Episode Transcript
We Americans enjoy a wonderful and powerful way of life, but internally and in relationships we may wish for better. Join me as we look beneath the surface and gain insights to transform every aspect of your life. My name is Dr. Anne O'Hare, and this is the Spiritual American. Hello everyone, and welcome to the Spiritual American. My name is Dr. Anne O'Hare, and I'm your host. Today is a very special episode because today I'm gonna talk about my newly released, newly published book. Meditate Anyway, A spiritual introduction for people who don't want a guru. So I'm very proud to be saying that I'm actually now a published author. Never thought that that would be something that I would accomplish. And I wanna say that this book is a reflection of the teachings in the podcast. So if you're the type of person that needs to have something in your hand. To read, and I'm gonna spend a few minutes and share a little bit about the book and read a little bit from it and so forth. But the main thing that I wanna share about it is that it's for people who maybe aren't very religious or maybe they are, but usually the people who aren't very religious, maybe a little skeptical, maybe don't think that meditation is for them. Maybe think that meditation is a waste of time. Maybe don't believe in happiness or don't believe in peace, let's say. People that have spent their life trying to do good and do right and maybe haven't been able to connect with those subtle, pure feelings inside. So that's what the book is for, and it's actually book one of a five part series. So I'm already in the process of writing the second one right now, but the name of the series is called You Are A Soul. That's the name of the series of books. This book is a hundred and fifty pages. So it's small, it's easy to manage. There's not a lot of extra stuff in here. It goes right into the teaching and they're short chapters. And I'm gonna read one of them right now. Let me just go to page. Okay. So I'm gonna read the chapter a little bit of the chapter, true self-Respect. So it says here, true self-respect begins when we remember we are souls. Living consciousness, children of God, and start to shed the old judgments that keep us small. It's a heavy phrase, self-respect. For many of us, it's something we're told to have but never taught how to grow. And when life gets messy, as it often does, that sense of self-respect can start to fray. We remember past choices we're not proud of. We look around in our lives and think I should be further along by now, or we just notice when we're alone with ourselves that something feels unsettled. What keeps us from feeling good about who we are, and more importantly, how do we begin to reclaim that goodness? Most of us carry some quiet, persistent reason why we don't fully respect ourselves. Maybe it's something we did. Maybe it's something, maybe it's how we've been living, or maybe it's just the sense that we've let ourselves down in small invisible ways over and over again. You might start something that feels good, like meditation or spiritual practice and notice the benefits, but then life interrupts. And when you try to come back to it, a voice inside says, why bother? You're not gonna stick with it anyway. That's not laziness. That's emotional weight. Unspoken regret, old judgment, the heaviness of a past we haven't made peace with yet. Spirituality offers us a new way in. It begins with one radical idea. You are a soul, not a role, not a body, not a personality shaped by circumstance, but a being of living light, consciousness itself. That's the foundation of true self-respect. Understanding that your worth isn't based on success or approval or performance. It's based on who you are at the deepest level. You are God's child and God, the supreme soul is not angry, not disappointed, not waiting for you to measure up. God is peace. God is benevolence. God is perfect understanding, and that same spiritual DNA lives inside you. So when you can't believe in your own goodness, that's okay. Start by believing in God's. Let that be the bridge. Let yourself sit with the possibility. I am a soul. My nature is peace, my essence is love. Even if it doesn't feel true yet, especially if it doesn't feel true yet, just let it be something you're willing to explore. This is how spiritual effort begins, and over time it transforms everything. So that's a little taste of the book. It's a gentle invitation to look within, to discover the essence of the self. It doesn't really give too much practice. At the end of the chapters, there's something called the practice. So at the end of each chapter, there's a practice with a little reflection to do or something. It's not heavy. This book is meant to be a taste, a little introduction like it says in the title, but not a big, you know, okay, now I have to do this or do that. There's no doing. It's an invitation to take a look and see that I'm a soul, that I'm a being of peace to see. Try for yourself and see. So, that is what I wanted to share today. The book is available on Kindle and paperback on Amazon, and of course I recommend the book, but also it's this five book series is going to chronicle or blueprint the Raja Yoga journey. So I hope that if you're interested, that you will try it and I hope you will enjoy it. And so I will leave it there. Remember, our slogan is Heal, Empower, and Serve. And so peace to all of you. And I wish you well for all of you on your own unique spiritual journey. Take care.
