The New Dimensions Café

Brenda Peterson is an award-winning nature writer, memoirist, novelist, and writing teacher. She’s been featured on NPR, and in the New York Times, Orion Magazine, O: The Oprah Magazine, and many other prestigious magazines and newspapers. She’s the author of more than twenty books for adults and children including Build Me an Ark: A Life with Animals (W. W. Norton 2001), Duck and Cover (Backinprint.com 2004), I Want to Be Left Behind: Finding Rapture Here on Earth (Da Capo Press 2010) and Wild Chorus: Finding Harmony with Whales, Wolves, and Other Animals (Mountaineers Books 2024)Interview Date: 3/5/2024  Tags: Brenda Peterson, Noah’s Ark, Blue Heron, creation story, Orca Lab, Helena Symonds, animal totems, creation story, creation stories, Animals, Ecology/Nature/ Environment, dreams

Jude Currivan is a cosmologist, planetary healer, and futurist. She has a master’s degree in physics from Oxford University and a doctorate in archaeology. She has traveled the world and worked with wisdomkeepers from many traditions and continues to pursue her life-long passion in researching the nature of reality. Currivan resides in England. She is the author of many books including The 13th Step: A Global Journey in Search of Our Cosmic Destiny (Hay House 2009), The Wave: A Life Changing Journey into the Heart and Mind of the Cosmos (O Books 2005) and The Cosmic Hologram: In-formation at the Center of Creation (Bear & Company 2017)Tags: Jude Currivan, mind, matter, materialistic science, consciousness, interconnectedness, fear, love, collective psyche, myth of separation, individuation, separation, The Spiral of Compassion, empathy, Science, Spirituality, Personal Transformation, Philosophy

Allen Klein is the former Director of Life and Death Transitions in San Francisco. He's a recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Association for Applied and Therapeutic Humor. He is the author of many books including The Healing Power of Humor (Tarcher/Putnam 1989), The Courage to Laugh, Change Your Life: A Little Book of Big Ideas (Tarcher 1998), Learning to Laugh When You Feel Like Crying: Embracing Life After Loss (Goodman Beck Publishing 2011)Interview Date: 12/17/2011

Terry Real is a family therapist and author. He’s the founder of the Relational Life Institute, which offers Relational Life Therapy (RLT) courses online and in-person workshops for couples, individuals, parents, and professionals. He is the author of I Don’t Want to Talk About It: Overcoming the Secret Legacy of Male Depression (Scribner 1998), How Can I Get Through to You? Closing the Gap Between Men and Women (Simon & Schuster 2002), The New Rules of Marriage: What You Need to Know to Make Love Work (Ballantine Books 2008) and Us: Getting Past You and Me to Build a More Loving Relationship (Rodale Books 2022)Interview Date: 2/14/2024    Tags: Terry Real, marriage, relationship, James Framo, couples therapy, adaptive child, maladapted child, wise adult, Pia Mellody, self esteem, Relational Life Therapy, RLT, provocative distance taking, responsible distance taking, patriarchy, serenity prayer, personal biosphere, Relationship, Psychology, Personal Transformation

Orloff suggests that empathy is a bedrock of healing in difficult situations and needs to be a daily priority to become a habit. Beyond transforming difficult Interactions studies have shown that an act of empathy can have a positive effect on our immune response. Empathy is imperative for our happiness, our intimacy, and our connection with others and the earth. Judith Orloff, M.D. is a member of the UCLA Psychiatric Clinical Staff and specializes in treating empaths and sensitive people in her private practice. She offers Empathy Training Programs to businesses and organizations and teaches empathic tools to doctors, corporate teams, leaders, managers, customer service and trainers, as well as individuals. She’s been called the “godmother of the empath movement” and has written several books about intuition, life strategies for sensitive people, and empathy. Interview Date: 2/19/2024 Tags: Judith Orloff, narcissist, compassion, suffering, heart meditation, caregiving, caregivers, caretaking, Kristi Nelson, gratefulness, Personal Transformation, Psychology

Sam Daley-Harris is the founder of Results and Results Educational Fund. Results is an international grassroots, citizen’s lobby committed to healing the break between people and government and creating the political win, and creating the political will to end hunger and the worst aspects of poverty. He is the director of Results Educational Fund’s largest project, the Microcredit Summit, a campaign to reach a hundred million of the world’s poorest families, especially the women in those families, with credit for self-employment and other financial and business services. He is the author of Reclaiming Our Democracy: Healing the Break Between People and Government, the 20th Anniversary Edition (Camino Books Inc. 2004)Tags: MP3, Sam Daley-Harris, grassroots activism, Francis Moore Lappe, democracy, bi-partisanship, Citizen’s Climate Lobby, U.N. children’s fund, UNICEF, global and domestic poverty, Quaker lobby FCNL.org, citizen activist, George Bernard Shaw, House Climate Solutions Caucus, Representative Tom Moyer, Social change, Politics, Media, Self Help

Kristi Nelson is an ambassador for the nonprofit organization, Grateful Living which is founded by the internationally beloved “Grandfather of Gratitude," and former guest of New Dimensions, Brother David Steindl-Rast. And, from 2014 to 2022 Nelson served as its Executive Director. Kristi Nelson has spent more than 30 years in nonprofit leadership, development, and consulting, working at the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health, and the Soul of Money Institute. Nelson is a stage IV cancer survivor. She is the author of Wake up Grateful: The Practice of Taking Nothing for Granted. (Storey Publishing 2020)Interview Date: 1/31/2024     Tags: Kristi Nelson, Grateful, Gratefulness, Gratitude, Stage IV cancer survivor, grateful in challenges times, living gratefully, Brother David Steindl-Rast, Elie Weisel, Van Jones, say hallelujah anyhow, isolation, loving connections, impermanence of life, living on autopilot, aliveness has agency, starfish story, making a difference, Personal Transformation

Richard C. Schwartz, Ph.D. is the creator of the therapeutic model known as Internal Family Systems [IFS] and founder of the IFS Institute which offers training for professionals and the general public. Formerly an associate professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Illinois at Chicago and later at Northwestern University, he is currently on the faculty of Harvard Medical School. He is the author of many books including No Bad Parts: Healing Trauma, and Restoring Wholeness with The Internal Family Systems Model (Sounds True 2021)Interview Date: 1/26/2024    Tags: Richard C. Schwartz, Internal Family Systems, IFS, alternative therapy sessions, family therapy, multiple personality disorder, legacy burdens, inner protector, psychotherapy, Personal Transformation, Psychology

Omkari L. Williams has devoted her life to change-making. She leads activism workshops and trainings and is the host of the podcast Stepping into Truth, where she interviews activists from all walks of life. She is the author of Micro Activism: How You Can Make a Difference in the World (without a Bullhorn): Small Actions Equal Big Results. (Storey publishing 2023)Interview Date: 12/15/2023    Tags: Omkari L Williams, narrow our attention, perseverance, collaboration, Personal Transformation, Social Change/Politics, Community

Robert Fuller, Ph.D. is a physicist and former president of Oberlin College. He has consulted with Indira Gandhi, met with Jimmy Carter regarding the President's Commission on World Hunger, and worked to defuse the Cold War in Russia when it was known as the USSR. As Fuller reflected on his career he realized that he had been, at different times in his life, a somebody and a nobody. His periodic sojourns into “Nobodyland” led him to identify rankism - the abuse of the power inherent in rank - and ultimately to write the book Somebodies and Nobodies: Overcoming the Abuse of Rank. He has become a recognized leader of the dignity movement to overcome rankism and keynoted a Dignity for All conference hosted by the President of Bangladesh.Tags: Robert Fuller, Robots, slavery, dignity, evolution, technological species, dignity movement, Red Queen Syndrome, sexual harassment, rankism, AI, artificial intelligence, intuition, synchronicity. Social Change, Politics, Science, Spirituality, Technology