InnerSelf

by Gary Kowalski. Mortality nudges into our awareness at different points in our lives. Sometimes it strikes like a fist, and at other times it brushes alongside with the merest touch. It tapped me on the shoulder several years ago, about the time my wife and I were trying to have children.

by Robert Rosenthal, M.D. Many people think miracles are reserved for saints and gurus. According to this belief, the majority of humans are unworthy of miracles. However, the Red Sea parted for Moses and the Hebrews, not to prove their worthiness, but to help them escape Pharaoh’s slavery...

by Barry Vissell. White Eagle urges us to always be prepared in our hearts for the call to service, for we never know when we will be needed to help another. Currently, it is one of my most important prayers to ask that I be used to help others. But it wasn’t always my prayer.

by Alan Cohen. I now see this product as symbolic of forgiveness. The name acknowledges that you made a mistake ("goof") but also that it can be undone ("off"). If you have been subject to the tyranny of guilt, this offers an especially important lesson...

by Neale Donald Walsch. After the publication of Conversations with God, the question that I was asked more often than any other was: “Why you? Why did God pick you?” And, always, I’ve responded with, “God did not pick me. God picks everyone. The question is not, to whom does God talk? The question is, who listens?”

by Jodi McDonald.

My stepfather, Claude, had been in ICU for several days already. He suddenly sat straight up in bed. I was shocked. Without a pause, Claude began one of the most amazing sermons I had ever heard. His voice was clear and strong. I frantically glanced around, hoping someone else would come into the room to...

by David Schock.

One morning I awoke and realized I had absolutely no plans for the day. The gallery was closed until the weekend, and I was open to anything. I checked in with stillness, trying yet again to hear the “Holy Spirit.” To my surprise, I heard a quiet, still voice within me quite clearly. It was like an inner dialogue...

by John Selby.

I often talk about my grandfather as my first spiritual teacher, and about the Indian master Krishnamurti, who lived half-time in my hometown and was a voice in my ear from early childhood on. But probably the deepest influence on my life was my grandmother, known to me as Granny. This quiet woman touched my heart very early at levels much deeper than words can communicate...

Q: Premaji, is there a diet that can assist me to advance on the spiritual path? I’m overweight and I use smoking and coffee to lose weight.  A: There is much confusion in this era about food choices. Diet experts are arguing over whether we should avoid...

by Patricia Monaghan. The lore and love and specificity associated with Irish places grow directly from Ireland's residual paganism. But that paganism does not conflict with a devout Catholicism that embraces and absorbs it. The old ways were seamlessly bonded to the new, so that ancient rituals...

by Norman Monath. At one time in his life Benjamin Franklin decided to try to lead a life of moral perfection. He deeply believed that virtue was its own reward and that no qualities were so likely to make a poor man's fortune as those of probity and integrity. These are the virtues that he decided to live up to in accordance with his own definitions of them...

by Tolly Burkan. Slot machines, as outrageous as it might seem, are a powerful vehicle to help you learn how to keep your heart open. Since the brain and, in fact, the entire body, is a package of electrochemical impulses, it shouldn't seem so far-fetched that we can influence electronic devices.

I have believed all my life that there is a necessary interaction that occurs between a person and the Divine. This interaction does not come only to prophets, bodhisattvas, and other great spiritual masters, it comes also to us: ordinary people in our ordinary lives...

by Joseph R. Simonetta. It was my nature at a very young age to be observant and contemplative. I observed the restrained and reverential behavior of people in church. I also observed, curiously, that many of these same sanctimonious people were often irreverent, insensitive, and sometimes cruel outside of church.

Without doubt, there is great value in spirituality that emphasizes and supports withdrawal from society. But in our time, with its special needs, we require a spirituality of intense involvement and radical engagement with the world. It is in the real world that awakening...

'GRAAANDMAAA, BUY ME A PAIR OF JORDACHE JEANS,' my voice would sing out in a whine. Back then, every season demanded new clothes: back to school clothes, summer clothes, spring clothes, birthday clothes.... Now I live on the holy banks of the Ganges, in Rishikesh, India.

A Taoist seeker was wandering about a mountain range in search of a true teacher. On one occasion he happened upon a small Taoist hermitage high atop a peak on Wu-T'ang Mountain, where a small number of venerable old immortals (priests) were living. Though he found these men extremely wise...

I like the word faith: faith in God, in yourself, in your family. It's such an important thing to believe in something these days. I credit my faith with why I've been so blessed with such a trouble-free life. And my faith tells me that eventually when times do get rough, I'll be guided through it if I continue to believe.

It was three days after I met with her that I realized Grandmother Twylah Hurd Nitsch is a small woman. Her fathomless eyes, her great good humor and the magnitude of the peace that effortlessly flows from her heart convey a physical presence that reaches far beyond her diminutive frame. She is warm beyond measure, mercurial and deeply connected to the Earth...

A paradox is a statement that seems to say opposite things: 'She was strong because of her weakness.' Life is full of paradoxes. Sometimes when I am asked what my theological position is, I often -- and paradoxically -- call myself a faithful agnostic. I say it quite seriously, though I enjoy the consternation it sometimes produces. The agnostic does not know whether God exists...

I am asked 'Do you believe in miracles?' and it occurred to me that no one had asked me that question since my days in ministry. I was taken aback. Did I believe in people being spontaneously cured of cancer, virgin births, raising of the dead, parting of seas, burning bushes, and so on? Did I believe in serendipity, synchronicity, and moments of seeming happenstance that wind up being instrumental to our path?

Surrendering doesn't mean you don't have to make plans. You do. I call this doing my homework -- I do my best to look at the situation, then I make one or two or three plans, and then I wait to see what the Divine has to say about all this.

Today many people are plagued with addictions such as drugs, alcohol, money, fashion -- even one's job. Then, there are more subtle addictions like striving for praise and recognition, seeking power, respect, and many others. While addicted, one cannot imagine living without the addiction-of-choice. Yet, there comes a time...

by Alan Cohen.

Our minds are powerful indeed, powerful enough to connect with God through a wad of chewing gum. Everything is potentially sacred or profane, depending on how we think about it. As Shakespeare said, "thinking makes it so". True alchemy takes place in our minds. We transform lead into gold, devils into gods, and...