Anger is like pumping air into a balloon. When it starts to get overinflated, little leaks sprout up. Most of us try to cover those little holes with band-aids, such as alcohol, food, screen time, etc... But that only causes new holes to spring up. We must learn to turn off the air pump if we want to get to the root of the problem. But is anger always bad?…
Q: Dear Todd, is there any part of anger issues that are genetically linked or is it more of a learned behavior? The reason I ask is because my ex’s anger was intensely explosive and my 3 boys display the same type of behavior when angered. My 2 girls manage their anger really well. All five kids had the same exposure to their father’s outbursts, which were modeled for them,…
Q: Dear Todd, in my eyes, peace doesn't always protect, especially against tyrant leaders and overlords. We might fight alongside justice and love, with actions like those of war veterans. We do this to preserve and protect what we have built with love for those we love, so we may be at peace and in harmony. What are your views on this?TODD ANSWERS:This is an excellent point and I am…
Our own spiritual work will not heal our coworkers, but it will over time heal the trauma that they have caused in us. The goal is not to manifest better behavior out of our coworkers. The goal is to reach a place where we can find peace in toxic places.Shockingly, this inner work does actually lead to coworkers treating us better because we have risen above all conflict. People who…
Q: Dear Todd, how does your teaching of “we are all God” apply to people living in a tough city where people will rob and kill another person? That is not what a "Godly", or spiritual, person would do. Am I not a better person (to know) than the rapist, the thief, or the murderer? TODD ANSWERS: We must see these people beyond their acts of cruelty. We must see…
You may get your annual physical. You may see a therapist from time to time for a checkup from the neck up. But we rarely, if ever, check in with that deepest part of who we are. Some call it soul, others spirit. It has many names: source, prana, life-force energy, consciousness, essence, Atman, and Self.Spiritual health is more important than mental and physical health because from our state of…
Last week I talked about how to do a spiritual health check-up. This week, let’s talk about how to go from spiritual health to spiritual wealth.We all have spiritual wealth already, but it gets obscured by incessant thinking, traumatic events, and a chaotic and negative mind. So here is how we can expand our consciousness, raise our awareness, and prolong our presence.It’s first important to realize that from awareness and…
All loving relationships start with knowing. All problems stem from a lack of understanding. If we are to love ourselves, love others as ourselves, and eliminate internal and external conflict, we must know ourselves.The wisdom that arises from understanding who we truly are cannot be told to us. Just as we cannot develop a good relationship with another person by simply reading about relationships, we cannot develop a good relationship…
When we say that humans are social creatures, it doesn’t just mean that we like to gather and communicate. It means that through the many selves, a society emerges. Without society, we would have no language, and thus no thoughts. So while there is a great deal we can learn about ourselves when we close our eyes and turn our attention inward, it is also important to understand that we…
What is happiness? Is it getting what we want? Is it chemicals in our brain that can be altered with substances? Is it positive thoughts and emotions? Or, is it something more?As humans, we have two modes of being: going and resting. Often, even when we are physically resting, our mind is going. When we are going, we are chasing after what we want and we are running away from…
“I thought my biggest fear was growing old and dying in prison. In truth, my biggest fear was growing old and not knowing myself.”
- Rick Smith, Albama inmate
Path to Peace - A newsletter not just for your mental health but also for your spiritual health.
