Karlene Stange, The Spiritual Nature of Animals: A Country Vet Explores the Wisdom, Compassion, and Souls of Animals

Do animals have souls? Do we bond spiritually with them? How do you know your pet loves you?

Colorado country veterinarian Karlene Stange gives us the kernels of truth about the spirit, or anima, of animals from the perspective of each major religion and distills these into a very practical philosophy: "We must be grateful for the service and friendship animals provide, and celebrate their lives, honor loving memories, and have no regrets."

Vets in rural practice face especially difficult illnesses, physical conditions, and emotional trials, not like dog-and-cat vets who see their “patients” in sterile urban offices. Dr. Karlene Stange embraced these difficulties because her work led her to spiritual awareness and even bliss, despite the inevitable losses and horrors. She found that her experience was described in Jungian psychology: animals led her to her anima, her true inner self and what in Latin means “soul,” “breath,” and “life itself.”

Case examples from her practice illustrate Stange’s journey to understand the spiritual nature of the animal-human bond. This led her to Buddhist, Christian, Sufi, Islamic, Jewish, Hindu, and pagan teachings. Her evolved understanding offers us a unique interpretation of our love for animals, a compelling tour of spiritual traditions, and, ultimately, a healing and joyful engagement with the creatures with whom we share our planet.

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Learn more about Karlene Strange: animasanimals.com

HeatherAsh Amara, Awaken Your Inner Fire

Buy this! Take care of me! Sign this! We need you! Watch this! HeatherAsh Amara shows you how to awaken and consciously tend your inner energy in a crazy busy world that is constantly trying to hook your attention.

We’ll explore the idea of how to use whatever work you are doing—whether it is something you love or something to pay the rent—as a way to build more courage, strength, power, and peace within you. It’s not a rewiring of what you do, but rather of how you do it…

Using the principles and tools that have helped thousands of HeatherAsh’s readers and students, you’ll learn how to:

• Uncover the hidden beliefs and habits that are getting in your way
• Break your cycles of distraction, procrastination, and depletion
• Unclutter your internal and external space to allow calm and clarity
• Awaken, nourish and direct your inner fires—physical, emotional, and spiritual
• And bring the power of the sacred into each challenging moment of your day

The payoff? To experience greater joy and resilience that embraces creative flow with solid emotional ground, energetic drive with quiet rejuvenation—while fulfilling both your real-world daily demands and your deeper purpose here.

"Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive." ~ Howard Thurman

Learn more about HeatherAsh Amara: heatherashamara.com

Michael Gelb, The Art of Connection: 7 Relationship-Building Skills Every Leader Needs Now

Michael Gelb

As the current workforce has become more diverse and less hierarchical, connection, and its good friend, collaboration, are more important than ever. More of us can step into the role of leaders who guide others to discover a sense of meaning, purpose, and connection in the workplace. Leaders need to be flexible and adaptable in their relationship-building and communication skills.  

Michael Gelb’s motto is "Connect before solving." He’s discovered that the most powerful catalyst for inspiring creative breakthroughs, and for translating those breakthroughs into sustainable innovations, is to guide people to connect with one another first, before trying to solve a problem.

Gelb shares his seven methods of developing this essential rapport in our professional and personal lives. He reminds us that developing rapport with others is not just a business tool to enhance productivity but a valuable end in itself. He guides us to cultivate the skills we all need to deepen our relationships, broaden our humanity, and transform our lives. 

Learn more about Michael Gelb: MichaelGelb.com

John Travis, MD, Why Dads Leave

John Travis

When John W. Travis, MD, lauded as one of the founding fathers of the wellness movement, became a parent, he was shocked to discover how unprepared he was for the emotional challenges of parenthood.

With his wife and colleague, Meryn Callander, he shares the story of their confident plunge into parenthood and the unraveling of that confidence, as they discovered themselves floundering, exhausted, and struggling to deal with the challenges confronting them. He found out firsthand why dads leave.

Cultural and generational forces are creating an unacknowledged epidemic of disappearing dads—fathers leaving their families, physically or emotionally, soon after the birth of a child.

Nearly twenty years in the making, John’s work provides insights and practical ways of preventing and healing the insidious and devastating impact of this dynamic. He has created the website ConnectedAndThriving.org which is full of resources, understanding, and hope for men—and the women who love them.

Learn more about John Travis MD: ConnectedAndThriving.org

Dr. Susan Bartell, How clutter affects our relationships and our health

Dr. Susan Bartell

Clutter: we've all got some somewhere. And it affects us. Ever gone head-to-head with your significant other over what to pack and what to trash? According to a new national study by SpareFoot, 90% of Americans in a relationship admit if they knew there wouldn’t be consequences, they’d get rid of some of their significant other’s possessions.

And why are you keeping this thing: your aunt gave it to you, it was the first thing you bought for yourself, you might need it sometime? Is there some object you’re hiding from your partner? How many things can you have in a room before you start to feel uncomfortable? How much time do you spend looking for misplaced objects in your home?

Dr. Susan Bartell gives you a perspective on where you stand with other American adults, and ways to help you make your home comfortably reflect your truest self.

Learn more about Dr. Susan Bartell: drsusanbartell.com

Sandra Marinella, The Story You Need to Tell: Writing to Heal from Trauma, Illness, or Loss

Sandra Marinella

Most of us have a story inside waiting to be told. Sandra Marinella can help. She’s done years of pioneering work with veterans and cancer patients, as well as teaching writing and researching its profound healing properties.

Riveting true stories illustrate her methods for understanding, telling, and editing personal stories in ways that foster resilience and renewal. She also shares her own experience of using journaling and expressive writing to navigate challenges including breast cancer and postpartum depression.

Marinella explores how our myths, our metaphors, and our meaning are born of the stories we choose to tell. Each of the techniques, prompts, and exercises she shares helps us “to unravel the knot inside” and move forward toward greater well being.

Learn more about Sandra Marinella: www.storyyoutell.com

Virginia Bell, Midlife is Not a Crisis

Virginia Bell

We are aging differently from the way we did in the past―we are not only living longer, we are staying healthy and vital longer. We can grow and prosper at any age!

Midlife Is Not a Crisis combines astrology, inspiration, and wisdom about aging to empower people to live more fully in the second half of life. It is based on the generational life cycles we all share at certain ages, from the Saturn Return at 29 and Midlife, which peaks at 42, all the way to the Uranus Return at 84.

These cycles are the great crossroads of life, and each cycle is a journey in itself. Strung together they offer a road map to life’s most challenging and rewarding passages. In every decade there are trials, lessons, and losses; in this we have no choice. Our freedom lies in how we respond―consciously or unconsciously, awake or asleep. The planet that governs each cycle acts as a wise elder or guide and holds the key to navigating the cycle successfully.

Astrologer Virginia Bell tells the story of these cycles and provides a guide to living consciously and well.

Learn more about Virginia Bell www.virginiabellastrology.com

James Cordova, The Marriage Checkup: A Scientific Program for Sustaining and Strengthening Marital Health

James Cordova

Marriages don’t whine like children or bosses, but we have to pay attention to them or they can get sick or just plain tired.

Professor James Cordova of Clark University wrote The Marriage Checkup to help couples assess the strengths and weaknesses of their relationship and to develop strategies for strengthening its health. It’s a two-session assessment and feedback program that helps us look at intimacy, sexuality, co-parenting, managing money, and communication, "the marital health equivalent of the annual physical or the every-six-month dental visit.”

We can avoid the emotional turmoil associated with conventional marital counseling since we are simply receiving safe and routine feedback about potential problems in our marriage. Like physical health, the health of a relationship can be developed to greater levels of fitness and resilience to illness; even healthy couples can benefit from these exercises. 

Learn more about James Cordova: wordpress.clarku.edu/coupleslab/

Winifred Reilly, It Takes One To Tango: How to Rescue Your Marriage With (Almost) No Help From Your Spouse

Winifred Reilly

What happens when your marriage is broken but you’re the only one who wants to fix it? We’ve all heard “it takes two” to make a marriage better, but therapist Winifred Reilly noticed that waiting for her change-averse husband to leap up and joyfully embrace her grand plans for remodeling her marriage wasn't working out any better for her than it was for her clients. So she decided to try to rescue her marriage by herself, even though she had no idea what that would take.

Like most couples she works with, she wanted a happier marriage, not a divorce. Now she gives us practical, effective, empowering alternatives to talking ourselves blue in the face. “I know from experience that when one partner takes that first step...behaves in a new way, challenges the status quo, the other will usually follow. Sometimes slowly, not always cheerfully, and often not in the way we imagined. But eventually, both partners become stronger and healthier, and so does the marriage.”

Learn more about Winifred Reilly: onetotango.com

Eric Maisel, Overcoming Your Difficult Family: 8 Skills for Thriving in Any Family Situation

Would it kill you to call your mother? You and your sister aren’t speaking...again...  If you don’t have a picture-postcard family, where everyone loves one another, roots for one another, and never criticizes one another, listen in.

Life coach and retired family therapist Eric Maisel offers useful strategies for dealing with the people you’re connected to for life, even when they are not cooperative. Dr. Maisel tackles the problematic aspects of families, describing eight vital skills to help you cope with challenging relationships. The book also serves as a unique “field guide” to common types of dysfunctional families — authoritarian, anxious, addicted, and more — and how to thrive despite those dynamics.

By following Dr. Maisel’s battle-tested advice, you’ll learn to maintain inner peace in the midst of family chaos and create a better life for everybody.

Learn more about Eric Maisel: EricMaisel.com

Sarah Elliston, Lessons from a Difficult Person: How to Deal with People Like Us

Sarah Elliston

Sarah Elliston never realized she was "a difficult person," as she harangued people until she got her way, threw temper tantrums, and talked over her bosses. In her family, where she felt bullied, the only way she knew how to get attention was to voice her opinion, loudly!

She wasn't mean-spirited. She was just trying to do what she thought was RIGHT for herself and everyone else! Until a kind but firm boss pointed out that she was not only disrupting the office, but impeding her own professional advancement.   

Sarah started on the journey to leave behind the difficult person, and became the woman who teaches others how to deal with difficult people. She’ll share tips on how to awaken the challenging personality, and change both the relationship and the environment. You’ll learn ways to resolve personal conflict, implement negotiation skills with positive results, and relate in a non-confrontational way in working out disagreements with friends, family, neighbors and business associates.

Learn more about Sarah Elliston: www.sarahelliston.com

OolaGuys, Oola for Women: Find Balance in an Unbalanced World

Troy Amdahl and Dave Braun

Oola is that state of awesomeness you experience when your life is balanced and growing in all the key areas of health and well-being. It can be a noun or a verb, a destination or a feeling.

Troy Amdahl and Dave Braun, the OolaGuys, know that women are the ultimate multitaskers. While a circus performer might spin seven plates in a single show, women spin seven plates―figuratively―every day. They not only juggle kids, family, and home life, they also juggle work responsibilities, make constant business decisions, handle professional events, and so much more that it's truly mind-boggling what a woman can pack into a 24-hour day.

To truly live an OolaLife, it’s paramount to identify those toxic traits that hold us back from finding balance and growth in the seven F’s of Oola—fitness, finance, family, field (career), faith, friends and fun—and embrace the transformational characteristics that will help accelerate this journey to greatness.

The OolaGuys will talk about the experiences of 54 inspiring women, how to overcome unexpected hardships, and transform the juggling act of everyday life into a dream lifestyle of simplicity, tranquility, abundance, and opportunity.

Learn more about the OolaGuys: oolalife.com

Henry Fersko-Weiss, Caring for the Dying: The Doula Approach to a Meaningful Death

Henry Fersko-Weiss

How can the dying and their families bring deep meaning and comfort to care at the end of life?

Henry Fersko-Weiss describes a new way to support and guide people through the dying process; the end-of-life doula model adapted from the work of birth doulas. It honors the life of the person who is dying, offers them control over how they approach their death, and thoroughly supports loved ones.

That model encompasses summing up and planning work with a patient and family; continuous, around-the-clock vigil work; and reprocessing the loss with loved ones soon after the patient’s death. The dying person, their family, and caregivers can transform the experience from one of fear and despair into one that is uplifting and even life-affirming.

Learn how to give the last gift you can to yourself or someone you love.

Learn more about Henry Fersko-Weiss: inelda.org

Holly Parker: If We’re Together, Why Do I Feel So Alone?

Holly Parker

Living together, but your partner is emotionally absent; they are caught up in acting like a Critic, a Sponge, an Iceberg, an Emotional Silencer, a Defender? Constantly combating outright hostility or overcoming subtle distance can leave you with the sense that the give-and-take in your relationship has disappeared.

Harvard University clinical psychologist Dr. Holly Parker rescues us from the desperate, hopeless feelings that have come to define our relationship and life. She has developed a program filled with practical exercises and powerful advice for individuals on both sides of an emotionally damaged relationship. She talks about how to create healthy emotional connections and boost physical intimacy, how to eliminate habits that trigger self-sabotaging behavior, and more.

With patience, empathy, and willpower, Dr. Parker’s program can help you restore balance and peace of mind, and turn your damaged partnership back into a rewarding and joyful bond. 

Learn more about Holly Parker: drhollyparker.com

Meg Simeone and Avery, An Intuitive Healer & A Skeptical Seeker

Meg Simeone

How can you believe a desire that is out of your reach will materialize? How do you make sense of a truth that’s inexplicable yet undeniable? How do you find the courage to step into the unknown, confident that you’re going in the right direction? Avery — a man whose intuitive gifts were evident as a child — and Margaret, a left-brain skeptic whose unwillingness to believe persisted until she experienced what Avery asserted had always been available to her, join us today. We’ll learn how to:

• Remember who we really are

• Connect to an inner power, a universal energy that is always available

• Overcome the fear and worry that keep us stuck.  

If you’re open to a reality that defies logic and sensibility, and ready to experience a new way of living in this lifetime, listen in!

Learn more about Meg Simeone and Avery: glass-full.me

Barbara Jaffe, When Will I be Good Enough? A Replacement Child’s Journey to Healing

Barbara Jaffe

Were you born to “replace” a child who died? No matter how many times replacement children are told that they are special, on some level they can feel they never seemed to live up to the model their parents wanted. They always fall short—never being “enough.”

Replacement child Barbara Jaffe shares her hard-won knowledge to help us identify our lost self-esteem, self-confidence, and self-worth, and fix the broken pieces within ourselves. We had been stunted; now, we need to be nurtured, not by others, but by ourselves. We can pursue a full and honorable life, one we can pass on to our children and then, to future generations. 

Learn more about Barbara Jaffe: barbaraannjaffe.com

Thomas Sterner, Fully Engaged: Using the Practicing Mind in Daily Life

Tom Sterner

Are you fully engaged, present in this moment, completely content? Our culture encourages our minds to be overactive, anxious, longing for the future or regretting the past.

Thomas Sterner, bestselling author of The Practicing Mind, shows us how simple shifts in perspective — such as learning to center our attention on the process of what we are doing instead of what we are trying to achieve; using goals as guides instead of reminders of what is left to be done; and learning to work without judgment about the process — can completely transform the experience of going through each day.  

He says, “Everything in life comes from practice. No matter how small or inconsequential we think it is, everything we do, from brushing our teeth to getting through a scary job interview, comes from practice, the deliberate repetition of an action with an awareness of what we want to achieve.” And it works!

Learn more about Thomas Sterner: tomsterner.com

Jeanine Staples, The Revelations of Asher: Towards Supreme Love in Self

Jeanine Staples

How do you behave in love: Main Chick, Side Chick, Bonnie, Bitch, or Victim? Have you known the terror of emotional, psychological, or physical violence, and does that impact the way you show up in relationships and how you operate in the world?

As an alternative response to the five toxic lover identities, Jeanine presents a new way of loving and living. She introduces the Supreme Lover identity and illuminates its integral connection to social and emotional justice for and through Black women's wisdom. She gives us the tools to take ownership of our lover identities, and consciously seek greater emotional justice for our lives and communities.

Learn a more conscious way of loving and living in the world.

Learn more about Jeanine Staples: Jeaninestaples.com   and  thesupremeloveproject.com 

Latest hottest from Maryanne Live

What is the Maryanne Live radio show and why should you listen? Maryanne takes you into the depths of her practice and tells some of her fascinating story.

She went from a history of abuse/debilitating panic disorder/draining relationships, had an experience of awakening, and explored all the possible spiritual practices she could find to stay awake.

She'll bring on experts in the field of self-inquiry and awareness to help you stay awake, and invite us all to take the material and not theorize but live and breathe the principles in our lives. How do we take all the things we know...forgiveness, compassion, kindness...and embody them in real time?

Megan McFeely, As She Is: Reclaiming the Feminine

Megan McFeely

Come along on Megan McFeely’s personal journey as she rediscovers and reclaims the feminine qualities of the human psyche, qualities neglected and suppressed in the West for millennia and yet essential for our survival and wholeness. Her message serves as a wake-up call for both men and women.

But more important, it offers a contemplative glimpse into what it means to connect with the feminine potential that exists within us all. The healing power of the feminine can redress a world out of balance, taking you deep inside yourself and sending you back full of energy and hope.

Learn more about Megan McFeely www.AsSheIs.com