Gratitude for the Gift of Today

Open your heart to all the blessings this day has to offer.

As humans, we are endowed with so many gifts – the gift of emotion, of expression, of creativity and love.  We are given the gift of today.

Too often, the social mores of modern society tug on our emotional fragility, tempting us to be swallowed up in a sea of despair.  But just when it seems that there is no hope for happiness, we can open our hearts in gratitude to the natural gifts that we are given on this very day.

Whether it is gazing upon the unfurling of a flower with its intricate and exquisite color, texture and fragrance, or glancing up at the rich blue sky dotted with clouds dancing just above us, or the smile of a stranger we see on the street, these are all gifts, that when gratefully acknowledged have the capacity to bring us back to center; back to our heart.

Here is one of the most touching and heartwarming video montages I have every laid eyes on.  It was created by filmmaker, Louie Schwartzberg and its entitled, simply – Gratitude.

I encourage you to make this little video a part of your day, each day as a gentle reminder that beauty, happiness and love are gifts that we can choose to receive each and every day of our lives.

Thank you Louie for sharing this with the world!  I am ever so grateful for your gift to us!

If you enjoyed this article and would like to see the work of Higher Journeys continue, in addition to my broadcast of Conscious Inquiry with Alexis Brooks on CLN, please consider making a small donation today to keep us going! 
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A Day Without Technology and Developing Intuitive Perception

Learn how to increase your inner sensory perception (ISP) by periodically unplugging from the devices of modern living.

While preparing for my upcoming radio interview with bestselling author and intuitive coach Penney Peirce, and reading her latest book, Leap of Perception – The Transforming Power of Your Perception, I came across a great little exercise that she suggests we try to get us to focus on our own innate intuitive abilities.  She calls this process A Day Without Technology.

"For one month, take one day a week where you’re totally away from the computer, cell phone, calculator, and television.  Let voicemail pick up your messages, use telepathy and intuition, practice connecting with the environment and the life inside things.  Be creative and see what comes out of you instead of taking things in from other sources.  Be in nature, be alone, be quiet for extended periods, and work with the imaginal realm.

During these no-technology days, notice what functions technology has been fulfilling for you, and see how you might do the same thing with your own inner consciousness and energy skills.  Build your consciousness and energy muscle."

She maintains that there are ways in which we can develop what she calls “new human abilities,” and by using exercises like this, we will naturally draw from our own inner sensory perception (ISP) while not having to rely upon the ISP of technology for which we’ve become so accustomed.

In my article Tethered to Technology – Have We Reached the Point of No Return?  I state:

“As much as I acknowledge an appreciation for the technologies that have afforded so many with more opportunities than we could have imagined even 10 short years ago, I’ve had to remind myself that the tool of technology is just that, and one that I should periodically resolve to live without.  In fact I have made a conscious choice to go for periods of time without the need to read email, use my cell phone for talking or texting but rather read a book, paint, garden or just be with myself.  It is interesting that in this age of technological temptation; admittedly the mere fact that I’ve had to remind myself to “unplug” speaks volumes to the intractable lure of technology into our habitual routines.  Few of us these days are fully immune.”

Impractical as it might seem to allocate a full day to unplugging from our technological feeding tube, when one makes a decision to do so and follows through, one might realize that the true ISP is an inner wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi), that no modern technology can match.  Then we will have moved from, as Penney has called it, the Information Age to the Intuition Age!

The potential of our inner gifts are endless!

I highly recommend Penney's book, Leap of Perception, part of a collection which she calls the "Transformation Trilogy"

If you enjoyed this article and would like to see the work of Higher Journeys continue, in addition to my broadcast of Conscious Inquiry with Alexis Brooks on CLN, please consider making a small donation today to keep us going! 
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Thoughts (A Poem)

It's been some time since I've put "ink to paper" in an effort to produce a work of poetry.  I stumbled on this piece which I began probably a decade or so ago and thought I'd put some finishing touches on it and share it with you!

It's simply called...

Thoughts 

Fleeting thoughts and luminous notions all beget the wisdom of thy soul.

Reluctance of these would thwart thy grace

An act to those would appease.

If but I listen to my inner tone

Resonate throughout my being,

I will question not, a single thought

But add it to the tapestry.

Exultation over recognition

Tho brief it may be.

But like the flower, which endures deviation

The blossom will return to thee.

These thoughts but seeds in an omnipresent realm, subtle and profound

Unfolding into awareness

Only to enfold to ground.

But since the seeds of knowledge are planted

Emerge again they will.

If only we ask for that seed to sprout,

Our thoughts will hold us still.

Sacred splendor of reflection

Perennial wisdom appears yet again.

Tho slight in their brilliant manifestation

But a whisper in thy ear

A thought, deemed created by the thinker of himself

How mistaken he must be

As all idea has an infinite dwelling

Only occasioned by the soul

Despite the thought’s ephemeral movement in the consciousness of man

How refreshing to know being linked to the soul

That thoughts are always at hand.

If you enjoyed this article and would like to see the work of Higher Journeys continue, in addition to my broadcast of Conscious Inquiry with Alexis Brooks on CLN, please consider making a small donation today to keep us going! 
...thank you!

Learn the "Quick Coherence Technique" for Optimal Well-Being

During a discussion with the executive vice president of Heartmath, Howard Martin, I learned of a brief process whereby anyone can regulate emotions by synchronizing heart and brain to achieve a more balanced and preferred state of being.

It's called the Quick Coherence Technique.

It consists of three simple steps:

Step One: Heart Focus
Step Two: Heart Focused Breathing
Step Three: Heart Feeling.

I invite you to listen to the process delivered by Howard and try it for yourself to experience a more relaxed state, peace of mind and positive emotional stability.

To learn more about HeartMath's Quick Coherence Technique, click here.

If you enjoyed this article and would like to see the work of Higher Journeys continue, in addition to my broadcast of Conscious Inquiry with Alexis Brooks on CLN, please consider making a small donation today to keep us going!  ...thank you!

Conversations from the Heart - An Interview with HeartMath's Howard Martin exclusively on Conscious Inquiry Radio with Alexis Brooks

“All I want to do is bring out the greatness in great people – and that’s what I want to do for you.”  It was that phrase that Doc Childre, the founder of HeartMath told Howard Martin that has led to a 40 year journey of learning and leading others in an extraordinary understanding of the intelligence of the heart.

Together, Doc Childre and Howard Martin embarked on uncharted territory, delving deep into the quest to comprehend the vast spectrum of human and spiritual life and even consciousness itself.  This brave exploration eventually led to the founding of HeartMath, a cutting edge research and development organization providing unique tools to boost performance, productivity, health and well being.

In this interview with the executive vice president of HeartMath, Howard Martin shares his very personal story about how his meeting Doc Childre, literally took his life in an unexpected direction.  This is the first time he’s ever shared this story publically.

We also discuss life after 2012 and the acceleration of change, the practical application of intuition, and of course the incredible work that HeartMath has done to bring about an evolutionary change in understanding the expanded role that the heart plays in our lives.

This interview was conducted on site in Los Angeles at the Conscious Life Expo in February of 2013.

Click here to listen to the show on demand

Howard Martin is a Global Coherence Initiative Steering Committee Member and Executive Vice President, Strategic Development for HeartMath LLC.

Howard played a key role in launching theGlobal Coherence Initiative (GCI), a science-based, co-creative project to unite people in heart-focused care and intention, to facilitate the shift in global consciousness from instability and discord to balance, cooperation and enduring peace. He has served as a Steering Committee Member and spokesperson for GCI since its inception in 2008.

Howard is also one of the original leaders who helped Doc Childre found HeartMath and has been with HeartMath’s world-wide training and consulting team since 1991. In 1999 he co-authored with Doc Childre, The HeartMath Solution, published by HarperSanFrancisco and in 2000 authored The HeartMath Method, an audio learning program published by Nightingale Conant. He is also the producer of two award winning musical recordings, including Doc Childre’s Heart Zones which spent 50 consecutive weeks on Billboard Magazine’s music charts.

During his career with HeartMath and the Global Coherence Initiative, Howard has been instrumental in delivering practical, yet dynamic programs to thousands of people in audiences world-wide. Because of his universal appeal, he has conducted training programs and keynote presentations for Fortune 100 companies, government agencies, all four branches of the U.S. military, school systems, ecumenical organizations and for publicly promoted events in over 50 cities on four continents.

He is a member of Transformational Leadership Council, an exclusive organization founded by author Jack Canfield that is made up of leaders in the fields of personal, organizational and social transformation. He is also a member of Evolutionary Leaders, a group of global visionaries founded by Deepak Chopra.

www.heartmath.com

www.heartmath.org

www.glcoherence.org/

www.heartmastery.com

If you enjoyed this article and would like to see the work of Higher Journeys continue, in addition to my broadcast of Conscious Inquiry with Alexis Brooks on CLN, please consider making a small donation today to keep us going! 
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Personal Evolution and Our Sixth Sense with Sonia Choquette

“The only tuition one needs to pay to obtain real knowledge is
IN-tuition. The only thing it asks is that you PAY attention!” 

 -Alexis Brooks 

What if you were told you could have the answers to nearly every question you have - right at your finger tips?  Well, according to intuitive expert and NY Times best-selling author, Sonia Choquette you can and the answers are simple if you learn to follow your sixth sense.

The sixth sense, also known to many as the intuition is something that we all possess.  And yet many have traded in this innate faculty of knowing for the left brained approach to finding answers to life’s many questions.  As a result we embark upon a long, slogging path of searching but too often come up empty where the answers are concerned.

According to Sonia, two historical foundational paradigms occurred to keep us away from naturally developing and using what is perhaps the most valuable tool we as human beings were inherently given.

Listen as I speak with Sonia about how we can truly develop our many gifts by using our sixth sense, and when we do we will discover that the answer is quite simple!

As a personal anecdotal footnote, I can’t resist sharing with you a most profound experience I had while on the phone speaking with Sonia.  She had been taking me through a little exercise to learn how to tap into the wisdom of my heart in order to access my intuition.  While going through the exercise, she asked me to state out loud some of my current fears and anxieties.  After I voiced my concerns for all to hear, she then asked me to repeat the phrase, “and my heart says…” as if my heart/intuition was speaking directly to me in response to my concerns.  She then asked me to look directly in front of me and tell her what I saw.

Interestingly, there was a centerpiece filled with nuts on my table – that’s what was directly before me!

It wasn’t until well after our interview that I had an epiphany that my heart was communicating to me that my fears were not warranted as if to say, “Are you NUTS?”

Although I had to chuckle after this truly synchronistic encounter, her method proved 100% accurate.  If we follow our heart; the direct channel of our intuition, it will speak to us in profound ways!

Enjoy this excerpt from my interview with Sonia Choquette then learn how you can hear the entire interview plus much more on Conscious Life News!

Also be sure to listen to my monthly broadcasts on Conscious Inquiry with Alexis Brooks, only on CLN!

If you enjoyed this article and would like to see the work of Higher Journeys continue, in addition to my broadcast of Conscious Inquiry with Alexis Brooks on CLN, please consider making a small donation today to keep us going! 
...thank you!

Conscious Inquiry with Alexis Brooks Debuts on Conscious Life News!

It is my absolute pleasure to introduce you to a new radio program, exclusively airing on Conscious Life News.

The Conscious Inquiry radio show, will explore subjects within the alternative, spiritual and metaphysical fields combined with your inquiry about these areas, and delivers the leading researchers, authors, teachers and practitioners from many walks of life and from a broad range of perspectives.

Every month, I will present two new guests and explore cutting edge topics to bring to you the very latest in health and wellness, self empowerment, human potential, and solutions to personal and global challenges.  Plus you will learn about the latest discoveries in areas including new science and breakthrough technologies, unexplained phenomena and ESP, near death experiences and the afterlife, consciousness research and much more!  

The debut of our new show has been a long time in the making and we are so proud to present it on CLN.

This month, I interview the founder and editor of Elevated Existence Magazine, Tammy Mastroberte as well as Near Death Experiencer and author of the best-selling book Saved by the Light, Dannion Brinkley AND his family.

Both interviews address some of the bigger questions many of us have about the nature of reality and the universe and most importantly the nature of ourselves!

In Tammy's interview, we discuss the afterlife, past lives, synchronicity, forgiveness, and more.  This is a very intimate discussion.  Tammy will share with us her very personal spiritual journey which led her to the founding of her award winning magazine, Elevated Existence.  She says that with each very special interview she conducts (and she's featured some of the top names in entertainment and spirituality on her covers), she learns so much more about the people she interviews and herself!  We'll discuss the spiritual journey of Jane Fonda, Tammy's interview with pioneering past life expert Dr. Brian Weiss and how this led her to discover some of her own past lives plus so much more!

In my interview with Dannion and Kathryn Brinkley and their daughter Alexandra, we discuss each of their unique journeys of transformation - both Dannion and Kathryn are multiple near death experiencers and Alexandra found her own unique path through her natural affinity with nature and shamanism.  All three have done amazing things, working with dying veterans in hospice.  What Dannion has to say about this rewarding work will surely bring a tear (of joy) to your eye! I myself was so moved during this emotional interview conducted at the Conscious Life Expo in Los Angeles last February, that as soon as we stopped recording, I broke down and cried!  Which triggered a teary reaction to all that were in the room!

So please don't miss out.  Make sure to tune in each and every month to Conscious Inquiry!  See you over there!!

If you have any show or guest suggestions.  Please be sure to reach out to me on the Higher Journeys Facebook Page.  Your suggestions are always welcomed!

If you enjoyed this article and would like to see the work of Higher Journeys continue, in addition to my broadcast of Conscious Inquiry with Alexis Brooks on CLN, please consider making a small donation today to keep us going! 
...thank you!