New Dimensions

Jones gives practical advice as to how we can engage in deep inner work through focused journaling. She shares exercises that can act as powerful tools in reframing the pieces of our past and our life stories so that suffering becomes meaningful and can boost our healing, empowerment, growth, and transformation. Catherine Ann Jones is an award winning playwright, screenwriter and a Fulbright Scholar to India, studying shamanism. She holds a graduate degree and teaches depth psychology and archetypal mythology. As a screenwriter, Jones has contributed to such television series as “Touched by an Angel,” and wrote the teleplay “The Christmas Wife.” She teaches writing workshops. She is the author of: Heal Your Self With Writing (Divine Arts 2013) and The Way of Story: The Craft & Soul of Writing (Michael Weise Productions 2007).Interview Date: 2/28/2014   Tags: Catherine Ann Jones, memory, traumatic events, body dialogues, inner voice, intuitive voice, authentic self, allies, shamanism, Pre-Hindu Dravidian people in India, artist, synchronicity, personal metaphors, archetypes, deep listening, active listening, Writing, Personal Transformation, Self Help, Shamanism, Mythology, Arts & Creativity 

Here scholar, theologian, and teacher Father Matthew Fox explores the writings and wisdom of this electrifying saint and speaks of Aquinas’ timeless wisdom to a postmodern world. Fox encourages all spiritual warriors and activists to grow our vision and our courage. He speaks of some of the positive things that the coronavirus has brought to us as we shelter in place. Father Matthew Fox is a priest and was a member of the Dominican Order of the Catholic Church for thirty-four years. For speaking out on women’s rights, gay rights, and Native American rights, he was silenced for a year and later expelled from the Dominican Order under the papacies of John Paul II and Benedict XVI. He then joined the Episcopal Church to work with young people to create postmodern forms of ritual and worship known as the “Cosmic Mass” that incorporates dance, DJ, VJ, rap, and other postmodern art forms. He is the co-founder of the Order of the Sacred Earth and, since Mother’s day 2019, has offered free daily meditations. He holds a doctorate in History and Theology of Spirituality and is founder of the University of Creation Spirituality. He is the author of more than thirty-five books including Original Blessing (Tarcher 2000), Hildegard of Bingen: A Saint for Our Times (Nameste Publishing 2012), Occupy Spirituality (co-author Adam Bucko) (North Atlantic Press 2013) and The Tao of Thomas Aquinas: Fierce Wisdom for Hard Times (iUniverse 2020)Interview Date: 4/30/2020 Tags: Matthew Fox, Plato, Platonism, dualism, nondualism, non-dualism, Platonists, theology, Thomas Aquinas, Aristotle, Augustine, Saint Francis of Assisi, Saint Dominic, Dominican order, misogyny, feminism, joy, original sin, creation centered, coronavirus pandemic, Heartmath, Pagan, Paganism, interfaith, magnanimity, Rabbi Heschel, anger, Julian of Norwich, History, Spirituality, Religion, Philosophy, Social Change/Politics

Shaw helps us get acquainted with the kinds of folktales and myths that can be helpful in navigating these turbulent times. He says, “They are always trying to dig into the mud of the encounter with the notion that possibly there's a little bit of gold in there. There's some information that, over time, could turn into wisdom.”  Martin Shaw, Ph.D. is a scholar of myth and an acclaimed storyteller. He's a wilderness rites-of-passage guide and is internationally regarded as one of the most exciting proponents of the mythic imagination. He tells "prophetic stories" that speak deeply to the challenges we face today, in the world and in our personal lives. He has devised and led the Oral Tradition course at Stanford University, is a visiting fellow at Shumacher College, and the Director of the Westcountry School of Myth, a learning community in Dartmoor in the far west of the United Kingdom. His books include A Branch from the Lightning Tree: Ecstatic Myth and the Grace in Wildness (White Cloud Press 2011), Snowy Tower: Parzival and the Wet, Black Branch of Language (White Cloud Press 2014), Scatterlings: Getting Claimed in the Age of Amnesia (White Cloud 2016), The Night Wages: Bidden or Unbidden Initiations Come (Cista Mystica Press 2019) and Courting the Wild Twin (Chelsea Green Publishing 2020) Interview Date: 4/23/2020       Tags: Martin Shaw, The Odyssey, transcending, underworld, depression, despair, Percival, Grail King, The Lindworm story, alchemy, Gioia Timpanelli, Robert Bly, educated heart, James Hillman, Gaston Bachelard, Hermes, Arts & Creativity, Personal Transformation, Mythology, Philosophy

In this time of global uncertainty good poems can soften the heart and help us face another day with curiosity, wonder and hope. It gives us another lens to view the world and helps bring what is often unseen into view. Poetry opens us to feel our connection to one another and to nature. It gives us the opportunity to recalibrate our perspective on our place in the world.Jane Hirshfield is the author of nine books of poetry and two collections of essays. She has edited and co-translated four books presenting the work of world poets from the past. Her books have received the Poetry Center Book Award, the California Book Award, and the Donald Hal-Jane Kenyon Prize in American Poetry. Her poems appear in a wide range of prestigious outlets. A resident of Northern California, she is a chancellor emerita of the Academy of American Poets. She presents her work at literary and interdisciplinary events worldwide. She has authored many books including The October Palace (HarperCollins 1994), The Lives of the Heart (Harper Collins 1997), Women in Praise of the Sacred (HarperCollins 1994), Nine Gates: Entering the Mind of Poetry (Perennial 1998), After (Harper Collins 2006), Given Sugar, Given Salt (Harper Collins 2001), Come, Thief (Knopf 2011), Ten Windows: How Great Poems Transform the World (Alfred A. Knopf 2015), The Beauty: Poems (Alfred A. Knopf 2015) and Ledger (Alfred A. Knopf 2020)Interview Date: 4/16/2020       Tags: MP3, Jane Hirshfield, despair, praise, ghazal, resilience, coronavirus, humility, self-quarantine, poetry, Shikantaza meditation, activism, Badlands, beekeepers, interdependence, Kent State Wick Poetry Center, memory, reminiscing, Arts & Creativity, Meditation, social change/politics, science

After collapsing from exhaustion, Huffington began to question what true success really means in this age of hyperconnectivity. In her terms, success is more than the accumulation of money or power. It’s about the quality of our well-being. It’s about the wisdom and wonder that manifests in our lives as well as the contribution we make to others. Arianna Huffington is the chair, president, and editor-in-chief of the Huffington Post Media Group, a nationally syndicated columnist, and author of many books. In May 2005, she launched The Huffington Post, a news and blog site that quickly became one of the most widely-read, linked to, and frequently-cited media brands on the Internet. In 2012, the site won a Pulitzer Prize for national reporting. Originally from Greece, she moved to England when she was 16 and graduated from Cambridge University with an M.A. in economics. Her books include Thrive: The Third Metric to Redefining Success and Creating a Life of Well-Being, Wisdom, and Wonder (Crown 2014); Third World America: How Our Politicians Are Abandoning the Middle Class and Betraying the American Dream (Broadway Books 2011) and On Becoming Fearless...in Love, Work, and Life (Little, Brown and Company 2007)Interview Date: 2/14/2014   Tags: MP3, Arianna Huffington, techno stress, hyperconnectivity, The Third Metric, well-being, wisdom, wonder, giving, volunteering, email, apnea, sleep, keystone habits, meditation, inner critic, Iain Thomas, techno stress, gratitude, social entrepreneur, mindfulness, coincidence, death, eulogies, stretching time, kindness, generosity, death and dying, burnout, Personal Transformation, Self Help, Technology, Business

Prager shares many stories and practical examples of words that heal. She empowers us to be more effective in helping others in need as she explores the power of Verbal First Aidtm. She shares particular words and phrases that are most effective in assisting the healing process when someone is in fear, shock, stress, or trauma. Judith Prager, Ph.D., CHt, is a clinical hypnotherapist with a PHD in psychology and a practices in the Los Angeles area. As a consultant to Cedars-Sinai Medical center, she developed a “Guided Imagery for Surgery” series of pre-intra-and post-operative and ICU creative imagery CDs that has been used with significant results in a pilot program in the Cardio-thoracic Surgery Unit. She’s trained physicians, nurses, and first responders across the U.S. in hypnotic language for pain and stress relief in emergencies and interactions with children. She presents keynotes and talks at conferences and medical centers. She is the author of Journey to Alternity: Transformational Healing through Stories and Metaphors (iUniverse 2000), What the Dolphin Said (Self published 2017), and The Worst Is Over: Verbal First Aid to Calm, Relieve Pain, Promote Healing and Save Lives (revised edition) (Judith Acosta) (Self Published 2014)Interview Date: 4/3/2020       Tags: MP3, Judith Prager, Judith Acosta, nightmares, Deepak Chopra, imagination, listening, sheltering in place, energy fields, energy medicine, isolation, talking with kids, grief, earthquake in Szechuan, PTSD, Verbal First Aidtm, suggestions in altered states, Brenda Peterson, Stephen King, Gabrielle Giffords, dolphins, Personal Transformation, Psychology, Parenting, Health & Healing, Death & Dying

Many gems of wisdom unfold here such as, “Being spiritual is inhabiting our humanness so thoroughly that the part of the universe that lives in me comes out and connects with the part of the universe that lives with you.” Other topics discussed are: being present and being absent as well as considering the difference between what we stand for and what we stand on. Mark Nepo is a poet, philosopher and a most eloquent spiritual teacher. In 2015, he was given a Life-Achievement Award by AgeNation and in 2016 was named by Watkins: Mind Body Spirit as one of the Most Spiritually Influential Living People. He was part of Oprah Winfrey’s The Life You Want Tour in 2014 and has appeared several times with Oprah on her Super Soul Sunday program on OWN TV. As a cancer survivor, Mark devotes his writing and teaching to the journey of inner transformation and the life of relationship. He is the author of many audio learning projects and over 20 books including Reduced To Joy (Cleis Press 2013), Seven Thousand Ways To Listen: Staying Close To What Is Sacred (Free Press 2012), The One Life We’re Given: Finding the Wisdom That Waits in Your heart (Atria Books 2016), The Way Under the Way: The Place of True Meeting (Sounds True 2016), Drinking from the River of Light: The Life of Expression (Sounds True 2019), The Book of Soul: 52 Paths to Living What Matters (St. Martin’s Essentials 2020)Interview Date: 1/14/2020     Tags: MP3, Mark Nepo, wholehearted, halfhearted, integral, integrity, values, Wizard of Oz, presence, absence, listening, illusion, maya, circles, Friedrich Nietzsche, Japanese dog named Hachikō, belief, immersion, excellence, Sweet Honey in the Rock, Chinese philosopher, Mencius, Personal Transformation, Spirituality, Philosophy, Psychology

She was a talker, he, the silent type. How did they bridge their differences in temperaments and skills as they thirsted through deserts, forded icy rapids, stumbled through snow, and met up with a mountain lion? Hear the amazing highs and intense lows as every part of their physical, emotional, psychological, and spiritual bodies were challenged.Interview Date: 10/2/2013      Tags: mp3, Gail Storey, Porter Storey, trekking, Pacific Crest Trail, nature, wilderness, Sierra, camping, bicycling, monkey mind, resupplying on the trail, trekking in snow, hiking, hike, emotions, encounter with a mountain lion, bicycling tandem, Appalachian Trail, desert, water, mountains, Ecology/Nature/Environment, relationship, Community, Personal Transformation 

We are on the cusp of a radical paradigm shift in worldviews. It is as if two tectonic plates are rubbing up against one another. One is called “Datastan” – the paradigm that quantifies, counts, measures, and commoditizes everything. The other is “The Republic of Stories” where diversity, the artist, individual stories, and every contribution matters. Arlene Goldbard is a writer, speaker, consultant, workshop leader, and cultural activist whose focus is the intersection of culture, politics, spirituality, the arts and artists. She is a fierce advocate for the power of human creative expression. Her books include Creative Community: The Art of Cultural Development (New Village Press 2006), The Culture of Possibility: Art, Artists & the Future (Waterlight Press 2013) and The Wave (Waterlight Press 2013) Interview Date: 6/11/2013    Tags: MP3, Arlene Goldbard, datastan, Republic of Story, Corporate Nation, No Child Left Behind, prisons, unemployment, Move to Amend, hope, Story Teller Corp, Trash Dance, graffiti, billboards, customer service, storytelling, Katherine Boo, poverty, confirmation bias, art, artist, music, occupy movement, Roadside Theater, Augusto Boal, Social Change/Politics, Art & Creativity, Business, Community

Cousineau tantalizes us with his understanding of how night is a powerful companion for creativity. The quiet rhythm of the night is a holy experience of soul. He describes how language and culture arose around the fires of our ancestors talking into the night. By sharing stories and poems he takes us from the contemplative, starry night to the enlightenment of early dawn. Phil Cousineau is a freelance writer, filmmaker, photographer, art and literary tour leader, teacher of creativity, a lifelong lover of the night, and an all-around Renaissance man. He’s published over 30 books and has over 25 documentary film writing credits. He is also host and co-writer of "Global Spirit," a nationally broadcast television series. He's a guest host for New Dimensions Radio. His books include Wordcatcher (Viva Editions, Cleis Press 2010), Beyond Forgiveness: Reflections On Atonement (Jossey-Bass 2011), Stoking The Creative Fires (Red (Wheel/Wiser 2008), Burning the Midnight Oil: Illuminating Words For the Long Night’s Journey Into Day (Viva Editions 2014) and The Book of Roads: Travel Stories from Michigan to Marrakech (Viva Editions 2015).Interview Date: 12/20/2013   Tags: MP3, Phil Cousineau, Zorba the Greek, storytelling, Nikos Kazantzakis, creative fire, Detroit, Van Gogh, Miles Davis, R.B. Morris, Poem Night Train Home, Richard E. Byrd, Alexander Eliot, Edward Hopper’s painting, Nighthawks, P. J. Curtis’ The Last Prince of Thormond, noctuaries, Driving Jack at Midnight, tea, tea houses, tea court, tea bag, creativity, art & painting, poetry, Art & Creativity,mythology, philosophy