Elevated Existence August 2016 Self-Help Book Picks

Posted on by Tammy

Each month, a ton of new spiritual and self-help books hit the market. It’s easy to get overwhelmed or miss out on some new releases.

We created Elevated Existence Monthly Book Picks to help our readers narrow down their search, and make sure they don’t miss some great options!

The books for this month were chosen by our editor’s as their picks for August 2016. They are listed below in alphabetical order. Click on each title to go directly to Amazon and find out more about the book.

“The Enlightened Marriage: The Five Transformative Stages of Relationships and Why the Best is Still to Come,” by Jed Diamond
For more than 40 years, Jed Diamond has been helping couple repair even the most damaged of relationships and reweave broken marriages, and in his newest book, he reveals the five stages of relationships. He believes because most of us have had hurtful experiences in past relationships, often going back to childhood, we develop an inaccurate love map that causes us to get off track when the stresses of life increase. In this book, he helps readers get through stage three, which is disillusionment, without losing love; learn while healing childhood wounds is the greatest give of love you can give and receive from your partner; recognize and address the mid-life stresses of “menopause,” irritable man syndrome and male-type depression; and more.

“Finding Calm for the Expectant Mom: Tools for Reducing Stress, Anxiety and Mood Swings During Your Pregnancy,” by Dr. Alice Domar and Sheila Curry Oakes
From fun quizzes and stories of women Dr. Alice Domar worked with, to information, advice and encouragement, this new book includes mind-body techniques to relieve stress, anxiety and moodiness. It offers tools for problem-solving so expectant mothers can adjust their expectations, restructure negative thought patterns, cultivate resilience, and happily anticipate becoming a mother.

“How to Learn Almost Anything in 48 Hours: The Skills You Need to Work Smarter, Study Faster and Remember More,” by Tansel Ali
Three-time Australian Memory Chamption, Tansel Ali, reveals the secret to learning new skills fast, including easy-to-learn memory strategies such as mind mapping, visualization techniques and mnemonic devices. Whether studying for exams, learning a foreign language, mastering a musical instrument or improving something about yourself, he show readers how to do it quickly through practical exercises and brain training techniques.

“Take Charge of Your Destiny: How to Create the Life You Were Born to Live,” by Jim Donovan
Learn to create a compelling vision for your future, eliminate subconscious blocks in your way and create a life of abundant health, success, prosperity and joy. Jim Donovan shares how to break the illusions holding us back; how to easily uncover the resistance blocking our progress; how to create one’s own personal health team, how to attract more money into our lives easily and joyfully; how to feel better no matter what happens; and more.

“Thank and Grow Rich: A 30-Day Experiment in Shameless Gratitude and Unabashed Joy,” by Pam Grout
If you are ready to connect to the field of potentiality author Pam Grout talked about in her books “E-Squared” and “E-Cubed,” her newest book will help you get on the frequency of joy and gratitude to begin experiencing miracles and communication from the universe. The book offers an updates perspective on abundance, which goes beyond financial capital, and shows readers how to grow and expand their creative, social and spiritual capital and more. The 30-Day experiment offers exercises or “party games” to help raise the readers vibration and change their thinking through “thanking,” as Grout explains in the book.

The Soul Lives On

Posted on by Tammy

My mother passed away suddenly in 1999, and since then, I continually find comfort and peace from the signs she sends, letting me know she is still around me. Whether it’s in dreams, songs on the radio or advice she offers through a medium, my mother has proven to me time and again how the human body dies, but the soul lives on.

When Dr. Wayne Dyer passed away on August 20, 2015, millions mourned his loss. He touched the lives of so many, and I was lucky enough to interview him in 2011 when Elevated Existence presented him with its annual Spiritual Service Award. He lived what he taught, and left behind teachings that will continue to help and inspire millions for generations to come.

Although Wayne Dyer may have left his physical body, he is not done teaching others. In the June 2016 Issue, I interviewed two of his daughters, Serena and Saje Dyer, and fellow Hay House author and psychic medium Karen Noe, to reveal messages — both personal to his family and universal — he has shared since his passing.

“My relationship with my dad didn’t end on August 30, it just changed, and I can communicate with him in a different way. I can feel him in a different way, and I’m just choosing to see it as a beautiful thing and not an end,” Saje Dyer shares in the June 2016 cover story.

Not only has Wayne Dyer sent a number of signs to his family since his passing, letting them know he is still around, but through Noe, many of his family members have received personal and touching messages — some which they share in this issue. He was most excited to share how he discovered the work he did while on Earth was the right path for him, and he confirmed much of what he taught on the other side.

“He said it was really all about love, and coming from a place of love. It’s all that matters,” Serena Dyer says. “You take with you the love, and he tried to teach that and get people to experience that. He felt happy to know that was right, and shared he is doing even more work now.”

One of the most important messages Dyer asked his family and Noe to communicate on his behalf was that he now has the ability to be present for whoever needs him at a moment’s notice. He is only a thought away.

“One thing he really wanted us to communicate on his behalf is you just have to have a thought of him and he will be there,” Serena shares. “And you don’t have to be his child or his wife or a family member to have that. He could be there for anybody now, and he wanted that to be known. He brought it up multiple times. He wants people to know he is there for them.”

I hope you find comfort in the messages and teachings Dyer and his family share in the June 2016 issue. And know that all our loved ones on the other side remain with us, and we all have the ability to open ourselves up to the signs they send letting us know.

Neale Donald Walsch Receives 2015 Elevated Existence Award

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Every year Elevated Existence editor’s choose one individual whose actions, intentions and work spread the gift of spirituality, enlighten others with knowledge and tools to improve the quality of their lives, and contribute to the overall uplifting of the world’s consciousness. This year, we honor bestselling author of the “Conversations With God” series and more than 30 books, Neale Donald Walsch.

“The title of the books has received far, far, far more attention than the author of them, which is exactly how it should be, because I was not the true author,” he says in the December 2015 Elevated Existence Magazine cover story. “I merely transcribed. I was the messenger. I refuse to allow myself to be placed in the forefront of these messages, except to the degree that I think it might help others to hear about them, and perhaps see some truth within them and to embrace them and activate them in their own lives. To that degree, I’m willing to joyfully and humbly receive this award.”

In the December 2015 cover story, Walsch shares some of the biggest misconceptions people have about God, including God wanting or needing things from us. Different religions teach we must follow certain rules or we will surely be punished, says Walsch. “If we don’t go to church on Sunday, confession on Friday or bow to the east three times,” we will be disappointing God, committing a sin, and must seek forgiveness.

“Many of the world’s religions teach it is possible to offend God because God has needs we must meet, and if we do offend God, we must find a way to get God to forgive us or we are not going to heaven,” he explains. “That is the single most damaging and self-destructive belief we can hold about God. What if you lived in a world where God wanted and needed and required nothing at all? That is the biggest misconception, and others are that God is punitive, punishing, judgmental, condemning, and that some sins are unforgivable.”

The biggest issue and why it’s so important to realize God is not punishing and unforgiving is because that belief mistakenly gives human beings the moral authority to act that way with each other, he says, not just one on one, but worldwide. When you remove this belief, we remove that authority.

“If you take God’s judgmentalness and God’s condemning nature off the table, you suddenly remove the moral authority of ISIS, for the death penalty in Texas, and for virtually every act of righteousness committed by human beings — not just in these days and times, but over many centuries of humanity’s existence on Earth,” Walsch shares in the issue.

Purchase the single issue featuring Neale Donald Walsch, our 2015 Editor’s Inspirational Gift Picks and more here!

Jeddah Mali: Shifting the Paradigm

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By Jennifer McCartney

What if there was a new way of looking at the world? So that instead of always trying to address the physical manifestation of our problems we could see where they originated—see the secret energy that caused these problems to manifest. Well, we can learn a new way of looking at the world. CEO and founder of Global Paradigm Ltd, Jeddah Mali joined Tammy Mastroberte, founder of Elevated Existence Magazine for the ““Living an Elevated Existence Mind, Body & Soul Summit Season 2,” to explain how we can transform our understanding of the world in order to lead better, happier lives.

Most of our experience is with physical, mental, and emotional health. But this is not enough to be a healthy and happy human being, according to Mali. We need to factor in our spiritual health, our existential health, and once we learn to see this underlying structure, we can begin to work with the life and the universe rather than against it.

Modalities, such as meditation and yoga can be helpful, they don’t necessarily give us access to bigger picture, she explained. Instead of trying to address the physical manifestations of our issues (whether it’s stress, relationship issues, or financial problems) we need to address the real root cause.

“There is a structural skeleton to life and this is how life is built,” Mali told listeners. “Everything works off this central principal, but we don’t see it because we’re focused on what is built on top of it. Never having known about it, you don’t know to look for it. We’re so geared towards our five physical senses, we neglect to develop our sixth sense.”

Without developing our sixth sense, it’s hared for us to realize and understand what we are missing, she said. “The structural mechanics [of life and existence] are being overlooked, when in fact, they are the only element that can unify us and bring us to a place of wholeness and unification,” Mali noted. “We get caught up in the diversity of form and forget that it all comes from a single source.”

Once we turn our attention away from the physical manifestation, we can quite readily discern the hidden layer underneath, including “emotional forms, mental forms, heart forms and beyond,” she said. “I refer to it as existence. I like the plain, mechanical name for things…in its purest form its energy.” This isn’t to be confused with consciousness, however, which is growing and developing. Existence “is the all of it.”

Changing the Paradigm
So how do we learn to see this hidden structure and begin to change our lives? The starting point is always to “see” the design, and connect with the energy beneath all the manifestations we see in our lives.

“For most people that’s something that is completely new to them,” said Mali. Once we see what lies at the heart of existence, we can begin to create with intention. “Once we realize we’re doing the creating, we can create something else,” she explained. And it all starts with our thoughts.

“Just think of a continuous sea of energy — all these billions of subatomic particles, and the only thing that can move that energy is the input of thought. So where we place our attention…will temporarily cluster energy, which becomes a thought, which becomes emotion, which becomes a physical sensation,” she said.

Every time we think a certain thought it gives us an emotional, physical experience. When we start to recognize our thoughts and put intention behind them, we can being to see our old patters of thinking and being melt away, Mail explained.

“Existence isn’t cruel or perverse in that design–that’s how it works. As we enter into these misunderstandings, this discomfort brings us awake and makes us question a better way and ultimately serves a better purpose,” she said.

Kelley Kosow: Defying Gravity: Discover the Power of Your Shadow

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By Jennifer McCartney

As Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” Our shadows, whether we realize it or not, dictate the quality of our lives, impacting our thoughts, feelings, behaviors, actions, inactions and choices. They determine the amount of success, love, joy, abundance and confidence we will or will not realize. When we deny our shadows and hide the parts of ourselves that we deem inappropriate or do not like or want to be, we whittle away at our full self-expression.

Kelley Kosow, life coach and chief creative officer and faculty member at The Ford Institute for Transformational Training, founded by New York Times bestselling author Debbie Ford, joined Tammy Mastroberte, founder of Elevated Existence Magazine for the “Living an Elevated Existence Mind, Body & Soul Summit Season 2,” to explain how we can bring the light of awareness and compassion to our shadow selves and improve all areas of our lives.

“The shadow is the parts of ourselves that we don’t want to be, that we try to hide, that we deem inappropriate,” Kosow told listeners. “Little by little, we begin to whittle away parts of ourselves. Our concept is based on wholeness—it’s about being able to live to the full expression and the full range of who you are.”

So how do we develop these shadows, and where do they come from? Kosow explained our shadows are often something we develop very young. When we’re upset, or we don’t know how to handle an event, we blame it on ourselves and become shameful. We unconsciously choose to hide those parts of ourselves away. For example, if a child stutters in school, they might come to believe they are stupid, and then they try and hide that they are stupid for everyone around them. Or, it could be as a child, if our parents are divorced and we never see our father. Our shadow self tells us we are unlovable. Then as we grow up we keep attracting events, people and situations to ourselves to prove this point right.

“It creates self-sabotage,” she said. “So it’s the seven-year-old that’s running your life, not the mature adult because you’re going back to that place when the shadow belief was created.” So even though our shadows are living in the outskirts of our conscious mind, they’re actually running the operating system of our conscious mind. “It’s there even though you don’t realize it, impacting every aspect of your daily life,” she explained.

These shadow selves we refuse to own can manifest themselves in many ways in our adult lives, sabotaging us and popping up at the worst time and in the worst way. Kosow shared an example of a public figure with a shadow — Elliott Spitzer, the governor of New York.

“My favorite all time example is Elliot Spitzer who went around trying to rid New York City of prostitution . . . and then was caught with a prostitute. So that’s a perfect example of a shadow quality.”

We often create an opposite persona of our shadow to cover it up, she explained. “We put so much energy in the denial of it,” she said. But we are not healing that wound until we learn to embrace the shadow and find the gift hidden within it. “Every quality has a gift to it,” she told listeners, even those we believe are negative or undesirable. And we possess all of them — all the qualities we don’t like in others exist within us, and we want to develop a loving relationship with them so they can’t sabotage or hinder us.

We might think we don’t want to be nasty, angry or a failure, but there is a gift in all of these qualities. If we let go and embrace these qualities, we can be more whole and authentic. If we let go and embrace failure, for example, we can see failure allows us to leave a bad marriage or allows us to leave a job we don’t want—both which offer positive outcomes.

“At the end of the day, we’re here to evolve,” Kosow explained. “The shadow is here to show you you so you can be who you are and live a fuller life and an authentic life.”

Kosow shared three steps to finding and embracing our shadow selves:

1. Unconceal — We have to know what our shadows are so the first step is to unconceal them. “I love when I find a shadow because I know on the other side of that shadow is freedom,” said Kosow.

We can look to the outside world to see what our triggers might be. What aggravates us about someone? The world is our mirror and is there to teach us, and because we can’t see ourselves we need other people to show us. If we are triggered by someone, we are reacting to a part of ourselves. “Anything you judge in others is is probably something you have yourself,” she said.

2. Own It — Say, “I am that.” So if we see someone that’s abusive—verbally or physically, we should examine our own actions. We may not be physically or emotionally abusive, but it may manifest itself differently. We may be self-abusive. “Every time I had a cookie when I was on a diet, or beat myself up for not being perfect, that’s abusive,” said Kosow. The quality may manifest itself very differently than the trait we see in another person. We may not be a “cheater” in the sense that we are unfaithful in your marriage, but we may cheat ourselves

3. Embrace It — Here is where we embrace and find the gift within the shadow. How does that quality actually serve you? For example, maybe not wanting to be a cheater may make you brutally honest. Or it may make you incredibly loyal. If you’re judgmental that shadow quality may make you a more discerning person and help you from being taken advantage of in life. If you feel unlovable, you may go to the other extreme and prove how lovable you are, and the gift in that is you’re helping other people, you have a lot of compassion for people, or you’ll have really good friends. “That’s what we call embracing the gift,” she said.

The outer world is a reflection of our own world, Kelley concluded. “If you only own 50 percent of yourself you’re only manifesting 50 percent of the real world. If you can own all of who you are, that’s when you’re open to manifesting everything,” she said. Once we have embraced 100 percent of our own potential, that’s what we will be able to create in the outer world. “

You can say to me, ‘Kelley you’re a bitch.’ And I say, ‘Yeah, I know,’” she said. “There’s a gift in everything and owning those shadows can only make us more whole.”

Mary Beth Vanderlinden: Healing Journey of Your Soul – Release and Reclaim Your Fragmented Self

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By Jennifer McCartney

Do you feel disconnected or like a part of you is missing? Do you have difficulty remembering your early years? Are you afraid of certain things but don’t know why? Maybe you have recurring dreams or nightmares, or are prone to anxiety and panic attacks?

Past life regression and soul retrieval may contain the answers you’ve been looking for with Mary Beth Vanderlinden shared how past life regression and soul retrieval can help during an interview with Elevated Existence founder Tammy Mastroberte, during the Living an Elevated Existence Mind, Body & Soul Summit Season 2. ” Vanderlinden—an ordained minister and intuitive healer who has been called “the human CAT scan” for her ability to see, hear and feel energy—also explained the effects of retrieving fragmented soul parts and how this can bring a person back into wholeness so he or she can move forward in life. This reuniting can also bring back joy, free one from depression, addictions and more.

She explained our soul and it’s past lives hold the key to having a happy, healthy and prosperous future, and that past-life energy can negatively affect our current lives without us even realizing it. How do we know we have past life energy holding us back? “The main way you can tell past life energy is holding you is if you can’t move forward,” Vanderlinden said. “You feel stuck.” She compared it to feeling like we are sinking in quicksand.

Our present-day issues brought about by past life energy can manifest themselves in many ways. She gave the example of a woman who felt afraid or uncomfortable around men, explaining that it could be the result of a devastating sexual and physical abuse from a past life. Our bodies retain an imprint of that abuse. “There’s that cellular memory built in fear,” she said. Also, these past lives can affect not only us but also our entire families, for generations.

“If you see patterns that are repeating in families like poverty, that’s ancestral,” she shared. If we try and escape these patterns ourselves, by trying to overcome our fear of men or trying to better manage our money, or escape a cycle of abuse that our mothers and grandmothers also suffered, our cellular energy is actively fighting against us, telling us, “you can’t do that,” she said.

Protecting Our Energy
To complicate matters, it isn’t just past energy effecting on our daily lives, but also the energy people bring to us—everyone we interact with has their own energy and we often absorb it and take it on without realizing it.

“You’re soaking up their energy and you’re showing the symptoms of that energy,” she said, using the example of meeting a friend for lunch and suddenly feeling drained afterwards. “If you notice that every time you meet them for lunch the same things happens…you notice you always feel really drained or you just don’t feel right afterwards…that person is the one you’re picking up energy from.”

So how do we protect our own energy on a daily basis, and ground ourselves so we don’t absorb the energy of others and allow it to effect us in a negative way? Vanderlinden walked listeners though the below exercise to use before we start our day:

Get seated comfortably and uncross your legs. Rest your hands on your thighs or knees. Take in a deep cleansing breath. Do that three times.

In front of you just imagine a path in a meadow. Notice the flowers, the butterflies, and the birds. Feel the sun on your face. Now in front of you you’re about to enter a forest with massive oak trees. Walking through the forest you enter a clearing and you can feel free to sit down or remain standing.

Now you see a seedling dropping from an oak tree, fluttering toward you. It enters in through your belly and comes to settle in the core of your being. It sprouts and grows in the core of your being. It extends its roots down your back and leg and into the earth. All the way through the dirt and soil and rock to the hot core of the earth. See them drawing in that earth energy. The roots draw that energy back up into the core of your being. Feel that warm healing earth energy pulsing through your core and sit with that a moment.

Then see the heavens open and give heavenly light to our third eye and down through our heart to the core of our being. Feel that divine light and learning and protection. Take a deep breath. Now we’re solidly grounded to heaven and to earth.

Additionally, to establish energy boundaries, she taught listeners to “get into their coconut,” which involved projecting heavenly light from our core, our solar plexus, and pushing it out so it’s 5-feet on either side of us, as well as above and below us. This is our energy boundary and it has a hard shell, she said. Then we set the intention, “My energy is my energy, and it stays inside the coconut.”

You want to get into your coconut every morning, she said, suggesting we do the practice as soon as we wake up or while in the shower. “Otherwise, you keep getting mired in other people’s energy.”