Buddha said, "Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned." Unfortunately we are all holding on to anger of one sort or another, against one parent or another, an ex-lover, ex-husband, ex-employer, etc.  In The Chakra Diaries, several of the characters are held back from the lives they want by the anger they're holding on to toward themselves and others.

A new book by my friend, Dr. William Jacobson, Forgive to Win, explains fully and completely why it's necessary and in our own best interests to let anger go.

There are many wonderful books on Forgiveness already on my bookshelf, but I welcomed this one because it lays out a structured daily program, it's not just a philosophical treatise. The steps suggested help train ourselves to let go of self-sabotaging behavior and learn to love ourselves - by loving and forgiving others, no matter what they've done. Once our self-esteem is raised to the heights possible through self-love, there's nothing you can't achieve.

Forgiveness may seem like an easy task, but it's not. And Dr. Jacobson guides the reader in how to forgive. His "Forgiveness Diet" is a unique set of recommendations to help us establish and maintain the 90-day commitment to acts of kindness and forgiveness that could literally change one's life. He also includes Forgiveness Affirmations and Visualizations that I and my counseling clients have already used to great benefit.

Looking at it from the vantage point of health, anger throws us off-balance, especially in the solar plexus and heart chakras, and creates tension that can lead to chronic pain and disease. Forgiveness opens the floodgates of our body's own healing energy, and keeps us grounded, alert, empowered and able to recognize opportunities for success.

The last chapter of the book is entitled, "Getting Everything You Want!" If you don't already have it, I highly recommend this book.
Namaste!
Becca Chopra, author of The Chakra Diaries

I just finished reading "My Stroke of Insight," by Jill Bolte Taylor, PhD. What makes this book special is the spiritual insight it offers. When the author's left hemisphere of her brain was incapacitated by a hemorrhagic stroke, she experienced the spiritual feeling of "oneness" with the universe, feeling no distinction from her body and the rest of the energy molecules around her.  In the absense of the judgment of her left mind, she experienced deep internal peace and joy, the "Nirvana" that exists in the consciousness of our right brain. She explained how, at any moment, we can choose to hook into that part of our brain. Meditation is one way, and definitely, a less traumatic way than suffering a stroke.

Taylor learns to reign in the judgment and ego center of her left brain and retain the compassionate feeling of oneness that was her only sensation when the left hemisphere of her brain was impaired. Today, she says, "I choose to observe my environment through the nonjudgmental eyes of my right mind, allowing me to retain my inner joy.... it's really easy to be kind to others when I remember that none of us came into this world with a manual about how to get it all right."|

A fascinating read, added to this site "Recommended Reading" page.
Namaste!
Becca