Lissa Rankin's Blog, page 8

A Radical Way To Grow Spiritually In A Relationship

As you walk a spiritual path, do you ever struggle in relationships with those who are not in the same place in their personal/spiritual evolution as you might be? In his online program Integral Enlightenment, spiritual teacher Craig Hamilton breaks relationships into three categories:

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Why Playing Small Is Just Your Ego

When most of us think of the idea of the ego, we think of words like “egotistical” or “arrogant.” What most don’t understand is that the same ego that leads people to boast,  self-inflate, name drop, and preen around with self importance can manifest as just the opposite.  When you wallow in self-doubt, act like you’re not good enough to belong, self-flagellate, or otherwise diminish yourself, that’s not humility. It’s more ego.

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When You're Not Ready...Wait

You know you need to cut out sugar.

A little voice tells you it’s time to get out of your marriage.

You know you should leave your job.

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Are You A Skanky ‘Ho?

When Martha Beck and I spent the day together recently, I wound up getting an impromptu coaching session while sitting in the lobby of the hotel after a full day of filming a documentary that features us both. Since I’m the luckiest woman on the planet to benefit from life coaching from Martha, I wanted to share what she taught me because I know it applies to many of you.

How many times per day do you get asked to do something you either don’t want to or don’t have time to do? Personally, a part of me has come to dread my email inbox because it’s so full of sweet, generous invitations from kind people who want something from me.

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What To Do When You Can't Decide

We usually refer to “finding your calling” as getting in touch with your life purpose. But you may be called to do any number of things that may have nothing to do with your professional life. These types of callings tend to come up whenever you find yourself unable to make a decision.

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When To Love, When To Let Go

I’m writing a blog series about M. Scott Peck’s The Road Less Traveled (you can read Part 1 here), and as I read the book, I came across a definition of love that is perhaps the best I’ve ever read. Dr. Peck differentiates between “falling in love” and “genuine love.” Falling in love he defines by the psychiatric term “cathexis,” which he defines as “being attracted to, invested in, and committed to an object outside ourselves.” We can “cathect” a beloved, a child, or even a hobby, like writing or painting.

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The Role Of The Doctor: Pharmacist Or Therapist?

Recently, I led a teleclass with Dr. Bruce Lipton, author of The Biology Of Belief  and The Honeymoon Effect, as part of my Whole Health Medicine Institute MD training. During the class, we talked about the role of the doctor, and Bruce told the Whole Health Medicine Institute doctors a story about a physician who claimed that his job was to help his patients maintain the status quo in their lifestyles - even if that lifestyle was, for the most part, unhealthy. In other words, he was willing to address diet and exercise lifestyle issues if he felt it would benefit the patient, but he believed it wasn’t the physician’s job to get involved in whether a toxic relationship might be making the patient sick - or whether a soul-sucking job might be causing symptoms in the body - or whether an illness might be the result of a thwarted dream or a financial worry.

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Are You Disciplined?

As Phase 1 of my Mind Over Medicine book tour winds down, I’m starting to think in the direction of my next book, The Fear Cure: Cultivating Courage As Medicine For The Body, Mind & Soul, which Hay House will be publishing. I spent most of this past winter writing Part One of the book – about all the scientific data which proves that fear makes us sick. Now it’s time to stop procrastinating about writing the harder parts – Part Two, about how courage heals us, and even more challenging, Part Three, The Prescription for how we can become more courageous in our lives (gulp.)

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Why Engaging In Work You Love Could Save Your Life

You probably know that having a toxic job that stresses you out and sucks the soul out of you isn’t exactly good for you. As a physician who has experienced work stress myself, as well as witnessing it in my patients, it’s obvious to me that work stress is poisonous and can translate into physical symptoms. You know this already. Anyone who has ever gotten a migraine after a deal went bad or stiff shoulders after the boss criticized him can attest to that.

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Has Your Soul Lived Other Lives?

I come from a family of three Methodist ministers and was raised going to a Methodist church twice a week. In the faith tradition of my family, we don’t choose our parents, we haven’t lived before we’re born, and when we die - if we’ve lived noble lives, we hightail it up to heaven to enjoy everlasting life and maybe even become angels.

And yet…increasingly, I find myself exploring - and even believing in - things that defy the teachings of my childhood upbringing.

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