Feel Good Guru

It’s quiet on the streets, and the city has taken on its winter aura of a million shades of grey – beautiful, if seen through the right filters. The loft is cold, but the industrial gas blower kicks in every few minutes and moves hot air around, I’m cozy in flannel, and a giant mug of matcha warms from inside out. Green tea and flannel shirts: two things I could not live without in Canadian winter.

I’m listening to RadioIo Ambient, always just the right vibe for meditation, contemplation and cooking.

While Forest’s perfectly curated grooves bathe my brainwaves, I give thanks for another amazing year on Planet Earth. (more…)

Daily, for the last few weeks in Toronto, I’ve been watching the leaves come down. One at a time, at first, twirling in the autumn air, slow-motion flight, flashing brilliant amber and rose light, sugar maple, oak and elm flags calmly signaling the end of a season, and now, in a colder, brisker wind, en masse, a flurry of foliage leaving the branches half naked to the faded sun.

I witnessed the other day, perhaps for the first time, the exact moment a single leaf let go. I admired its courage as it surrendered to the breeze and danced gracefully toward the dirt. In response to this beautiful, tender vision, in my heart I wondered why I struggle so much with the same simple act of letting go, when over and over again, nature and experience show me that to do so is essential for life.  (more…)

Just for a moment, suspend your earthbound beliefs, and consider the possibility you might actually be…an angel… Now, imagine yourself, one infinitely sunny day in paradise, sitting around with your angel buddies contemplating the nature of being an angel. Many interesting observations are tossed about, but none really satisfactory, until one of your wiser angel friends suggests that perhaps you need to experience what it’s like to not be an angel in order to fully grasp what it’s like to be one.

Just then, Maya, Mistress of Illusion, and Director of Heavenly Special Effects, happens by, and agrees to stage an elaborate game of enchantment that would provide a forum for you and your angel buddies to learn on earth, and sets the game in a beautiful setting called “The Magical Theater.” (more…)

According to the Happy Planet Index, Costa Rica is the happiest place on Earth. In this TED talk by Nic Marks, founder of the Centre for Well-being at the New Economics Foundation, some light is shed on what makes a nation happy – contrary to North American and European behaviors, it’s not money.

Mr Marks questions why statisticians are not measuring the things that make life worthwhile – love, health, happiness, social justice, sustainability – and suggests that in order to create a happy society, the media need to put these stats in front of us, to create a collective goal. (more…)

Nature makes me silly happy. I love to skinnydip in a warm Canadian lake in the mountains on a hot summer afternoon after baking in mud from the Dead Sea. Or bathe in the healing waters of a hotspring in a eucalyptus forest in Northern California populated by spotted deer and soaring condors. Or sail in an ocean to Catalina, Sicilia or Mombassa, carried by soft salted winds.

Sitting by a campfire catching a purple midnight sunset on the inky Yukon River in gratitude and wonder. Lucking into dancing northern lights on a cold clear northern night, walking through an ancient rain forest entangled with millions of mosses and infused with the scent of the cycle of life, swinging from a tree in an alpine meadow breathing wafts of sage and evergreen… (more…)

In many ways, springtime is really the beginning of the new year. It’s when everything in nature wakes up. The earth begins to warm, animals emerge from their winter dens and we get the urge to open the windows and doors to let the fresh air flow through. Spring is a time for activity, for planting seeds, both in the garden for nourishment throughout the year and in our life plan to sustain our happiness and well being.

More powerful than any other time of year for setting intentions, the expansive, almost explosive yang energy of spring supports our desires and actions with nearly effortless forward momentum. Perhaps even more fitting than January 1st for setting resolutions is the Easter weekend – a time for renewal, rebirth, and reconnection. (more…)

The other day after a vigorous yoga practice, I took half an hour to luxuriate in the warmth and silence of the steam room. After about 10 minutes in the heat, I entered that delicious realm of relaxation – that blurry place where the conscious and thinking mind and the beautiful mystery of what lies beyond intersect.

I love experiencing in meditation or in waking dreams those few delicate seconds stretched beyond time where puzzle pieces slip magically into place and solutions to problems are revealed with incredible ease and simplicity.

Don’t you wish you could access that tap of wisdom at will? Imagine employing the power of your subconscious to create the life of your dreams… (more…)

“Every human being is the author of his own health or disease.” Buddha

Is there someone in your life who simply glows with an aura of radiant good health? Do you have a friend or acquaintance who flows with boundless energy, great physical presence and an endlessly positive attitude?

Perhaps this description fits you? Perhaps you’re the one who wakes up every morning fresh and enthused to tackle the challenges of the day. You laugh often, accept what the day brings with a smile, react to events with positivity and a can-do attitude, and have the endurance and stamina to stay present until bedtime. You sleep like a baby and dream sweet dreams, then awake with renewed inspiration for another glorious day on the planet… (more…)

I’ve taken up painting in the last couple of years. Mostly just to doodle personalized “thank you” cards, but also to use a different part of my creative brain and for the sheer joy of playing with fun colors. It occurred to me the other day as I was slopping paint all over a piece of cardboard, making a mess beyond rescue with too much color, that less is so often more in art.

I’m very attracted to zen-like works with a single color or stroke on a white canvas, yet it’s so difficult to put the brush down after just one stroke, isn’t it? I got to comparing art to life and made the simple connection that in life, as in art, restraint is a powerful tool. As we charge full steam ahead into the holidays, restraint can be invoked often in the supreme interest of keeping Santa belly at bay. (more…)

I went for a long sunset rollerblade this evening past the pier, past the temporary big top of Cirque du Soleil, past fast-moving bikes and skateboards, north until the sun touched down on the ocean just over my left shoulder. I try to do this at least a couple of times a week because we only have a finite number of sunsets.

I love how everything slows down for those few minutes while people take in the magic of another day ending, the sun melting into the horizon, the sky slowly turning beautiful hues of orange and purple. Smiles between strangers come easy as people seem to forget for a moment their worries and witness together a miracle. (more…)

He who binds himself to joy, does the winged life destroy. But he who kisses the joy as it flies, Lives in eternity’s sunrise. William Blake

When the high-pitched shrill of an ambulance’s siren blares past me on the road, I usually recoil; startled, concerned. But on the evening the siren blared for me, I neither saw the flashing lights, the stretcher, the oxygen mask, nor heard the gasping of the surrounding crowd. In fact the anxiety that had been building within me for days was curiously gone. There was no more reason for concern… I had floated up.

Read more of Kelly Sullivan Walden’s inspirational story: (more…)

Aim higher than you thought you ever could. Aim higher than your family or masters or teachers or gurus ever expected. Aim higher than you can imagine because truly, everything you can imagine is real. That’s The Secret. Picasso said it sometime in the early 20th century and didn’t charge a dime…

I’m no angel but I try my best to be a decent human. I consider myself both a teacher and a seeker; someone with a lot of great groovy life experience and someone with a lot to learn. I make mistakes, I treat people badly and I can be as self-absorbed as the next person. (more…)

I’ve been here before, in another lifetime, down the Turquoise Trail on a silver steed, and been altered – that’s what the Southwest sees to when you drop in on a whimsy – mid-course correction, gear-changing, shape-shifting. It’s why we go on journeys, isn’t it? To re-vision?

A long drive to escape the 13 million souls of L.A., past a billion cacti and the four corners of Winslow Arizona, a pause to stand listening to the Eagles, probably all bald by now, and a gift from Harold – a drawing on a receipt of mountains and trees and clouds… He’s been on this land all his life (perhaps on this corner) and drunk many a fermented plant in a Winslow roadhouse trying to loosen his load… (more…)

Though we Chuppies don’t need a license to perform a kind act, we’d enjoy the pure pleasure of spreading and tracking our unexpected acts of kindness through this cool new website where we get a code, get a card, do something sweet for a stranger and pass it on.

Imagine if someone in front of you in line at your health food store paid for your pumpkin and gave you this recipe for Curried Pumpkin and Coconut Soup. You might be mildly suspicious until they produced this card with a code that says “You’ve been Kinded. Pass it on.” You’d laugh, hug your new friend, accept the gift gracefully, then record the act of kindness on kinded.com for all the world to be inspired by – and keep the card handy until you get your own opportunity to be sweet to a stranger. It’s cool to be kind.

Sandy Dempsey, founder of The Dreaming Cafe and an enthusiastic participant in Feel Good Fast is offering a 4-week online journaling for self-discovery workshop. She’s a Feel Good Guru with pen and paper, and she’s got a deal for FGG readers! Check it:

Discover the power of positive journaling and journaling for self-discovery ~ Sandy Dempsey

I’ve been journaling for almost thirty years. Journaling has been my constant companion. All of life’s ups downs and everything in between lives in my journals. I have stacks of them. They are wonderful documentaries of my life. (more…)

Now that labour day’s over and the party days of summer are behind us, it’s time to put away the beer cooler, dig out the running shoes, get our cleanse on, and spend some time reinventing ourselves and planning our brilliant future. Don’t you feel the fresh start groove comin’ on?

There’s no better time in the year to initiate major personal change. Autumn beginnings carry great momentum, which is why we’re so excited at Feel Good Guru to embark on our quarterly 21-day cleanse. But before we begin, I wondered if there might be some feng shui techniques that could give us a little kick start into our fresh start…some good woowoo that would enhance our energy and help propel our cleansing success to even higher levels… (more…)

Yeah, the funny cat videos, the Evolution of Dance, and Where the Hell is Matt are all awesome and hilar. Good times, good laughs on YouTube.

But not often in the online video rabbit hole are you moved to tears by astounding beauty. Every once in a Yukon blue moon someone cuts through the cacophony and leaves you speechless.

24-year-old Kseniya Simonova has done that, nabbing the imagination of the world. Watch her sand animation that won this year’s “Ukraine’s Got Talent”. You’ll be amazed. (more…)

I put the question out to my friends on facebook and twitter what their idea of the ultimate adventure is. The responses I received were as unique as the individuals.

One guy wants to go extreme skiing after a fresh snowfall in the Alps, someone else fantasized about riding a zip line through a forest canopy in Costa Rica. One woman answered “whatever scares me.” Someone else said “It helps to have a tank of gas.” And two women insisted that their lives, every single day, are an adventure! (more…)

…at 50 (because 50 is the new 40). That’s chapter 2 in Carol Leifer’s new book “When You Lie About Your Age, the Terrorists Win” and it had me laughing out loud from number 1 ~ “the people who frequent nude beaches are never the people you want to see naked.”

When you’ve been on the planet long enough that sharing your best story of seeing The Beatles live at Shea Stadium in the summer of 1966 causes people to exclaim, “Jesus Christ!…How old are you?” you’ve probably gleaned a gem or two of wisdom, and if you’re Carol Leifer, you’re able to give the whole not-for-sissies aging process a humorous twist that makes all of us, no matter how young or old, fear it a little less. (more…)

By Kelly Sullivan Walden

I awoke the morning after Extraordinary BookWoman Day with a dream about an ornate golden key going into a keyhole. The door opened and there was Robert Langdon, the hero from the Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code and Angels & Demons, presenting a talk on symbols.

He lectured about the value of symbols and their impact on our lives, in that they can convey in an instant a meaning that would otherwise take a paragraph (or two or three) to express. (more…)