The Global Conversation

Tag: Conversations with God

  • My mate was unfaithful

    I am confused and hurt. I recently found out my boyfriend of two years has cheated on me with three different women. I thought that he was a very spiritual person because he teaches Chi kung, but this doesn’t sound like very spiritual behavior to me! … Jewel

    Dear Jewel… Conversations With God Book 3 says that God is eternal, unlimited and free.

    Conversations With God also says that we can substitute the word “Love” for “God”, so let’s do that with our previous statement. It would then read:

    Love is eternal, unlimited and free.

    Do you know that God is all there is and that your boyfriend is a part of God? When he is freely expressing unlimited love to others besides you, his girlfriend, he is actually acting from a very natural place. Our society calls it cheating, but in truth, the sexual behavior itself isn’t cheating, his dishonesty about it is.

    Now, it is true that many of us, myself included, freely choose to be in a monogamous relationship, meaning a relationship with just one mate. However, many people feel that a monogamous relationship limits their freedom too much, and apparently your boyfriend is one of those people. That doesn’t mean he doesn’t care about you or that he means to hurt you. He just cares more about following his natural inclinations.

    I would gently suggest that it is your thought about his actions that is causing you pain. If you can allow yourself to understand why he is doing what he is doing and not take it personally, you can begin to alleviate your mental suffering.

    I’m sorry if it hurts to hear this, Jewel, but if you want a monogamous relationship with a man, it may not be possible with your present boyfriend. It’s logical to conclude that if he has been with three other women already, his pattern of behavior will likely continue.

    If you choose to move on from this relationship, please be very honest with him about why you are doing so. Speak your truth but soothe your words with peace.

    Allow yourself time to grieve if you’re still feeling sad, and take stock of the aspects of this relationship that you don’t want to experience next time around. Then set your sights on what you do want.

    Take some time to get really clear on the qualities you would like to have in a mate. Make a list of them and allow yourself to feel how great that kind of relationship would be. Then happily release it to the Universe, trusting that It is working to bring this wonderful new man into your life.

    But please also know this, Jewel: You need no one outside of yourself to complete you. Because you are also a part of God, you are whole, complete and perfect just as you are. Do whatever it takes to be a happy and fulfilled person on your own. Then you will be so irresistible, you will automatically draw a wonderful mate to yourself!

    (Annie Sims is the Global Director of CWG Advanced Programs, is a Conversations With God Life Coach and author/instructor of the CWG Online School. To connect with Annie, please email her at Annie@TheGlobalConversation.com

    (If you would like a question considered for publication, please submit your request to:  Advice@TheGlobalConversation.com where our team is waiting to hear from you.)

    An additional resource:  ChangingChange.net offers spiritual assistance from a team of non-professional/volunteer Spiritual Helpers responding to every post from readers within 24 hours or less. Nothing on the CCN site should be construed or is intended to take the place of or be in any way similar to professional therapeutic or counseling services.  The site functions with the gracious willing assistance of lay persons without credentials or experience in the helping professions.  What these volunteers possess is an awareness of the theology of Conversations with God.  It is from this context that they offer insight, suggestions, and spiritual support during moments of unbidden, unexpected, or unwelcome change on the journey of life.

  • Imagining a kinder world…a reflection

    I was listening to the song Imagine, by John Lennon, a few days ago. It was the first time I had played it for my daughter, and the first time I had actively listened to the song in years. It brought me to tears to hear it through her ears.

    At first I was sad to think about how long ago he wrote it and the little progress we have made in our quest for peace.

    And then I looked into my daughter’s eyes and I thought of the hope of the new generation. I thought of all of the children coming up today who are more aware of global concerns; younger than they have ever been in previous generations. I thought of the child who wrote Vice President Biden asking if guns could shoot chocolate. I thought of Malala Yousufzai who was shot in the face for having the audacity of being a girl who wanted an education, and as soon as she was able to sit up in her hospital bed, began doing her studies again. I thought of any number of the children I see in my community who talk about recycling, the environment, who accept others without judgment, and who spread love.

    One of the core messages of Conversations with God is, “The purpose of life is to recreate yourself anew in the next grandest version of the greatest vision ever you held about Who You Are.” In other words, each day is a chance to dream a new dream.

    In reflecting on the song, I’ve rededicated myself to helping us both to imagine our roles in bringing about a kinder world; because I believe we can change the world.

    We are changing the world. The world is changing through the love and energy of “living life in peace.” Peace is attainable. Like ripples in the water, each child we teach to dream of peace and love brings it one step closer. What can you do to teach your child about peace today?

    “You may say I’m a dreamer….I hope someday you will join me.” Through collective dreaming, we can change the world.

    Peace and Love,

    Emily

    (Emily A. Filmore is the Creative Co-Director of www.cwgforparents.com. She is also the author/illustrator of the “With My Child” Series of books about bonding with your child through everyday activities.  Her books are available at www.withmychildseries.com. To contact Emily, please email her at Emily@cwgforparents.com.)

  • Get rid of worry and hate

    “Worry is just about the worst form of mental activity there is—next to hate, which is deeply self-destructive.“ – Conversations With God,  Book 1.

    If you suffer from anxiety and worry, or if you ever feel hate, then you need yoga. Worry and hate will destroy you. Once you decide to be healthy and change your habits away from worry and hate, yoga can help you through difficult times.

    Doing yoga daily is a great practice, but even adding yoga once a week will benefit you. If you aren’t active, then yoga is a great place to start. Yoga will benefit you in many ways. Here are some of the benefits of doing yoga one time or for years and stop your self-destructive mental activities.

    Flexibility – you will gain added flexibility every time you do yoga. The more you practice, the more flexible you will become. Many people shy away from yoga because they claim they can’t do the poses. However it is called a yoga practice because it doesn’t matter if you are a first-timer or experienced yogi, there is always a next step in your pose and your whole practice. Even your thinking will become more flexible with time. You will be exposed to gentle, flexible, loving teachers whose way of thinking is contagious.

    Detoxification – you will detoxify your tissues by stretching, bending, compression, and releasing poses. There is no better way to detoxify than to do it naturally. Yoga will detoxify your mind as well – you will come into the practice feeling one way, and you will leave feeling completely different. Even hate will drain from your body during a yoga session.

    Stress Level – As you exercise and your attitude improves, your entire stress level will drop. Your tendency to worry will slowly disappear as you realize that living in the present is possible and worry cannot exist there.

    Growth and Progress – Your yoga practice grows and changes with you. You may just need the physical exertion now and the mental or meditation qualities later. You may need flexibility next week or balance when you are older and at risk of falling. Yoga is there to help you throughout your life.

    I challenge you to decide to reduce and eliminate the anxiety, worry, and hate from your life. Stop self-destructing and share your light with the world!

    (Beth Anderson is a certified Holistic Health Coach and founder of Holistic Health Hotspot in Evansville, Indiana. She is also the author of “The Holistic Diet: Achieve Your Ideal Weight, Be Happy and Healthy for Life.” Beth received her training from the Institute for Integrative Nutrition. She is a speaker and also presents workshops on health and nutrition topics. Beth offers in-person and phone consultations – contact her through Facebook or email for more information. You can find Beth on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/HolisticHealthHotspot or email her at beth@holistichealthhotspot.com)

  • Science or spirituality – does it have to be one or the other?

    Angelina Jolie, 37, recently underwent a preventive double mastectomy after finding out  she carries a mutation of the BRCA1 gene, which significantly increases her risk of developing breast cancer and ovarian cancer, a disease her own mother died of at the age of 59.  “My doctors estimated that I had an 87 percent risk of breast cancer and a 50 percent risk of ovarian cancer, although the risk is different in the case of each woman,” Jolie wrote. “Once I knew that this was my reality, I decided to be proactive and to minimize the risk as much I could. I made a decision to have a preventive double mastectomy.  I can tell my children that they don’t need to fear they will lose me to breast cancer.”

    There are many people who are applauding the proactive choice Angelina is making to minimize her chances of getting cancer.  But her radical decision has also been met with some controversy and her actions are being challenged by members of the holistic and natural health community.

    Dr. Lissa Rankin, M.D., a former OB/GYN for eight years and author of Mind Over Medicine, Scientific Proof That You Can Heal Yourself, says on her website, “By labeling a patient with a negative prognosis and robbing a patient of the hope that cure might be possible, we may ultimately prove the poor prognosis we have bestowed upon our patient correct. Wouldn’t we be better off offering hope and triggering the mind to release health-inducing chemicals intended to aid the body’s self-repair mechanisms?  Is it really healthy for any of us to know that we might have an 87% risk of any illness? Do we really want to poison our minds with such fear-based thoughts that then force us to make decisions about whether or not we will electively cut off perfectly healthy body parts? When we live in fear, we predispose ourselves to illness. To live in fear of what might happen only triggers stress responses in the body.”

    And so we find ourselves as a society continually and more increasingly faced with a difficult choice of what is behind Door Number 1, the marvels of modern medicine, and Door Number 2, the miraculous power of our body’s own ability to organically heal and sustain.  And as Dr. Rankin is suggesting, how much do our thoughts come into play in actually creating — and healing — so many of the illnesses we see in our world today?

    Conversations With God, Book 1, offered this to us: “You never do die. Life is eternal. You are immortal. You never do die. You simply change form. You didn’t even have to do that. You decided to do that, I didn’t. I made you bodies that would last forever. Do you really think the best God could do, the best I could come up with, was a body that could make it 60, 70, maybe 80 years before falling apart? Is that, do you imagine, the limit of My ability?”

    And so with all of the information we have placed before us, upon what do we base our decisions?  Is there a space where science and spirituality harmoniously intersect and work in conjunction to benefit humanity?  Is Dr. Rankin correct in the idea that our fear-based thoughts are actually creating our illnesses and preventing our body’s natural ability to heal?  Or are the medical doctors correct that we are predisposed to certain types of illnesses – cancer, diabetes, high blood pressure, etc., — and we are best served to surgically or medicinally prevent and/or cure these diseases?  Or could it a combination of both?

    What are your thoughts?

    (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.)

  • Making yourself sick..making yourself healthy

    From Conversations With God, Book 1: “You cannot be ill without at some level causing yourself to be, and you can be well again in a moment by simply deciding to be.”

    We are making ourselves ill with our foods and worse yet, with the way we live our lives and the way we think. But isn’t it wonderful that we can decide here and now that things have changed! Let’s decide to be healthy in every way.

    When you think about improving your health, you probably think of losing weight and dieting first. Maintaining a healthy weight and eating right is necessary, but did you know that there are many other areas in your life that are just as important?

    The food you eat is actually secondary to the primary nourishment areas in your life. The primary areas include your activity and movement, work or purpose in life, connection to others, and spirituality. When you gain weight or experience declining health, chances are that something is wrong in one or more of these areas. Problems in other areas of your life can trigger bad eating habits, binging, lack of motivation to exercise, and emotional eating. These are the problems that cause the seeds of disease. For instance, if you are unhappy in your job, you probably eat poorly or snack during boring or stressful times. If you are not in satisfying relationships, you may reach for the ice cream or other junk foods to fill a missing void. You participate in unhealthy behaviors and refuse to participate in healthy ones such as exercise.

    Think about your TOTAL health and any area of your life that needs improvement! Lowering your stress level, improving your satisfaction in relationships and career should be very high priorities for you. Improving other areas of your life will also improve your eating habits.

    Decide to be happy, decide to be positive, decide to spread joy and goodness to all around you. First decide to move around and get some exercise. Decide to make amends if you have old resentments. Improve your relationships or move on from toxic relationships. Rethink your priorities and your purpose in life. Improving any of these areas in your life will make you healthier, and what a great way to decide to be healthy!

    (Beth Anderson is a certified Holistic Health Coach and founder of the Holistic Health Hotspotin Evansville, Indiana. She is also the author of “The Holistic Diet: Achieve Your Ideal Weight, Be Happy and Healthy for Life.” Beth received her training from the Institute for Integrative Nutrition.She is a speaker and also presents workshops on health and nutrition topics. Beth offers in-person and phone consultations – contact her through Facebook or email for more information. You can find Beth on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/HolisticHealthHotspot or email her at beth@holistichealthhotspot.com)

  • Why doesn’t affirmative prayer treatment always work?

     

    I have been attending a spiritual center where they encourage us to do affirmative prayer treatment when we want something. In my experience, though, this doesn’t always seem to work. For example, when I was younger I owned a piano store. I prayed for its success, and I envisioned opening up more stores in the surrounding area. I knew where I wanted them to be and I really saw this in my mind’s eye, but my first store ended up going under and I had to give up my dream. I don’t understand. Does affirmative prayer work or not?… Sam

    Dear Sam… That is a wonderful question and I’m so glad you asked it. This is an age-old query, “Why doesn’t God always answer my prayer?” The answer is, God does always answer every single prayer and God always says, “Yes!” One big reason we sometimes don’t experience it that way, though, is because of our Sponsoring Thoughts. God always grants us exactly what our deepest, most underlying belief is about what we’re asking for. If you re-examine what was going on in the back of your mind at the time, I believe you’ll find your answer as to why the piano store dream didn’t come to fruition for you. And, given the benefit of hindsight, I’d go so far as to bet that you’re glad now that it didn’t happen, yes?

    This brings up another reason we don’t always experience what we pray for: Remember, we are made in the image and likeness of God. This means that like God, we are each three-part beings. (God is Father/Son/Holy Spirit or Physical/Non-Physical/Metaphysical and we are Mind/Body/Soul or Conscious/Sub-Conscious/Super-Conscious.) Like God, we create on all three levels. Do you believe that if it had been your Soul’s highest calling to be the owner of a chain of piano stores in this particular lifetime, that your Soul’s will could have been thwarted? I tell you, Sam, it could not have been, if your mind had been aligned with your Soul’s calling.

    It might be helpful to remember that there is no such thing as time and space. Everything that is happening, is happening right here, right now in the only time/space there is. Therefore, all possibilities exist now and there are an infinite number of scenarios of your life. In one timeline, you own that chain of piano stores! In another timeline, you own just the first one. In another timeline… well, you get the picture. You see, Sam, life is like a giant CD-Rom game, where every possible scenario is already on the disc, and you get to choose how you want to play it. And, although your conscious mind wanted to play the “Sam owns a chain of piano stores” scenario, either your sub-conscious mind had contrary thoughts about it or it wasn’t your Soul’s highest and best expression to play it that way in this particular version of “Sam’s Game of Life”, which sent you down another timeline.

    The mind always wants to know “why”, but the most important question we can ask is “what”? What now? What matters most now to the agenda of your Soul? What does your Soul yearn to express through you, as you, in this particular “Sam’s Game of Life”? When you get clear on what that is, and you consciously align yourself with it, there’s no stopping the miracles that will fall into place for you. Aligning is key here, for the physical manifestation of anything is based on the Law of Attraction. Just as the unseen Law of Gravity always works—everything will fall to Earth unless something is holding it back—the unseen Law of Attraction always works unless something in our consciousness or sub-consciousness is holding it back.

    So look to see what lights you up now, Sam. What would you absolutely love to be and do now? And please don’t jump to conclusions that you can’t be or do it, because there is nothing that you cannot be or do. We are each unlimited aspects of God, and with God, all things are possible. We are only limited by our own thoughts, never by something outside of us. When you get really clear on what feels like pure joy to your Soul, then do your affirmative prayer treatment, knowing that it is God’s great pleasure to give you the kingdom.

    (Annie Sims is the Global Director of CWG Advanced Programs, is a Conversations With God Life Coach and author/instructor of the CWG Online School. To connect with Annie, please email her at Annie@TheGlobalConversation.com

    (If you would like a question considered for publication, please submit your request to:  Advice@TheGlobalConversation.com where our team is waiting to hear from you.)

     

    An additional resource:  ChangingChange.net offers spiritual assistance from a team of non-professional/volunteer Spiritual Helpers responding to every post from readers within 24 hours or less. Nothing on the CCN site should be construed or is intended to take the place of or be in any way similar to professional therapeutic or counseling services.  The site functions with the gracious willing assistance of lay persons without credentials or experience in the helping professions.  What these volunteers possess is an awareness of the theology of Conversations with God.  It is from this context that they offer insight, suggestions, and spiritual support during moments of unbidden, unexpected, or unwelcome change on the journey of life.

  • Will you be a statistic?

    The Greatest Wealth is Health – Virgil

    Having a conversation with God just makes sense when facing any challenge, and health challenges are no different. Given that most of the human race die from preventable chronic illnesses, what if anything might we wish to look at and potentially change in our lives to circumvent us becoming another statistic?

    God has much to say on health and healing, and the Conversations with God Foundation is hosting an event to address recovery through holistic health. This conversation will be powerful yet practical, providing a new way to look at yourself and your life that could change everything. It will also look at common sense solutions to everyday living problems, like all good Conversations with God do.

    You need not wait until symptoms appear to benefit from recreating yourself and your health anew. For example, were you aware that heart disease manifests itself for 10 to 30 years before its first symptom appears? And unfortunately, the first symptom is a heart attack! The really bad news is that 50 percent do not survive the heart attack to make the changes that would have changed everything.

    Waiting for symptoms to appear makes no sense as the example above demonstrates. So what to do about it?

    First, here is the top ten list from the CDC of the leading causes of death in 2012:

    You will notice that all but 2 are diseases and preventable ones at that!

    Heart disease: 597,689

    Cancer: 574,743

    Chronic lower respiratory diseases: 138,080

    Stroke (cerebrovascular diseases): 129,476

    Accidents (unintentional injuries): 120,859

    Alzheimer’s disease: 83,494

    Diabetes: 69,071

    Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome, and nephrosis: 50,476

    Influenza and Pneumonia: 50,097

    Intentional self-harm (suicide): 38,364

    Hold on though, this list is not accurate. There is one missing! A new number 3!

    Every year tobacco kills more Americans than World War II did — more than AIDS, cocaine, heroin, alcohol, vehicular accidents, homicide and suicide combined!

    Approximately 440,000 people die from their own smoking each year, and about 50,000 die from second-hand smoke annually!

    According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 22,073 people died of alcohol, 12,113 died of AIDS, 43,664 died of car accidents, 38,396 died of drug use — legal and illegal — 18,573 died of murder and 33,300 died of suicide. That brings us to a total of 168,119 deaths, far less than the 440,000 that die from smoking annually.”

    While untimely deaths of any kind are sad, those related to lifestyle choices – like smoking, poor eating, and drinking or other drug use – are especially tragic!

    “Three decades ago, public outrage ended a popular American automobile model – The Ford Pinto – whose design defects allegedly caused 59 deaths, yet close to 500,000 people a year die from smoking alone. Where is the outrage? Or better yet, the common sense to change our minds about what we are doing to ourselves every day.

    Is it just a lack of knowledge? Or could it be that the way we look at certain issues that cause them to remain in place? Could a shift in perspective hold the keys to seeing solutions to problems that have been left unresolved in our life?

    A shift in perspective always creates a new point of view, a view that sheds light on things once unseen. And the seeing of this new view presents new solutions that could change everything. (and will change everything if you use them).

    Is it time for you to take another look?

    Here is a place where making an assumption is actually a good thing. Assuming that you have one or more of the top 10 chronic illnesses developing within you right now is prudent, as the only real defense is prevention. Will you?

    On June 23rd, I, along with a host of other holistic healers, will shed light on how to create wellness in the face of any health challenge…or better yet, as a way of life to prevent them.

    Sounds like a tall order, but in truth the understanding and solutions are not that complicated. It is often as simple as taking another point of view, another way of looking at the current problem, a new view that would change everything.

    While we call it a Recovery Retreat, and many who have signed up are dealing with the chronic illness known as addiction, we will show you how the same or similar protocols for dealing with addictive and compulsive disorders can also create a new path to healing for the other top causes of death on the planet today.

    We will take a holistic point of view as we walk down the path of recovery from dis-ease, that is, look from the perspective of the whole being and our connection to all of life. In fact, we will show you why so many remain stuck in illness and how to begin to shift out of that immediately.

    When you apply the wisdom shared at this event, you will set in motion the power of your beingness to heal the imbalances causing the problems that create the symptoms of dis-ease, which as you have seen about are currently causing so many to die prematurely.

    Will that be you? Or will you answer the call within to recreate yourself anew in the next grandest version of the greatest vision ever you held of who you are.

    We have a seat for you. It is waiting and you already know if you are suppose to be here.

    CwG on RECOVERY

    A Path to Peace

    June 23 – 26 Medford Oregon

    REGISTER NOW AND SAVE $100

    Regular price $395

    EARLY BIRD PRICE: $295 if registered before May 26

    SPECIAL OFFER

    The “CwG Recovery Retreat” ends right before Neale Donald Walsch’s next “CwG Spiritual Renewal retreat” held June 26 – 30. Why not consider participating in both? Come spend a life transforming week with us!

     Sign up by May 26th and you can do both retreats for only $492. 

    LOCATION:

    The retreat is held at the Rogue Regency Inn, 2300 Biddle Road, Medford, OR 97504. Hotel accommodations are not included in the price of the retreat registration. There are rooms available at the Rogue Regency at the discounted rate of $89/single or double. For reservations, please call 541-770-1234 or 800-535-5805 and request the “Conversations with God” group rate. Reservations must be made by May 25th, 2013.

    The Rogue Regency features a full service restaurant offering vegetarian and non-vegetarian fare, beauty salon, barbershop, massage therapist, indoor heated pool, spa, terry bathrobes and feather pillows in all guest rooms, with optional two-room suites with hot tub and fireplace at a slightly higher price, plus free transportation to and from airport, five minutes away.

    http://www.rogueregency.com/our_hotel.php

    For more information contact: Will : 1-352-442-2244

    or will@cwg.org

    Join us in this most important conversation with God! I look forward to seeing you there. To your health! – JR

    J.R. Westen, D.D., C.A.d. (J.R. is a Holistic Health & Spiritual Counselor who has worked and presented side-by-side with Neale Donald Walsch for over a decade. He is passionate about helping individuals move beyond their emotional and spiritual challenges, transforming breakdowns into breakthroughs. His counseling and coaching provides practical wisdom and guidance that can be immediately incorporated to shift one’s experience of life.  As is true for most impactful teachers, J.R.’s own struggles and triumphs inspired him to find powerful ways of helping others. Sober since June 1, 1986, J.R.’s passion for helping individuals move through intense life challenges drove him to also specialize in Addiction and Grief Recovery. J.R. currently shares his gift of counseling & coaching with individuals from around the world through the Wellness Center, Simply Vibrant, located on Long Island N.Y. In addition, he operates “Change House” a place where people come to transform. He also works with Escondido Sobering Services and now serves as the Executive Director of the Conversations with God Foundation.)

  • All attack is a cry for help

    Spiritual viewpoint on the Boston bombings: All attack is a cry for help. We are all ONE. Enough of the bloodshed. Let us call for a total paradigm shift.

    We must learn to find a way to know that we are all brothers and sisters here on this earth, and that humanity is ONE race.

    We must move into greater understanding, and have compassion for each other.

    We cannot continue to seek to control the behaviour of each other through force, which never works. It is a low energy vibration. All spiritual masters have said this.

    We must ask for greater transparency, and honesty, from our governments and leaders. We cannot continue to turn a blind eye to ‘foreign policy’ which directly or indirectly suppresses whole nations because of our lust for power, and our need to maintain a status quo in which a great portion of the Earth’s people live in abject misery and squalor.

    Although there is talk of catching the terrorists responsible, these words surely ring hollow for those who are dead or injured, and all the families affected.

    Political rhetoric always comes to the fore at a time of crisis, and then our politicians and leaders soon go back to their old ways, oblivious to the world’s suffering.

    If we recognise there is no “other” than us, then all of humanity’s problems will evaporate overnight. It can be no other way. A sense of urgency must be upon us all now to correct our deepest misperceptions.

    “Consciousness is everything, and creates your experience. Group consciousness is powerful and produces outcomes of unspeakable beauty or ugliness. The choice is always yours. If you are not satisfied with the consciousness of your group, seek to change it.” ~ Conversations with God.

    It is clear then: what is needed is a change in consciousness, not merely a change in policy.

    jaime-tanna (2)(Jaime Tanna is the founder of Energy Therapy and an active Reiki Master and Spiritual Mentor, Healer and Teacher. Together with his wife Jennifer, their unifying vision is to empower others through spiritual education and energy-based healing treatments, to help them become aware of their true natures, and to live more joyfully and consciously. You can visit their website at www.energytherapy.biz)

    (If you would like to contribute an article you have authored to the Guest Column, 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: “Guest Column.”)

  • Making yourself sick…with breads?

    “You cannot be ill without at some level causing yourself to be, and you can be well again in a moment by simply deciding to be.” This is a great quote from Conversations With God,  Book 1.

    There are so many ways that we cause ourselves to be ill, but it seems that our diet is one of the worst. What we eat can give us conditions over time such as obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and cancer. You know that many of the foods you eat are not healthy, but what about some that you might not know as much about?

    A huge problem in our diet is the type of grains that we are now eating. If we eat processed foods and commercially baked breads, we are most likely not eating whole grains. We are just eating the starchy part of the grain. Eating whole foods means eating whole grains. The whole grain has valuable vitamins and minerals that we need. It’s a huge problem that most grains are genetically engineered (GMO) unless they are certified organic. Your body may not recognize GMO foods and may not digest them properly – therefore making you sick, allergic, or fat!

    Grains have three parts: the bran, germ, and endosperm. When wheat is made into flour, the outer brown part – the bran and germ are removed leaving the largest part – the endosperm. All of the vitamins and minerals were contained in the bran and germ. The bran and germ are then fed to cows. We eat the endosperm which is totally made of starch. The same process is followed when polishing rice. Healthy brown rice ends up being the starchy white rice that we see everywhere. There is no fiber left to slow down absorption so the result is similar to a sugar overload.

    Replace your grains with organic whole grains. If you buy bread, make sure the label says “100% Whole Grain” on the front and in the ingredients. Better yet, get a breadmaker and bake your own whole grain bread on the weekend. It only takes a few minutes to make! Just dump all of the ingredients into the breadmaker and hit the button.You can also eat less bread and more plain grains. Eat brown and wild rice instead of white rice. Try quinoa. Quinoa is a seed that cooks quickly – you can use it anywhere you would normally use rice. The great thing about quinoa is that it is a complete protein.

    Experiment with new organic whole grains such as rolled or steel-cut oats, wheat berries, amaranth, or barley. One cup of dry grain will be enough for 2 – 4 people. Make sure you soak the grains for a few hours (20 minutes for quinoa) before cooking to soften. This makes them more digestible and eliminates phytic acid. If you have problems with digestion, soak them for up to 8 hours.

    Limiting your grain intake to organic whole grain and experimenting with new grains is a huge step in deciding to be well!

    (Beth Anderson is a certified Holistic Health Coach and founder of the Holistic Health Hotspotin Evansville, Indiana. She is also the author of “The Holistic Diet: Achieve Your Ideal Weight, Be Happy and Healthy for Life.” Beth received her training from the Institute for Integrative Nutrition.She is a speaker and also presents workshops on health and nutrition topics. Beth offers in-person and phone consultations – contact her through Facebook or email for more information. You can find Beth on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/HolisticHealthHotspot or email her at beth@holistichealthhotspot.com)

  • How can I use CWG to create the long-term relationship of my dreams?

    I am getting married in August to the most wonderful guy I’ve ever known. My fiance and I both knew we had something very special from the first time we met, and our relationship is very strong and happy. We’re both excited about the prospect of spending the rest of our lives together, but I am a little nervous. My parents had a nasty divorce after twenty years. My father had an ongoing affair and lied about it, eventually marrying the other woman. I know he didn’t mean to hurt my mom, but I really don’t want that to happen to us! Does Conversations With God have any advice about how to make a relationship survive and thrive? Thank you for any help you can give me… Amy

    Dear Amy… I’m so glad I received this letter from you. Although any of the three of us who write this column, Nova and Therese included, could have helped you because we all know the CWG material so well and are all happily married, I experienced the exact same scenario as you. And… my husband, Greg, and I are celebrating our 23rd wedding anniversary this month!

    I have actually started writing a book on this subject because it is so near and dear to my heart, but for now, here are some pointers to get you started. Since you asked specifically for advice from Conversations With God, I’m only including those. Hope it helps, and congratulations!

    Place no requirements on each other. Make only requests. 

    Freedom is the essence of who we are and the fastest way to get someone to leave the space is to limit their freedom with requirements. When Greg and I got married, I told him I only had one request of him: That if he ever fell in love with someone else, he would be honest with me about it. I told him I understand that these things happen and although it would hurt me very much, it would hurt even worse if he were not honest about it. 23 years later, that is still my only request of him. The truth can hurt, but falsehood hurts even more. Even more importantly, the truth heals.

    Speak your truth as soon as you know it, but soothe your words with peace and loving kindness. 

    Don’t hold things in. Give your partner the freedom of a loving space in which to share everything, both what’s working and what’s not working for them. I believe in total openness in relationships because if we keep things from each other the relationship becomes dysfunctional. I learned this the hard way with a dear friend of mine, trying to protect her feelings by keeping stuff in until I blew up, which ended up hurting her far worse. It’s much better to just come on out and say it if something is bothering us.

    When we keep our partner in the dark about matters large or small, we put a crack in the relationship. When we continue to withhold information about things that bother us, the crack becomes a chasm that can eventually break the relationship in two.

    Drop your expectations.

    Life = Change = Growth. Go with the flow. Know that things wouldn’t be happening the way they are if it weren’t for your greatest good—even when it doesn’t look like that right now.

    Where am I going and who’s going with me?

    Never reverse the order of these two questions. This may come as a shock, but put yourself first. Even though it may sound selfish, following the path of our own soul is actually the kindest thing we can do for another. When we follow our partner’s path instead, resentment can build, and when we’re not happy, the relationship cannot thrive.

    The magic happens when the two of you marry your paths together in such a way that both of you are following your individual soul’s journeys together. This requires clarity, communication and commitment, and it is a beautiful thing when it works. The whole of the two of you is greater than the sum of its parts. Life gets exponentially better and better!

    (Annie Sims is the Global Director of CWG Advanced Programs, is a Conversations With God Life Coach and author/instructor of the CWG Online School. To connect with Annie, please email her at Annie@TheGlobalConversation.com

    (If you would like a question considered for publication, please submit your request to:  Advice@TheGlobalConversation.com where our team is waiting to hear from you.)

    An additional resource:  ChangingChange.net offers spiritual assistance from a team of non-professional/volunteer Spiritual Helpers responding to every post from readers within 24 hours or less. Nothing on the CCN site should be construed or is intended to take the place of or be in any way similar to professional therapeutic or counseling services.  The site functions with the gracious willing assistance of lay persons without credentials or experience in the helping professions.  What these volunteers possess is an awareness of the theology of Conversations with God.  It is from this context that they offer insight, suggestions, and spiritual support during moments of unbidden, unexpected, or unwelcome change on the journey of life.