Posts tagged trauma
December 16, 2011 · Filed under My Book: BookMark, News, Personal · Tagged abuse, alcoholism, career, healing, inspiration, Jerry Sandusky, Mike McQueary, mother, optimism, pedophilia, Penn State, physical health, positive thinking, rape, relationships, self awareness, stepfather, therapy, trauma
Brutal news week.
I used to draw down a wall between my life and the news. As I anchored the news, reading about others’ pain, I didn’t feel my own. I was inured from the intrusions of decades of sexual abuse. I could focus on WhoWhatWhenWhereWhyHow and script the stories, read my own words, tell the story. That’s over. It’s actually been over for a few years until I could finally break down that inviolate partition. I was healed. I thought.
But this was a brutal news week. Read the rest of this entry »
May 12, 2011 · Filed under Author Interviews, Book Reviews · Tagged Conquer the Odds: Pursuing Your Passion, fearless, friendship, happiness, inspiration, media industry, relationships, self awareness, trauma
The Four Purposes of Life: Finding Meaning and Direction in a Changing World
By Dan Millman
PublishedApril 14, 2011 (Hardcover) H J Kramer
Dan Millman’s life looked spelled out. A trampoline artist, his next stop was the Olympics. But, weeks before he was to leave, another life plan intervened – Dan was in a motorcycle accident. And it shattered his leg in forty places.
The story is told in his Way of the Peaceful Warrior, and adapted into a feature film Peaceful Warrior, starring Nick Nolte. All that came before our first meeting, when I interviewed Dan about his book Everyday Enlightenment. It was a good ten years ago, but he remembered me, graciously saying that he had enjoyed that interview.
Despite the rain, Dan had walked to the studio where we met. The cameramen still fussing with lighting and gear, Dan and I sat on a bench, reconnecting. There was no hurry to Dan. No rush. Just as in his book
The Four Purposes of Life, Dan lives in the moment. That’s the fourth purpose, by the way, a blend of the first three, living in the moment.
The first purpose is learning life’s lessons. Much like his motorcycle accident derailed his Olympic dreams, life often has grander plans for us. Dan is a teacher, sweet and humble, admits he doesn’t always get it right, but, well, that’s what life is for, it’s a classroom. Fortunately, it’s pass/fail, and we get to try again. Let me rephrase that – life will hit us again, harder each time, till we get the lesson. The second purpose is finding your career and your calling – which may not be the same thing! The third purpose is discovering your life path. You can find that on Dan’s website, it is akin to numerology. Mine is 35/8. The three is for expression, the five for freedom, and the eight pertains to recognition.
After editing, the interview will be posted on the
Earth2World network – a new venture for me. It’s video – and I’m open to attracting the perfect sponsors for my show,
Conquer the Odds: Pursuing Your Passion. After the interview, Dan signed my book “for my respected friend, media angel, Diana.” I may have blushed.
The main takeaway for me? Just enjoy life – whatever comes at you – and realize that it’s all on purpose. It’s a faith thing. One of my lessons.
October 24, 2010 · Filed under Book Reviews · Tagged abuse, career, fearless, goals, happiness, healing, inspiration, law of attraction, manifest, optimism, passion, pedophilia, positive thinking, rape, self awareness, stepfather, trauma, wisdom, writing
Inspired Destiny: Living a Fulfilling and Purposeful Life
By Dr John F Demartini
Published July 15, 2010 (Paperback) Hay House
Of the dozens of Law of Attraction books I’ve read over my twenty-plus years of interviewing authors, Inspired Destiny is one of the best. Dr. John Demartini doesn’t lecture down from a mount. He draws from his own difficult beginnings: A dyslexic kid whom teachers told had no chance of succeeding in the world. As a teen, he ran off to be a surfer. The author of dozens of books, he was featured in the film phenom, The Secret.
A little secret from me to you: Read the rest of this entry »
October 17, 2010 · Filed under Book Reviews · Tagged abuse, beautiful, diet, fashion models, father, fearless, goals, happiness, healing, healthy diet, inspiration, media industry, positive thinking, relationships, self awareness, stepfather, trauma, workout
Rock What You’ve Got: Secrets to Loving Your Inner and Outer Beauty From Someone Who’s Been There and Back
By Katherine Schwarzenegger
Published September 14, 2010 (Hardcover) Voice
“When did life turn into a constant beauty pageant?” Katherine Schwarzenegger asks in her book Rock What You’ve Got. Smart book. Substantive. So before you start hearing her father’s voice saying “I’ll be back,” in your head, listen up. If you’ve got a daughter – maybe even if you just are a daughter – you’ll relate to a lot in her hot pink and purple book. I’m interviewing Katherine tomorrow about her book at my home studio.
Only two percent of women describe themselves as beautiful. Which may mean that those women are the models you see in fashion magazines. The average fashion model is over six feet tall and weighs far less than 120 pounds. The average American woman is five feet four inches tall and weighs 140 pounds. Less than five-percent of all women have the body they see in those mags. Read the rest of this entry »
October 11, 2010 · Filed under Author Interviews, Book Reviews · Tagged abuse, angels, dancing, fearless, fiction, happiness, healing, inspiration, mother, motherhood, novel, optimism, pedophilia, positive thinking, rape, relationships, self awareness, stepfather, storytelling, trauma, writing
Room
By Emma Donoghue
Published September 13, 2010 (Hardcover) Little, Brown and Company
If you have a five-year old, you know how pivotal that year is. A bridge between fantasy and reality, between playing with anything and going to school where you play with what you are given, between trusting just nearby adults and trusting an expanding world. Trust. What is really real.
Five is a touch-point. You remember being five in your own life. What happened then may have altered your direction in life. It did for me. It did for Jack, in this bestselling novel by Emma Donoghue. Read the rest of this entry »
September 19, 2010 · Filed under Book Reviews · Tagged abuse, career, fiction, mental health institutions, mentally ill, mother, motherhood, novel, self awareness, storytelling, thriller, trauma, writing
My Lost Daughter
By Nancy Taylor Rosenberg
Published September 14, 2010 (Hardcover) Forge
How do you know if your kid is on drugs, clinically depressed or just bummed out by life’s hairpin turns?
That’s Judge Lily Forrester’s situation when her 28-year old daughter Shana – just weeks from graduating with a law degree from Stanford – gets dumped by her boyfriend, and seems dangerously messed-up. In Nancy Taylor Rosenberg’s novel My Lost Daughter, Lily makes an unbelievably foolish choice for Shana. Read the rest of this entry »
September 12, 2010 · Filed under Events · Tagged fearless, happiness, healing, inspiration, manifest, optimism, positive thinking, self awareness, stepfather, the secret, transformation, trauma, wisdom, writing
The haunting sweetness of Nawang Khechog’s flute filled the Trinity Cathedral in NW Portland Friday night – he has opened for the Dalai Lama, and this night, he was opening for Michael Beckwith and Robert Thurman. When I walked in, finding pew near the front, I felt calm. A love bath. Even more so, when Beckwith walked onto the stage. His energy danced with merriment, and I smiled even more broadly just at his presence.
I’ve interviewed Thurman before – He’s fun! And, he’s Uma’s father, you know. But I haven’t interviewed Beckwith. Yet 
The evening danced with the words of two sharply intelligent men and the laughter they created. Read the rest of this entry »
September 5, 2010 · Filed under Author Interviews · Tagged abuse, angels, Church, damnation, father, fearless, God, happiness, healing, heaven, hell, inspiration, love, mother, passion, pedophilia, rape, relationships, religion, self awareness, spirituality, stepfather, trauma, writing
Time for Truth: A New Beginning
By Nick Bunick
Published September 1, 2010 (Paperback) Hay House
Angels abound! If you’re reading this, the odds are extremely high that you, too, believe in angels. Most of us do. I’ve seen angels most of my life. After a couple of years in the same writing group where I worked on my memoir, New York Times bestselling author Chelsea Cain signed one of her books to me: For Diana, who (almost) makes me believe in angels.
There are angels, but there is no hell. Nick Bunick told me in an interview recorded a few days ago Read the rest of this entry »
September 1, 2010 · Filed under Book Reviews · Tagged 444, abuse, angels, inspiration, Jeshua, Nick Bunick, pedophilia, rape, recipes, self awareness, The Messenger, trauma
Time for Truth: A New Beginning
By Nick Bunick
Published September 1, 2010 (Paperback) Hay House
It is Time for Truth. This sense – mandate, almost – seems to be flying from all directions. And, Nick Bunick’s book may be a harbinger.
You may remember Nick Bunick from his best-selling book The Messengers. In it, he revealed that he was Paul, Jeshua’s friend. I interviewed Nick about that book. I remember reading The Messengers, and as I closed the book, which was stuffed with references of the number 444, indicating angelic presence, I looked up and saw the clock – precisely 4:44. I ended up being interviewed by USA Today about Nick. I’ll have a chance tomorrow to interview Nick about Time for Truth. Read the rest of this entry »
July 26, 2010 · Filed under Author Interviews, Book Reviews · Tagged abuse, career, fearless, fiction, healing, mental illness, novel, passion, self awareness, storytelling, thriller, trauma, woowoo, writing
Live to Tell
By Lisa Gardner
Published July 13, 2010 (Hardcover) Bantam
Lisa Gardner marveled over my towering bookcases, even more so when she realized they each held a double row of books, and then again when she saw Chelsea Cain’s books prominently displaced. Lisa loves Chelsea’s books. After Lisa left, I positioned Live to Tell right next to Chelsea’s serial killer series.
Two brilliant women thriller writers. Lisa mentioned a study that was done a few months ago, Read the rest of this entry »
