Who are we? Who are you? Who am I? These are referred as "existential" questions. What exactly is an existential question? Looking it up online, I find this definition: "a question concerning the essence of what it means to be alive". So this week, we do look at who we are, and also, what are we going to do about it!

There's turbulence in the weather, and perhaps also turbulence in our "inner weather"... We face challenges whether in the external world, or with personal relationships,  or with our health... It seems the turbulence is to be found both on the inside and the outside. And of course...

As per our "resident astrologer", Pam Younghans' "Astrological Journal for the Week", we are heading into a powerful week, what she is calling Tornado Week. While this might sound frightening, let us remember that sunshine always follows a storm, and some storms come with rainbows. So while things may look bleak in the world, light is always present, even when hidden by clouds of discord and disharmony.

It's a new year! I must admit, I'm a bit like a kid at Christmas about New Year's. It's like I've just been given 365 brand new days, brand new pages of a blank book to do with as I choose.

This week we are living through the ending of a year, and the beginning of another. It's the death of 2019 and the birth of 2020. We humans often have a hesitancy to speak of death... It's the one thing we aren't comfortable speaking about.

We are all on a Journey... the journey of life. Along the way we encounter blessings and challenges. We encounter love and lack of love (sometimes portrayed as hatred). Our journeys are all different, yet they are all the same. Our goal is the same...

Some times of year are more stressful than others, and December can be stressful for many reasons. If you live up North, snow and ice storms can wreak havoc. And wherever you live, even in the Southern Hemisphere, you may have projects at work that have to be completed by the end of the year. And of course, the holiday season can be a cause of stress.

I believe that everyone wants to make a difference... So this week we take a look at simple and practical ways that you and I can make an impact in the world.

Stress is a part of life. We might think it has escalated in this "day-and-age", but perhaps each century, each decade, had its own peak stress experiences that were extremely stressful, relative to the circumstances of that time. However, yes, modern life can be stressful... so what do we do about it? 

Most people think of Thanksgiving day as a time to give thanks for our blessings, for our abundance -- and that's mostly the focus. But there are other perspectives about giving thanks...

In order to create a better world, a better life, there are certain requirements that must be met. This week, we look at some of them. We start with...

An essential part of creating happiness and peace of mind is honesty -- honesty with ourselves and integrity with others. This means living up to the truth of our true Self, and being willing to share and communicate vulnerably with others. This week, we start off into the topic of honesty with...

While it is said that the only constant is change, it can also be said that inertia is a powerful deterrent to progress. Inertia can make us appear to be staying in place, but that is actually the opposite of change and progress. So this week, we reflect on moving forward...

This week we "celebrate" Halloween... a time where things appear as they are not. And this concept applies to much of our lives as well: Things are not always as they seem.

While we may at times, or perhaps often, feel powerless in effecting change in the world, we must remind ourselves that we are part of the whole. We are participants in the grand cosmic play that is taking place within us and around us.

Perhaps the most important question for each of us to answer is "Who Am I?" or as a collective of humanity, "Who Are We?". The debate has long raged... are humans essentially good or evil, of the light or of the darkness? And as with most questions, the importance of the answer is not in the past but in the present: Who are we being now?

Twenty-first century life can be, and is often, challenging. Yet, together we can offer each other assistance, support, and new perspectives. This week we seek to do all of the above and start with...

This week we look at trust... in ourselves, in others, and in a Higher Power. Sometimes our trust in others can be misplaced leading to challenges, but then the lack of trust in ourselves and/or in our inner guidance, also can lead to challenges.

One of our featured articles this week asks: "What Makes You A Mature Adult?" The author presents many variations on the theme. I would answer that question by saying that as mature adults we take responsibility for what we share/create, what we withhold/hide, and how we serve/contribute to the world around us.

One of the "existential questions" is Who Am I? Yet for some of us, that question when asked of ourselves may sound more like "Who do you think YOU are!"... Not so much a question as an exclamation of judgment and accusation and blame. So this week we look at some underlying blockages to having a fully-loving opinion and expression of self.

We start this overview of the featured articles of the week by quoting the closing sentence from Pam Younghan's weekly journal: 'These appear to be the essential keys to the improvements that we seek right now -- that we take one step at a time, purposefully, mindfully, and with faith.'

Tools are useful things... whether we are speaking of physical tools like hammers or computers to create physical things, keys to unlock doors and open to new adventures, or energetic tools to enhance our emotional, spiritual, and physical self. This week we present some tools...

Perhaps the goal of life is to become who we are... or, we could say "to rediscover who we are"... or perhaps more descriptively "to sweep away the accumulation of patterns, fears, repressed emotions, etc. etc which have covered up the shiny truth of our inner light". This week our articles focus on assisting you in the process of giving yourself permission to be true to your Self...

We are not powerless! No matter what anyone has told us or what the "powers that be" may try to get us to believe, we are powerful beyond measure, as Marianne Williamson wrote many years ago..

This week we bring you articles that help shed light on "you" and your affect on life, and the people whose lives you touch...

Things are not always as they appear to be, or how people expect them to be. Sometimes our expectations are incorrect, other times it's our perceptions that are misleading. And at other times, the Universe just delivers a surprise that we may call synchronicity or even miraculous.

We are all under the illusion of "mistaken identity". In other words, we are not who we think we are... mostly because, in most cases, we don't think very highly of ourselves. Some of us think "we're not good enough" or that "we never will amount to anything". We are mistaken! This is NOT who we are. These beliefs keep us from experiencing our true nature...

This week we take a look at the empowerment process and the steps therein. To become empowered, we start with having awareness of a situation or need. Being aware of a need can lead us to a change in attitude which then inspires us to take action. Our first featured article...

This week we examine thoughts... And, in case you're thinking that we are saying that thoughts are "bad" and need to be eradicated, we're not. Perhaps it is best recapped by the closing sentence of this week's astrological journal: "The world needs our hearts, but it also needs our strength—and our light"...

Our first featured article this week asks the question: where do we go from here? Good question, and one we need to ask ourselves daily, if not every moment of every day. We've perhaps become too complacent with our lives... things have been running somewhat smoothly... not perfectly mind you, but "good enough" that we haven't been inspired to make big changes.

This week we take a look at the existential question: "Who Am I?" and open ourselves up to rediscovering our authentic self... We progress from the small "i" to the higher "I" and to the larger "we". Who we are has been buried underneath years of ...

This week we take a look at personal responsibility. For years, many of us (myself included) gave away our power to "others"... whether those "others" were employers, spouses, friends, teachers, politicians, neighbors (as in "keeping up with the Joneses"), things "out of our control", etc. However, the consequences...

This week we reflect on seeing things differently. Fear is pervasive in our world, and while there may be "good reasons" to be fearful, there are also excellent reasons to look at things differently and transform our fear into solutions.

This week we focus on stories... People love good stories as evidenced by the mega-billion-dollar movie industry world-wide. We all have stories we were told whether by tradition or people in our life, and of course, there are the stories we tell ourselves for many reasons. Our authors share some stories with you along with the lessons that came with those stories.

There's an old joke... someone asks "How do you get to Carnegie Hall?" The answer? "Practice, practice, practice." Well, the same answer can be given for many things... even attaining peace of mind, happiness, life balance, health, etc. Practice, practice, practice. And unfortunately, at times, we've been practicing things that do not get us to happiness and inner peace.

Once again I feel like starting the newsletter with the words "the times, they are a'changing"... and perhaps it is a mantra for these times, as well as an observation, and of course also a vision to create. Our featured authors this week are focusing on the big picture... the changes that are taking place as well as the changes we need to implement ourselves.

This week, our authors bring you various tools to work with stress, anxiety, and nightmares (whether the ones in our sleep or the ones in our daily life). The goal is to get past the impediments in our life, so we can live in the now, in harmony and divine simplicity.

This week we take a look at communication. And while we generally think of communication as taking place with other humans, we expand the scope of this week's articles to include connecting with ourselves, with animals, and with Nature.

This week, we look at what could be perhaps our best friend as well as our worst enemy: our mind (and its children, our thoughts). The mind, like most instruments, is as good as the use we put it to.

So, stop a minute and ask yourself that question: "What if I gave a party and nobody came?" . What feelings come up for you? While we may not ever have found ourselves in that particular situation, I think we can all identify with the feeling of insecurity... That feeling connects to so many things...

This week we take a look at change and at "our story" and ways to create a new story for ourselves personally, which then will reflect into creating a new story for the world. We start with an excerpt from a new book...

This week, we focus on the Light that we are, and on our own rebirth from the forces of negativity and fear. We bring you numerous articles from our regular and new authors, and feature some excerpts from new books that are just "hot off the press".

A Chinese proverb is reputed to say, "May you live in interesting times" and it is considered both a blessing and a curse. And of course, whether it is a blessing or a curse really depends on how we look at it, our reactions, and the choices we make. This week we bring you tools to help you navigate these tumultuous times and come out on the other side of the storm a stronger and more centered person.

While we know that it is important in life to deal with "what is", we also need to focus on "what is to be" or what we wish the future to be. This week we look at both.

Energy! It can seem like it's the elusive ingredient in our lives at times. We might find ourselves saying we need more energy! This week our authors help us look at energy... what it is, how to connect with it, and what it really all about...

This week we look at love... not the Valentine's Day kind of love, but love of self, love of others (human and not), and love of humanity, which all ties in with kindness, acceptance, etc.

Many of us work with "to do" lists. Often they include short-term items like remember to buy toothpaste, or other chores that need to be done that day or that week. However, we also have an "inner to do list" which consists of steps along our life's journey. This week we bring you articles that offer a combination of both.

This week we look at expectations. While expectations are about the future, we usually have formed them based on past events, or past teachings. Thus we may be stuck in recreating old realities because our thoughts and beliefs and expectations are based on old dogma and old theories. We start out by looking at the expectations we have of...

This week we take a look at fear. We also discover the connection between pain and fear. Of course fear shows up in many ways, some of them non-physical...

Everyone wants to be happy, and while this can mean different things to different people, I think that a common thread is that we wish to be at peace with ourselves, and at peace with the world around us. Not always an easy task...

This week we focus on observation... on observing both within ourselves and out in the world, observing where we want to go, as well as where the Universe is guiding us. We start off with...

This week we look at our connectivity with the "wholeness" of humanity... and with ourselves.

This week we question reality, or at least what we think is reality. We ask: What if everything you think you know is wrong? Things are not always what they seem, and things oftentimes have a purpose that is not visible to us at the time they occur.

Everything is always in a state of change. Even if something looks like it is not changing, it is. And the same goes with our own self... Our thoughts change, our attitudes change, our bodies change, and the world around us changes as well. This week we look at various aspects of transformation (change) starting with...

One thing we can be sure of is that life always presents us with twists and turns, choices to make, new directions to explore (or not), new discoveries to be made (or not)... It's always our choice as to how we proceed...

This week we look at change and progress. Many of us may have made resolutions at the start of the new year... and we may be reaching the point when the novelty has worn off and we need support in sticking to our desired changes.

This week we reflect on the interconnectivity of all things. As we recognize our oneness and how every single thing affects the whole, whether physically or emotionally, we come to the realization that we have arrived at...

As we enter into the new year, you may be starting the year with new resolve... to be healthier, to be happier, to be more organized, to be more loving, more forgiving, more successful, etc. etc. However, in order to progress into a new reality, we may have to let go of certain attachments or beliefs that have been dear to us. This week, our authors assist us in cleaning our slate so that we can start anew.

We humans are a complex bunch. Our emotions can be like yo-yos, going up and down regularly. This week we address the whole spectrum starting with...

As we enter the last week before Christmas, many people are outwardly focused on what to buy, what to give, what to share. So this week, we at InnerSelf turn the focus to the inner. While still keeping the focus on giving and sharing, we speak about giving of ourselves and sharing love.

This week a word that seems to occur often in the featured articles is Presence... teamed with awareness, awakening, attunement, being in the present -- all basically the same vibration or message.

This week we look at the power of the heart, the power of love, whether it comes in human form or animal form or even scientific form. Love is all there is. Anything else is simply the absence of love. Our articles this week help us recenter in the power of the heart, and the power of love.

Perhaps the topic of this week's newsletter is best seen in the above graphic "Live Your Dream" and resumed in the title of Mitch Horowitz's article: "How to Make a Miracle"... We are reminded that we are the creators of our own daily miracles with the support and participation of the life force (aka God, Goddess, The Force, Universe, etc. etc.)

This week, in the US, it is Thanksgiving. While being grateful really needs to be a daily practice, having one day a year that highlights giving thanks can help us center ourselves and take note of everything we have to be grateful for. However, there are times where it may seem nearly impossible to be grateful due to circumstances we find ourselves in...

This week we focus on our physical health... though of course, since everything is connected our physical health is related to our mental, emotional and spiritual health...

The title of one of our articles this week is "Reclaiming Your Voice and Fulfilling Your Potential" and that is indeed the theme of this week's edition of InnerSelf. We can reclaim our voice by voting as is strongly recommended in the article: "We Are Responsible For The Mess We Made... Now Let's Fix It" and in Robert Jennings' "The Un-united States Of America Part 3: The Day Of Reckoning Is Now".

Perhaps our key message this week is recapped in the title of this article: "Embracing The World: Being In The World Without Rejecting It". So many things in our world challenge us and we might, at first, choose to reject them or react with anger. Things like cancer, illness of any kind, fear, trauma, stress, death of a loved one, and a gazillion other challenges of earthly life. However...

This week we focus on personal empowerment, on what we need to do to become who we are meant to be and who we really are, and on creating a world we can be proud of.

This week we look at some of life's challenges, and bring you tools to traverse them more easily. The greatest challenge we face, unfortunately almost constantly, is "Negative Self-Talk". This habit can have serious repercussions as discussed in "Are We Literally What We Think?"...

This week we reflect on change. Benjamin Franklin wrote, in 1789 in a letter to Jean-Baptiste Leroy, "...in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes". However, I would disagree and say that the only thing we can be certain of is change. Nothing remains the same, ever. Everything changes...

This week we focus on letting go of the past. Sometimes that is done by first reconnecting with painful memories and rewriting them, and at other times, simply by closing cycles, shutting doors, ending chapters...

This week we focus on taking charge of our life... This week, we invite you to take your power back and ask yourself what you would like to see happen, and what you can do to help make it so.

This week we reflect on authenticity. Trying to please others, reaching for someone else's goal for you, trying to "fit in"... none of this is authentic, and none of this brings happiness. Being authentic includes being authentically loving, learning to trust our intuition and telepathic communications, being true to our Self, and trusting that we are always guided to the right place at the right time.

This week we look at life through the lenses of science and spirituality. Every day we have a new opportunity to either continue on the path we are on, or to step onto a new path. While some may question whether such "esoteric sciences" as astrology, numerology, ESP, and healing energy are true science, the results often depend on our openness to new ideas, as well as being willing to accept alternative and non-traditional methods and beliefs.

This week we focus on relationships... with ourselves, with others, and with the world... and how we can heal and improve our connection in all of these interactions. We start with an author who exudes love and inner peace, Pierre Pradervand. He shares his method of healing himself and the world in "Blessing: A Way of Sending Love, Peace, Healing and Goodness to the World". We continue the journey with Barry Vissell who presents...

As we continue on our life's journey, at times we may wonder "what is going on?" This week we help shed light on your path. We start with "Finding The Doorway To Living A Most Exceptional Life" and continue to clear our own way by "Breaking Free Of Our Addictions".

This week in honor of August being National Happiness Month, we look at "what makes us happy" and the converse is of course "what makes us unhappy". And, the answer to both of these questions is the same. What? Yes, we make ourselves happy or unhappy by our choices, our attitudes, our thoughts, our judgments, our loving acceptance of other human beings, of ourselves, and of life itself.

This week we look at what is sometimes considered the darker side of things... pain - both emotional and physical, grieving and death, using dreams to heal from emotional pain, and then we move on to the next step, starting fresh in rebirth.

Many things in life get a "bad rap": stress, the left-brain, the right-brain, disease, painful memories... but as with everything, there are always two sides to everything. Everything has a purpose...

The theme that shows up in this week's featured articles is the process of "reflection, vision, and action". In order to have a vision, one must reflect on what one truly desires. And in order to have that vision become reality, we need to take action. Our authors support us in making our dreams reality.

This week we reflect on our habits... some that are unconscious (good ones like breathing) and the ones we may or may not be aware of (a.k.a. the "bad" ones). However, the good news is that all habits can be upgraded and/or changed to ones that support a happier and healthier lifestyle.

We constantly choose whether we sleep-walk through our life (successfully or not), or whether we traverse our life's journey with consciousness, making choices based on our inner truth and awareness. This week we discover...

It is said that the Chinese have an expression that is both a blessing and a curse: "May you live in interesting times". This week we look at how to traverse the "interesting" or "precariously balanced" times in our lives.

As I began working on this week's articles, I thought the theme was communication and relationships. But as the articles came together, I saw that the theme was actually "trusting through fear". Which of course does apply to communication and relationships, and so much more.

This week we reflect on the path to happiness. This path of the heart includes self-validation and self-compassion, generating happiness, and the willingness to heal and to be happy. You might say, but of course I'm willing to be happy, however...

This week we reflect on coming face-to-face with ourselves... on facing our suffering, discovering our intentions, clarifying our choices, and of course taking action towards the reality we wish to empower.

As I sit down to write this message, today is Father's Day. The day that children honor their fathers. However my message to you today is about honoring the children and the family. This is a plea to take action at some horrible injustices and callous behavior that is currently taking place in the USA.

This week's featured articles look at our relationship with friends, aging parents, nature, our "partner" (whether married or not), and even our relationship with our past selves. The connection between all of these relationships is that all...

This week we look at being... in the flow, in the moment, in stillness, in life. Patience -- with yourself, with others, and with life itself -- is essential. This week's articles provide light and guidance for our journey...

This week we share some ways that our actions make a difference... from where we choose to place a tattoo (if we choose to get one), to identifying where our stressful thoughts come from and if they really belong to us, to connecting with where our traumas really come from and clearing them from our energetic space.

This week we bring you articles to assist in stepping out of the conditioning of our culture and explore different perspectives. We look at pain and how to move beyond it, we reflect on reincarnation, and we look at moving beyond the way of the ego to the path of spiritual will.

Today is Mother's Day and in our articles this week, we feature some of the traits that are usually associated with the feminine aspect of our being (whether male or female)...

This week our theme is symbolism... how one thing means something other than the obvious, or brings a message other than its apparent one. We launch our symbolic journey with "May 2018: On The Brink Of…. But Not Quite Ready To Jump!"  and then move on to the animal kingdom with "Receiving Symbolic Messages From Your Animals" and with...

One of the articles this week has in the title: " As Within, So Without" and that is the theme this week. Our authors share their path or their vision in hopes of sparking within you a recognition of your own truth and they provide methods and tools for you to arrive at your own "ah-ha" moments of "in-lightenment"...

As I focused on which articles beckoned to be included in this week's issue of InnerSelf, my conscious thought was that the focus was going to be Earth Day. While I am a firm believer that "every day should be Earth Day", this designated day gives us additional opportunity to reflect together on our love for our precious planet. However...

One could say that connection -- either the presence of, or lack thereof -- is the problem and the solution to all our ills. This week we look at our connections... connection to the All, to ourselves, to others, to Nature, to duality... and reflect on our search for harmony and balance.

This week we look at "hidden messages"... These are the messages from our unconscious beliefs, from our inner children, from our body, from our environment, and from our heart... And we discover that these messages are not really hidden as much as...

This newsletter is being released on April Fools Day... and its theme is that not only have we been fooled but we have fooled ourselves... not just today but for a long long time. Thus this week our authors help expose some of the tricks we've fallen for.

Things are not always as they seem... So even if you feel like you're about to get run over by a train, I guarantee you this is not the case. We can be grateful that things are not as they seem, because, yes, things seem to be crazy and definitely unsettling at times... but they are usually the first -- or one-thousandth -- step in a journey that we are taking...

“As above, so below, as within, so without, as the universe, so the soul…” This is the theme of this week's edition of InnerSelf. What is within us affects the outside, and what is outside affects the inside. This includes "non-tangible" or "non-touchable" things such as sound, the language of flowers, the energy of tattoos...