Oprah and Eckhart Tolle

Posted on by Joanne Guidoccio

Yesterday, Oprah invited Eckhart Tolle to catch up, reflect and have a Super Soul Sunday conversation.

Throughout the telecast, Eckhart was in excellent form as he reviewed many of the topics in his books, The Power of Now and The New Earth. His main purpose in writing these books was to cause an awakening. If we don’t awaken, the problems caused by  unawakened minds will increase and multiply.

He provided insightful and, sometimes humorous, answers to questions from Oprah and the viewers.

Q. How do you accept an unpleasant situation, if change is not possible?

A. You must accept a situation, even if change is not possible. The basis for effective enlightenment is to come in alignment with the present situation. When you accept the “isness” of life, greater intelligence arises. If you are angry and resist the unpleasant situation,  you will remain stuck in it.

Q. How do you calm the voice in your head?

A. This question implies you know that your mind can’t stop. This is a good first step. Take the energy away from these thoughts, by asking yourself if you can feel the energy in your hands. Wait and you will feel it. Then move to your legs and other body parts. The inner body serves as a wonderful anchor for a sense of presence. This allows you to be distracted from your other thoughts.

Q. How does one clear the mind of bad memories?

A. Recognize that these memories are thoughts only in your head. They are not realities because they have already happened.

Q. How do you have fun?

A. I enjoy the present moment wherever I am and that’s fun for me.

Q. Are you happy?

A. I am in a state of peaceful aliveness.

Q. What do you believe in?

A. I believe in nothing in particular. LOL

Q. What are you grateful for?

A. I am grateful for always this moment…the now, no matter what form it takes.

Quotable Quotes…

You are not your thoughts. You are the awareness of thoughts disguised as a person.

Only spirit can recognize spirit.
If you identify with every thought in your head, you are not ready to hear the message.

Guilt is a strong way for the ego to strengthen itself.

You don’t have to believe every thought that comes into your head.

The answer doesn’t always come in words. It often reveals itself as awareness.

Stillness is the language that God speaks. Everything else is a bad translation.

The Joy of Yawning

Posted on by Joanne Guidoccio

According to the authors of the book, How God Changes Your Brain, yawning is one of the best-kept secrets in neuroscience.  Dr. Andrew Newberg and therapist, Mark Robert Waldman believe that yawning should be integrated into all exercise and stress reduction programs.

Brain-scan studies have shown that yawning activates the precuneus, a tiny structure in the folds of the parietal lobe. The precuneus plays a central role in consciousness, self-reflection, and memory retrieval. This is one of the hardest hit areas by Alzheimer’s and other age-related diseases. Yawning also helps regulate the temperature and metabolism of your brain.

Evidence has shown that yawning helps individuals on military assignment perform their tasks with greater accuracy and ease.  And Olympic athletes yawn before performing.

So, if you want to maintain a healthy brain, yawn…

When you wake up.

When you are confronting a difficult problem at work.

When you prepare to go to sleep.

Whenever you feel anger, anxiety, or stress.

Before giving an important talk.

Before you take a test.

While you meditate or pray.

You may have to fake six or seven yawns before a real one will emerge.

Movie Review: The Vow

Posted on by Joanne Guidoccio

Inspired by a true story, The Vow deals with an unusual life challenge.

Soul mates Paige (Rachel McAdams) and Leo (Channing Tatum) meet and fall in love in Chicago. After a short time together, they are involved in a near-fatal car accident. Leo recovers, but Paige remains in a coma. When she wakes up, she doesn’t remember anything about the accident or Leo.

Recalling only her parents and the life she led in their home, Paige gravitates toward those comfortable memories. Anxious to repair the rifts in their relationship (unknown to Paige), her parents (Sam Neill and Jessica Lange) encourage her to leave Leo.

Leo tries to make Paige fall in love with him again, but experiences increasing frustration with the situation. Paige is more comfortable with her old friends, past interests and ex-fiancé.

While at times predictable, the movie still held my interest as Leo doggedly searched for the key that would unlock Paige’s memory.

Light and entertaining!


Oprah and Deepak Chopra

Posted on by Joanne Guidoccio

When Deepak Chopra first started meditating, he hoped to get rid of a pack-a-day smoking habit  and relieve stress. He achieved those goals and, in the process, changed the hard-wiring of his brain. While speaking with Oprah at yesterday’s Super Soul Sunday, he admitted to being emotionally free with no resentments, no guilt and no one left  to forgive.

Forty years of daily meditation has transformed his life. And now Deepak Chopra invites all of us to participate in his free 21-Day Meditation Challenge.

Why 21 days?

It takes that long to change the hard-wiring our brains and form a habit. As more neural networks are created, we start to see opportunities where others see problems. This lays the foundation for creating abundance, the main focus of the challenge. And if we continue meditating for 66 days, a groove is created in the brain.

Deepak reiterated the fact that mediation is a part of every spiritual tradition and has nothing to do with ideology or doctrine.  Very simply, meditation is a progressive quieting of the mind that allows the spirit to speak in silence.

Meditation tips from Deepak Chopra…

The best times to meditate are first thing in the morning and late afternoon between 4:00 and 5:00 p.m.

Fifteen to twenty minutes, twice a day, is enough.

Sitting is preferable to lying down.

Observe the breath, but do not manipulate it.

Visualize your dreams before, not during meditation.

Most important of all…BE COMFORTABLE.

Quotable Quotes…

My body is busy, I’m not.

Set the intention and let the universe do the rest.

The best way to get rid of your enemies is to increase their capacity for happiness.

Our genes are coding our karma.

Science is how God thinks.

We limit ourselves by defining ourselves.

I want to know what God thinks. The rest are details. Albert Einstein.

Book Review: Chai Tea Sunday

Posted on by Joanne Guidoccio

When Heather Clark was pregnant with her second child, she started writing Chai Tea Sunday, a novel inspired by her Cousin Rachel’s teaching experiences in Kenya. Moved by stories of the remarkable orphans who gave so much unconditional love, Clark put pen to paper and crafted this tender and hopeful debut novel that can be easily read in one or two sittings.

Nicky and Eric Fowler appear to have it all. The elementary school teacher and lawyer have rewarding careers and  live very comfortably in Toronto, within short driving distances of their respective families. After they suffer a devastating loss, their picture-perfect marriage falls apart.

Eric throws himself into his job and Nicky heads off to Kenya to volunteer as a teacher in an orphanage. While there, she stays with a host family headed by the enigmatic Mama Bu, a wise woman who shares chai tea and life lessons on Sunday afternoons.

I was surprised to discover that Clark has never been to Kenya. She relied exclusively on her cousin’s stories, journals, pictures and videos. She also added her own research of Africa and interviewed an Ontario court judge, a renowned fertility expert and Swahili translators

Her impeccable research skills are evident throughout the novel and add to its authenticity.

I could easily visualize the colourful Ngong market…

“Hectic rows of little stands filled with fruits and vegetables were flooded with Kenyans pushing up into each other, shaking hands or slapping each other on the back…Bright yellow bananas and mangoes were everywhere, with a few stalls offering shoppers unrefrigerated meats and eggs. Fire-engine red tomatoes were piled high into pyramid shapes, and oversized woven baskets were filled with the same bobby beans I had seen in Mama Bu’s garden. Purple eggplant lay beside various greens of cabbage, limes and snow peas, and the smell of spices wafted from the food stalls offering nutmeg, cloves and cinnamon.”

And the single classroom that housed thirty-five pupils of eight different levels…

“No kids’ paintings hung on the crumbling cement walls, the thick globs of bright red and purple brushstrokes were still drying from that morning’s art lesson…It was simply a dirty, bare room. Squished together rows of rectangle tables were used as desks. Lining the tables were benches, some broken and some not. All scrunched together in an attempt to ensure that as many students as possible could fit into the classroom.”

A portion of the proceeds will go to Artbound, a charity that provides clean water, medical care, food, and funds to build schools in developing nations.

An excellent debut! I look forward to reading Heather Clark’s next novel, to be released in 2014.

On the Sunny Side

Posted on by Joanne Guidoccio

It is easy to be negative at this time of year. The mornings are dark, the weather is unpredictable, and winter is just around the corner. The excuses are endless and, if we’re not careful, we’ll stop exercising and slip back into bad habits.

In their book, So Stressed, authors Stephanie McClellan and Beth Hamilton suggest countering the following negative thoughts with more positive messages:

I’m too exhausted even to think of moving.
I always have more energy after I exercise.

I’m just so slow.
When I started, I was out of breath very quickly. I may not be a speed demon, but I have really built up my endurance.

My whole body hurts from that last workout.
If I stretch well or take a hot bath, my muscles will be warmed up, and I’ll be feeling no pain once I start moving.

I had to skip three days because I had a virus. It’s impossible for me to stay with it. Something always gets in the way.
Each day is a new day, and I can pick up where I left off.

It’s miserable out, so I think I ‘ll just sleep in this morning.
It’s raining too hard for me to enjoy my walk. I think I’ll try that new yoga DVD.

This was the most stressful day at work in a long time. I think I’ll make myself a drink.
I haven’t been this stressed out in a long time. I bet a good workout will help me burn off this tension.

Movie Review: Argo

Posted on by Joanne Guidoccio

For the first time in decades, many of us are learning what really happened during the Iran hostage crisis of 1979. While the six Americans did find asylum in the residence of the Canadian ambassador, Ken Taylor (Victor Garber) did not act alone. C.I.A. staffer Tony Mendez (Ben Affleck) stepped in to implement a risky, out-of-the-box plan to spirit the hostages out of Iran.

Mendez went to Hollywood to ask prosthetics guru John Chambers (John Goodman) to create a fake film using a script that required a Middle Eastern setting. With the help of producer Lester Siegel (Alan Arkin), they produce a script, posters, storyboards and enough buzz to generate international attention for Argo. Posing as an associate producer, Mendez flies to Iran and provides the hostages with fake Canadian identities. He sneaks out the six in plain sight and provides many nail-biting scenes as they scout locations for the fake film.

Affleck delivers Oscar-worthy performances as actor and director in what is probably one of the best movies of 2012.

A must-see movie…you will sit at the edge of your seat throughout the entire movie.

The Next Big Thing–Patricia Anderson

Posted on by Joanne Guidoccio

Last week, I tagged good friend and fellow writer, Patricia Anderson, in  The Next Big Thing post. The idea comes from She Writes and is meant to help female authors promote their WIPs (Works in Progress). As per the rules, what follows are her answers to ten interview questions about her WIP.

What is the working title of your book?

Potholes in Paradise

Where did the idea come from for the book?

While house hunting,  people seem to be more concerned with crown mouldings and counter tops, rather than who’s living in the house next door. Remodelling and renovating are easy fixes, but an inconsiderate or obnoxious neighbour can be an immovable source of misery. Yes, I’m speaking from experience. And I’m saddened by the loss of  ‘neighbourhoods’. How many people actually know  who their neighbours are, or even care? I realize that we can’t all live on Sesame Street, but I find modern subdivisions frightening.

What genre does your book fall under?

I’m not sure what shelf I would put it on. Spoiler alert: There are no dead bodies. That eliminates most of the genres. “Amusing Family Drama” sounds more like a TV sitcom. How about a four-day experiment with “Social Realism”?

Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?

The protagonist is an average 42-year old, hard-working wife and mother (me, only younger). And then there are half a dozen rebellious and troublesome teenagers, and add to that a sizable group of rebellious and troublesome senior citizens. There are no fancy costumes or even makeup, just a lot of dust, mud, sunburns, bug bites and hangovers. I’d cast the movie with unknowns, and they’d all be Canadian. Well, there might be small part for William Shatner.

What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

Potholes in Paradise follows the antics of a dysfunctional group of seasonal residents in a trailer park in south-central Ontario.

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?

Still sitting on that fence.


How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?

Three long years of part-time binge writing.

What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

I haven’t yet come across such a thing. I’m flying over unfamiliar territory.

Who or what inspired you to write this book?

I’ve spent the last five summers in a similar place: a scenic paradise riddled with enormous potholes (intentional speed traps) and an infinite supply of problems. It has been an invaluable and rich source of inspiration for story lines and character studies.

What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?

It deals with common themes and issues, like raising teenagers, family secrets, communities, addiction, and essentially, the meaning of life.

Now, it’s Patricia’s  turn to tag some follow authors:

Cindy Carroll | Linda Johnston | Erica Williams

Mes­sage for the tagged authors and inter­ested others

Rules of The Next Big Thing

Use this for­mat for your post.

Answer the ten ques­tions about your cur­rent WIP (Work In Progress).

Tag five other writers/bloggers and add their links so we can hop over and meet them.

Ten Inter­view Ques­tions for The Next Big Thing

What is the work­ing title of your book?

Where did the idea come from for the book?

What genre does your book fall under?

Which actors would you choose to play your char­ac­ters in a movie rendition?

What is the one-sentence syn­op­sis of your book?

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?

How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?

What other books would you com­pare this story to within your genre?

Who or What inspired you to write this book?

What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?

Include the link of who tagged you and this expla­na­tion for the peo­ple you have tagged.