resources, money, time, support, tools, knowledge, confidence…to make anything happen, what would it be?

One of the other challenges people have when focusing on their vision is being in a space of wanting verses having. When we want, it assumes we don’t have it and we can feel a state of lack. Wanting and having are mutually exclusive and cannot happen at the same time. If you create a habit of wanting, you are more...

Try this for one week to help feel absolutely happy and then let us know how it went by clicking here. 

Day One: Joy is Your Natural State
Joy is our natural state yet it can be hard to access just like a beautiful stained glass window covered with dirt. One of the things that blocks us from joy is holding onto past trauma.
Paramhansa Yogananda says “Circumstances are neutral.” Much of our trauma actually comes from our definition of what happened and our response to that. Then we often hold onto a definition of our own selves and feel bad throughout our lives because of it.

As an example, I used to always hang onto a memory of a time when my father played with my brother and sister and not me. When I was three years old I could see them under the door playing the game Operation where you, as the doctor, have to take the bones out of the body without touching anything else and making the buzzer go off.

What I read from that was that my own father did not want to play...

There is a great freedom in being able to freely to give, to be present for others, and to feel safe and empowered while doing so. Here are seven tips on how to tap into that freedom.

1. No Resistance
At the Enlightened Warrior Training Camp that I attended about a month ago, a number of people asked me how I was so freely giving. It is hard to know how you are until you see something in comparison.

When I launched the gofundme campaign for my book Healing Happens, I didn’t realize some of my friends would want to look over the campaign before deciding if they would donate. For me in the past, if a friend asks for a donation, I always want to support them with at least $5 or $10 regardless of what they are asking for. I usually then ask God what the amount is I should give and then I give the number that comes into my head without question.

There are a couple lessons I have learned that have made me want to be more freely giving. The first is we are all trying to accomplish a...

A couple weeks ago at the beginning of April 2017 I attended a training program called Enlightened Warrior Training Camp. I have probably seen the most internal transformation out of that program from any I have taken. During the program we had the opportunity to get close with many participants. I was repeatedly asked how I was so energetic, happy, and freely giving during the program.

There was not much time to answer those questions during the program, but those questions were ringing in my head on my flight home. A few minutes into my traditional airplane sudoku puzzle, the words to answer those questions came flooding into my head. This blog post shares seven steps to feel boundless energy. Keep your eyes open for the next two on how to be absolutely happy and the freedom of freely giving.

1. Lighten Your Load: The less of our past we carry, the lighter we will feel in our body and spirit. Negative emotions build up as toxins in the body, infringing on its ability to...

I mentioned in one of my Facebook live videos how I enjoyed hearing what people feel is positive about Trump when I recently found myself in a group of supporters. However, that is not what I am writing about.

Last night I was watching a TV/Movie series set around New Years 1970 in a news magazine office when women did not have the rights to have the same job as the men, have their name credited in the magazine, nor get the same salaries as men. One of the women came across a female African American lawyer who specialized in women’s rights. She had the desire to be a writer herself and the courage to bring other women into the cause. They had to sneak around and many did not feel comfortable telling their own husbands. They risked losing their job and having a hard time getting a new one. There was the risk of losing friends or partners, and even getting killed.

Also during that time period many people were sexually repressed. Women only wore skirts. People of dark colored...

With New Years Resolutions in place they do no good unless we figure out how to take action on them, integrate them into your daily life, and make them a habit. One of my favorite quotes from the great yoga guru Paramhansa Yogananda is “Your trials may be great, but the greatest enemy of yourself is yourself!” In order for us to create a new habit that feels recharging, we have to figure out how to get ourselves out of the way.

We commonly talk about developing a buddy system where someone, a class, or a group program holds you accountable. Or we use our will power for a small amount of time when beginning new activities which will automatically develop a habit longer term. Below are five creative tips which we do not commonly think about on how to develop a recharging habit.

1. Conquer unwillingness: Do it when you least feel like it. Paramhansa Yogananda explains this in a really good way: “Unwillingness is an energy; willingness is a friend at times when...

As I was dancing to the joyful Christmas music in the stores yesterday, I started to wonder how the tradition of gift giving began. With the mad rush, sense of obligation, and sometimes confusion on what to get people, I wanted to know what could be a deeper way to experience the exchange of gifts. The exchange also includes the receiver and what they can do to add to the experience for everyone.

Growing up as a Jew, I decided to look online to do more research on the history of Christmas gifts. The story is that when Jesus was born the Three Wise Men brought him gifts of Frankincense, Gold and Myrrh. According to one website:
Frankincense was a perfume used in Jewish worship, and, as a gift, it showed that people would worship Jesus.
Gold was associated with Kings, and Christians believe that Jesus is the King of Kings.
Myrrh was a perfume that was put on dead bodies to make them smell nice, and, as a gift, it showed that Jesus would suffer and die.
Thus the first Christmas gifts were...

With the requests to recount the voting results from the elections in the United States, I thought I would share a few other ideas on how to change the election results.

At this point in the United States we have elected someone as president who says he stands for certain principles and has certain ideas for us. There is still another month until his presidency begins and we do not know which things he will follow through on nor which ones will get passed.

We also had two candidates who were both greatly disliked by many. So if we change the results to support having our other candidate as president, then we get left with a whole set of other problems. With either candidate presenting things many of us do not want, it would be more beneficial to change the results of what this country stands for rather than changing the person who will be the face of this country.

Now you may be wondering how we can do that. Here are a few ideas:

1. Stand firmly in what you believe in. Imagine a...

With holiday travels around the corner and many people sick right now, how are we going to keep our bodies healthy, purified, and vibrant? Here’s another idea to add to the blog post Secrets of the Happy Traveler – Part 1.

2. Energization Exercises

Once I am all checked in for my flight, I find my gate, go to the bathroom, and fill my water bottle. Then I look for a gate without a plane taking off for a while. I love it if I can find a quiet private spot by a window. Now you do not have to find privacy but then you have to be ok with people looking at you funny. Most of the time I think they just wish they had the courage to join in because what you will do is so invigorating.

Here’s three Invigorating Energization Exercises:
These were developed by the great yoga guru Paramhansa Yogananda to help people feel more energy in their body, focus their mind, and get ready for meditation. Always tense from a low to medium to high tension, relax high, medium, low, and then...