The Power of Pets by John Cali

Today is the birthday of my last dog, Schnapsi. He was born 22 years ago, and he’s long since left me. But he’s still here.

Sound crazy? Let me explain — or, rather, let Spirit explain.

Spirit

You never lose those you love. You can pierce the veil of death with your awareness that life never ends.

Death is an illusion you have forced on yourselves. It is no more an ending than birth is. It is simply a new beginning, a new phase of your lives — your lives which are never-ending, eternal.… Read more

What Is the Meaning of Our Dreams? by John Cali

A couple days ago a friend told me about a vivid prophetic dream she’d had. That night I also had a vivid dream. I was with one of my favorite cousins in a familiar setting — on the porch of the house in New York State where I grew up.

My cousin was making cynical, judgemental comments about a few people we both knew. I said to him “Why not assume the best about people?”

“Everybody?” he asked.

“Everybody,” I replied.… Read more

What’s Your Story? by John Cali

One day as I was grocery shopping I happened to hear two ladies discussing their woes. I wasn’t eavesdropping, but could not help overhear them. They were not talking quietly.

Both were having health problems. They were describing their problems in great detail to each other. This went on for quite a while, and I finally moved to another part of the store, out of earshot.

I see nothing wrong with acknowledging problems, whether they be health issues or anything else.… Read more

Are You Stressed Out? by John Cali

One of the most common complaints I hear in my work is how stressful the world and our lives are. There’s too much to do, and too little time to do it in. There are so many distractions demanding our attention and energy. The world seems filled with bad news.

How can we avoid stress and find peace of mind? It seems an impossible task in an impossible world. But it’s far from impossible. Here’s Spirit.

Spirit

Your world certainly seems filled with stress almost everywhere you look.… Read more

Who Are You? by John Cali

Have you ever asked yourself that question? Probably not. Have you ever asked anyone else that question? Probably not.

In earlier articles Spirit and I have talked about labels — how we humans label and define ourselves and each other. We typically use very narrow labels and definitions, which almost never reflect who we truly are.

For example, people often ask one another, especially at social gatherings, “What do you do?” If they asked, instead, “Who are you?” the answer would often be the same.… Read more

8 Signs Your Ego Is Controlling You: Followup by John Cali

As promised, we’re doing a followup to our March 23 blog post, 8 Signs Your Ego Is Controlling You.

You may have noticed a common thread running through those 8 signs Spirit gave us in that post. To be honest, I didn’t notice it until I went back and re-read the post. That common thread is the lack of self-love.

So this week Spirit has given us some useful tips on learning to love ourselves more. Here they are:

  • Eliminate all self-criticism and self-judgement.
Read more

Spirit Speaks Revisited by John Cali

(NOTE: We wrote this many years ago, but never published the full article on our website.)

This past year has been a most fascinating and challenging one for me. As I look back on it from the perspective of hindsight, I realize how much I’ve grown — or, I should say, how much I’ve remembered. I’d like to briefly share with you part of my journey this past year. Perhaps something in my sharing will touch a chord deep within you — and help you, if only in some small way, along your path of remembering.… Read more

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

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. You think poorly of yourself because of all your past “mistakes” and “failures.”
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

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).

*****************************

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

The Peaceful Mind by John Cali

In our article two weeks ago we talked about the ways modern society poisons our minds. This week we’re talking about the opposite end of the spectrum — the peaceful mind.

Meister Eckhart once said “The quieter the mind, the more powerful, the worthier, the deeper, the more telling, and more perfect the prayer is.”

I’ve been meditating over 30 years, though I do not consider myself an expert at it. I continually explore the teachings of those I do consider experts, such as Eckhart Tolle in our video of the week.… Read more

Botox Revisited by John Cali

A while back we wrote an article, Botox and Beauty. In that article we talked about a mother who was regularly giving her eight-year-old daughter Botox injections.

Just today I came across the story of a father giving his 18-year-old daughter breast implants. The father happens to be a plastic surgeon. He’s also done plastic surgery on two older daughters, in their early 20s, and other family members.

Quite apart from the ethics of a doctor operating on his own family, I was surprised (though I should not have been) at what the 18-year-old said.… Read more

Talking To God by John Cali

One of the most common questions folks ask us is “How can I communicate with my higher self?” Or “How can I talk to God?” Both are essentially the same question.

Another question we’re asked is “How can I begin to channel?” But, again, it’s the same question.

My spirit guides have always said we cannot not talk to God, because God is always talking to us — and in many ways. It’s just that we’re not always listening.

Here is a great short video from Neale Donald Walsch about not only how to talk to God, but also how to get answers.… Read more

Strong Truth by John Cali

This week a dear friend of ours, Mikala St. Germain, published a wonderful article on her discussion forum, The Heart Light. The article, Strong Truth, is essentially a wake-up call for all of us as we move deeper into this new year of 2012.

Immediately following this is Mikala’s article. Following that is my response to the article.

Mikala

Dearest Spiritual Family:

I’m going to begin this with the fact that each of you lives in my heart, and I love you each unconditionally.… Read more

Alone by John Cali

How comfortable are you when you’re alone? If you’re like a lot of folks, you probably avoid being alone as much as possible.

Then there are those who actually enjoy being alone. I’m one of them. I love people, but I also need my “alone time.” And I’m never bored or lonely.

Here’s a great video with some practical tips on how to be alone, and the benefits of alone time.

Here’s Spirit.

All humans need “alone time,” to use John’s phrase.… Read more

Happiness Is a Choice by John Cali

US President Abraham Lincoln once said “A man is about as happy as he makes up his mind to be.”

Do you believe that?

We’ve talked about this subject publicly and privately many times over the years. I agree with President Lincoln. But not everyone does.

This past week has been one of our busier ones around here. So we’re revisiting an article on happiness we published several years ago.… Read more

Love Is a Choice by John Cali

Many years ago Spirit gave me their definition of love, and it’s the definition I’ve stayed with ever since: “Love is a choice to see the divinity in all beings.”

So what does that really mean?

For me, it means love is not a feeling, an emotion – which is the way I used to view it. And many folks still do. Certainly we feel emotion around a person or an animal we love. But true love goes beyond the feelings, the emotions.… Read more

All Paths Lead Home by John Cali

Since I started doing this work with Spirit I’ve often been criticized by family, friends, and opponents for following the wrong path. Especially in spiritual matters.

We don’t have to look any farther than the mainstream news media headlines to see graphic examples of people not only criticizing others for having different beliefs and values, but even killing them for it.… Read more

The Death Penalty by John Cali

This may sound morbid to some folks, but I’ve always had a keen interest in death, even as young kid. So when two states, Georgia and Texas, executed two men the same night last month, that got my attention.

Quite apart from whether the two men were guilty or not (one’s guilt was virtually certain, and the other’s was in grave doubt), is the so-called death penalty justified?… Read more

Is Joy an Impossible Dream? by John Cali

As you know, if you’ve been with us long enough, my spirit guides often talk about finding meaning in life through joy. In fact it’s one of their major “themes.” They often advise us to look for the joy in all our experiences, even the tough ones — especially the tough ones.

Now and then I get angry objections from some of our newsletter and blog readers. They usually go something like this: “How can I possibly find joy or meaning in this experience (death in the family, terminal illness, no home, not enough money, miserable marriage, etc.)?… Read more