Gregoire Today is live Friday, March 5th at 1:30 pm ET / 10:30 am PT

Suzanne Scurlock-Durana, CMT, CST-D has taught internationally about conscious awareness and its relationship to the healing process. For over 25 years, Suzanne has masterfully taught her step-by-step practice of present moment awareness. The more fully you inhabit all aspects of yourself, the more capable you are of listening to that quiet voice within.

The practices of Full Body Presence give you the ability to accomplish this and to help you find a deeper awareness in the moment, even in the midst of chaos, family and work demands, or the pressure to perform. This deeper awareness also brings a fuller sense of trust and confidence in yourself, and in the world.

Visit Suzanne at www.FullBodyPresence.com

Full Body Presence is available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Borders, and a bookstore near you!

Years after losing his lower right leg in a motorcycle crash, Robert Kull traveled to a remote island in Patagonia’s coastal wilderness with equipment and supplies to live alone for a year. He sought to explore the effects of deep solitude on the body and mind and to find the spiritual answers he’d been seeking all his life.

With only a cat and his thoughts as companions, he wrestled with inner storms while the wild forces of nature raged around him. The physical challenges were immense, but the struggles of mind and spirit pushed him even further. Chronicling a life distilled to its essence — the fundamental mechanics of daily survival — “Solitude” is also a philosophical meditation on the tensions between nature and technology, isolation and society. With humor and brutal honesty, Kull explores the pain and longing we typically avoid in our frantically busy lives as well as the peace and wonder that arise once we strip away our distractions. He describes the enormous Patagonia wilderness with poetic attention, transporting the reader directly into both his inner and outer experiences.

Kull went into solitude fishing for enlightenment, seeking The Answer, but came back empty-handed. Wilderness, he found, is a place to clearly see the insanity of denying that the world is as it is. He discovered that life itself teaches us all we need to know — once we pause to really listen.

Solitude is available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and bookstores everywhere. You can find Bob Kull at www.BobKull.org.

Thomas Matus has dedicated years to the search for analogies of experience between Tantric yogis and Christian mystics. He has traveled widely in India and made frequent retreats at the Ashram of Shantivanam, where Bede Griffiths taught. Aside from meditation and some sacred rites, Matus’ spiritual practice is threefold: At all times and in all things: Give thanks; Judge not; Love enemies. Says Matus, “my teacher is the wounded surgeon, with healing in his hands. He sends us the public defender, with comfort for our hearts. She keeps me mindful of my practice, and when I am not, she reminds me (most often through others). Matus lives in the hills above Berkeley, California, in a modest, low-profile monastery called “Incarnation.”

My 16-year old daughter came home from school for the weekend and notified us that she’d forgotten her iPhone charger at school and that her phone had died.  She was forced to spend a half a day at work without her lifeline to the entire world.  She was lost.

Those of us who use technology of any kind know that if we do not charge the device, it dies completely.

That got me thinking about the parallel between technology and humans.  With smart phones and notebook computers, all we need to do is plug them into an outlet on a daily or periodic basis and the device will remain charged.  What’s the best way to charge humans?

For humans to be our best, we require three distinct sources of energy to run optimally – mental, physical and spiritual energy.  Ideally, we would recharge each of these areas on a daily basis. By remaining fully charged in each area, we’re guaranteed to operate efficiently for at least the next 24 hours.

What happens when we’re not properly charged? Instead of just shutting down completely like a phone, we begin breaking down in one or more of the three distinct areas.  For many people, we think that these negative feelings are normal.  They are normal feelings for humans who do not understand how to properly maintain themselves. They are not normal feelings when we care for our high-performance bodies like they were any of our prized possessions.

Physical break downs manifest with symptoms like excess weight, loss of muscle, physical weakness, high blood pressure and feelings of fatigue.   Mental break downs  show up in our negative self-talk, criticism of others, cynicism and destructive emotions.  Spiritual breakdowns manifest themselves when we’re lacking in faith, hope and love (of God, self and others).

People who cherish their cars wash the exteriors frequently (care for our bodies), detail the interiors at least weekly (care for our minds) and make sure that the engine is serviced regularly by an authorized dealer (care for our souls).

Why do many of us seem to care more for things than we do for our own well-being? I think that it’s just a lack of knowledge because we receive more education in school about language, math, history and science and very little about  how to care for our self.

On a daily basis, I see people investing time, energy and resources into their professions and into their families but, they neglect to spend enough time investing and charging themselves.  Neglecting our minds, bodies and souls on a daily basis is like heading out the door with a poorly charged cell phone.  We will only last for so long before we stop working.

Most of us know how long we need to plug in the computer or cell phone so that it is charged enough to service us for the day.  Do you know how long that it takes you to fully energize your soul?  your body? your mind?

Would it be unreasonable to allocate 1 hour in each 24 hour day to take care of yourself?  If you think that’s a large amount of time to invest in yourself, how much time do you spend working each day?  Would you consider yourself to be in peak physical, mental and spiritual condition?  Do you have any idea how you would perform every minute of your life for yourself, family and others if you were in peak condition in all three areas?

Technology comes with a manual that tells us how to care for the device.  Humans don’t come with a written manual so, we’re forced to figure out how to care for ourselves on our own.

Here is the short version of the Human Owner’s Manual:

Body: Congratulations on the choice of your earthly body.  The body that you’ve chosen has been designed to last for a minimum of 100 years with proper care. Below is the summary of how to maintain your body in peak condition.  Details can be found later on on the manual.

• Sleep for  6-8 hours each day
• Exercise for a minimum of 30 minutes each day to keep your body in prime condition.
• Eat 5-6 small meals every 3 hours so that you do not overeat from being too hungry

Mind:  Your mind was created as a receptacle to hold thoughts about yourself, others and about the beautiful world in which you live. Like a tape recorder it records literally every though that you have so PLEASE be very careful about how you speak to yourself.  You create your own self-identity with your thoughts.

• Spend 15 minutes (or longer) per day creating the thoughts that you wish to dominate your life.
• Convert all of the goals that you have into one-sentence, present tense affirmations and read them as if you’re sculpting the ideal being because you are.
• Try not to give sanction to the negativity in the world and please dispute the information that is coming your way from other humans and the media.

Spirit/Soul: You are s spiritual being that is temporarily making residence in a human body.  It is critical that you maintain your soul on a daily basis because it is your connection to God and to every other human in the world. The best way to maintain your soul is by maintaining a strong daily relationship with God as you would any other person – by talking (prayer) and listening (meditation).

• It is highly recommended that you spend at least 15 minutes per day in conversation with your Creator.
• 5-10 minutes of prayer for yourself and for others allows you to remain connected to the source of your spiritual being.
• 5-10 minutes of meditation per day allows you to silence your 60,000 self-centered thoughts that you create per day long enough to be able to listen to God. This practice will allow you to remain focused on your really long-term goals (after your life inhabiting your early body ceases)

By allocating 60 minutes per day to your mental, spiritual and physical health, you will remain happy, healthy and peaceful during your time on earth.  For questions about your mental, spiritual or physical health, please address your questions in the form of prayer to your creator.  All responses will be responded to on a first-come, first-served basis during your meditation time.

CNBC named Nance Rosen, “America’s Top Job Coach.” Investor’s Business Daily features her in their Managing for Success column. She’s a former marketing executive with The Coca-Cola Company, the number one most recognized brand in the world. She teaches business development and presentation skills on campus at UCLA. She speaks around the world to business audiences on the topic of Personal Branding.

Currently, she’s the Executive Publisher at PegasusMediaWorld, publishing gurus and manages the career trajectory of up-and-coming thought leaders.

She leads a mentoring program for young managers, called the Do-It-Together Club because “success is not a DIY, do-it-yourself” project. Find out more at DITclub.com. Visit www.NanceSpeaks.com for more about Nance’s topics.

Read her blog at NanceRosenBlog.com or follow her on Twitter @nancerosen. Nance’s new book is Speak Up! & Succeed: How to get everything you want in meetings, presentations and conversations.

Most companies, especially the larger ones are great at creating job descriptions for new and existing employees.  If you’re not familiar with them, they spell out in black and white exactly what the roles and responsibilities are for each position within a company. This minimizes the it’s not my job syndrome.

If the position were for an Executive Assistant, it would say things similar to:

• Handling the calendar for Chief Operating Officer: Scheduling of all meetings, calls, appointments and trips
• Screening and filtering of all incoming telephone calls and e-mail messages
• Creation of Word Processing, Spreadsheet and Presentation documents
• Office hours from 8AM-6PM: will frequently be asked to start early and stay late as requested by the COO

In the business world, we use the term role clarity in a positive light so that each person within the company knows how she/he will be measured at the end of the day, week, month, quarter and year. Role clarity minimizes ambiguity. When roles are clearly defined, employees can relax a little more knowing that they’re meeting expectations as clearly determined by the document created by Human Resources and/or management.

Should we consider creating job descriptions for our roles at home: husband, wife, son, daughter, father, mother, partner, roommate, etc.? If it’s the norm within the business world, maybe we should make it the norm at home?

Why might we consider doing this?  Are you certain that you’re meeting the expectations of the person or people with whom you share shelter?  Is your significant other meeting or exceeding your expectations?  If not, are you giving them clear and nurturing feedback or just keeping these negative feelings hidden?

Who sets these bars?  We usually set them, but we force the other people to figure out exactly what our standards are.

Keep jumping | Nope, not high enough |  Try again | Nope

Do I really want to know if I’m meeting expectations as a husband and father?

Do I really want to try as hard at home as I do in the outside world?

Feedback stings.  That’s why most of us do whatever we can to avoid it.  If I never ask you how I’m doing, I’ll never be disappointed with your response.  I’ll just keep going on in the ignorant splendor of missing the marks that have been set for me by others.

I think that this is where problems surface within our relationships at home.  What is frequently good enough for the other person is not good enough for us – or vice versa.

The problem at home is that most of us have no idea about exactly what the roles are and how we’re going to meet the expectations of the other person.

Here are some of the areas in which people have differing beliefs on what’s right and how things should be done at home:

Tidiness of the home

Is it okay to leave things on chairs or the floor?

Do dusting and vacuuming have to occur if we’re not cleaning for company or a party?

Why do I have to make the bed, I plan on using it again tonight?

I thought that you were responsible for the dishes and the laundry?

Tidiness of the home

• Is it okay to leave things on chairs or the floor?
• Do dusting and vacuuming have to occur if we’re not cleaning for company or a party?
• Why do I have to make the bed, I plan on using it again tonight?
• I thought that you were responsible for the dishes and the laundry?

Language used

• Critical versus nurturing environment: I only (criticize) speak this way to you because I love you.  I rarely or never criticize strangers.
• Is it appropriate to swear when it’s only us?
• Why don’t you speak to me as nicely as you do to your clients?

Sleeping schedules

• What is the right time to go to bed?
• What is the right time to get up?
• How late do we sleep-in on the weekend?
• Am I supposed to sleep on your schedule?

Entertainment

• How often should we go out together?
• How often do we go out as a couple? With other couples?
• How often should we vacation? How often with the children? How often without children?
• How often is it okay for me to go out without you (with friends)?
• Do we spend any time together at home when there is not a computer, television or smart phone distracting one or both of us?

Money

• Do I spend too much?
• Do I save too little?
• How much can I donate to charity?
• Why aren’t you making more than you are?
• I didn’t know that you expected me to be earning more than I am?
• Is it my job to pay the bills?

Work

• Will you please put down the iPhone and pay attention to me?
• I’m expected to be home for breakfast and dinner with the family? That eats into my work time!
• How often is it okay for me to be away on business travel?
• I didn’t know that you expected me to work.

Children

• Do you want any?
• How many is enough?
• Will we focus on the children or on each other as our main priority?
• Is it okay to let our relationship slide because of our devotion to the children?

Health

• Did you really expect me to keep the same body that I had when we were dating?
• When am I supposed to find time to exercise?
• I don’t really drink that much or that often.
• I’ll make getting the physical a priority next year.
• If we had more money, I’d eat healthier.

Faith

• I thought that you were going to take on that role with the children.
• I did that growing up but, it’s just not a priority in my life at this time.

Chores

• Who mows, weeds and shovels?
• Who does the dishes, laundry, dusting and vacuuming?

Relationship

• How nice to we have to be to each other at home?
• How often do we date?
• Do we treat each other as well as we treat people outside the home?
• Do we spend enough 1:1 time with each other?
• Are we really listening to each other?
• Are we showing the same level of love to each other that we’re showing to the children?

Maybe we should write out our own role descriptions for our roles at home and share them with the people who share our homes with us?

Maybe we should give the other person feedback on exactly what we’re looking for in our relationship with them?

At the end of your fiscal year, the document can be updated in order to take the relationship to the next level in the coming year.

We’re either growing together, or we’re growing apart.

Growing together is a joy.

Growing apart is painful.

After the roles are defined, negotiated and agreed to by both parties, we’d have a living document that would be reviewed on a periodic basis – monthly, quarterly? Each person would give the other person candid but, nurturing feedback on where things are going well and where there is room for improvement. In my case, I’d receive detailed feedback from my wife and children with a total score of meets, exceeds or failed to meet expectations in every area. Carolyn and the kids will receive detailed feedback from me on where they are meeting, exceeding or failing to meet expectations.

Wow! You mean that we’d all have to perform at home as well as we’re expected to at work or school???

Does that mean that I have to be as nice to the people at my home as I am to my co-workers and customers???

Companies do this so that they can document performance levels that are less than what is required to remain in a particular role.  Documenting the performance levels against the levels of expectations agreed to prior to accepting the job makes it easier to terminate an employee who fails to meet clearly set expectations.  Frequent feedback at work gives the employee the opportunity to improve and meet the role expectations.

Don’t the people that we love at home deserve the same feedback and consideration that we get and give at work and school?  Isn’t there some level of communication that should exist on a very frequent basis between our uttering of the worlds I do and  I do not know if I want to continue in this relationship? Of course there is.

At home, no matter how much we do, say or contribute, we all feel unappreciated at times.

Lack of appreciation from the people we love can sometimes lead to feelings of resentment.

When people are not living up to the expectations that we have of them, this too can cause us to begin resenting the other person. One of the problems with resentment is that only one person is hurting if the other person doesn’t know that he or she is not living up to the expectations of the other.

Although the creation of job descriptions for the our roles at home sounds a little sterile and formal, it would result in the setting of clear expectations for each individual and result in agreement on what a mutually beneficial relationship would look like.  It would create a process for constant communication and continuous feedback.  It would allow us to address issues on a regular basis so that we’d have the opportunity to live up to each other’s expectations and make changes while the problems are still fresh.

The problem that I see in many relationships is that expectations are not being set or met and there is little or no communication about it until the problems are serious enough to require professional help.

If we had to choose whether to treat our families or people outside the home better, wouldn’t it make more sense to treat our families impeccably?

How about getting into the habit of treating all people with love and kindness all the time?  You’ve got the potential to do it!

Drawn from the extraordinary true story of a family’s survival of Siberian exile comes One Life to Give: A Path to Finding Yourself by Helping Others

In the winter of 1939, five-year-old Andrew Bienkowski was exiled to Siberia with his family. The two years of struggle that followed—especially his grandfather’s amazing act of sacrifice during their first long, cold winter—have informed the rest of Andrew’s life. Thanks to his devoted mother, his quick-witted grandmother, and the unexpected kindness of strangers, Andrew established an approach to life that emphasizes helping others as the essential path to finding our greatest human fulfillment. Andrew is a veteran of the U.S. Air Force who served in the Korean War. He has worked as a psychologist for 40 years, designing and implementing mental-health programs and working directly with patients. Co-author Mary Akers is also the author of a short story collection titled “Women Up On Blocks.” Her fiction, poetry and non-fiction have appeared in many journals and anthologies.

Available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Borders, and a bookstore near you

There was an article in the January 25th edition of USA Today submitted by the Associated Press, Bin Laden praises attempted Christmas attack. While Bin Laden is praising the heroic warrior Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab who unsuccessfully tried to blow-up a U.S. airliner on Christmas Day, the article quotes him as saying, “If our messages had been able to reach you through words, we wouldn’t have been delivering them through planes.”

I wonder if he truly means it?  I wonder if he tried speaking with us and we either didn’t listen to him or we just heard what we wanted to hear?

Is it possible that each of us is part of the problems which exist on a global basis?  Are we isolating ourselves from problems that exist around the world?  Do we tend to focus too much on ourselves and the interests of our country?

We all want to be heard. Humans will do anything to receive attention. Although we’d prefer positive attention, if we can’t get enough of it, we’ll accept negative attention. Is terrorism a way of getting attention from people who appear to be living in isolation?

Have you ever had to yell, scream or punch a wall to get somebody’s attention?

Have you ever ignored what a child or spouse was saying to you because you were pre-occupied with something else that seemed more important than another human?

I wonder if Osama Bin Laden would try speaking with us again?  I wonder if he’d meet with me in the location of his choosing to have a civil one-on-one conversation about how to stop the killing in the world by replacing hatred with love?

What I know about Islam is that its’ followers profess tremendous love for Allah.  Devout Muslims pray 5 times per day. Islam is an Abrahamic faith that has much in common with Judaism and Christianity.  It is a faith which demonstrates tremendous love and compassion for Allah and others.

Many despicable acts have been accomplished throughout history in the name of religion.  Religion, like a tongue, can be used to bring love or to bring hatred.  Neither religion nor the tongue is bad – it is how it is used by the owner. Development of God-like loving and compassionate thoughts trains our tongues to be instruments of peace.

How can any person who professes to love God, kill in that God’s name?  Probably in much the same way that parents and children hurt each other on a daily basis with their words.

Each of us is being called to do the exact opposite of killing in God’s name: each one of us is called to love in God’s name.  It is love that is our true being and at the heart of our souls.  It is God’s love which created us and sustains our very life on a daily basis.  It’s only when we’re shielded from God’s words and God’s Spirit that we act un-Godly. It’s when we intentionally separate ourselves from our Creator that we become hateful, selfish, miserable and hurtful.

Would Osama Bin Laden really like to put an end to the wars in the world?  I would.

Would he like to discuss how we can begin educating the world so that ignorance would stop breeding hatred? Would he like to replace the hatred which exists in the hearts and souls of people with love?  I would.

Would he like to bring knowledge about God’s love for every single human to each of our 6.7 billion brothers and sisters?  I would.

Would he like to eliminate the doubt which exists in the minds of millions with a faith that only brings joy and love to self and others?  I would.

Would he like to replace the darkness that is clouding the souls of millions of people with a light that comes from the love of God?  I would.

Our planet is way beyond the point of  thinking and acting locally and selfishly.   It is our small minds and selfish thinking that have the world in the state in which it’s in today.  Each of is is a part of one Global Tribe.  We are one huge family.  Yes, many of us are not speaking with each other.  Yes, many of us are waiting for the other family member to admit that he or she is wrong.  Yes, many of us are turning our heads to the realities that are being faced by our family members.

Each of us has the potential to admit that we’ve been wrong and are part of the problem.  Once we admit that we have a global problem, we can commence with the global solution.  Selfish solutions from one country or one faith will not work in solving universal problems.

Each of us was created in the image and likeness of God. No one of us is more valuable in God’s eyes than another just because of a particular name, faith, family or net worth.  Each of us is a child of God and deserves to be treated with love, dignity and respect.  Together, each of us makes up one global family.  Each of us is a member of this family.  When one of us suffers, we all suffer.

Like a small paper cut can bring tremendous pain to us even when the rest of our body is healthy, any individual or groups of people who are in pain across the world bring pain to our global body.  Our global body is covered with numerous band-aids and many of our minor cuts are now seriously infected.

In a global body, amputation of an individual, country or faith is not a realistic remedy.  Love, compassion and understanding are the remedies to solve this body’s wounds.

Yesterday I spoke of reading comments made by Osama Bin Laden.  Today I issue the following letter, in hopes of furthering the previously stated desire to share my belief that all faiths and religions proclaim love for God and love of others. We cannot be a global community if we are each separated by faith, religion, creed, color, gender, or orientation. We must be willing to understand one another. We must put aside our differences long enough to hear one another. Only then will we be a successful global community.

Mr. Bin Laden:

If you choose to speak with me, you’ll be speaking with a citizen of the world who happens to have a mailing address in the United States. I am not a member of any government or political organization.  I am aware of the suffering, poverty, ignorance and helplessness that is going on in many parts of the world. I am also aware of the ignorance and selfishness that are running rampant in the industrialized, wealthy nations.

Ignorance is nothing more than a lack of knowledge, education and awareness.  I would like to bring education, love, hope, faith and prosperity to each of the world’s 6.7 billion humans.

You are currently influencing the minds of millions of your followers with messages of hatred and death.  You can be part of the solution if you’re still willing to use words of love and hope instead of airplanes and other weapons of destruction to get the world’s attention.

You have the potential and the ability to restore Islam as a faith of love and peacefulness in the minds of the ignorant who only associate it as one of hatred and killing.  You have the potential to refocus your followers to assist in solving the problems that exist in the world with their brains and their love.

You have the potential to redeem yourself by helping to create answers to the problems that you so deeply care about.

If you’re still willing to talk, I am willing to listen. I will seek to understand. Let’s bring people together with love in God’s name and put an end to the ignorance and hatred which exist only in the absence of God’s Spirit.

Sincerely,

Bob

Osama Bin Laden caught my attention in the newspaper last week. I’m requesting a meeting with him to discuss the following subjects and anything else that may be on his mind.

There is one Creator of the world.  Everything I know about that Creator keeps bringing me back to one word – Love.

If this Creator is associated with love, why does so much hatred exist?

Some of us don’t believe in this Creator because we don’t want to work too hard to come to really know and establish a relationship with God.  All relationships take work and because many of us are having a hard enough time working on relationships at work, school and home, we don’t have much left in our tanks to try and figure out this Creator who may or may not exist.

What better use of our time could there be than to learn how to sustain inner-peace, hope and love at all times?  Our minds, souls and world peace depend on that investment in ourselves.  Peace is established one mind at a time.

Many people who were born into a faith or who have developed faith later in life have come to know God because of a particular religion. I’ve come to know and love God through Christianity.  I am thankful for that gift on a daily basis.

That very faith has taught me that each person on the planet is my brother and sister. It’s taught me that it’s my responsibility to love each and every one of my brothers and sisters.

Once I chose to become aware of other faiths, and their predominance in countries and continents around the world, I now know that billions of great people around the world have come to know and love God through many other faiths.  My faith asks me to love each and every one of them.

How we come to know and love God is much less important to me than the love that we show to God and to each other.  People of differing faiths have much to teach each other as we work toward building our love and compassion for each other. As I’ve begun studying other faiths, that knowledge has helped me to increase and solidify my Christian faith.  The knowledge of other faiths has also allowed me to respect and appreciate our diverse paths that lead to the same outcomes:

• Love of God
• Love of all humans
• Unity with and dependence upon each other

I’ve yet to read a word about any faith or religion which does not proclaim love for God and love of others.