Jean-Pierre Isbouts: In the Footsteps of Jesus: A Chronicle of His Life and the Origins of Christianity

In this interview, Jean-Pierre Isbouts talks to Alexander “The Engineer” Lim, host of AuthorStory by alvinwriter.com, about his book, In the Footsteps of Jesus: A Chronicle of His Life and the Origins of Christianity.

“It’s hard to quibble with historical and archaeological data.” ~Jean-Pierre Isbouts 

In this interview, Jean-Pierre Isbouts talks to Alexander “The Engineer” Lim, host of AuthorStory by alvinwriter.com, about his/her book, In the Footsteps of Jesus: A Chronicle of His Life and the Origins of Christianity. 

Jean-Pierre is a professor in a Ph.D. program and has supervised several dissertations, and has worked with such talents as Leonard Nimoy, Charlton Heston and Morgan Freeman. He is into both filmmaking and scholarly works, as he believes that 21st century scholars shouldn’t focus only on peer-reviewed work, as scholars need to “speak the language” of the 21st century - video, streaming and the like - to “evangelize” their ideas. He thus makes video works on topics which, as a scholar, interest him, and this is advice he gives to his students in the present day. “It’s such a different world,” he remarks when he compares how easy access to information is today compared to when he was in college, “but it also demands more of us. This kind of access also raises the bar for scholarship.”

Jean-Pierre is interested in Biblical archaeology, as he came of age at a time when the Old City of Jerusalem was occupied by the Israelis, which opened up new opportunities for archaeologists to investigate, forensically, what the gospels and Hebrew works talk about. This is because the Bible is a book of faith, rather than a scientific text, and he is interested in the interconnection between science and faith - which has been the driving force behind his interest in Biblical archaeology. (Jean-Pierre is also interested in the Renaissance and 19th century Europe, and has done work on these.)

When he writes about Biblical works and times, Jean-Pierre focuses on writing about history, pointing out that history is something that all religions can agree on. This non-denominational approach, as well as his respect for the traditions of various faiths, has allowed him to be invited into places of worship in different faiths, such as mosques and synagogues alike. This historical-based approach allows for interesting conversations, Jean-Pierre notes, which enlighten and heighten peoples’ faith, pointing out that his research has brought him closer to Jesus in his personal life (Jean-Pierre is a practicing Christian). What he reports are a matter of record, based on available evidence, and this approach, he notes, is something that will deepen one’s understanding of the life and times of Jesus, as well as of the man himself.

The first edition of In the Footsteps of Jesus was a follow-up book to The Biblical World, and in both books Jean-Pierre attempted to put together the political and social environment of the time. The latter book turned out to be an unexpected (to him) bestseller, and he decided to apply that same approach to In the Footsteps of Jesus. A second edition was necessary because of new information that has come out since the first edition.

There is a broad and growing scholarship on the life of the historical Jesus, while Jean-Pierre has focused on the historical framework, and this gives a great deal of insight into the events of the day, as well as on the writing themselves. The evangelists, for example, wrote for an audience in the Roman Empire, both Jews and Gentiles, rather than for Palestinians; and the Jews and Gentiles had their own ideas and expectations about a messianic figure which needed to be spoken to and addressed. This resulted in a gradual change of image of Jesus, from that of a Greek philosopher to the Son of God (which is a common concept of Greco-Roman thought) - images which were not in accord with the tenets of Judaism and the original movement in Palestine. Jean-Paul notes that this viewpoint was the reason the Jews resisted accepting Jesus, particularly since he was seen as a rebel and a revolutionary who was killed like any other common criminal, and the reason why the evangelists focused on Gentiles, who were searching for a new kind of spirituality which was more responsive than the Roman polytheistic religion then practiced. The Jesus movement filled that gap, and it was from there that Christianity emerged.

By the standards of the ancient world - a time without the printing press or mass communications, where information was heavily controlled by the rulers and authorities, who were the only ones who could afford scribes - the expansion of Christianity was “a lightning strike,” growing from a small sect in a small, local area to becoming the official religion of the Roman Empire in three centuries’ time. This was spread primarily through oral tradition, which resulted in 300,000 people professing the Christian faith by the end of the first century (around a hundred years after Jesus began his ministry). Jean-Pierre also noted that, in the 9th century CE, the largest Christian territories were in Asia, which shows the appeal of someone who promised redemption to everyone.

The evangelists, historically, were accomplished scribes who lived in cities throughout the Roman Empire, which is why they aren’t familiar with Judean Galilee, and were likely commissioned by the local Christian community to put the oral traditions to paper. The earliest text is the Gospel of Mark, which is written in commoner Greek (rather than the higher, Attic Greek used for Greek sagas) and which makes him the evangelist closest to the original traditions. Jean-Pierre also notes that the Gospels of Mark, Matthew and Luke, which are written for communities familiar with Jewish customs, whereas the Gospel of John is written for non-Jews, which is why such traditions as Passover needed to be explained. That said, such documents have a universal appeal, even thousands of years later.

Where the historical Jesus is concerned, Jean-Pierre notes that second-hand witness testimony of the man - who was a common, ordinary man - is absent, because scribes only wrote about important people of the day, such as kings and wealthy people, who could afford their own burial marker or gravestone. Jean-Pierre notes that nobody contests the fact that Socrates existed, even though there is no contemporary historical evidence that he ever lived, as such evidence came from later writers as Plato. This is also the case of the historical Jesus, as well as “scores” of people in ancient times, whom we know about only from people who wrote about them well after the fact, well after they had passed on. The earliest written documents available on Jesus, Jean-Pierre notes, were written within twenty-five years after the Easter event, with the first writings of the evangelists taking place a generation later. The later Roman historians Tacitus and Seritonius wrote about the tribe of Christus, which was politically portrayed as a subversive cult, and the Jewish historian Josephus, who was brought up in a Jewish environment who could thus speak with authority on Jesus, confirmed what the Gospels spoke of. That said, such was acceptable as proof of attestation and existence in the ancient times, so this yardstick is the one that must be applied when reading about historical figures who weren’t wealthy or who weren’t rulers. Jean-Pierre also points out that there are more attestations to the historical Jesus than other figures whose past existence we take for granted.

Jean-Pierre estimates that there are around 10,000 different Christian denominations in the United States alone, and around 300,000 different denominations worldwide. This is because, he believes, because of politics, with people co-opting Christianity for their own purposes. That said, Jean-Pierre notes that Jesus wanted to recreate society, in Roman Palestine, along the Three Pillars of the Torah, namely:

Compassion for your fellow man.

Social justice.

Complete surrender and faith in God.

Jesus likely saw these three pillars fading away during his lifetime, Jean-Pierre notes, because of the conditions that existed in Galilee at the time. There were those who collaborated with the Roman overlords and those who did not, and Galilee itself was a socially unstable area during his time. There had been two peasant revolts, and the Herodians built great projects in Judea, such as the expansion of ports, temples, cities and strongholds, by using the money squeezed from the Galilean peasants. This resulted in the native Galileans being poor, hungry and disenfranchised, with no hope and with children who ran around in tattered clothes; and it was no surprise that Jesus’ teachings thus had a great deal of appeal to such.

For Jean-Pierre, being a Christian is all about doing what Jesus asks his followers to do, and points out that there is nothing in the book that will challenge its readers’ faith.

Purchase from Amazon: In the Footsteps of Jesus: A Chronicle of His Life and the Origins of Christianity by Jean-Pierre Isbouts

Deryck Richardson on Why We Should All Go Play and Get The Ultimate Road Map to Winning the Game of Life

In this interview, Deryck Richardson talks to Alexander “The Engineer” Lim, host of AuthorStory by alvinwriter.com, about his book, Go Play: The Ultimate Road Map to Winning the Game of Life.

“As kids, we don’t overthink things.” ~Deryck Richardson

Borders had never much existed for Deryck, even when he was younger, and this was how he got into all the many things he did. As an African-American who grew up in a white suburb, he got acquainted with grunge music, which seemed strange to his relatives in urban neighborhoods, who were not used to “white music.” HIs first job was when he was fourteen years old, working for a “boiler room” organization which called up people to donate money to another organization. He was taught the fundamentals of sales and got “addicted” to commissions, and as he and some others were underage kids, the Attorney General of Ohio shut that down twice while Deryck was there.

Deryck went to school because he was a teenage father and, after dropping once out of college, went back in because he wanted to coach and needed a degree for that. It was then that he realized that, while he wanted to teach, he wasn’t motivated by the idea of working for a paycheck, so he got out of teaching and got into the mortgage business. He made some “big boy” money until the mortgage industry crashed in the early 2000s, then went into insurance, after which he then became a “serial entrepreneur,” owning an insurance agency and a marketing firm which is one of the fastest-growing companies in Columbus, Ohio in 2020, as well as a coffee store and being a community volunteer, author and speaker.

Deryck remarks that he had always been “the leader of the pack,” when growing up, particularly as he was the first in their group to do such things as drive a car and get a job. He had been a sales manager at the age of twenty, which reflected this “knack for leadership,” particularly since he was managing older people.

Deryck’s life experiences are a living testament to the philosophy he espouses in Go Play, noting that, as kids, whenever Mom told kids to “go play,” she didn’t specify what the kids should play with, so the kids were pretty much free to do anything they wanted. This is an attitude that Deryck remarks is something that adults don’t do “often enough,” as adults consider their life experiences and expectations of what they’re supposed to do whenever they select the things they decide to do - which is typical of the “vast majority” of people, in Deryck’s experience. “The go-getters don’t really care what people think,” he says.

Failure and stress, as well as mental health considerations as depression and anxiety stemming from failure, are, in Deryck’s opinion, some of the blocks that keep people from just going out and playing. “If you get knocked down and you’re really determined to succeed at it, you’re just gonna get back up,” he remarks. He also remarks that the people around one are likely to have failed themselves, which leads to their not having faith in one, which means, essentially, that one’s own circle of friends, acquaintances and family are likely not going to enable one to ascend. Deryck admits he feels “different” from those in his immediate circle, and while he has attempted to bring some of these along with him in business, they have decided to not go with him. “If you’re not gonna keep up with me, I’m gonna leave you,” Deryck notes after mentioning that, as he ascends, he no longer expends the energy to “reach down” to help those in his circle. Not allowing others to influence one’s decisions or actions, is, the key to doing what one wants to do, Deryck emphasizes. “They’re not you,” he remarks; “you are the only person who is you in this world.”

Deryck admits that he’s been broke before, has had failed relationships and has failed “a million times.” “I’m lucky because I get hurt all the time,” he remarks, “I get bruised all the time. And if luck means that I get back up again, then I guess I am lucky.” He also notes that luck occurs when hard work meets opportunity, and which is why he continues to put the hard work in and continues to be willing to take on the opportunities that come his way.

Deryck admits that a lot of the concepts in his book are “brand new” concepts, as this is all about setting one’s mindset. The twist here is bringing the reader back to the reader’s childhood, when the reader was seven and immersed in the mindset of just playing, of just doing while not listening to people, rather than failing when others say you fail. In addition, Deryck includes stories from his own life. “If you’re going from level to level continuously, like in a video game, then you’re winning,” he remarks, “you’re continuously improving.” He also made the book a short one, at one hundred pages, as he didn’t want readers to finish it, rather than for a racer to get to “Chapter 7” and then just put it on the shelf, never to be read again. (He’s working on two follow-up books which are, essentially, the other parts of the original, three-hundred page book which he conceptualized.)

Where the book is concerned, Deryck notes that one of the reasons it is relatable is that it can bring the reader back to the state of childhood where everything is possible, as well as that it shows how relevant the concepts are to one’s daily life, thanks to several stories that highlight these concepts. (Deryck then gave the story of the lumberjack who came out of retirement, and commented on how this would apply to everyday life, as well as how two of his present businesses came to reside in the same office, due to his willingness to change directions.)

Where today’s environment is concerned, Deryck remarks that the year 2020 is “an example of why people need to ‘go play,’” remarking that the situation, for him, was one he hadn’t encountered before. He gave the example of starting a vacation with his wife on March 15 of that year, then needing to return on the 16th to coordinate the continuation of his business, as the state of Ohio ordered businesses to close down that day. He had his tech team set things up so that his people could work for home, and he remarks that those were some of “the best decisions I made in a 24-hour period.”

Deryck advises those who have an idea to “act on it.” “What’s the worst that can happen?” Deryck asks, adding that it just might not be as good as it was, and one would still gain some wisdom and knowledge and experience if it doesn’t pan out.

Purchase from Amazon: 

Go Play: The Ultimate Road Map to Winning the Game of Life by Deryck Richardson

Carolyn Wilman on Helene Hadsell's Books and the Secrets of Attracting Luck in Life

In this interview, Carolyn Wilman talks to Alexander “The Engineer” Lim, host of AuthorStory by alvinwriter.com, about her editing and publishing Helene Hadsell’s books, The Name It & Claim It Game: WINeuvers for WISHcraft and In Contact With Other Realms: An Adventurer's Experiences in Awareness.

“There is no failure, only a delay in results.” ~Helene Hadsell

“Always listen to your inner voice, even if it seems illogical.” ~Carolyn Wilman

Carolyn feels honored to be publishing Helene’s works, as Helene spoke to her through these. Carolyn notes that Helene was friends with such people as Jose Silva and Dr. Joseph Murphy, doing a lot of things in the seventies which people are now doing, such as health and visualization methods. Helene was a housewife who didn’t work outside the home until her spiritual guides pushed her to attend seminars by Jose Silva, ending up, in the end, as his assistant and PR person, performing such duties as arranging trips to different cities. It was through this experience that Helene learned how to envision what she wanted and then get it. 

Carolyn had met Helene Hadsell for four days in 2008, and the latter then told her to teach Helene’s classes, as Carolyn was apparently the one best suited to do so. Carolyn, however, didn’t do anything about it until 2019, when Carolyn got in touch with Helene’s son, Dike (Helene had passed away in 2010). Carolyn then told him that his mother’s messages needed to be passed on, as these would be lost once Dike, himself, passed on (Dike is now in his seventies), and Dike agreed, which is why Carolyn is now publishing all four of Helene’s books. The Name It and Claim It Game is the first of these, while Contact with Other Realms is the second, and Carolyn has modernized it as well as included some of the notes that Helene had kept on adding to these until the day she died.

Carolyn remarked that she had used what she had learned from Helene to win prizes on her own, and noticed that, when she was depressed from a divorce, she didn’t win prizes. This is due, she believes, to her needing to be in an energized, happy state to do so. Carolyn notes that she and Helene seemed to resonate with each other, particularly since Helene used levity all throughout her life.

Carolyn remarks that Helene won a lot of the contests she entered, thanks to the mindset she had. Helene’s mindset was that of: “You’ll see it when you believe it,” and Carolyn mentioned a story of a woman who didn’t see herself winning, as well as another story of Helene wanting something very specific, which she then got. That said, Helene was into other things, such as overcoming her fear using the techniques she had learned. She was also in the New Thought Movement which, today, is called New Age / Positive Thinking, and while Helene wasn’t the only person involved with this, Carolyn remarks that so many different people are necessary because different teachers resonate with different people.

Carolyn notes that Contact with Other Realms is the book that Helene (and her spirit guides) really wanted to write, as she could talk to spirit guides, but she wrote The Name It and Claim It Game to get people used to the idea of using their mind - visualization - to get things; and what more better way to make people more open to changing their thoughts and using their intuition, than by showing how to win prizes in contests? That said, Carolyn says that one needs to attract love to win prizes, which is aligned with her needing to be in a higher state of vibration to win things.

Carolyn mentioned how Helene watched her grandfather’s passing at a young age as an example of how she could see into the spiritual realm, which is the first story in Contact with Other Realms. Helene also refers to her spiritual contacts as “guides” rather than angels, and wanted to impart that everyone can communicate with spiritual guides; and Carolyn remarks that she does this, herself.

Purchase from Amazon: 

The Name It & Claim It Game: WINeuvers for WISHcraft 

and 

In Contact With Other Realms: An Adventurer's Experiences in Awareness

Neal Grace on Having Fresh Eyes Upon the World and Making Life a Spectacular Journey

In this interview, Neal Grace talks to Alexander “The Engineer” Lim, host of AuthorStory by alvinwriter.com, about his book, FRESH EYES UPON THE WORLD: Making Life a Spectacular Journey.



“Be bold, be adventurous. Be willing to take a risk.” ~Neal Grace

A lot of things that Neal observed going on in the world didn’t resonate with him after graduating high school, and it was because he wanted to discover who he was and how to fit into the world that he embarked on the lifelong journey that he did, along a path deemed unconventional at that time. His drive led him to want to explore different environments and cultures, and as he did so, he gained opportunities to learn about himself and about life. He acknowledges that this path was both “scintillating and exciting,” as well as spontaneous, occasionally dramatic, lonely and difficult, as he didn’t find a place that he could call “home” for a long time.

Neal liked reading books to learn about the world, and also loved poetry “that made a statement” about life in a tangible and vivid way. Writing poetry, for him, became a way to reflect on his own life, on his perceptions of the world or about some aspect of himself, as well as a way to enrich himself spiritually and intellectually. He also likes music, theater and dance as well as other forms of creative expression because, to him, creativity is “the soul yearning for a discovery of itself, and for an opportunity to interact and dance with the world in magical and mystical ways.” Exploring creativity, Neal remarks, “is a journey into a higher realm,” as well as a journey that takes him back to the “raw reality” of daily life. “Creativity,” he notes, “is a way of playing with the world in such a way that you reinvent yourself with the world.”

Neal notes that everyone is on a spiritual journey, as they are all evolving from the day they are born to the day they die. He describes his own journey as an adventure, where every experience was a learning opportunity that enabled him to get closer with himself. Neal admits that material benefits were secondary to his journey, as he didn’t subscribe to the orthodox lifestyle his peers followed. He opines that all great philosophers need to “step aside” at some point in their lives and travel a “pathless” world to get in touch with their own strengths and weaknesses, and that everyone should figure out how to “reap some great rewards” from life’s experiences.

Neal remarks that, the more sensitive one is, the more one would find it difficult to resonate with society as we know it, as the latter is fractured; indeed, he analogizes it to everyone being in an “insane asylum” where everyone needs to deal with everyone else. In this challenging environment, being creative and resourceful is vital to meeting the inevitable obstacles and detours that one would follow, Neal muses.

Neal notes that there is nothing wrong with working on the “mundane aspects of life” and living a materially orthodox life, and he has proven this in his own life, as he has made money for himself to enjoy the material comforts of life without sacrificing his own integrity and creativity. His outlook on material affluence is to acquire this in a healthy, balanced way, so he can create serenity and stability for himself. Neal notes that the desire for material wealth gets unbalanced when one places one’s “toxicity” on this, by either condemning or becoming obsessed with it, as well as becoming prisoners of it, and that if the desire for material wealth is done in a beneficial way, then this “becomes a good thing.” The toxicity, he notes, comes when people bring their unresolved past issues into the present, and occurs because one brings one’s own disposition, be it disempowered or powered, caring or fearful, into every moment of one’s life.

Fresh Eyes Upon the World, Neal notes, “started when I was born,” as it is a compilation of the lessons he has learned in his life. The purpose of his book is to inspire people to have an uplifting and meaningful life for themselves, in reaction to all the suffering, struggle and malevolence he sees in the world. Its intention is also to promote wellness and to heal all the wounds we all have, as well as the wounds in the world at large, be it environmental or societical, and Neal’s own goal is to create a world of understanding, more than anything else.

The questions in the book, Neal notes, are ones which people reflect on at some point in their lives, and he believes these are asked unconsciously. Neal opines that the most important question that is asked is: “How can I be happy / fulfilled / at peace with the conditions of the world or my own personal life?” The answers that Neal gives are based on his experience, logic and what he learned, and are simple when distilled down to their essence. He notes that the answers are clear and can be incorporated into one’s life, but he also remarks that people might be asking the right questions and getting the answers, but not taking the next, necessary step by doing something in relationship with the question they asked, to transform and heal the issue that the question springs from. Neal notes that taking that action opens up new doors and new questions, and that delving into the question honestly and objectively is what produces viable results. He remarks that one of the reasons why people don’t apply what they know to do to get off feeding unhealthy habits is because they are “wedded” to these, and that it takes a great deal of resolve, commitment and energy to get clear from such habits, as well as a love of self beyond one’s ego.

Purchase from Amazon: FRESH EYES UPON THE WORLD: Making Life a Spectacular Journey by Neal Grace

Kris Francoeur on Grief, Garlic and Gratitude and Returning to Hope and Joy from a Shattered Life - Sam's Love Story

In this interview, Kris Francoeur (a.k.a. Anna Belle Rose) talks to Alexander “The Engineer” Lim, host of AuthorStory by alvinwriter.com, about her book, Of Grief, Garlic and Gratitude: Returning to Hope and Joy from a Shattered Life - Sam’s Love Story.



“Remember the person that you’ve lost, remember what it was that they loved most, and find a way to celebrate that.” ~Kris Francoeur

Kris began writing the material for her book within days of the death of her son, Sam, by posting things online which she was grateful for, as these enabled “the darkness of the grief” to lift somewhat. It was after writing this for a few months that people began saying that her posts on gratitude were resonating with them and helping them look at their own lives. She also received suggestions about her putting these into a book, but it still took around two years before she finally decided to do so.

According to Kris, Sam was a “beacon of light and love,” something which she only fully realized after his death, when Sam’s friends and acquaintances, who had met Sam at some point in their lives, would come over and commiserate with the family. As a child, Sam would want to talk to complete strangers, and even later on, when he struggled with bipolar disorder and addiction, he would see everyone as “worthy of love” and would talk to total strangers. Sam, Kris notes, was “such a character and had such energy” that, after he died, she felt a “gaping hole” with his loss.

Sam began smoking marijuana at the age of 14, initially recreationally, but he soon found that marijuana enabled him to control the extremes of his bipolar disorder condition. This, however, became an outright addiction to prescription drugs and opiates. Kris remarks that Vermont had “absolutely been destroyed” by the opioid epidemic, as the state is a transit area for drugs, to the point where Rolling Stone magazine did a cover story on the issue, and while this issue is endlessly brought up in school, Kris notes that teenagers don’t necessarily listen to what adults say.

Kris notes that the grief she and her family experienced after Sam’s death was different from the kind of grief they had experienced before. She also remarks that grief is a process and that, as a psychologist, she thought she knew what the stages were, in the order she had learned them. She found, however, that the stages of grief are different for parents who lose children compared to when children lose parents or a friend losing a friend, noting that she never experienced anger, at least as of the time of this interview.

(The stages of grief, according to Kubler-Ross, are: Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression and Acceptance, in that order.)

Kris remarks that, at present, the sadness she feels from Sam’s loss is akin to a callous on one’s foot, in that she has learned to “walk with it.” One of the hardest lessons she had to learn was that she would always miss Sam for the rest of her life, remarking that, at Sam’s service, a woman whom she had known for forty years, and whose son had also died of an opioid overdose some fifteen years previously, hugged her and told her that “it doesn’t get better; it gets different.” The woman’s remark initially angered Kris, but Kris realized that the woman was telling her the truth. For Kris, learning to live with Sam’s death is a part of her life.

Kris acknowledges that her family isn’t religious and also didn’t want to travel such paths as drinking or taking medication or illegal drugs. Each member of the family went through grief in their own ways, and what was consistent for all of them was being with nature as much as possible, to “do a Sam” by holding true to the things that Sam loved, such as listening to music, being outdoors and being with people. The latter posed a bit of a challenge for Kris and her husband, as they are introverts, but they did so anyway, reaching out to people they didn’t know in the same way Sam used to.

Kris notes that it is easy to think that “everything is bad” whenever something bad - such as the loss of a job or an accident - happens, which colors everything that one then sees and would complain about. Kris admits that it was easy to view the world through this filter after Sam’s death, and she used to recognize, every day, the wonderful gifts that she had received, and then post online the things that she was grateful for. This helped her out greatly, particularly during the first year after Sam’s death, as she would feel peace and love - something that helped her realize that the world wasn’t the horrible place that she could so easily see it to be. Kris points out that, as she has traveled the path of “conscious and deliberate gratitude,” she has learned that being grateful for at least 30 days changes the brain’s chemistry, and can even show as much benefit as antidepressants. She remarks that her heart rate, when she writes about things she is grateful for, is the same as that when she meditates.

Community does play a part in dealing with grief, according to Kris, and she points out that this isn’t commonly the case with other families who have suffered the loss of a member who died from an opioid overdose, as the most common reaction is that other people don’t want to hear about it. Kris admits that the outlook of what Sam’s friends had on such things as energy, life, death and the universe were beyond what hers was, and that they “wrapped around” Kris and her family, showing them how much, to this day, they love Sam and his family. This openness, acceptance and acknowledgement of grief is also what enables Kris and her family to come to terms with grief and manage it in their lives.

To those who are grieving, Kris advises that everyone grieves differently, and so long as one doesn’t harm oneself, the way one grieves isn’t wrong. She also advises that those in grief record their stories, as doing so is a good way to learn about oneself.

Purchase from Amazon: Of Grief, Garlic and Gratitude: Returning to Hope and Joy from a Shattered Life?Sam’s Love Story by Kris Francoeur

Jessica Joines on Daring to Believe & 12 Lessons for Living Your Soul Purpose

In this interview, Jessica Joines talks to Alexander “The Engineer” Lim, host of AuthorStory by alvinwriter.com, about her book, Dare to Believe: 12 Lessons for Living Your Soul Purpose.



“The Universe does not put a dream in your heart where there is not some path of abundance towards.” ~Jessica Joines

Purchase from Amazon: Dare to Believe: 12 Lessons for Living Your Soul Purpose by Jessica Joines

Jessica’s parents were the first in their families to graduate from college, and from childhood Jessica was taught to work hard. That said, she wasn’t told to not pursue her dreams. When she entered the job market, she adopted a “survival consciousness” mindset, which meant that following her passion felt frivolous throughout her stay in the corporate world for around 15 years. She suffered panic attacks from early on, and while she persisted in corporate life she told herself that she couldn’t believe that what she was doing was what she would be doing - and she called the tasks that she was doing “repetitive” - for the next few decades. She noted that she took a lot of career assessment test and pursued all traditional avenues but she didn’t find the answers she was looking for. This led to her feeling that the kind of life she was to lead becoming less acceptable over time, and she began asking if this was what was meant for her, remarking that “Life can’t be about being paid to suffer.” Things came to a head when she was so “broken” with the way her life was going that she took a year off to travel; and it was then that she promised herself that she would “figure this thing out,” which essentially meant figuring out what her purpose was and to explore it.

Jessica felt compelled to share what she had learned in the course of her journey of self-exploration, and she chose to publish so she could get her message out as expediently as possible. She read up on a lot of spiritual teachers but, at the start, didn’t know how to apply their teachings to her everyday life and so began creating her own practices which she found applicable to her own life. She remarks that the story about sticking to a job one hates so one can earn money comes from a place of fear, with people believing and living that story, and that following one’s dream leads to abundance for oneself. “Do you think the Universe puts a true passion and desire and dream for your life within your heart that you really are excited about and want to do, which only leads to a path to poverty?” she asks.

One of the main lessons Jessica wants to impart to others is to believe that one has a life purpose, and points out that, in her previous life, she believed that she was exempt from such, as only special people had a life purpose. Jessica remarks that, while this realization is the most difficult to accept, once one has come to that realization, everything else falls into place.

Jessica defines fear as “false evidence appearing real,” and notes that it took her some time to understand this and that she still struggles with this concept. She notes that, when one meditates, there are two voices that speak out, with the louder one being the voice of fear and one’s ego and the second, quieter one being the voice of one’s higher self, and that, 99% of the time, the voice of fear is incorrect. Rather than outright believe the voice of fear, Jessica presently works to pause and think about the issue within herself which is ready to be healed, as it is this issue which fear gives voice to. The example she remarked on is that, if one follows one’s dreams, one will live in poverty, which indicates a need for one to recognize one’s own beliefs about what the universe is and isn’t, as well as the issue that one is unworthy to receive abundance. Other issues could also be related to trusting others or that one isn’t talented enough, and Jessica remarks that getting to the source of the fear can be as confusing as one allows it to be, as the ego might not want that issue solved. That said, Jessica says that, if one is quiet enough and honest enough with oneself for five minutes, one will know the issue behind the fearful thought.

For Jessica, love is the recognition of oneness, as it is an energy, adding that, every day, she has a choice of aligning either with the energy of love or the energy of fear. She notes that she is aware that she is aligned with the energy of love when she walks down the streets and feels love for, and a connection with, the strangers she sees. She also believes that all of us are here to heal the “disease of separation.” On the topic of love, Jessica remarks that love songs are all about one thinking about oneself and not about oneness or about the other person.

For Jessica, spirit is an energy which is the essence she would feel from anything, including herself. Spirit is something within oneself, Jessica believes, and the more one quiets oneself and anchors oneself in love, the more one experiences one’s own spirit. Succumbing to fear, on the other hand, shuts down one’s heart and causes a lessening of the experience of one’s spirit. She remarks that, when one realizes that one is it, that there is nothing needed to bring into oneself because all that is needed is for one to allow out that which is within oneself, one’s perception shifts from fear to love. Jessica reflected that she had done such things as vision boards in the past, but that these came from a viewpoint of lack, e.g., “I don’t have this, so I have to manifest it and bring it in.”

Where abundance is concerned, Jessica notes that her shift came with the belief that she is already abundant and all that needs to be done is to let it out. Perceiving abundance in everything is also part of that shift.

One of the most important lessons Jessica wants to share is that one’s heart, alone, knows what one’s purpose is, as one’s purpose isn’t something to be figured out. Rather, one’s purpose is revealed by anchoring to one’s heart, then trusting and believing that what one finds there is the truth. “You’re not gonna think your way to your sole purpose,” Jessica notes. “It’s about getting quiet and getting in touch with what you love, what you dream about, and whatever that is that is in your heart and trusting whatever’s there.” Jessica also notes that, when one starts out with this work, a lot of negative messages (“That’s outrageous!”) will come up, and that it is important to consider these as clues. She notes that it’s about being really observant and honest and true with oneself about what one really, really wants, by which one discovers one’s purpose.

Jessica also brings up the lesson of “believing what you want with conviction” and that “the truth that is in your heart is often more real than the one that you see,” she points out, and that people need to keep that in mind as they progress in this work.

Purchase from Amazon: Dare to Believe: 12 Lessons for Living Your Soul Purpose by Jessica Joines

Kimberly Friedmutter on Using Your Inner Subconscious Mind to Create the Ideal Life for Yourself

In this interview, Kimberly Friedmutter talks to Alexander “The Engineer” Lim, host of AuthorStory by alvinwriter.com, about her book, Subconscious Power: Use Your Inner Mind to Create the Life You've Always Wanted.



“Life doesn’t have to be this battle, so we don’t have to make it one. We have everything we need, in our own mind.” ~Kimberly Friedmutter

Kimberly had been asked to write Subconscious Power from someone who had heard about her, and Kimberly decided to do just that, as the six core principles she espouses in her book are easy and actionable, as these were the ones her clients most responded to over the years of her practice.

Where hypnotism is concerned, Kimberly, herself, has been a subject of such, in pursuit of self-improvement, for years before she created her practice.

The subconscious, according to Kimberly, is one of the two parts of mind, the other being the conscious, which is the critical thinker that plans things out. The subconscious is the part of the mind that runs the body’s systems as well as the intuitive and instinctive aspects, and Kimberly describes it as a “hard drive” which, when corrupted, gives rise to such behavior as addictive behavior. The subconscious, Kimberly notes, is active even when people are awake, and shows up with an unconscious prodding or some unprovable instinct comes up.

Kimberly points out that there is a broader knowledge about all human beings and that we are all energy – something which is now coming out now in a new light, even though it has been around since ancient times.

Hypnosis, according to Kimberly, is similar to meditation, except that, where meditation focuses the individual to focus on something, hypnosis is where an individual thinks of nothing. Hypnosis is a very relaxed state of being, and Kimberly gives several daily examples of these.

The subconscious holds the greatness within all of us, Kimberly believes, comparing it to an eight-year-old child “who knows everything” and who isn’t afraid to say what he or she thinks. This greatness is un-taught over the years by such things as social expectations and insecurities, and it is these which corrupt the “hard drive” that is our subconscious. Hypnotism works by overwriting the corrupted part of the “hard drive” and giving it new direction to create the kind of life one wants, so that one once again reconnects with one’s own eight-year-old self and its greatness. The subconscious is also a powerful resource, and Kimberly emphasizes that using it is our “divine right.”


The six principles Kimberly espouses are:

1. Come into accountability – know where, who and how you are.
2. Tap into the subconscious.
3. Do you move toward or away? Are you someone who moves away from the things you dislike, or someone who moves towards the things you like?
4. Judge thyself and thy neighbor – being ecological with oneself and moving with momentum with others.
5. Give to get – energetic systems are symbiotic, so one must first give before getting.
6. Playing big – getting into action with the things that allow oneself to progress.

Kimberly calls “drought” as when one perceives lack in some way, and these come in three forms:

1. Passive drought – something along the lines of a fender-bender or a bad hair day.
2. Lingering drought – a change in one’s life, such as a death in the family or a change in jobs; something which throws one off for a few months.
3. Habitual drought – a longer-lasting thing where one just cannot seem to get out of one’s own way.

One of the examples Kimberly gives is about finding something that was lost. She notes that frantically focusing on finding it should be replaced with one’s sense of how one feels about and connects with it.

Purchase from Amazon: Subconscious Power: Use Your Inner Mind to Create the Life You've Always Wanted by Kimberly Friedmutter

Mia Tomikawa on Mater Ryuho Okawa's Art of Building Inner Strength to Overcome Life’s Difficulties - The Strong Mind

In this interview, Mia Tomikawa of Happy Science talks to Alexander “The Engineer” Lim, host of AuthorStory by alvinwriter.com, about Master Ryuho Okawa’s book,The Strong Mind: The Art of Building the Inner Strength to Overcome Life’s Difficulties.



“You already have inner strength within you, and all you have to do is to cultivate it; and it starts with believing that you can take control of your own life.” ~Mia Tomikawa

Master Okawa wrote the book to encourage everyone to get through the inevitable crises that pop up in people’s lives by cultivating a mind strong enough to manage these. Mia mentions that there are life crises that take place in particular in the decades of one’s life - in childhood, for example, there’s the family squabble or crisis; in one’s twenties, there’s the job crisis and in one’s eighties,there’s the coming to terms with destiny. Master Okawa notes that our minds and our souls are things which will last beyond death, and cultivating a strong mind enables one to handle the challenges that life throws one’s way. Mia also notes that, in Japanese, the word “mind” actually encompasses the mind, the heart and the soul, which are a person’s total being.

According to Master Okawa, who bases this structure on Eastern philosophy, there are three stages of growth for all human beings:

1. Becoming a sharp, intelligent and capable person, which manifests when one is young.
2. Becoming dynamic, which is necessary to become a leader who can work with and guide others.
3. Becoming calmer and more profound, which is necessary for one’s old age.

To create a strong mind, one needs to believe and have faith in oneself, first off. This requires having faith that new paths will open up as one lives, and becoming more courageous and being forgiving are two ways by which one can cultivate a strong mind. Forgiving is a way to let go of resentment and hurt, for the grudge that one holds against another will torment one within, and thus weaken one. Taking responsibility for one’s life is another key to creating a strong mind, as blaming others or events for one’s lack of happiness removes one’s capability to be happy.

The fear of failure and making mistakes is ever present, and this is due to one’s desire to protect oneself or one’s ego. Overcoming this fear requires a change in mindset, where one sees the failures and challenges of life as lessons given and situations to be learned from, rather than the “bad” thing that these are commonly made out to be. Master Okawa notes Thomas Edison as an example of someone who never saw failures or mistakes but instead saw opportunities to learn from, and this is the perspective necessary to create a strong mind. Not having challenges in one’s life means that one will never grow or find true happiness, as growth enables that.

Parenting is important where giving a child the foundations necessary to create a strong mind are concerned. Parents need to enable and educate children to feel responsible for their own lives to create a sense of duty and responsibility, and Mia notes that kids in the United States are more responsible and independent when compared to kids in Japan. She notes that, in Japan, the parents make all the decisions sometimes to the point of spoiling them, so that they don’t take responsibility for themselves.

One’s accomplishments can create a bias against others, where one judges others by one’s own strong points. Master Okawa notes that people need to be more accepting of others who might seem weak from one’s point of view, as those others have their own gifts to bring. Praising others is part of having a strong mind, particularly as doing so enables others to become present to their own capabilities and to connect with one. This is, admittedly, hard to do where people who have hurt someone is concerned, but in the long run, according to Master Okawa, this will create a connection between the people concerned. This is not easy to do, where people who are hurtful are concerned, and Mia points out that practicing this is a process much like working out in the gym, where one’s muscles hurt the first few times but become stronger and more capable over time.

Purchase on Amazon: The Strong Mind: The Art of Building the Inner Strength to Overcome Life’s Difficulties by Master Ryuho Okawa

Kate Lund on Helping Your Child Build Resilience and Thrive in School, Sports, and Life

Kate Lund talks to Alexander “The Engineer” Lim, host of AuthorStory by alvinwriter.com about her book, Bounce: Help Your Child Build Resilience and Thrive in School, Sports and Life.


PLAY THE VIDEO AND LEARN MORE FROM DR. KATE LUND.

“Focus on the relationship with the child.” ~Kate Lund

Kate is a mother, clinical psychologist and university instructor who is interested in resiliency and wrote Bounce from the perspective as a mother and university instructor, and based on her own childhood experiences with hydrocephalus. Kate noted that resiliency is particularly important where children today are concerned, as they face a lot of challenges. The book came out of her years of experience as a clinical psychologist and with her own curiosity about resiliency and is designed to be an easy read for parents, teachers and coaches. One of the times that she recalls was when she was working in Shriners Burn Hospital in Boston, where she encountered children who had serious burn injuries, children who needed a great deal of resilience in their lives after receiving their injuries.

Kate notes that resiliency is important mainly because children will face challenges, and the ability to get up after being knocked down by a challenge enables them to move on and eventually realize their potential, rather than getting stuck. She also remarks that resiliency varies from child to child, with some being naturally more resilient than others, and notes that it is important to help less resilient children shift their perspective to one which enables greater resiliency.

Kate remarks that children can become more resilient as they learn and grow, where the environment and the people around them can help out. She points out that helping a child manage their emotions and, thus, their frustrations, which will keep those children from shutting down. Kate remarks that kids learn in different ways and at a different pace, and that separating their classroom performance from how they feel about themselves enables greater resiliency in children.

The pillars of resilience that Kate notes in the book are

· the ability to tolerate frustration and manage emotions;
· navigate friendships and social pressures;
· sustain focus and attention;
· develop courage;
· build motivation;
· find confidence; and
· create optimism.

Kate believes that building the skills espoused by these pillar will create more resilient children. She notes that the model she uses is based on her experience and analysis, as well as on the research done on resilience, and that these pillars are the core elements of resilience. She gave an example of a situation where navigating friendship and social pressure was the concern, remarking that, by helping a child do so, they can be taught skills which would enhance their confidence and emotional intelligence, what their own strengths and values are and accept and understand individual differences in others.

Kate notes that, at the end of each chapter, are bullet points – action steps – that parents and teachers can do to help foster resilience in children. Teachers and parents, for example, can help by creating a positive, focused state of mind and identifying the way by which a child learns, as different children learn in different ways. Parents also need to be connected with their child’s strengths, passions and aptitudes, and then focus on these in daily life.

Purchase from Amazon: Bounce: Help Your Child Build Resilience and Thrive in School, Sports and Life by Kate Lund