Question: Should We Put Ourselves First? by John Cali

We received the following question from one of our readers:

“Should we put our self first in all things, or are we supposed to put others first?”

Spirit

You’ve probably often heard these admonitions:

  • Think only of others.
  • Love others unconditionally.
  • Put others before yourself.
  • Be of service to others.

Those are noble-sounding sentiments. But they will guarantee you a life of misery and joylessness.

You serve absolutely no one if you do not serve yourself first. For it is only when you appreciate and love yourself first that you are empowered to fully appreciate and love others.… Read more

How’s Your Self-Esteem? by John Cali

I’ve been away from home the past 10 days. So this week we’re revisiting an earlier article on that perennial problem so many of us have — self-esteem. Read the article here.

P.S. We’ll be talking more about self-esteem in our blog the next few weeks.… Read more

8 Signs Your Ego Is Controlling You by John Cali

What is your honest opinion of yourself? If you’re like many folks it’s probably not very high. Sometimes, perhaps often, you struggle with low self-esteem, a poor self-image. You find it hard to draw on your own inner resources to feel good about your life. So you become dependent upon resources outside yourself to make your life bearable.

Does that sound familiar? Is your ego making your life hell on earth?

Here are 8 signs your ego is controlling you:

1.… Read more

Does Life Scare You to Death? by John Cali

Fear is one of the biggest challenges we humans deal with every day of our lives. But is there really anything to be afraid of — anything at all?

Does life scare you to death? If it does, a change in perspective is in order.

Neale Donald Walsch talks about the emotion of fear in this delightful video.

Since I’m travelling away from home this week, we’re resurrecting an old article we published on fear. Appropriately, it’s titled “Fear.”… Read more

Fear by John Cali

(This article was originally published October 21, 2008.)

This past week we’ve had a broad and intense discussion of fear at one of our new discussion forums. A timely subject, given the state of our world today.

I’m sure most of us know one of the greatest fears people have is fear of death. We talked at length about this particular fear in the movie Tuning In. Another closely related fear is that of growing old.

A couple days ago, I came across an interesting article on aging and dying.… Read more

Buddhist Catholicism by John Cali

Does that title sound like a contradiction in terms? How can you be Buddhist and Catholic?

The Washington Post has been following the story of a Roman Catholic priest denying communion to a lesbian at her mother’s funeral. And then he walked out on the funeral mass. You can imagine the furor that set off.

Not only was the lady lesbian, but she was also straddling the religious fence between Catholicism and Buddhism. She felt at home in both camps.

Several publications had some fiery comments on the story, and raised interesting questions.… Read more

The Depression Epidemic: Followup by John Cali

We received some great feedback on our last blog post, The Depression Epidemic. The comments from one of our readers reminded me I had perhaps been a bit insensitive, albeit unintentionally, toward people who’ve found antidepressants helpful.

Here, slightly edited, are some excerpts from the comments, plus my responses:

Reader’s comments:

“I notice Dr. (Andrew) Weil is quoted as saying that drug-based medical solutions don’t work for half the people who take them. I am a member of the other half, and in my experience, when these drugs are appropriately prescribed, they do indeed treat the cause, rather than the effects, of severe depression.… Read more

Messages from the Animals by John Cali

One recent evening after supper I happened to look out into my backyard. Standing there were five small deer, grazing on the sparse foliage of that late winter day.

Deer are such beautiful, gentle creatures. I love watching them. We’re blessed to have so many of them where I live.

As the deer grazed contentedly I stood there admiring their grace and beauty. I sent them loving energy, and they immediately looked me directly in the eye. We held that gaze for several long moments.… Read more

The Depression Epidemic by John Cali

According to Andrew Weil, MD, “…some substantial percentage of the depression epidemic is manufactured by the medical-pharmaceutical industry.” He goes on to say the industry has convinced many people that ordinary sadness is an abnormal condition, a “disease” that should be treated with drugs.

But even if that “substantial percentage” is removed, Dr, Weil continues, it still leaves us with a huge number of folks with unexplained depression. The number has increased the past 50 years. Depression is particularly widespread in industrialized countries, especially the United States.… Read more

Addictions Revisited by John Cali

We received some interesting comments about last week’s newsletter article, Addictions. Here are a couple of excerpts from two different people:

“What does Spirit have to say about AA (Alcoholics Anonymous) and similar organizations? I mean, if by joining AA (someone) gains a clearer understanding of the precious Being that he/she is, isn’t that a good thing?”

“I remember my mother telling me, ‘Therapy is supposed to be a way back to life, not a way of life.’”

Then I received an email from my dear friend, Mikala St.… Read more

Addictions by John Cali

When we talk about addictions, we usually think of such issues as drugs, alcohol, sex, tobacco, food, etc. But addictions are not limited to those.

Until the past few years, in my own personal thinking, I had pretty much limited my idea of addictions to those. But there are far more addictions than the “standard” ones. And, in my opinion, our society mostly fails to understand and treat the underlying causes of addictions.

Here’s Spirit.

Spirit

You all came to this incarnation with the innate knowing that feeling good is your natural state of being.… Read more

The Myth of Jesus by John Cali

Our friend, Melody Fletcher, publishes a great blog, Deliberate Receiving, all about Law of Attraction. She recently wrote a blog post, If We Create Our Own Reality, How Did Jesus Get Crucified?

An obviously thought-provoking title, especially if you grew up Christian, as I did.
Here are some thoughts on the subject — from me, my spirit guides, and Seth (the spirit guide channelled by Jane Roberts).

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I abandoned the traditional Christian view of Jesus many years ago. As a result, my family is still wondering if he’s going to “save” me, or if I will burn in hell.… Read more