“You are a link in a chain of causation that stretches before and after your life for thousands of generations.”

—Rev. Chris Michaels, founding minister of the Center for Spiritual Living

Maybe you’re not aware, but your behaviors have an origin—one you may never think of. It’s not necessarily genetic, as you may believe. Rather, the origin is within your mind, passed down through many generations.

What we see as our daily behaviors,...

What does it take to be a good healer or become a good holistic practitioner? I get this question a lot.

I have come to an answer—forged by twenty plus years as a crystal healer and holistic practitioner working with one-on-one clients and leading workshops, by practicing several spiritual disciplines, and by engaging in countless courses in both crystals and other holistic modalities. I have also learned through intensive research as a journalist; profound self-inquiry; and...

When I googled the word mother, this is what I found: “Your mother is the woman who gave birth to you. You can also call someone your mother if she brings you up as if she was this woman” (collinsdictionary.com).

Elsewhere, I found “The Meaning of Being a Mother”: “A mother is a selfless, loving human who must sacrifice many of their wants and needs for the wants and needs of their children. A mother works hard to make sure their child is equipped with the...

I look for her, but she seems to evade me. I look for her loving look, her words of encouragement, her inspiration, her company, her affection, her unconditional support, her love. I’m still looking. Please don’t leave me! Hey, Mom, I’m here. Would you like to be with me? To share some time with me—without judging me? Mother, I’m not perfect! Mother, are you listening? Can you love me as I am? Are you there?

How many of us have found ourselves in this same...

For a long time, we’ve been taught that evolution is a process that is happening to us. But recent scientific discoveries remind us instead that we are actually actively involved in how we evolve.

Today, we know that the food we eat is closely related to our body’s health and that, by making conscious nutritional choices, we can prevent and treat diseases. Scientific findings also show us that stress impacts the endocrine level, causing the release of cortisol, affecting the normal...

Have you ever met a person and just felt that you did not like her or him or did not feel at ease near her or him? What about the opposite? Have you met someone who you instantly felt happy and at peace being around?

That is resonance!

Resonance attracts similar things and repels dissimilar things. So we go through life attracting and repelling people, beliefs, and situations.

If through resonance we attract what is similar, this means that we can attract to ourselves...

Do you find yourself reacting unexpectedly to outside triggers with strong emotion and, before you realize it, engaging in conflict?

What if I told you that, without your awareness, you’re actually participating in battles that don’t belong to you? Defending beliefs that aren’t actually yours, making you see enemies in those whose thinking differs from yours? What if I told you that each of your reactions, attitudes, and behaviors are really the emotions of others...

Let’s have a transparent talk.

I want to share an experience that left me thinking.

In one of the Uber rides I took while visiting Boston, the driver, upon hearing my accent, asked where I was from.

“Venezuela,” I replied.

He turned to me and said, “A lot is happening in Venezuela.”

Yes, these days, Venezuela is in turmoil.

Venezuela, the country where I was born and raised (beyond the patriarchal bias of the society),...

Many of us may associate addiction with difficult life circumstances—accidents, challenging relationship issues, loss of a job or of someone we care about, to name a few. In spite of the fact that we may have learned to think of addiction as related to external circumstances, in truth, its origin is not outside but, rather, inside each of us.

Although there are many definitions of addiction, for me, it’s reduced to the repetition of patterns of thoughts.

While most...

Betrayal is a subject that many of us fear and associate with the ending of a friendship, a marriage, or affiliation with a group. It is the crumbling of a dream, of an illusion, and it is associated with suffering. According to most, betrayal is one of the worst, most negative experiences you could ever live. In the face of betrayal, you will judge the other, victimize yourself, and support and gravitate toward all the negative thoughts generated by you and others about what the terrible...