Donna Anderson Collins

This week we spoke with Donna Anderson Collins! It would be a shorter list to say what she HASN'T done than what she has! In a nutshell, Donna uses teachings from Feng Shui, Heartmath, EFT, the World Peace Diet and Imagine to help improve the home, health and spirit for individuals.

But before we delve into the highlights, what else did we cover?

Being That Cheery Time of Year, we just HAD to pass along some tidbits of Holiday Info!

If any of you knew this, I'd congratulate you - because I certainly didn't! The voice of the Grinch song is Thurl Arthur Ravencroft (I love Ravens!). Who was also incidentally known as Tony the Tiger for over 500 Kellogg's Frosted Flakes commercials! He also sang No Dogs Allowed in the Peanuts show, Snoopy Come Home.

The best selling Christmas album of all time, prior to March 1, 1991 (before the Nielsen SoundScan tracking system was in place) is listed as Elvis Presley's 1957 title, Elvis' Christmas Album. After soundscan, the best selling from 1991 - 2010 is listed as (gulp...and Yipes) Kenny G (for Go Away) - Miracles: The Holiday Album.

We also listed the top 10 gifts this year! Wii is at #10, amongst digital cameras, i-pods and gift cards! (Psst....we used to think gift cards were tacky way back when....but now when I recieve a Borders giftcard, I know someone bargained their soul for a piece of heaven for me!)

Onward to our interview!

Donna has this incredible adventerous spirit. She has been all over the world and even studied Buddhism with the Dalai Lama! (If it weren't so UnZen, I'd be wearing my Envy Gauchos!). What we really focused on was her involvement and the principles of Heartmath, which is (and this is taken from the site) the only scientifically validated system of stress intervention techniques and objective biometric feedback that quantifiably and dramatically boost the health and performance of individuals and organizations. Sound good to you? It certainly does to us! We love a heavy dose of optimism, intuition and faith but feel deliriously happy when there is science to back it up!

One amazing thing we found out that many people probably wouldn't even think to be true is that the energy from your heart goes out about 12 feet in front of your body! Heartmath strives to teach heart-based living. The heart is different than the brain, there is no memory, therefore it is 'pure'. From what we understood, shifting to your heart, rather than reacting to an event can make all the difference in the outcome. Shifting to your heart can change a reaction from defensive to compasionate in seconds. Imagine your very own spouse/mother/child not having to defend themselves and then the two of you going into the never ending spiral of an argument.

Oh Joy!

Because I don't know about you, but I really don't want to travel to that country very often. The landscape is riddled with mines! Even the rainbows have shrapnel in a place like that.

What Donna taught us was how to use the Quick Coherence Technique to bring us to this blissful state....and it can be done in under a minute. She even told us that it can be done in half that time! Imagine being able to disarm a blast right before it could happen! Why is this? Because when a person (and I could be talking about YOU or maybe my own mate because it certainly isn't about ME...har har har) is stressed, the neocortex shuts down, and you basically stop thinking properly from not getting enough blood and oxygen.

Ahead of time, Donna says to create a sort of Happy Rolodex in your mind, full of uplifting, wonderful or funny moments. It has to be something that makes you smile or feel really quite amazing. Or you can choose a memory of gratitude. Donna shared hers with us about her cat getting a Haagen Daas ice cream container stuck on his head and then trying to back his way out of it! This is her moment that opens her heart and she says if you find it funny, you can use it too.

This is how easy it is...

An important part of the entire system is to deep breathe from the belly, moving oxygen all the way down. When stressed we shallow breathe, which is not relaxing. In fact, take a deep breath now....all the way down to your belly and let it expand slowly, then release. Easy, right?

So close your eyes, put your hand on your heart and take a deep breath all the way down, nice and slow. Let your stomach fill up with air two or three times and think about that most happiest of moments that you've put in your Joyous Rolodex! Imagine breathing from your heart center, that your breath is moving in and out of your heart.

And that's it!

Some people may just topple over for a impromptu snooze. Some might feel like they've taken a high dive into a pool of coffee. Go with whatever your body does.

Donna also mentioned that if you are struggling with any issues, you can think more compassionately or with proper response by using this method and will get an immediate answer.

There are measurements of energy being tracked that are in the earth's atmosphere. Heartmath found that on 9/11, the collective grief, fear, sadness and compassionate created quite a spike in the world's energy. This shows the importance of all of us being that drop of water that creates the ocean! If collective energy can do THAT, what else can it do?

Well, it turns out that the Peace Project has been working to drop crime in Dallas, TX. They get together to pray or meditate in order to create that harmonious energy in an attempt to balance out prime crime times. For instance, during football games in Dallas. They've even noticed a drop in crime during church hours....and it ain't because the criminals are hanging out in the pews! We are told there has been a 50% reduction in crime in Dallas in the last 24 months!

There is one thing that Donna mentioned that she hasn't yet done.....be a part of a Flash Mob! And who wouldn't?

To book Master Collins for an event, please call Bruce Yamini at 214-505-2781 or email Master Collins directly at pureenergy@spamarrest.com.

Interview with Kristine Carlson, Author of Heartbroken Open

This week we truly had a bright light on our show as we welcomed Kristine Carlson! Kristine is the widow of Richard Carlson, author of the Don't Sweat the Small Stuff series. Sadly, Richard passed away suddenly on a flight to NY on December 13, 2006 of a pulmonary embolism. He was 45 years old.

Kristine chronicles her journey from loss to self discovery in a very honest, raw, heart-wrenching….and heart lifting in her book, Heartbroken Open.

Now when I say heart-wrenching, I’m talking Have Something Available – tissues, paper towels, Sleeve…whatever you can get away with that isn’t someone else’s treasured or unwashable item.

What a wonderful opportunity to speak with Kristine this week! Unfortunately, I had two great things going on at the same time – this interview, and the scheduled performance of my 11 year old playing the bells in a Christmas concert. The school wouldn’t reschedule the concert for my interview, not even with a bribe for that Trader Joe’s 99 cent advent calendar chocolate. And a no show is a mandatory zero. I’ve never heard of a mandatory zero. I should have used that on my mom when I was in school!

So I had only about 10 minutes with Kristine but Jennifer was there to save the show for a second week in a row! I owe her big time! And Kristine’s very message even encompassed the situation – to live in the moment and not take anything for granted. So off to the bells I went and Jennifer had a fabulous conversation with Kristine.

We found out that the title, Heartbroken Open, is taken directly from her journals following the year that Richard passed.

Some of the other things we learned (but can’t give them ALL away…enjoy the whole show HERE) were:

*Don’t wait to live, life can change in an instant

*Why grief is love

*Why Kristine was not afraid of grief, but welcomes it

*How she went all the way into grief in order to return to joy

*There are still days, four years later, where she is consumed by waves of grief

*That she hopes people who read her book (and listen to this interview! Or maybe that’s MY hope) that her message is Life Affirming for those who haven’t lost someone. That they will live in the moment and be Present with their friends, loved ones, and themselves.

*Kristine started a fabulous forum for people who are grieving – be it a death, divorce or other. You can find it here.

*In May of 2012, we can look forward to Don’t Sweat The Small Stuff for Moms!

*And a message that I found extremely powerful, is “Your life is your message”. Amazing! What are YOU trying to say?

Kristine's website is http://www.kristinecarlson.com/.

We want to thank Kristine for sharing her experience with us in book and interview form and hope to speak to her again when her new book comes out in 2012!

Next week, we look forward to speaking with Donna Collins who not only seems to be a Jack of all Trades, but is also licensed with Heartmath. HeartMath is the only scientifically validated system of stress intervention techniques and objective biometric feedback that quantifiably and dramatically boost the health and performance of individuals and organizations.

If you can't catch us live, catch us in the archives...all shows are free! See you next time and have a delicious week!

Bats! Mosquitoes and Tequila! OH MY!

Good moment, everyone! Scheduled for last week’s show on December 1st was Laura Seckbach Finn, Bat Expert. The Universe had it hidden in the deck that our show would play out a bit differently than planned…and for the good of all!

Although we aren’t sure what happened to Laura (but we sure hope she’s ok!), the show went on!

As for me, there was an odd power outage in the area so that means that Yes, Jim, computers and phones and skypes involve wattage and I couldn't connect with the amazing modern world.

Ah, but it went on without me. And without a guest! So that leaves one co-host flapping in the breeze alone!

Actually, not so. She was joined by Jim Ellis, of Legacy Productions (thank you Jim for keeping Jennifer company and for asking those strange and intriguing questions!). Jim and Jennifer are currently the brains and brawn behind 1000 Breaths – a fundraiser to create a documentary to expose child trafficking that is aimed to be distributed in schools and other places that will educate adults and children alike. One disturbing fact – that two children per minute are involved in trafficking. NO children….actually, NO ONE should be used for such purposes. It’s a great cause and you can find loads of information at the Blog.

Since we were guestless and we really wanted to learn about bats, I thought we’d include some interesting bat facts here (obtained from Here!)

The ears of bats are extremely sensitive to sound. Some species of bats are even more sensitive to sound than others.

A few species of bats are carnivorous. Their meals may consist of frogs, lizards, birds and fish.

Vampire bats feed mainly on the blood of cattle, horses and wild mammals.

Contrary to popular belief bats rarely bite humans.

Bats are extremely clean creatures and may groom themselves for hours. (Seems to me that our dog does the same....)

The average lifespan of a bat is approximately twenty years. This figure may vary according to the species.

The mouse-eared bat was declared extinct in 1991.Bats have existed for over 50 million years.

Bats are not blind as most people believe. They have excellent vision though they see in shades of grey.

Bats communicate and navigate with high frequency sounds.

Not all bats are carriers of rabies. In fact, the incidence of rabies in bats is no higher than in skunks or any other mammal that lives in the wild. The rate of rabies found in bats is actually rather low.

Bats exist in large social groups. They roost upside down in caves and trees.

There are over 900 species of bats. Over 60 of those species are endangered.

A bat's wings contain the same bones found in the four fingers and hand of a human being.

Some male bats sing to attract a mate. ( A Justin Timberbat somewhere out there?)

The spotted bat has the largest ears of any bat species native to North America. It is also one of the rarest mammals in the United States.

Although most bats exist in tropical forest habitats bats are found everywhere in the world other than the Arctic and Antarctic. (I think garlic has nearly the same stats!)

Bats produce only one offspring annually. The young are referred to as pups. They are born blind and have no fur. Mothers nurse their pups until they are approximately six months of age.

And for ALL YOU TEQUILA FANS!!! You must read this article by Hector T. Arita and Don E. Wilson. They say that The interdependence between bats and agaves is so strong that one might not be able to survive without the other.

Let's do some quick math - Tequila needs Agave. Agave needs NIGHTTIME pollination. Bees are not like NYC...they sleep. At Night. That leaves certain Flowers In Need waiting for a suitor. Enter, stage right, wearing cape and tights....the Long Nosed Bat.

Not only that, but a small brown bat can eat 600 mosquitoes per HOUR! (Find a great article on what other nocturnal noodges they eat here.)

And even though we didn't get to speak with intended guest, Laura, we'd love to give you her website where you can view a Batcam! If the link doesn't work, you can find her work at http://www.flybynightinc.org/.

Tomorrow's guest will be Kristine Carlson, wife of the late Richard Carlson (author of "Don't Sweat the Small Stuff" books). She will be sharing her story of making her way and finding herself through the grief of losing her husband.

That's all for this time and yes, Jim, I certainly do know a thing or two about laying cement.

Or do I?