"A Future for the 99 Percent" by Bud Clark

ON SALE for $0.99

A Future for the 99 Percent:
The 4 Keys to Peace, Happiness,
Security, and Connection
(Save the World Book 1)

by Bud Clark

A Future for the 99 Percent is ON SALE for only $0.99 to 30 August. Author Bud Clark stops by today to share an excerpt from the book.

Description

Do you feel like the world made a wrong turn somewhere along the way to here-and-now? Has it affected your life?

A Future for the 99 Percent tells the story of two strangers who meet by chance. We get to know them as their conversation addresses the root causes of our personal and collective issues. Most discussions today never get past the symptoms.

A Future for the 99 Percent introduces the opening to a pathway toward freedom. It offers real solutions that you may employ immediately. It suggests a way to reduce stress, find security, enjoy life, and make meaningful connections with others. It illuminates how you might change your life in a positive direction.

A Future for the 99 Percent engages the challenges recently publicized by Presidential candidates from Donald Trump to Jill Stein. Issues as apparently diverse as racism, climate change, and income inequality all emerge from the same root causes.

A Future for the 99 Percent shows how we can overcome divisions to unify and take on the powerful private interests that control our information, our government, our pay checks, our options, and almost every aspect of our lives. This book offers a realistic hope for you and your children.

Excerpt

And here we rock, right on the edge of the abyss. That was melodramatic. Sorry. Biologists tell us that life on earth is now in the midst of its sixth great mass extinction event. I never thought I would live to see it. That’s huge, eh?

Well, you know, it’s crazy, but humans might get to experience extinction, too. The trajectory points that way. You may call it the end times as predicted in the Bible. What can you do? God says, “Fuck you.” We say, “Thank you very much, pass the sunscreen.”

I know a story about a priest on a roof in a flood. He knew God would save him. Some guys in a canoe offered to save him. Different guys in a motorboat offered to save him. A woman piloting a helicopter offered to save him. His faith was too strong. He waited for God. Naturally God killed his ass. That’s where we are now, neighbor. Will you get in the boat or at least get airlifted by the helicopter?

So we’ve got this gigantic opportunity. We can keep doing what we’re doing and watch civilization disintegrate as we all pitch forward into the fire. We can do that. I’ve been watching it myself as it happens now in real time more or less. It’s quite a spectacle if you know what to look for. We could sit back and enjoy the show. That’s one approach.

I wanted to sit back and enjoy the show. Unfortunately, I got a revelation. Then I made sense of it. Now I have to do something. Maybe you’ll join me. Maybe you won’t. That will be fun to see. But no one will get the last laugh in this play.

The opportunity before us would allow us to reimagine human life on earth. Human nature is what it is. But you’ve been fed lies. You’ve led a sheltered life with blinders that isolate you within your time. The powerful have exploited that deficit to teach you their version of human nature. If we are to live we must break those propagandistic chains. Human nature has more potential that you know. I will show you that in this book.

A Future for the 99 Percent offers hope. It offers the last and best hope for those who love life. Take it or leave it. I’m just one small guy. I can’t make you see.

I’ve written the ideas as a story. I’ve done my best, but I’m no  Shakespeare. This book represents an introduction to the plan to save humanity from herself. We first must change our internal model of the world. All present efforts seek to change the symptoms. Our false assumptions and beliefs form the cause.

A Future for the 99 Percent addresses the cause. It introduces the subject, and the organization we may use to recreate the world. That organization is called Neighbors United Worldwide.

The dream is big. We have no time left for small thinking. Let’s join together to create a better life for everyone. Don’t let anyone tell you it’s impossible. Don’t let anyone tell you that you are crazy. You are the hope of the world. You are the hope of children everywhere. It’s up to you and me.

We are the most important people in the history of humanity. The converging crises now awaiting us represent the greatest challenge in the history of Homo sapiens. The only similar challenge happened 70,000 years ago in the human bottleneck.

Every person will contribute one way or another to the direction we take now. Doing nothing equates to doing harm. Big change can happen, and it can happen quickly. It has happened before.

Let me be clear. You are one of the most important people in the history of humanity. What you do matters. What I do matters. Let’s not fuck it up.

You may feel comfortable and secure right now. The natural tendency called normalcy bias leads us to expect a situation to continue indefinitely. But history tells a different story. Change is the rule, not the exception. I assure you, and you may be already aware of it, that your current comfort will not last.

A Future for the 99 Percent is the first book in the Save the World series. It serves as an introduction to the ideas that, if accepted, can change the trajectory of your life toward a brighter future.

Future books in the series, and the Neighbors United Worldwide organization, will help fill in details as we go. The path is not fixed. You can play a role in the evolution of this revolution.

This book proposes a framework for us to unite. If we unite in this common cause we can change the trajectory of the civilization. We can put it on a sustainably joyful path.

If you want to join me in restoring lives and resurrecting civilization the process will be simple. It will require courage. It may require your life. But it will be simple. You take one step at a time. The next step is to turn the page.

[Want more? Click below to read a longer excerpt.]

Praise for the Book

"This book has the capacity to change the world. I don’t know about you, but I have been very concerned about where our world is heading. This beautifully written story has the capacity to change our thinking and our world. Yes, it’s radical. But we need radical. It’s not a band-aid. It’s a life and world changing solution. This book brings with it a hope I have not felt till now. It’s the key to a peaceful, inner and outer, revolution. Without doubt, one of the most important books you’ll ever read." ~ Melanie Dilday, author of the Amazon bestseller Buddha in a Red Dress

"A Future for the 99 Percent is one of the first works that I've encountered that equips you with an actual tool set for a much needed if not necessary change in our belief system. It also provides a steering wheel for possibly altering the trajectory of human evolution. I know that is saying a lot. True. But the dialogue needs to start and this little story does just that. Well done sir!!" ~ Steve Depew

"It's a highly engaging read, a real pleasure to pore over, and whether you put it into practice or not, you feel more hopeful, more at one with the rest of the world, you feel like you can understand where others are coming from better, you want to go out and act on the positive juice this book gives you. I really recommend everyone on the planet gives this book a go. What do you have to lose?" ~ LHG

"This beautifully written story, a tale of two strangers meeting and sharing conversation, brings to light the possible changes that can made in our word if we listen with intent... if we speak with love and conviction that there is a process available to heal. An engaging read with, potentially, the answers this world needs!" ~ Kate Elliott

"The author writes a strong story with a powerful message for preparing for possible changes in our world. His message is clear and strong. Mr. Clark stresses the importance of being focused with the formulation of love there is a way to heal. A very interesting and thought-provoking read." ~ WV

About the Author

Bud Clark has lectured on his Rational Revelation every semester from 2013 through 2015 at the University of Alabama in Birmingham. The revelation came to him as he commuted 3.5 hours round trip every work day.

As Bud made that long, lonely trek each day he developed a mindful state of awareness completely in the ever dancing present moment. He often arrived at work or home feeling that almost no time had passed during the trip.

Bud believes that some characteristic of his mindful state allowed the revelation an opening. The revelation seemed extraordinarily odd to him. Bud’s wife feared he had fallen through the rabbit hole. Bud decided to investigate.

He studied physics intensely for five years. He would experience epiphanies, then shoot them down. He was highly skeptical. Yet Bud could not give up. Finally, he developed an amazing model of the universe that he could not destroy. It rested on the solid rock of experimental physics. It resolved a persistent paradox in physics and philosophy in an extremely counter-intuitive way that fit with all accepted experimentally supported theories. And that model reflected the revelation.

A Future for the 99 Percent emerged from the revelation and the theoretical scientific work. This Rational Revelation calls on us to believe, think, and live differently. It calls on us to unite to overcome our challenges.

Bud founded NUW, Neighbors United Worldwide, in response to the imperatives inherent in the Rational Revelation. NUW serves as a platform for personal and community development in the context of the Rational Revelation. It offers the possibility for people to unite to take on the global corporate oligarchy successfully. The movement will build on the successes of other nonviolent revolutions.

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"Tame Your Inner Critic" by Della Temple

REVIEW, GUEST POST, and INTERVIEW

Tame Your Inner Critic:
Find Peace & Contentment to Live Your Life on Purpose

by Della Temple

Tame Your Inner Critic by Della Temple is the winner of both a 2016 Silver IPPY Award for Self-Help and the 2015 Silver Nautilus Award! The Independent Publisher Awards or IPPYs, are designed to bring increased recognition to the deserving but often unsung titles published by independent authors and publishers. The 2016 Independent Publisher Awards (IPPYs) were revealed via an announcement on their website. The Nautilus Book Awards is an annual accolade of books in the genre of social and environmental justice. The full list of 2015 winners will be posted on their website by the end of the month.

Author Della Temple joins us for an interview about her book Tame Your Inner Critic and to share a special guest post with us. You can also read my review.

For another book by this author, please check out my blog post on Walking in Grace with Grief.

Description

Stop living with low self-esteem and heal your Inner Child.

Are you ready to take that next step? With over 40 exercises and meditations, Tame Your Inner Critic teaches you how to control the monkey mind, the self-defeating mind chatter that keeps you from living - and loving - your life!

Find ways to banish the voice that's keeping you small. Learn to ground to the earth, fill in with energies that are in alignment with your highest good and clear away the negative, self-defeating words that prevent you from living a life full of purpose and meaning.

Learn how the thoughts, feelings, judgments and criticisms of others can be swept away and replaced with the voice of your inner guidance, your Spirit. Find your true north - your own internal wisdom that is connected to the divine and gives you guidance. With specialized exercises and meditations, this book shows you how to banish negativity, improve your relationships, and realize new ways to share your gifts with the world around you.

Guest Post by the Author

Tame Your Inner Critic and Become Your Own Best Friend

For many of us, it’s pretty easy to be kind and compassionate to others. In fact we love being open-hearted and giving of spirit to our friends and loved ones. But what’s really hard is seeing those same qualities within ourselves; seeing ourselves as gentle, caring, loving people.

Why is it so hard to love ourselves fully and completely?

I believe the answer lies in becoming aware of how we talk to ourselves. If we step away from the negative self-talk, learn to nurture and care for our Spirit, we will allow our inner wisdom to shine through. By taming our inner critic, we learn to set aside the judgments, criticisms, and thoughts of others that keep us small. We rise above the pettiness of who said what to whom and how that made us feel. We learn to stand in our truth as we become our own best friend.

Sounds easy – but we are smart, intelligent people and if it was that easy we already would have done it!  So what are we missing?

The Right Tools

Thoughts and feelings are energies, and all energy is in motion. So energy, in the form of thoughts and feelings travels from person to person. Your inner critic is a mash up of all the thoughts, feelings judgments and criticisms other people have sent your way over the years. These outside energies have mixed with your own truths, your own wisdom, and now you can’t tell one from the other. So we unwittingly accept it all – both outside energies and our own – as an accurate representation of our inner truth. But it’s not.

We need to remove the energies that are not ours so we can let our inner wisdom shine through.

One of the most useful ways to remove the energy that is not ours, is what I call a grounding cord. A grounding cord is an invisible energy cord that connects your body to the center of the earth. It acts like a vacuum cleaner, helping you efficiently release all those thoughts and feelings of insecurity and self-doubt. A grounding cord can be visualized as a hollow tube of energy with one end connected to your hips, and the other to the center of the earth. Through the force of gravity, your grounding cord will carry energy out of your body depositing it deep within the earth’s core. Energies that are not in affinity with your inner truths will be flushed out of your body, leaving more room for your inner wisdom to shine forth. As you allow your grounding cord to carry all that foreign energy away from your body, the whispers of your Spirit will grow in volume. There will be less room in your life for the "shoulds" of the world. What your relatives think and the hurts from childhood will take a back seat to your internal wisdom.

This I believe is one way to tame the inner critic, that voice of what others think we should be. As we drain out the thoughts and feelings of other people we leave more room for our inner wisdom to shine forth. We soon radiate this inner peace and serenity out into the world. We start to treat ourselves with kindness and gentleness. We become our own best friend.

Praise for the Book

"I love the fact that in addition to Della’s clairvoyance and psychic training she also has traditional education, training and experience in business, teaching and leadership. She is a truly 'grounded' and practical physic with a unique gift for healing. For anyone, like me, who has been terrorized by their own inner critic, I cannot recommend this book highly enough." ~ Heidi Green

"Della Temple breaks down incredibly profound concepts into accessible, uncomplicated messages. What a gift she has. The tools she provides in this book serve as a guiding voice, helpful when times are good and when times are hard. The initial read is fun an eye-opening. And beyond that, this book is a resource you can reach for whenever you'd like helpful reminders and practical guidance." ~ Lindsey Jean Bishop

"Della Temple has put a lot of thought, effort, and time into this book, and it truly is wonderful. We are usually our own worst critics, but that voice often overpowers the positive thinking that is more helpful to the psyche than the negative one. Della gives strategies and tips on how to bring a sense of peace to oneself." ~ Carrie Lou

"This book was perfect. Even as a busy mom of 3 boys, I was able to read and practice the exercises in this book. I was able to read the short chapters and practice each meditation in my small amount of 'me' time. The difference it has made in my ability to quiet the inner chatter and therefore aid me in being truly present for my boys has been wonderful for my whole family. I am truly grateful for this book. A must read for inner peace." ~ Nathan Glaser

"This book is not for the casual reader looking for an easy fix to their negative tendencies. You must be ready to fully dedicate yourself. You must set time aside to, not only read the chapters, but to give an honest effort to complete the activities that go along with the content. Taming your inner critic takes practice. But just as the concert pianist must dedicate themselves to their practice, the results will be beautiful. You will surely thank yourself for it." ~ Kimberly Bailey

My Review

By Lynda Dickson

Della Temple takes you on a journey of self-discovery, a journey towards discovering your life's purpose and sharing it with others. This book is a "handbook with tools, meditations, and thought-provoking exercises intended to get your creative juices flowing." The handy hyperlinked list of exercises at the beginning of the book makes it easy to find just what you're looking for when you dip back into this book. The first half of the book contains techniques designed to get your inner critic under control and listen to our inner Spirit. The second half of the book concentrates on how to live a life full of meaning and joy. Every chapter ends with energy pointers and helpful hints to enhance your learning and growth, as well as a hyperlink back to the table of contents. The resource section at the end of the book provides avenues of further study.

Throughout the book, the author uses meditations and tools, some of which are also discussed in her other book, Walking in Grace with Grief. Topics covered in Part 1 include centering, drawing a name web, removing foreign energy from your aura, the tapping technique, blowing up a rose, tapping into your Spirit, coming into alignment with your heart traits, writing your statement of being, drawing your tree of life, the art of saying no, using colorful soap bubbles, picturing your dream life, a throat-clearing exercise, creating a protective bubble around your aura, and understanding why you may overreact to a situation. Della even reveals the best beauty secret of all time!

Part 2 focuses on living your life on purpose and discusses the four keys required: havingness - the ability to "have" this new life by accepting the way things are but, knowing at the same time, that you can have more; the energy of money - accepting that money is neutral and merely a tool for exchanging one thing for another; manifesting - bringing your dreams into reality; and mindfulness - accepting yourself and other people as they are with compassion and grace. All of this leads to discovering your true life purpose. As Della states, "Our primary purpose in life is to remember who we really are and live our life on purpose."

This is a very comprehensive book and an indispensable tool for those looking to change their lives from within. Some readers may also find the companion Tame Your Inner Critic Workbook to be helpful. The major revelation for me is that you can't change events, all you can change is how your react to them. This book will help you discover your true purpose, at the same time helping you learn to love yourself and teaching you to be happy being you. "Remember, you ... are the creator or your own reality ... You get to choose."

Interview With the Author

Hi Della Temple, thanks for joining me today to discuss your book, Tame Your Inner Critic: Find Peace & Contentment to Live Your Life on Purpose.

Your title talks about two important things – taming the inner critic and finding and living a life of purpose and meaning. Tell me more about why you choose to write about these topics.

My inner critic used to be very loud and very obnoxious. It told me I couldn’t do many of the things I really wanted to do, that I was too small, too unprepared, too opinionated, or just not good enough. This voice told me that I needed to change, that I wasn’t good enough just as I was. I presented a great face to the world, yet deep within I was struggling with issues of self-worth and self-criticism. I had grown so used to the incessant negativity that I really believed I was deficient in some way.

I had read about the body’s energy system and had a hunch that greater understanding of auras, chakras, and the interplay between thoughts, feelings, and bodily reactions would lead to the peace and contentment I craved. So I enrolled in a beginner’s program at Boulder Psychic Institute. And lo and behold, as I did the work, my inner critic stopped nagging me. I wanted to write about my experience to help others find their own inner peace and contentment.

The first half of this book contains techniques designed to get your inner critic under control. The second half of the book concentrates on how to live a life full of meaning and joy. And finally, in the last chapter, the reader will put all the pieces together to discover their true life purpose and how to share that gift with the world.

Your book is full of exercises and meditations. Why did you choose this format?

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if our fairy godmother came down and, with a wave of her magic wand, made our inner critic disappear in a cloud of smoke? Sorry to say, it doesn’t work that way. We have to do the work. We have to participate in our growth and healing.

For me the best way of learning is through practice. So I wrote the book as more of a working handbook with tools, meditations, and thought-provoking exercises intended to get the creative juices flowing.  I suggest that the reader set aside a quiet place to do the meditations and exercises in each chapter. They may choose to record their progress in a journal, or they may find the Tame Your Inner Critic Workbook helpful. Either way, I encourage the reader to take their time as they walk this path of discovery. The journey itself can be just as transformational as the final destination.

Before we go much further, can you explain a little bit more about the inner critic. I don’t think we’re born with one, so where does it come from?

Thoughts and feelings are energy and through our energetic body, (our aura and chakras) we exchange energy (thoughts, feelings and emotions) with our fellow inhabitants of the earth. As an example, when we think of someone, we transmit some of our energy from our aura into theirs. When a parent worries about a child, they may be sending a mixture of love, concern, and judgment energy into their child’s aura. A boss or a co-worker may send us a little bit of criticism energy mixed in with their morning hello. These outside energies combine with our own internal truths. Soon we are unable to tell one from the other, so we accept it all, as a right, accurate and exact portrayal of who we truly are. This I believe is the genesis of the inner critic. The judgments, criticisms and displeasure we feel about ourselves is energy we’ve unconsciously absorbed from the people in our lives.

I’m not a woo-woo kind of person. I like things I can see and feel. Help me understand this world of auras, chakras and energy medicine. 

I’m not woo-woo either. In my business life I’ve been a CFO, a real estate agent, and a loan packager working with the SBA Minority and Women Loan Program. I am down to earth and very practical. But I know that we humans are more than just our skin bones and teeth. We are thinking, feeling, and spiritual beings.

In his book Ageless Body, Timeless Mind, Deepak Chopra calls a thought "an impulse of energy and information, like everything else in nature." Every person transmits energy and receives energy from others. You know this to be true because you’ve experienced other people’s thoughts and feelings. Maybe you’ve walked into a room right after an argument and noticed that the energy of the room felt like you could cut it with a knife. Or maybe you’ve been alone in a church or a spiritual sanctuary and felt the sacredness of the space.

While invisible to the naked eye, energy can be felt. And as we begin to really incorporate this belief into our daily lives, we begin to accept that there’s more to this world than we can see. Eastern mystics and philosophers have long believed in the human energy field. Western scientists are even getting on the band wagon, calling the aura an energy "bio-field". The topic of energy medicine is becoming main stream as people learn more and more about their energy bodies. I talk about chakras, auras and how energy travels between people in a very down to earth, realistic manner. I hope this book acts as an introduction to the world of energy – in a very common sense kind of way.

Can you give us examples of some of these energy tools you describe in the book?

Three of the most effective tools, and tools that I use in my personal life every single day, are grounding, filling in with a golden sun and blowing up a rose.

What’s a grounding cord?

We often store our unworthiness as tension in our body. A grounding cord is literally an energy cord that connects your body to the center of the earth. It acts like a vacuum cleaner, helping you efficiently release all those thoughts and feelings of insecurity and self-doubt.

Why is it important to be grounded?

When you are grounded you are connected to the physical world – the earth especially. From an energetic perspective, when you are grounded you’re not spacey or "out there", you are "grounded in reality". It’s very much like an electrical wiring ground in your house. The line is clearer when it’s grounded.

Can you explain blowing up a rose? It’s such a visceral image.

There are many fun ways to remove the thoughts and feeling of other people from your space and blowing up a rose is one of the best. Imagine a rose out in front of your closed eyes. Then place a giant magnet in the rose and ask the magnet to call to it any energy out of your body that’s not in affinity with you. Visualize the energy moving out of your heart, your mind, your big toe (!) and going into the magnet. Then when all of this type of energy is out of your body, put a big bomb underneath the rose and explode it! Isn’t that fun?  

What’s filling in with a golden sun? It sounds like a good thing to do on a cold day.

The Golden Sun has two functions; one is to call back our own life force so that we can function at our full potential. The other is to offer us a way to replace the mind chatter with energies that are more in alignment with who we truly are. When we "fill in" with energies such as peace, love, and self-acceptance, we dilute the power of the lower vibrational energies (fear, anger, resentment) offering us one more way to tame our inner critic.

You’ve incorporated a lot of information in this book. What do you hope your readers take away from Tame Your Inner Critic?

I call reading this book a journey of discovery – uncovering clues to who you truly are and the gift you are meant to share with the world.  I hope the reader will come to understand that they are sparks of the Divine, full of beauty and grace. We are all meant to shine: to shine bright and share our uniqueness with the world. Oftentimes the inner critic stops us from exploring those parts of ourselves. The inner critic tries to keep us small, corralled in the world of "have to" and "shoulds". But we are much more. We are spiritual beings inhabiting a physical body, and I hope the reader comes away feeling inspired to live their life their way, full of inner peace, grace and self-love.

Thank you for taking the time to stop by today, Della. Best of luck with your future projects.

About the Author

Della Temple writes about melding the worlds of the physical and the metaphysical. She combines her love of anything analytical with her wide-ranging interest in quantum physics and the world of energetic healing. She is a certified Reiki Master and has studied clairvoyance and psychic healing at Boulder Psychic Institute. She believes that being psychic is a very natural state of being. It is a skill, just like playing the piano or singing on key. It takes a teacher, a willingness on the part of the student to be receptive to new ideas, and some time spent in practice.

Della invites the reader to experience opening to their intuition on the journey toward discovering their life's purpose.

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"Walking in Grace with Grief" by Della Temple

REVIEW and INTERVIEW

Walking in Grace with Grief:
Meditations for Healing After Loss

by Della Temple

Author Della Temple joins me for an interview about her book Walking in Grace with Grief, a deeply personal memoir written following the death of her son. You can also read my review and an excerpt from the book.

For another book by this author, please check out my blog post on Tame Your Inner Critic.

Description

Walking in Grace with Grief combines Della's story of loss with teachings of energy awareness, mindfulness, and conscious living. Filled with stories of hope and profound confidence in life after life, Walking in Grace with Grief includes many practical skills such as grounding to the earth and "filling in" with life-force energy. The easy to follow meditations provide comfort and nurturing for anyone dealing with loss.

Excerpt from the chapter Conscious Grieving

I believe that we choose how we react to life. Every moment of every day we have a choice. Do we walk the path of longing for what was, or do we accept with Grace what is? Do we allow ourselves to step out of the fog of grief and bask in the sunlight of the now: friends, family, and community?

Conscious grieving is just that. Being in the present moment with all the pain, all the heartache, and allowing it to be. There are no "shoulds" here. It just is. Walking your own path is not easy. Friends and family, though well-meaning, may try to push you back into the normal - or at least what they think of as a normal - and respectful way to grieve the loss of a loved one. Only you know what is best for you.

A number of years ago, my teenaged niece and nephew lost their parents in a car accident. My husband and I brought them into our family for a short while. My niece turned to me one day and asked if it was OK to laugh. At that particular moment, she was surrounded by her school friends and felt such a groundswell of happiness that she burst out laughing. Then she remembered her mom and dad and felt guilty for enjoying a moment with her friends. "Of course it’s OK to laugh," I told her.

There are no "shoulds" about how to behave during times of loss. If you feel like laughing, then laugh. If you feel like crying, then cry. Forget what "they" say. You are in charge of your feelings. Use the Golden Sun Meditation (see chapter 3) to fill you with peace and comfort. If that means that you fill your golden sun with happiness, then do so. Do what is best for you. Be mindful of how you want this period of sorrow to unfold.

In addition, be mindful of when well-meaning friends and family inadvertently try to dump their grief in your lap. Yes, unfortunately it happens. As two people relate, they unconsciously exchange energy with one another. Underneath your friend’s encouraging words of love and support may be some suppressed feelings of guilt, abandonment, or pity. Of course your friend is not consciously aware of sending you these mixed messages - in fact, she or he would be horrified to discover they had! But it does happen. Part of being a conscious griever is understanding how to prevent these twinges of unresolved grief from encompassing you.

[Following the excerpt there’s a meditation on how to form this protective coating.]

Praise for the Book

"Della Temple has given the world a treasure with her book, Walking in Grace with Grief: Meditations for Healing after Loss." ~ Reviewed by Deborah Lloyd for Readers' Favorite

"As a healer, teacher and loving mother, Della Temple, speaks to a wounded heart with depth, wisdom, and compassion. Her soulful guidance will help replace sorrow and pain with joy and deep understanding. An essential tool for anyone on a path to healing after loss." ~ Deb Snyder, PhD Author of Intuitive Parenting and Ignite CALM

"Beautifully written and profoundly moving." ~ Jack Magnus, Readers' Favorite

"The meditations are indeed healing! I found the peace and stillness I was looking for."

"This is a story of profound hope and assurance that our loved ones truly are watching over us."

"A must read for inner peace."

"Filling in with Golden Suns right this minute – thank you Della Temple! I will use these meditations for years to come."

"I read Walking in Grace in one sitting yesterday and enjoyed it very much. It is remarkable on several levels. First, I think it is a beautifully written memoir and, in itself, a fine tribute to resilience. No less important, it is a spiritual tool that can reach even the most hardened realist (like me) and offer meaningful recovery for those in need."

My Review

By Lynda Dickson

Della Temple's 29-year-old son Rick died instantly in a car crash. She describes how she coped in the weeks and months following his death, especially during the holiday season. At the time, Della was already undertaking a psychic awareness program. Her belief that Rick's Spirit lived on allowed her to accept his death and enter a state of Grace. She discovered her purpose is to be a teacher, and she tells her story in order to help ease the pain of other people who have lost loved ones. One of her major messages is not to focus on the what-ifs but to remember what was. She discusses the concepts of reincarnation, Life Contracts, and cites meditation as a way of quietening the mind and opening ourselves up to receiving messages from our dead loved ones.

Meditations she describes include:

• Centering
• Grounding Cord
• The Golden Sun
• Blowing up a Rose
• Releasing Sorrow and Pain
• Keeping Pity Energy Away
• Releasing the Cord that Binds
• Honoring Your Journey

I suggest performing the meditations in the order presented, as they build on each other.

This is an eye-opening and enlightening book that will bring comfort to those who have lost a loved one. Della reminds us that our loved ones are with us always. Hopefully, I will remember Della's words when I suffer a loss of my own.

Thank you, Della, for sharing this most personal account.

Interview With the Author

Hi Della Temple, thanks for joining me to discuss your book, Walking in Grace with Grief: Meditations for Healing After Loss.

Your book is about recovering from devastating loss. In Walking in Grace with Grief, you chronicle the first year after your son died. Why did you pick that title for your book? Is there some extra meaning in it for you?

A few days after the unexpected death of my son, I found myself in what I refer to as a state of Grace. I don’t know how else to explain it. I didn’t feel anger or rage against God. I experienced sorrow; a deep, fathomless sadness; grief; love; acceptance; compassion; and happiness - yes happiness - all at once. I felt the Divine surrounding me, in what I call the energy of Grace, offering me comfort and support.

I lived in this protective coating of Grace for most of the first year. It went wherever I went – and it literally felt like I was walking in a bubble of Grace. I wanted to include that in the title of my book, but there was also another part of my experience that was equally important. I don’t believe we walk through grief because grief isn’t something we get over. We walk with grief for the rest of our lives. We will always feel the hole in the heart left by the death of our loved one. The pain lessens, but grief is with us always. Walking in grace with grief is a very literal description of how I felt that first year of loss.

This is more than just a personal memoir, it’s a meditation guide too. Most people find it hard to share about their deep personal experiences. What drove you to want to share your story?

I am a teacher at heart. I experienced a different kind of grief – one full of both sorrow and joy. I wanted to share my experience with others because I think it’s time we broadened the discussion about death and dying. I don’t believe we have to walk the path of anger, denial, and bargaining to reach the final destination of acceptance. I believe that others too can start at acceptance and stay there throughout their journey of recovery. This might fly in the face of what’s considered "normal grieving" but what I found true for me was an amazing feeling of ease, comfort and nurturing – what I refer to as Grace – that kept me from drowning in the mire of doubt, wishful thinking and regret.

Can you explain in a little more detail what you mean?

For me, the pain of sorrow was particularly intense when I allowed myself to descend into the "what ifs" and "if he’d only lived" stories. That’s when I experienced a sadness that was full of self-pity, agony, and despair.  So every time my thoughts wandered to the what-if-my-son-had-lived stories, I pulled myself back. I literally would not allow myself to experience those thoughts. I forced myself to think of something else - to remember a time from the past when he made me laugh, or to remember his voice or his smell. Anything but a what-if-he’d-lived story. This took energy and effort, but I think it made the difference in how I healed. I shifted the thought and experienced my sorrow in a different vibration if that makes any sense. It was a higher, cleaner vibration - a healing vibration full of love and mercy. This vibration felt full of acceptance, kindness, and gentleness. I knew that if I could stay in this vibration - if I could surround myself with thoughts and feelings that resonated there - I could heal this deep wound. I had tools to help me stay in this vibration, and I share those tools in the various healing meditations in the book. In fact, the meditations have become a standard part of my everyday life and continue to help me maintain a profound acceptance of life as it is, not as I wish it might be.

What would you say are the most common misconceptions about loss and grief?

I think one of the most common misconceptions about loss is that there’s a certain way we "should" grieve, and that after a certain period of time it’s time to put away our mourning and move on. I think these "shoulds" cause us a lot of unnecessary pain. It’s my belief that there’s not a right way or a wrong way to grieve. Each person deals with their grief as best they can. What I found worked for me was being aware – staying conscious – of how I felt each moment. If I felt like laughing I laughed, if I felt like talking about my son, I did so. If I felt like crying, I allowed myself a good cry. This is what I call Conscious Grieving. Being consciously aware of how we feel and allowing all the emotions of sorrow and pain to exist while simultaneously taking a step forward on our path of being something new. I share some practical skills such as grounding to the earth and "filling in" with life-force energy so that you can stay healthy as you move through this time of becoming something new. Because that’s what we are doing; becoming something new. Our world has changed – our life is in upheaval – and we will never return to the "before" times. We are moving forward into this state of being without, a time of honoring what was and wondering what will be.

What advice would you have for someone who feels like they don't understand certain aspects of why things happened the way they did in a relationship with a loved one who they've lost?

What helped me deal with the unexpected timing of my son’s death was my understanding of Life Contracts. I believe in reincarnation - that we exist as eternal Spirits and come to earth to experience certain challenges and emotions. As we make ready for our trip to earth, we call together the Spirit forms of our soon-to-be-parents, siblings, friends, and colleagues. God is there too. We gather around a big "conference table in the sky", and we design our soon-to-be life. We think about what our main purpose will be in this lifetime, and we design a life that presents many challenges and learning opportunities. This Contract of Life includes many variables, or different paths that a person may take once they come to earth. Some paths are straight and narrow, leading right to the person’s overarching purpose while other paths are full of curves and unexpected dips and bumps. Some life paths are long, and others are short.

Once this Contract of Life is blessed by God, and all parties agree to play their part, we come here to earth to live it. Some souls choose short lifetimes; others choose long ones. Each is perfect just as it was designed. While this is not easy for those of us left behind, we must honor the timing of a death. It is not for us to say whether life was too short. It is perfectly right just the way it is.

Any other books you are thinking about writing? And, Why?

I released two books this year. As I was writing Walking in Grace with Grief, I was also writing a book about stopping the mind chatter, Tame Your Inner Critic: Find Peace & Contentment to Live Your Life on Purpose. Both books utilize the same set of "energy tools" – grounding to the earth, filling in with life-force energy, protecting yourself from the unwanted thoughts and feelings of others. Of course Tame Your Inner Critic isn’t about grief, but surprisingly they overlap in many areas. So after writing two books in short order, I think it will be another year or two before I write another. But, I’m already thinking about a children’s book on losing a loved one. Even children can learn to ride the wave of grief without falling into the stories of what might have been. We will see what next year brings!

Where can we get a copy of your book?

Walking in Grace with Grief: Meditations for Healing After Loss is available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble and other online outlets [see below]. Or call your local bookstore, and have them order it! And, if you want more information about Tame Your Inner Critic, please come say hi at my website. I would love to hear from you.

Thank you for taking the time to stop by today, Della. Best of luck with your future projects.

From the Author

This book has found its way to you because you have suffered a loss. For that, I am so very sorry. I do not know how you feel. Only you can know that. When I lost my loved one, I felt so many different things: shock, sadness, sorrow, and grace. Yes, grace. During the initial weeks after my son died, I felt surrounded by the grace of God. Not a Christian god, or a Muslim or Jewish god. For me, it was the sweet arms of comfort surrounding me, day in and day out. I was more alive in some respects than I had ever felt before. I know that might sound strange to some, but for me, I felt God was with me, and that allowed me to experience a different kind of grief.

This is a spiritual book because I am a spiritual person. I grieved a spiritually based grief. I knew that my loved one was still "alive" in Spirit, and I often felt him surrounding me in love and comfort - especially during the first year after his passing. I accepted this as a natural occurrence, and our talks, Spirit to Spirit, became an integral part of my healing journey. I was also surrounded by some unusual friends who helped me navigate this world of death, Spirit, and life after life.

I would like to tell you my story. Not to commiserate with you, and not to say I know how you feel. I don't. But what I do know is that I have come through this ordeal a stronger, gentler, wiser human being. I am a more patient person, and I am positive that there is a reason for all that happens, even this. I know with every fiber of my being that life is good and that there is life after life, and that is good too.

Interwoven among stories of my journey, I have included some of the healing meditations that made my journey a little less arduous. In fact, these meditations have become a standard part of my everyday life, and continue to help me maintain a profound acceptance of life as it is, not as I wish it might be. I hope they will ease your path of transition, as they did mine.

I offer my story to you as a way of reaching my hand out to yours. To touch you, to offer you comfort and presence. I walk your road with you. And others do too. Namasté - the light in me honors and acknowledges the light in you.

About the Author

Della Temple writes about melding the worlds of the physical and the metaphysical. She combines her love of anything analytical with her wide-ranging interest in quantum physics and the world of energetic healing. She is a certified Reiki Master and has studied clairvoyance and psychic healing at Boulder Psychic Institute. She believes that being psychic is a very natural state of being. It is a skill, just like playing the piano or singing on key. It takes a teacher, a willingness on the part of the student to be receptive to new ideas, and some time spent in practice.

Della invites the reader to experience opening to their intuition on the journey toward discovering their life's purpose.

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