We hear a lot about the need to forgive people. For sure, it takes away our own anger and pain, but there is something else, perhaps more important about the need to forgive.

In this video Penny Wittbrodt talks about what happens when we have nasty thoughts about people.

Basically, our nasty thoughts reach the person. They attach themselves to the person. They reinforce the person being who he/she already is.

This is about as bad as it gets. Instead of helping them move out of their condition, we are assuring they stay as they are.

I have felt this in my own life, but did not identify it so clearly. For me it was the way my family thought about me. I felt their thoughts -- and could not seem to shed them. They were like slime attached to me, encasing me, giving me no room to breathe. And I had that sense of wanting to brush them off -- the thoughts -- off me, shake them off, but since I wasn't totally aware of what was happening I could not consciously do anything about it.

I've also seen this in one particular psychic reading session. The young man came from a family that was very strict. They wanted him to be a certain way, do what they thought was right for me, and so on. I clearly saw that energy around his head. It was strong. It absolutely limited what he could even think, let alone do in his life.

At this moment I don't know what is best to do with this new, broader understanding. But I do know that we can have nasty thoughts -- mostly because we can't help ourselves -- BUT what we CAN do with them is think them, then consciously make the intent that it not reach the person. Even our becoming aware of the thought as hurting someone, can be enough for it not to reach the person.

I am hoping that with a little time, I will know more and have even better solutions for this ubiquitous problem that does nothing for either making our lives better or the lives on the planet.

By the way, in my experience and understanding, she was not talking to God, she was talking to her higher self.

This clip from Dr. Bruce Lipton's talk summarizes nicely what I have seen psychically in psychic reading sessions with clients and write about in my book, The Workings of Energy in the Human Energy Field: A Psychic's Perspective. Thought impacts your body, creates your reality.

Not new information, but new to the general public.  And in this short clip, Dr. Lipton brings in the science behind it.

Seth, in Jane Robert's Seth books, talks about this at length and depth. Highly recommended reading.

If you're on the spiritual path I know that, like me, you have been having trouble organizing and integrating your spiritual life and personal growth with everyday tasks and commitments.

All the planners out there have tight spaces for your appointments and perhaps, to-do lists, but none of them address your inner life, your personal growth, your heart's desires, your SOUL. (Except for some Christian planners, but we are not talking about that path here.)

I needed a planner that would include everything, all aspects of my being: spiritual development; personal growth and healing -- I wanted to be able to regularly address whatever childhood programing arose, or aspects of my human personality I wanted to develop; handle my various creative projects: writing books, creating guided meditations, and so on; a way to focus, make sure I get done what was really important that day and not get sidetracked by irrelevant stuff; and, of course, I wanted to keep track of any appointments. That's what I was looking for in my weekly planner.

Of course, nothing like that existed, so I created one.

Thought creates reality. We're always manifesting ourselves, our lives. My Manifesting Planner is about consciously addressing this growth in consciousness and evolution --the process of becoming more the divine humans that we really are.

Have you been seeking something like this, a planner that meets these needs? If so, take a look inside My Manifesting Planner in the Shop where you will also find supporting materials, My Dream Requests Notebook and My Divine Manifestation Project Notebook.

My Manifesting Planner is a wonderful way to integrate your entire life and advance your spiritual growth and personal development.

I've talked often about Dr. Raymond Moody. His book, Life After Life is the first book I came across that explained how I was able to see the spirit of my dad when he had died. Back then, there were no books. Back East, no one was talking about any of this.

Since then, everything has changed. Many people who've had near-death experiences have stepped forward to talk about them and write about them. Eben Alexander, Anita Moorjani are some of them, and much earlier Dannion Brinkley, as well as many, many others.

Here, Dr. Moody gives an utterly riveting account of his work with people who've had near-death experiences and how they describe their experience.

The main point is that death is a pleasant experience. Most people who've had a near-death experience do not want to come back -- no matter what kind of great life they've had here or who they'll be leaving behind; it's that wonderful.

The other point, obviously, is that we don't really "die." Once out of body, we remain who we are. Our consciousness operates outside the body. Later on, in the journey into the light, this begins to change as we integrate our soul knowledge into our earthly experiences.

Carlos Castaneda, in his many books, talks about death as being always with the spiritual warrior -- as a guide for life.

Robert Monroe taught people how to leave the body at will which, he believed, was important knowledge when it came to the time when we leave our bodies permanently. His experiences are chronicled in his three, what I believe to be, very important books.

For all books that inform about the nature of reality and near-death experiences, see The Nature of Reality page.

I love to have something like this on when I'm working. The music does not interfere with my concentration, it actually helps me slow down.  And looking over and seeing the ocean waves makes me really happy.

I think most of us on the spiritual path always want a closer relationship with our soul self, our divine self. We want to feel its presence. Most of all, I think, we want to have an undeniable communication with our soul self, the kind where we ask for guidance or information or anything else -- and actually feel our soul self respond.

This is connected to intuition. When we ask our soul self for something, we can hear the response directly, or when we have a strong intention about something, our soul self can come through and give us a sense of things.

If you want to cultivate a stronger connection to your soul self, cultivate stronger intuition, an easy way to do that is to regularly make requests from your soul self before you go to bed at night.

I've created My Dream Requests notebook just for that purpose.

You make a request from your soul about anything you want to know or any help you want to receive and then the next day you might wake up with the knowing or receive information sometime later.

The most important part about establishing a strong connection with your soul in this manner is to be consistent.

In other words, you are always looking for that connection and always expecting a response.

This consistency expands your ability to easily feel the presence of your soul self, easily make contact when you need information or help.

When we do this, continual contact our soul self, we become the divine humans that we are. We are no longer just human, we ever-more become divine humans. We do more and more what is our soul truth and less of what only our human personality perceives or wants.

In this way, we are no longer alone on the planet. We have a powerful companion, our soul self. We live from our soul truth. We can be at peace. We are in a position to have the most fulfilling and happiest life possible.

This also assures that we growth through our life challenges in the quickest easiest way -- by receiving help from our soul self. Essentially by asking help from our soul self, we are saying, we are ready to grow, evolve. We are willing to be guided by our highest soul truth. We are willing to change, expand our being, to know a higher truth, be willing to hold more light, become more the divine humans that we really are.

There are many ways and tools to expand our spiritual potential, using My Dream Requests notebook, along with My Manifesting Planner, is one way. It may be a way that works for you.

I created these set of affirmations to remind us all of who we really are. We are an aspect of All That Is. We are powerful creators. We can use our soul power to maintain vibrant health and vitality, move through life's challenge, create our heart's desires, create a beautiful life for ourselves. We can use our dreams to connect with the wisdom of the universe and learn, receive guidance and comfort.

When I create guided meditations, I listen to them many, many times and at the very end, when the meditation is almost done, I listen to it as I normally would any guided meditation.

Listening to Affirmations for Optimal Well-Being, I was frustrated. For me it takes a lot of discipline and determination to have patience, to wait on soul guidance. I have a hard time remembering to ask for help from my divine self and struggle alone until I finally remember.

It's also hard keeping in mind that our life is as it should be, that we are doing what we are supposed to be doing, learning what we are supposed to learn and not to worry so much.

If we only could sit back a little and allow divine guidance to bring what we need to us instead of pushing and forcing and trying -- life would be so much easier and definitely more pleasurable.

Anyway, lots to learn. Definitely listening to Affirmations for Optimal Well-Being often is a good idea as a way to begin to embody the truth of our being, our power and relax more about who we are and what we are doing here on Earth.