Movie, Book & Music Reviews
Once in a while, I come across a film that becomes more than simply an enjoyable experience, more than just an evening of pleasant entertainment, more than merely a way to spend a couple hours of my day. Every so often I encounter a movie that is transformational. And that is exactly the word I would use to describe “A Blue Flower,” a personal documentary written, directed, and produced by Nils Taranger as his graduate thesis film for the University of Central Florida’s Master of Fine Arts program in Digital Entrepreneurial Cinema.
Born with an indented chest, and subsequently experiencing rejection by his mother when he came out as being gay, Nils sets out on a spiritual quest to heal both his physical body and his emotional pain by searching for the one thing that he believed had the power and ability to cure him: the Blue Flower, which was thought to have mystical healing powers.
This creative, candid, and honest documentary courageously invites you on Nils’ journey as he travels far and wide, reaching out to members of the healing community — a lightworker, an alchemist, a Shaman, a Tantric yoga instructor, a spirit release treatment specialist, a “Course in Miracles” teacher, just to name a few — all in an effort to mend what he thought and believed to be broken or missing.
In his search for the blue flower, whose existence was said to be a myth, what Nils was allowed to discover is that what he was looking for, what he thought he was lacking, what he imagined to be impossible to find, did not exist somewhere outside of him; the healing was realized through a process of self-discovery, self-love, and a remembrance of his own magnificence and his own capacity to love…himself.
The underlying message in this film ties in perfectly to this excerpt from Conversations with God, Book 1: “You must first see your Self as worthy before you can see another as worthy. You must first see your Self as blessed before you can see another as blessed. You must first know your Self to be holy before you can acknowledge holiness in another.”
For information about where you can see or obtain a copy of the movie “A Blue Flower,” visit this website: A Blue Flower
(Lisa McCormack is the Managing Editor & Administrator of The Global Conversation. She is also a member of the Spiritual Helper team at www.ChangingChange.net, a website offering emotional and spiritual support. To connect with Lisa, please e-mail her at Lisa@TheGlobalConversation.com.)
(If there is a book, movie, music CD, etc. that you would like to recommend to our worldwide audience, please submit it to our Managing Editor, Lisa McCormack, for possible publication in this space. Not all submissions can be published, due to the number of submissions and sometimes because of other content considerations, but all are encouraged. Send submissions to Lisa@TheGlobalConversation.com. Please label the topic: “Review”)
Amy Adams, author of Book of Love: Poems to Light Your Way Home, caught my attention immediately when on one of the very first pages of her book she shared this definition: “abyss: the primal chaos before the creation.”
I knew I was about to venture into the Soul Space of someone who not only understood but actually experienced what it means to “create yourself anew” while at the same time it seemed as though life was actually falling apart. Amy describes how her journey into and through the darkness delivered her to Who She Is. And her poetry reflects a clear and at times gritty visualization of this process of awakening, transformation, and divine realization.
Amy’s authenticity and vulnerability are inviting and comforting and real. Raw emotions and powerful remembrances interweave her words and draw you into the space of her experience as she witnesses the dissolution of life as she once knew it, which ultimately gives birth to the realization of her highest potential through the gift of her creativity. Her life is a demonstration and her poems are a declaration of the universal concept that ALL change is for the better…even though it may not appear to be as we navigate through some of those hairpin turns that often accompany unbidden or unwanted changes.
Within the covers of this wonderful book, whose pages are overflowing with intimate thoughts and colorfully painted words, I especially love Amy’s poem entitled “The Only Thing Left to Do,” which consists of one single powerful word:
“Choose.”
(Humaira/Amy Adams is a poet/writer/lyricist/facilitator who expresses mainly through the mediums of poetry, dance and song. She can be reached via e-mail at amy1111adams@gmail.com , @amy1111adams on Twitter,Traveling Light Poetry and Dance on Facebook, or her website: The Dancing Pen. Amy has been interviewed by the online magazine, The Rusty Nail, and is a regular contributor to lightworkersworld.com. “Book of Love: Poems to Light Your Way Home” is available through xlibris.com, amazon.com and barnesandnoble.com. She is currently working on her second book, “Book of Life: Poems for the Journey.”)
(If there is a book, movie, music CD, etc. that you would like to recommend to our worldwide audience, please submit it to our Managing Editor, Lisa McCormack, for possible publication in this space. Not all submissions can be published, due to the number of submissions and sometimes because of other content considerations, but all are encouraged. Send submissions to Lisa@TheGlobalConversation.com. Please label the topic: “Review”)
I recently had the most extraordinary and unforgettable experience of attending a Krishna Das kirtan in the city where I live. I have always been a fan of his resonating voice and soulful music, but this was the first time I immersed myself in the experience of his gift.
Krishna Das led a very large room of people from all different walks of life, and every age imaginable, through two-plus hours of his extremely powerful and deeply moving chants, taking a moment here and there to explain the meaning of some of the Sacred Sanskrit words to those of us in the audience who didn’t know, although hearing the translation didn’t seem to matter much to me. I knew – I could actually feel – that what I was chanting in unison with this room full of people was Holy and meaningful.
Krishna Das (born Jeffrey Kagel) is one of the best-selling chant artists of all time. He was recently nominated for Best New Age Album at the Grammys and performed “Narayana” (which means Supreme God) live at the awards ceremony – yes, the Grammys! — demonstrating in another exciting and very real way that our world is changing and growing and moving towards a greater acceptance and embracing of new ideas, new concepts, and new ways of doing things…a New Cultural Story.
If you have the opportunity to place yourself in the space of a Krishna Das kirtan, please consider gifting yourself with an experience that will enhance whatever spiritual path you are on and wherever you are on it. And if you are unable to participate in a live performance, I would urge you to add one or two of his CDs to your playlist, such as “Heart as Wide as the World” or “Heart Full of Soul.” Visit the Krishna Das website where you can purchase any of his music and read more about who he is. Reading his life story only adds more layers of love and gratitude for the Divinity of his music.
(Lisa McCormack is the Managing Editor & Administrator of The Global Conversation. She is also a member of the Spiritual Helper team at www.ChangingChange.net, a website offering emotional and spiritual support. To connect with Lisa, please e-mail her at Lisa@TheGlobalConversation.com.)
(If there is a book, movie, music CD, etc. that you would like to recommend to our worldwide audience, please submit it to our Managing Editor, Lisa McCormack, for possible publication in this space. Not all submissions can be published, due to the number of submissions and sometimes because of other content considerations, but all are encouraged. Send submissions to Lisa@TheGlobalConversation.com. Please label the topic: “Review”)
Within the first few pages of this delightful book, I knew I was in for a real treat! “Dreams of the Mighty,” by Kim Wood and Teri Roefs, is a colorful and magical journey of self-realization for Les, a man who plods through his day-to-day challenges, feeling discouraged with the way life is playing out for him, feeling as though something was missing, while at the same time sensing that something significant, something life-changing, was about to happen to him.
And, boy, was it!
In this wonderful celebration of life, an adventure of twists and turns, brimming with unexpected surprises and unlikely relationships, “Les finally knew beyond all doubt that he was truly free, always had been, forever would be. He rejoiced in the indescribably rich, purposeful engagement that his life had been; a hallowed script, a miraculous role, a blessed cast—every act flawless and complete within the divine plan.”
Kim and Teri have injected a clever balance of humor and spirituality into this uplifting novel, an extraordinary and refreshing combination that is not commonly found in a lot of today’s new-thought writings, a shining example that, yes, even a quest for one’s true self can be lighthearted and fun. One of its underlying messages is that if we place ourselves in a space of openness and awareness to everything around us, we can’t help but to feel our connection to all of it and experience the significance of our presence within it.
Treat yourself, as I did, to this engaging and thoughtful book written by two passionate and creative authors who have used their own inner personal spiritual journey to inspire and touch all those who share their path.
“Dreams of the Mighty” can be found and purchased online at www.chapters.indigo.ca, or, for substantially less, as an E-book
from www.smashwords.com.
(Kim Wood is an author whose creativity, lifelong passion for the written word, keen sense of humor and insatiable curiosity about the ‘whys’ of being have come together here in Dreams of the Mighty, his first novel. Kim can be reached at krwood@rogers.com. Teri Roefs is a psychotherapist practicing in and around Ottawa, Canada. She is a certified hypnotherapist, a clinical member of the Gestalt Psychotherapy Institute, an EMDR and Energy Psychology practitioner, and has completed training in a wide range of therapeutic procedures. Teri can be reached at athene1@rogers.com.)
(Lisa McCormack is the Managing Editor & Administrator of The Global Conversation. She is also a member of the Spiritual Helper team atwww.ChangingChange.net, a website offering emotional and spiritual support. To connect with Lisa, please e-mail her at Lisa@TheGlobalConversation.com.)
(If there is a book, movie, music CD, etc. that you would like to recommend to our worldwide audience, please submit it to our Managing Editor, Lisa McCormack, for possible publication in this space. Not all submissions can be published, due to the number of submissions and sometimes because of other content considerations, but all are encouraged. Send submissions to Lisa@TheGlobalConversation.com. Please label the topic: “Review”)
I have come across a wonderfully insightful and enlightening book written by Rev. Sandra Daly that I am so excited to share with our readers. Not only does this book contain some extraordinary spiritual tools to use and apply in your life, but this generous and gifted author is offering her book absolutely free on her website.
From Rev. Sandra Daly’s website:
“I am feeling guided to – rather than publishing Successfully MidAir as a book for sale – post the entire work here as an open-handed offering to you. This book contains AND expresses my Heart, and it is my privilege to present it here to you, for you. Thank you, and enjoy!”
And that is exactly what she has done.
The third in a series of books written by Sandra, she shares her own personal journey and transformation as a demonstration of how to transition once and for all out of “victimhood” into personal power and self-realization and begin changing your life “from the inside out.” Sandra uses her own challenges and setbacks and her own triumphs and breakthroughs to encourage others who find themselves suspended in “midair,” searching for a place to land.
Whatever “midair” situation you may find yourself struggling with right now, the tools in this book will help you navigate through whatever you are experiencing with more ease and more joy in your life. Explore more deeply what the purpose of your life is and learn how to live within that purpose consciously. Finally live the life you desire by letting go of beliefs that no longer serve you. Prepare to move forward with a renewed sense of freedom and clarity by “managing the turbulence” along the way. And arrive at your chosen destination with grace and appreciation for all the goodness that accompanies landing “Successfully Midair.”
Are you ready to take that “leap of faith and land in the life you want”?
Successfully MidAir: How to Navigate Your Leap of Faith and Land in the Life You Want can be read in its entirety on Rev. Sandra Daly’s website by clicking HERE.
(Lisa McCormack is the Managing Editor & Administrator of The Global Conversation. She is also a member of the Spiritual Helper team atwww.ChangingChange.net, a website offering emotional and spiritual support. To connect with Lisa, please e-mail her at Lisa@TheGlobalConversation.com.)
(If there is a book, movie, music CD, etc. that you would like to recommend to our worldwide audience, please submit it to our Managing Editor, Lisa McCormack, for possible publication in this space. Not all submissions can be published, due to the number of submissions and sometimes because of other content considerations, but all are encouraged. Send submissions to Lisa@TheGlobalConversation.com. Please label the topic: “Review”)
Some of our most significant breakthroughs and remembrances in life are experienced in the midst of those less-warm and less-fuzzy moments we find ourselves presented with. I’m sure most of us could come up with a time or two in our life when the light of hope and love pierced through walls of darkness.
Laura Jean Pringle’s collection of unique and spiritually edgy poems in “Meanderings of a Wayward Spirit: Lyrics in the Rough” takes you on a twist-and-turn, up-and-down journey through some of life’s most colorful and sometimes challenging occurrences, offering a fresh and “color outside the lines” perspective from the author’s own life experiences.
Laura’s poetry paints with a brush dipped in her own personal truth how it feels to stretch and bend around the curves and hairpin turns in our Soul Journey and how exhilarating and cleansing it can feel to express authentically through confusion and frustration, how to push through the illusion of fear and experience that love is at the root of everything.
And that is the theme and message carried through the pages of her heartfelt and raw sharings, which happens to also be the underlying message held within the New Spirituality:
Love is all there is.
Laura Jean Pringle’s poetry book “Meanderings of a Wayward Spirit: Lyrics in the Rough” can be purchased here on Amazon.com.
(Lisa McCormack is the Managing Editor & Administrator of The Global Conversation. She is also a member of the Spiritual Helper team atwww.ChangingChange.net, a website offering emotional and spiritual support. To connect with Lisa, please e-mail her at Lisa@TheGlobalConversation.com.)
(If there is a book, movie, music CD, etc. that you would like to recommend to our worldwide audience, please submit it to our Managing Editor, Lisa McCormack, for possible publication in this space. Not all submissions can be published, due to the number of submissions and sometimes because of other content considerations, but all are encouraged. Send submissions to Lisa@TheGlobalConversation.com. Please label the topic: “Review”)
Chaos, noise, career demands, illness, violence, emotional pressures, and stress are all reminders to us. They remind us of the importance of meditation in our lives, both physically and spiritually. However, for many, meditating in what some might term the “typical way” does not come with ease and sometimes evolves into an experience of frustration and disappointment…and eventually giving up.
You are not alone.
For those of you who may be experiencing roadblocks in your meditation practice, or simply don’t have the slightest idea where to begin, I am here to share with you one of my very favorite CDs: “Soul of Healing Affirmations” by Deepak Chopra.
I purchased this CD a couple years ago because I was having trouble falling asleep. I was searching for something to help relax my body and quiet my mind before going to bed, and this CD showed up in my life.
Utilizing the powerful process of affirmations, accompanied by soul-centered music, the tranquil voice of Deepak Chopra gently moves you through an A to Z guided journey — what Deepak calls an “A-Z Guide to Programming the Software of the Soul”:
Acceptance
Bonding
Compassion
Divinity in Me
Empowerment
Fear
Giving
Higher Self
Intention
Judge not Today
Kindness
Love
Mindfulness
Nurturing
Opposition
Presence
Question
Relationship
Self Referral
Trust
Understanding
Vision
Wisdom
X Factor
Yes to Life
Zero
The good news is meditation does not come in only one flavor. It does not have to be done in a candlelit room, with your legs crossed, eyes closed, for hours on end. We can meditate through mindfulness or noticing the moment, through prayer, in a walking or moving meditation such as yoga, through chanting, or in silence.
As in all of life, there is no right or wrong way…only what works best for you.
Whether you are new to meditation and looking for a tool to assist you, or perhaps you desire a unique and enjoyable way to relax, or maybe you are seeking to deepen your spiritual awareness, I highly recommend adding the “Soul of Healing Affirmations” by Deepak Chopra to your meditation and life experience.
This CD can be purchased and downloaded on Amazon.com.
(Lisa McCormack is the Managing Editor & Administrator of The Global Conversation. She is also a member of the Spiritual Helper team at www.ChangingChange.net, a website offering emotional and spiritual support. To connect with Lisa, please e-mail her at Lisa@TheGlobalConversation.com.)
(If there is a book, movie, music CD, etc. that you would like to recommend to our worldwide audience, please submit it to our Managing Editor, Lisa McCormack, for possible publication in this space. Not all submissions can be published, due to the number of submissions and sometimes because of other content considerations, but all are encouraged. Send submissions to Lisa@TheGlobalConversation.com. Please label the topic: “Review”)
At first glance, seeing the words “polio,” “sex,” and “priest” together in a sentence suggests the beginning of what promises to be a dreadfully distasteful joke. But I am here to tell you that the most-recent film I had the truest pleasure of viewing, The Sessions, while it is brimming with playful humor and wit, is no joke.
This daring movie, which takes place in 1988, is based on the true life story of Mark O’Brien (John Hawkes), a man who spends his nights entombed in an iron lung and moves through his days being wheeled around on a gurney by one of his caretakers, all as a result of contracting polio at the tender age of seven years old, a debilitating disease which eventually left him unable to use all but three muscles in his body: one muscle in his right foot, one muscle in his neck, and one muscle in his jaw. Thanks to the efforts of a loving and devoted family, who chose to care for Mark at home instead of institutionalizing their beloved polio-stricken son, Mark soared past the grim 18-month life-expectancy statistics at the time and lived to be 49 years old.
Mark’s spirit far surpassed the limitations of his frail body, earning him a graduate degree from UC Berkeley and a successful career as a celebrated poet and respected journalist, yet his Soul and his Body and his Mind yearned for the one thing that life had not given him: an intimate sexual experience with a woman. Even though Mark’s disease had weakened his muscles to the point where he had very little, if any, mobility or muscle coordination, he was still able to experience sensation in his twisted and fragile body, and he longed for the sensual touch of a woman, the passion of a physical connection, and the sensation of an orgasm that wasn’t simply a random, unprovoked, meaningless occurrence.
Through his research into sexuality and the disabled, Mark was introduced to the idea of hiring a sexual surrogate to assist him with his first sexual experience. Contemplating and internally struggling with the decision of whether or not to pursue this unusual path, a choice that would run counter to his Catholic upbringing, Mark sought the counsel of Fr. Brendan (William H. Macy), a priest in his church, who suddenly and unexpectedly found himself invited to take a closer look at his own truth, to question his own beliefs, and to consider the possibility of changing his own perspective. While this emotionally tortured and physically paralyzed man lay vulnerably before him, asking if God would be upset if he had sex outside of marriage, Fr. Brendan offers to him, “In my heart, I feel like he will give you a free pass on this one. Go for it.”
Mark goes on to hire Cheryl Cohen Greene (Helen Hunt) as a sex therapist with whom he would share his first experience of sexual intercourse over a span of six sessions. Their unconventional relationship transitions from a matter-of-fact sexual experience into one of mutual tenderness and self-realization. This is not a movie about sex. This is a movie about Love. This is a movie about the journey of the Soul. This is a movie about, as Conversations with God teaches us, understanding that your Truth comes from within, and that when you change the source of your Truth, you allow yourself to experience life in an entirely different way…in the way that it was meant to be.
This film is raw and explicit, humorous and heart-breaking, inspiring and emotionally shocking, gutsy and tender. If ever there was a movie that demonstrates that our lives are not about us, The Sessions would be it. If ever there was a movie that reflected the infinite possibilities held within each and every one of us, it would be this one.
This movie is currently showing in theaters around the world. Save an evening to see a wonderful film that you will be grateful you brought into your life.
(Lisa McCormack is the Managing Editor & Administrator of The Global Conversation. She is also a member of the Spiritual Helper team at www.ChangingChange.net, a website offering emotional and spiritual support. To connect with Lisa, please e-mail her at Lisa@TheGlobalConversation.com.)
(If there is a book, movie, music CD, etc. that you would like to recommend to our worldwide audience, please submit it to our Managing Editor, Lisa McCormack, for possible publication in this space. Not all submissions can be published, due to the number of submissions and sometimes because of other content considerations, but all are encouraged. Send submissions to Lisa@TheGlobalConversation.com. Please label the topic: “Review”)
Everything taking place within the realm of our experience is subject to the application of our thoughts, perspectives, and beliefs…which is why you will either deeply appreciate Director Terrence Malick’s movie “Tree of Life” or you will leave feeling bewildered.
This 139-minute film has very little dialogue except for the occasional voice-over narration asking enigmatic questions to God like, “Where were You? Where do You live? Are You watching me? I want to know what You are. I want to see what You see.” This movie does not tell you what to think, or how to think, but rather it provides the movie-goer an opportunity to think about and actually participate in some of life’s most perplexing and unanswered questions about evolution, God, death, heaven, human connection, the end of the world — and to become a collaborator in its meaning.
The movie centers around a troubled family in Waco, Texas, in the 1950s where three pre-teen boys are living with their strict authoritarian father (played by Brad Pitt) and gentle loving mother (played by Jessica Chastain), each parent symbolizing a different perspective about the “way” through life…the way of nature or the way of grace. She is ethereal, a loving presence, angelic; he is a businessman and a traditionalist who is prone to anger.
Awe-inspiring and dramatic cinematography contrasts ideologies of “spirituality” and “survival of the fittest” within the world of this young family’s triumphs, conflicts, and day-to-day life experiences, connecting them with the birth, evolution, and eventual demise of the universe. Predominantly placed in the film is a breathtaking 15-minute video sequence containing stunning footage of the “Big Bang,” the creation of the earth and the earth’s first organism, the age of the dinosaurs, concluding with the destruction of the earth by a large meteor.
Writing a review for a controversial movie that is so wide open to interpretation is a challenge without sharing what the film personally meant to me. So I would recommend that if you want to experience a movie that will make you say “Wow!” “What?” “Hmm,” “Aww,” “No Way,” “Oh, I get it,” “Wait, I’m confused,” and “Amazing” all at the same time, that you check out “Tree of Life.”
“Tree of Life” can be found on Netflix and is available on video from most movie rental sources.
(Lisa McCormack is the Managing Editor & Administrator of The Global Conversation. She is also a member of the Spiritual Helper team at www.ChangingChange.net, a website offering emotional and spiritual support. To connect with Lisa, please e-mail her at Lisa@TheGlobalConversation.com.)
(If there is a book, movie, music CD, etc. that you would like to recommend to our worldwide audience, please submit it to our Managing Editor, Lisa McCormack, for possible publication in this space. Not all submissions can be published, due to the number of submissions and sometimes because of other content considerations, but all are encouraged. Send submissions to Lisa@TheGlobalConversation.com. Please label the topic: “Review”)
“Ours is not a better way…ours is merely another way.”
This concept is one of the basic tenets of the “Conversations with God” material and the prominent underlying message in this poignant movie I recently had the pleasure of watching called “The Music Never Stopped.”
Based on a true story, this film revolves around the relationship between an estranged father and son who use the gift of music to bridge the painful emotional and physical distance existing between them. When Gabriel’s overly strict father forbids him to attend a Grateful Dead concert in his teenage years, Gabriel runs away from his family home and becomes homeless. 20 years later, his parents learn that their son has a massive tumor growing in his brain which requires immediate surgery, and they are reunited once again to care for their son as he moves through this complicated and risky medical procedure.
The unfortunate consequence to this delicate surgery is damage to Gabriel’s short-term memory, resulting in his inability to distinguish between the time period of the 1960s and today, and communication becomes frustrating and nearly impossible due to his almost catatonic state.
Determined to reconnect with his son and repair their fractured relationship, Gabriel’s father, Henry, seeks the assistance of a renowned music therapist, whose research reveals that the key to unlocking Gabriel’s mind lies within the notes and melodies of the beloved music from his youth: The Grateful Dead, Bob Dylan, Steppenwolf, and the Beatles. This new revelation invites Henry to overcome his sharp distaste for anything but classical music and venture into the world of classic rock-n-roll so that he may forge a new relationship with his son.
This film is compelling in that it demonstrates how adopting a new perspective can be transformational and healing. Life is a never-ending process of change. When we fear change and resist change, clinging tightly and begrudgingly to our thoughts and beliefs, as Henry did, we may very well find ourselves so stuck in “our way” that we miss the opportunity being presented to us in “another way.” Our relationships invite us to experience life in ways that gently, and sometimes boldly, challenge what we hold to be true by offering us an opportunity to see – or in Gabriel’s father’s case hear – things in an entirely new and different way.
I highly recommend and encourage you to consider adding this wonderfully original film to your next movie night!
“The Music Never Stopped” can be found on Netflix and is available on video from most movie rental sources.
(Lisa McCormack is the Managing Editor & Administrator of The Global Conversation. She is also a member of the Spiritual Helper team at www.ChangingChange.net, a website offering emotional and spiritual support. To connect with Lisa, please e-mail her at Lisa@TheGlobalConversation.com.)
(If there is a book, movie, music CD, etc. that you would like to recommend to our worldwide audience, please submit it to our Managing Editor, Lisa McCormack, for possible publication in this space. Not all submissions can be published, due to the number of submissions and sometimes because of other content considerations, but all are encouraged. Send submissions to Lisa@TheGlobalConversation.com. Please label the topic: “Review”)
