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

How To Harness the Power of Meditation by John Cali

In private readings Spirit often advises people to meditate. I think that’s great advice. I’ve been meditating over 30 years, and it’s immeasurably enriched my life.

So how can you harness the power of meditation? I asked Spirit that question, and here’s what they said.

Spirit

The power of meditation lies in the fact it removes you from the distractions and attractions of your daily lives, for however long you meditate.

Meditation doesn’t have to take a long time. Even 10 or 15 minutes a day is fine.… 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

The Price of Sensitivity by John Cali

One recent morning, as I was meditating, I felt a sudden, sharp, stabbing pain in my left leg. At first I had no idea what was going on.

The pain shook me out of my meditative state, and I got to thinking about what was happening. Then it came to me. A close friend was having some health problems, including sharp pains in his left leg.

I intuitively knew I was picking up from him the pain I was feeling. So I sent him love and healing energy.… 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

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. 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

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).

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

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

The Illusion of Time by John Cali

Plenty of scientific studies have shown people can project their thoughts to other people, as with mental telepathy. Most of us have experienced some form of telepathy. Today folks talk openly about it since it’s no longer a taboo topic.

Telepathy often happens instantly, with no apparent passage of time, and regardless of distance. Some studies have even shown when people send telepathic messages, the receivers get the messages days before they were actually sent.

How is that possible? If we believe in linear time it’s not possible.… Read more

Pets: Our Teachers and Healers by John Cali

I just came across an article we wrote years ago, but never published on our website. I thought it appropriate this week since we’ve been talking about animals lately.

Spirit

Your domestic pets, especially dogs and cats, are one of the greatest gifts humanity has ever received. We realize you sometimes take these delightful creatures for granted — just as you sometimes do your fellow humans.

Pets are not in your lives solely for your entertainment, though they certainly do entertain you.… Read more

The Raccoon by John Cali

Strange title for a spiritual newsletter article, isn’t it?

My spirit guides often say animals can be our best teachers. Even most of those creatures who’ve been horribly abused by humans rarely seem to lose their capacity for joy, love, and simply being fully present in the moment.

Mary Cummins of Animal Advocates in California took a raccoon under her wing after authorities found the poor creature in a two-by-two-foot cage. He’d been imprisoned there four years, without adequate food or water.… Read more