The Eclectic Soul Podcast -- Cindy Jones Lantier,

(First of all, this episode was supposed to be an interview with my dear friend (and poet) Renee Avard-Furlow. However, she recently had surgery and her recovery is not exactly going as planned. Please send light & love, healing juju, prayers — or whatever you do — for her full and quick recovery from all that ails her. I’m hoping that she’ll be able to be the October guest.) Some pretty amazing people made their transition over this past week-end: Dr. Wayne Dyer, Wes Craven, and Dr. Oliver Sacs — along with about 300,000 other people who were also creations of the Divine. I’ve been thinking about death for a few days and thought I’d share some of what I know and some of what I believe with you. In this episode, I talk about some of the beliefs of major religious traditions and then I share a little bit about my beliefs. Christianity — I kind of just knew this after years of being a Christian. Judaism — Judaism 101 Islam — This interesting source actually provided information for a lot of the podcast, although I verified it through other sources. Hinduism — See above source. Buddhism — The source mentioned above plus this one. Wicca — I just know this from my time studying Wicca, but I did verify my information at about.com’s Wicca site, Corazon Aquino was the 11th President of the Philippines, as well as the first female president in Asia. She had never held political office before being elected to that office. Feel free to pin the above image, or share it on Facebook or Instagram — or anywhere else you can think of! The Lab Assignment for this week’s episode is pretty easy, although I do hope you’ll spend some time with it. Just spend some contemplating and then writing about what you think happens during the death process and what happens afterwards. I’d love it if you’d share your thoughts with me, either as a comment on this page, or in an email. Don’t forgive the book giveaway! I’ll be giving away a copy of The Afterlife of Billy Fingers by Annie Kagan. Be sure to listen until the end of the episode to find out how you can enter to win! As always, thank you for joining me. Namaste’             

Thank you for joining me on this episode of The Eclectic Soul Podcast. Today, we talk about gratitude and appreciation. While they are not exactly the same thing, they are both foundational elements of a deep spiritual practice. I cannot imagine not be appreciative and grateful on a daily basis. Dictionary.com defines gratitude as: the quality or feeling of being grateful or appreciative. Dictionary.com defines appreciation as: gratitude; thankful recognition. But it’s the second definition of appreciation that really interests me: the act of estimating the quality of things and giving them their proper value. So, appreciation can be thought of as seeing things as they really are. Abe-Hicks teaches that gratitude and appreciation are similar but slightly different. Appreciation is the vibration of love, while gratitude carries with it a bit of the struggle that we overcame to get where we are. They explain it very well in this video on youtube. I mentioned Blab and my new friend, Bronywn Clee. Blab.im is a new live streaming platform that allows for more interaction than Periscope. I am totally addicted to Blab! I haven’t hosted a Blab yet, but I plan to get into it more in the near future. Bronwyn recently hosted a Blab called Is Gratitude a Noun or a Verb? in which she talked about DOING gratitude, rather than just writing about it in your journal. Good stuff! Reported in Harvard Health Publications — Giving Thanks Can Make You Happier. Meister Eckhart was a 13th century German theologian, philosopher, and mystic. I think he was a very wise man to say such a thing! Feel free to pin the above image, or share it on Facebook or Instagram — or anywhere else you can think of! The Lab Assignment for this episode is easy: Rate your overall, average mood for the past three days. Then, adopt an appreciation & gratitude practice for the next seven days. Each evening, make a list of five to seven things you are appreciative or grateful for. Go a bit deeper and write a sentence or two about why you are appreciative for each item on your list. Try not to repeat any item. At the end of seven days, take stock of your overall mood again. I’d love to hear if it has changed! Either leave a comment on the show notes or drop me an email. Don’t forgive the book giveaway! I’ll be giving away a copy of Danielle LaPorte’s The Desire Map. (Have I mentioned it’s one of my favorite books?) Be sure to listen until the end of the episode to find out how you can enter to win! As always, thank you for joining me. Namaste’          CommentsComments 

This episode of The Eclectic Soul Podcast is about compassion. One of my pet causes right now is self-compassion. There’s a lot of talk about self-love and self-care — and I think they are very important topics — but self-compassion is the foundation of either of those. After all, if you aren’t feeling compassionate toward yourself, what motivation or inspiration do you have to treat yourself with love and care? Dictionary.com says that compassion is a feeling of deep sympathy and sorrow for another who is stricken by misfortune, accompanied by a strong desire to alleviate the suffering. I mentioned a study that was done at the University of Wisconsion-Madison that seems to indicate that compassion is a learned skill. I certainly agree with that! If you’d like the downloads of the guided meditations they used, they are available at Investigating Healthy Minds (This actually didn’t work for me.) I also mentioned a loving-kindness meditation process based on the Buddhist Metta teachings. Ya gotta love the Dalai Lama! Everyone appreciates kindness and compassion. Please pin and share this image to promote the podcast. Thanks! The Lab Assignment for this episode involves two weeks of compassion training. Either download the guided compassion meditation mentioned in the episode or learn the loving-kindness meditation linked to above. Practice for just 30 minutes for 14 days — that will be the same amount of training that the participants in the study mentioned in the episode received. I’m interested in hearing if you find yourself more compassionate (especially toward yourself!) at the end of the two weeks. Please leave a comment or send me an email. And don’t forget the book giveaway! I’d love to share a copy of one of my favorite books with you: The Desire Map by Danielle LaPorte. Thanks for listening and for sharing this podcast with your friends and family who might be interested. Namaste’         

In this episode, I talk excitedly about a little bit of quantum physics and the new biology — and I touch on a couple of woo-woo topics, too. I love Neil deGrasse Tyson — and Stephen Colbert, for that matter — so I really enjoyed this youtube interview. It’s in this interview that Tyson talks about us being made of the same stuff as ancient stars. The book I’m currently reading on cell biology is The Biology of Belief, by Bruce Lipton. It isn’t exactly light reading, but he does make the science pretty accessible. This is not the edition I’m reading, but I will be reading this one, too! I love that he’s expanded the book for the 10th anniversary edition. While not specifically related to what we are talking about in this episode, I do love the part about being made in the image of what you desire. It makes perfect sense, because what you desire is what you focus on. Thomas Merton was a American Catholic writer and mystic. Feel free to pin this, or share it on Facebook or Instagram — or anywhere else! Today’s Lab Assignment is to draw two lines, labeling one “Practicality” and the other “The Woo.” These lines are parallel, but they are also mutually exclusive; your position on one line doesn’t influence your position on the other line. Assuming a 0-10 rating, where do you fall on each line? If you are highly practical and have little tolerance for the more woo-woo concepts, how do you explain energy healing, tapping, or chakras? If you are all into the woo, how do you feel knowing that science is (slowly) catching up to you? Don’t forget the book giveaway! I’m giving a copy of The Desire Map by Danielle LaPorte. Serious game changer! As always, I’d love it if you’d reach out to me. Feel free to share your thoughts about the Lab Assignment, for example, in the comments section or send me an email. Thanks so much for tuning in! Namaste’         

Welcome to the first official episode of The Eclectic Soul Podcast! I’m so excited that you found your way here. You can check out the definitions of religion and spiritual at Dictionary.com — one of my favorite online references. I talk about two different studies done by the Pew Research Center — One done in 2014, and another reported on in 2012 (I didn’t see a research date for this one.). Today’s quote is by yours truly. I’m not usually into quoting myself, but this one was just too good not to share; it hits a lot of us where we live. I know it resonates with me in that Ouch! I’d better pay attention way. Feel free to pin it, share it on Facebook or Instagram — or anywhere else you see fit! Today’s Lab Assignment is an awareness exercise, as many of the assignments will be. Simply make a bullet list of your significant spiritual influences. Write a sentence or two about what you take from each influence. If you’d like share, either leave a comment on this page or send me an email. I’d love to know what influences your spiritual path! Don’t forget to listen all the way to the end of the episode to find out how you can win a copy of one of my favorite books — Danielle LaPorte’s The Desire Map. Thanks for listening! Namaste’          CommentsComments 

This is just a typical introduction episode. I talk about who I am and what the podcast is all about. I talk about the structure, frequency, and all that kind of goodness. I also talk about a book giveaway that I’m doing during the first eight weeks of the podcast launch. This week,  I’m giving a way a copy of one of my favorite books ever — The Desire Map, by Danielle LaPorte. This book was a game changer for me; I’m so happy to share it with one of you! Just listen until the end of the episode to learn how you can win a copy. I’m doing something a little unusual — to help you get to know me and the podcast, I’m releasing five episodes at one time. If you enjoy it, please subscribe through iTunes, Stitcher, or Android. Be sure to rate the podcast, review it, and tell your friends and family all about it! Thank you. Namaste’          CommentsComments