I'm So Excited

I’m so excited!

My book "Finding Authentic You—with 365 Daily Spiritual Readings," & Seven Steps to Effective Change has finally been finalized and submitted to online bookstores: Amazon and Kindle. I’ll let you all know when it’s available. I believe the process takes no longer than a week. Yeah!

Can You Cheat a Little, If No One Gets Hurt?

Can You Cheat a Little, If No One Gets Hurt?

I did my quarterly taxes yesterday and was reminded of the message of a youth at church on Sunday. He said: “Is it okay to cheat a little, if no one is looking?” Who exactly is watching each of us as we fudge a little here, take a some pens and paper home from work, steal Sweet & Low from restaurants, and check out in the 15 and Under line when we know we have 20 items?

This is a great question for those who are looking to understand a little more about spiritual growth and accountability—not to God, your neighbors, or the government—but, to yourself. You see, you don’t really cheat anyone in this world, because most of it is simply and ego elusion. You don’t own 15 acres and have millions of dollars. You simply borrow it on time from the world. Everything in this universe is going away eventually, including your physical body. What you see around you is a scenario, perhaps, you built to help teach you important lessons about life.

Definitely, most equivocally, the most important lesson in life is to be honest and authentic about who you are, what you represent, and what you choose to gain from life. If you don’t know the answers to these questions, your first order of spiritual business is to begin a search your heart for answers.

Personally, I look at situations in life with a spiritual litmus test. If you don’t know what a litmus test is, it is a particular die that turns red for acid and blue for alkaline. Metaphorically, it means a test to be sure you are doing the right thing. I ask myself a few questions about things that confuse or befuddle me:

1.  Am I doing what I do out of fear?

2.  Am I doing what I do out of guilt?

3.  Am I doing what I do for self-gain?

4.  Am I making this choice out of spite?

5.  Am I at peace with this decision?

6.  What exactly would be gained or lost should I choose to do this?

All of these questions are pertinent in your discovery of authentic truth. Let’s take choosing the 15 and Under line when you have 20 items. We have to remember that nothing is as simple as black and white. If it were, there would be little to learn in lessons such as these. Let’s take the litmus test.

Question 1: Yes, I think I might be late if I wait for the longer line. 2:) No. 3) Yes, definitely. 4.) no. 5) Yes, because no one is waiting in that line, and I wouldn’t be hurting anyone if I went to that line. 6.) I will be on time for an appointment, which helps me to be more considerate of someone else’s time.

So, you see, what may have looked like an easy answer, actually, turned out to be to do what looks wrong. I always ask myself another question: “Am I just programmed to believe that stepping over some boundaries is bad or will what I’m doing get me demerits with God?”

My answer to that question is that God is not keeping score. We are subconsciously keeping our tabulation on ourselves and it affects our self-esteem greatly if we don’t have answers to the questions that disturb us.

I think of Jesus breaking the Judaic law by healing the sick on the Sabbath. We can easily see that one law of love is greater than the pedantic law of the Sabbath. I believe that Jesus showed us over and over again that our relationship with ourselves and with God is dependent on having the heart of a child—open, transparent, and loving.

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Go to Week 3 of the “Year to CLEAR Challenge” at www.Bosebastian.com

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Below is information that I will be sharing for about a month, as not every person on my list reads the blog every day. If you have already read it, just skip over it. Thanks for understanding.

A Year to CLEAR Challenge:

(Please Know: You Can Join Us At Any Point in the Year Challenge.)

The masses search outward for things that qualify them as a person, but I always go inward for that which quantifies me for greatness. At twenty-five I preached on street corners in NYC as an in-the-closet Pentecostal minister. One day I heard a still small voice say, ‘God cannot be contained in a book or a law or even in a religion. Dig deeper, reach further to find me, and you will find your authentic Self.’”

A Year to CLEAR Challenge!

The acronym CLEAR stands for (Compassionate, Loving, Enthusiastic, And Relationship-Ready). The goal of this project is to engulf readers in a weekly study that will transform them by removing blocks, promote self-growth, and give them wings to fly freely into daily life. Each week, by going to BoSebastian.com and choosing the Year to CLEAR Challenge tab, a new challenge or thought to provoke conversation, growth, and group functionality.

My vision is to make Finding Authentic You the book to have in your Kindle or on your computer. The book is a comprehensive look at growth—spiritually, mentally, and physically.

As a yoga teacher and student of the Ayurvedic tradition, I bring to the table understanding of physical challenges, the ability to overcome mental problems with Life & Health Coaching, as well as hypnotherapy, and expertise in meditation and spirituality as a minister.

The combination of all three in one book with an interactive connection to like-minded readers, for one year, is what makes this Year to CLEAR Challenge a must-do for every spiritual seeker.

The One-Year Approach to Change

No one believes he or she can change overnight. But success in change comes from the metaphors of nature. Seasonally, life changes all around us in nature. Finding Authentic You offers a gradual change perspective, looking at the triune aspects of change as in yoga: Body, Mind and Spirit.

Accessing the ability to change and finding yourself actually pursuing change must be a daily search, which I call getting to the “observer mind.”

In this frontal cortex of the brain we find the anatomy of change and the power to counter every negative trigger of the human process. The workings of Hypnosis, NLP (Neuro-linguistic Programming) and EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) are all positive actions to help the mind and body flow to a positive space for change.

Every aspect of FINDING AUTHENTIC YOU fulfills this constant need for diffusing the negative past and dreaming of a fulfilling future.

Step 1: Recognize That Change is Inevitable

Step 2: Release from Resistance to Change

Step 3: Understanding Change and Allow Spirit to Define It

Step 4: A History Lesson—About You

Step 5: Look at Your Past with Compassion

Step 6: Making a Strong Commitment to Change

Step 7: Dream Your Fabulous Future

Go to www.bosebastian.com for Week One Challenge:

TOOLS FOR CHANGE:

Go to Storefront to buy any of the following or make a donation to Finding Authentic You: www.shop.bosebastian.com

·       Introduction to Meditation

·       Smoke Cessation mp3

·       Weight Loss mp3

·       Hypnotic Lap Band surgery Mp3

·       Insomnia mp3

·       Eternal Om mp3

·       Meditation Music mp3

·       Guide to Meditation mp3

·       Healing the Body mp3

·       And my “Lessons from the Heart” book ready for your download purchase.

Go to Home Page: www.BoSebastian.com

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Bo Sebastian is a Hypnotherapist and Life & Health Coach, available for private sessions to QUIT SMOKING, Lose Weight, New Lap-Band Hypnosis for Weight Loss, CHANGE YOUR MIND, CHANGE YOUR LIFE! at 615-400-2334 or www.bosebastian.com. Please feel free to comment and/or sign up to receive your blog sent to you directly or stream with an RSS Feed.

I am trying to spread the word about my blog and I need your help. Please let your friends know it exists, if it gives you hope and blesses you each day.  I would be greatly pleased for you to share anything that you read by clicking the share button in Facebook.com/bo.sebastian, or add it to your Twitter at BoSebastian; or LinkedIN at Bosebastian5@gmail.com; or find this blog home at www.FindingAuthenticYou.com. Any of my books can be found on Amazon or Barnes and Nobel, just by typing my name in the search header. Also, be looking for “Finding Authentic You, 7 Steps to Effective Change” with a Year to CLEAR (C-larity, L-ove, E-nthusiasm A-nd R-elationship-Ready) on my Website in the Webstore. Thanks!

Desire Charges Dreams

Desire Charges Dreams

I just finished watching the final cuts of “So You Think You Can Dance.” I couldn’t believe the physical and mental endurance it took to get through three days of hellish choreography and clashes of personality to get to the final 33 dancers for what they call the Green Mile, before the top 20 dancers are picked for the main season. The only thing that that could possibly be driving these youngsters to their best is desire.

I used to admire people who would work hard all week and enjoy sports on the weekend as if it were all that mattered. I always wanted something in my life that could drive me to that kind of passion. I seriously believed, until recently, that I have never really found that one thing that makes me crazy wild inside and want to do my thang night and day. I have many parts in my life that make me happy, but nothing really that makes me stark-raving crazy. Sometimes, to tell you the truth, I wish I did.

I wonder, however, if it would be to the detriment of my well-rounded and balanced life if something wowed me. Who knows?

I do know this, that anything that I have truly wanted in this life, I have desired with all my heart. I have dreamed of it. I have fantasized about what I would do if I made the grade. I have challenged myself to practice and rehearsal. And I have pushed myself to churn out work every day until the finished product was in sight.

However, I have to say, that the end product and even a good ending to the dream is never enough. I feel, often, that the “work on the path” is truly the only thing that makes the pushing toward the dream worthwhile. I have never once stood in front of a standing ovation for a performance and thought, I have made it to happiness. In fact, almost the opposite reaction happens. I feel sad inside that the utmost compliment isn’t enough to make my heart sing with happiness, even after I have honed and practice my talents to the nth degree.

I go back to the drawing board with spirit this time and ask, “What is my divine purpose, God?” I know, that without understanding my divine purpose I will never truly be on the path to pure bliss.

Recently, I have looked hard at my very busy and diverse life. I decided that something had to change to make my life congeal and be cohesive.

I had a literary agent friend tell me that my book ideas were good, but I needed a brand. I had heard the term brand many times. I remember when the YMCA changed its branding to simply The Y. The health club hadn’t been a young men’s Christian association for a long time. Yet, Y they kept their logo for so long, amazed me. But I finally understood the concept when all the employees had to change outfits, the signs were changed, and even our basic concepts were more cohesive.

So, I asked God for some inspiration. This is when I came up with “Finding Authentic You.” I realized that everything that I did as a practitioner was leading my clients to something. But what was that special something? When I discovered that no matter if my clients were coming for yoga, vocal lessons, hypnotherapy, or life coaching, they were all coming to reveal their most authentic self. And, indeed, that is exactly what my intention was when I changed my brand at the beginning of this year—to peel the layers of nonauthencity off and reveal the truth self in all who came to me.

I decided that I would start with the concept first. Create a website and a blog that followed the theory. Then make sure that all my jobs fit into the paradigm of finding authentic truth.

This year has been an incredible change for me. I have let go of so much want and desire, and have settled into a place of simply doing what is in my heart to the fullest extent, coming from the greatest heartfelt place.

As a result, my life has taken a turn for the best. I have never experienced so much happiness in my entire life. Every day has been filled with bliss and love. I have decided to put away the past and leave it locked up and burnt away where it belongs. When it decides to rise from its ashes like the Phoenix, I ask the question: What lesson(s) are you trying to show me?

When I discover the reason I’m experiencing an old pattern, I make a positive move, pressing forward into the now with power and strength—new strength—I never knew I had. Lately, I have been more real and more at peace than ever before. I believe this is all because I have found the desire behind my dream.

The desire is simply this—to live life as my authentic self—and with that comes peace.

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Bo Sebastian is a Hypnotherapist and Life & Health Coach, available for private sessions to QUIT SMOKING, Lose Weight, New Lap-Band Hypnosis for Weight Loss, CHANGE YOUR MIND, CHANGE YOUR LIFE! at 615-400-2334 or www.bosebastian.com.

I am trying to spread the word about my blog and I need your help. Please let your friends know it exists, if it gives you hope and blesses you each day. If you are looking to enter the RSS or Atom Feed, you have to go to the home page of the blog to get there. Also, I write this Blog as a part of Finding Authentic You Ministries. If you would like to send an offering or a tithe, your donation would greatly be appreciated: 5001 Maywood Drive, Nashville, TN 37211. And I would be greatly pleased for you to share anything that you read by clicking the share button in Facebook.com/bo.sebastian, or add it to your Twitter at BoSebastian; or LinkedIN at Bosebastian5@gmail.com; or find this blog home at www.FindingAuthenticYou.com. Any of my books can be found on Amazon or Barnes and Nobel, just by typing my name in the search header.

You Attract What You Cause

You Attract What You Cause

A friend of mine was driving to work one morning as an anxious woman tailgated him for two miles. He got to an amber light, slowed down, and stopped as it turned red. The woman behind him honked her horn, dropped her hot Starbucks coffee, yelled profanities, and her IPhone slipped out from her hand and to the ground as she flailed her arms in despair.

As all that was happening, a policeman walked up to her driver’s side window. “Please get out of the car!” His voice was severe and direct. She opened the door and, still shaken, presented her license. The policeman proceeded to cuff her and took her down to the station.

After waiting in a jail cell for thirty minutes, the policeman came back to the woman apologetically, “I’m really sorry ma’am. As I was following your car, I noticed the WWJD and “Follow Me to Sunday School” stickers on your bumper; you had an “I love Jesus” license plate; and a Pro-life banner on your back window—I just assumed whomever was driving your car had stolen it!”

What we are—what we present ourselves as—should be our story. If it isn’t, expect that people around you are going to judge you harshly. In this world we don’t sow seeds of anger and get back authentic gentle behavior. Generally, when you become violent with someone, volatile and angry behavior follows you. When you steal from the hungry, you generally don’t have money to pay your rent.

I read this book called Psycho Cybernetics, written by a plastic surgeon who realized after fixing faces of people who had terrible birth defects—that people still see themselves as what they were. Without clinical help to change their minds, they were the same as before the surgery. In his book, Dr. Maxwell Maltz used hypnotherapy to begin the courageous move from seeing oneself as a horribly disfigured person to one who had been changed into someone beautiful.

My point is that we reflect on the outside is what we are on the inside. No amount of fancy bumper stickers are going to change an anxious and angry you. What will change you is a good look at yourself, behavior modification, and a consistent move toward therapeutic help.

I am a perfect example of this. I moved to Nashville to pursue singing Christian Contemporary Music. I was a closeted homosexual who wanted to be accepted by people who probably couldn’t accept me for who I was. And my idea of God who was also completely judgmental.

When I got down here, I faced persecution from my peers, hypocrisy from the industry, and the worst part, I recognized a part of me who didn’t want to live any longer. I was in a dark place, not because I was gay. I was anxious and angry and sad because I couldn’t find a way to be authentically me!

My first counseling session with my therapist was three hours long. I was fortunately the last person on his schedule. He stayed late to basically watch me cry for three hours as I told my story.

The question is and always will be: Are we our stories? Or are our stories what we hide behind as we accept who we really are?

My guess is that the answer is the second one. I have coached hundreds of people, maybe thousands, who have wanted to be someone they were not. Eventually, the real you will force you to take hold and no disguise will be enough to keep your from revealing who you really are.

In many people, deviant behavior follows hiding their true nature. One who is hiding from him/herself is bound to hate him/herself. They hate the fact that they have to lie to everyone daily just to function in their world.

When I finally decided to be myself no matter what the cost, I discovered a new, effortless life of love. I attracted the very people who would lead me to my true soul and caress my authentic colors. Be yourself, wonderful one. You are uniquely created by God to reflect something perfect and glorious!

Take a moment to be your authentic self today!

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Bo Sebastian is a Hypnotherapist and Life & Health Coach, available for private sessions to QUIT SMOKING, Lose Weight, New Lap-Band Hypnosis for Weight Loss, CHANGE YOUR MIND, CHANGE YOUR LIFE! at 615-400-2334 or www.bosebastian.com.

I am trying to spread the word about my blog and I need your help. Please let your friends know it exists, if it gives you hope and blesses you each day. If you are looking to enter the RSS or Atom Feed, you have to go to the home page of the blog to get there. Also, I write this Blog as a part of Finding Authentic You Ministries. If you would like to send an offering or a tithe, your donation would greatly be appreciated: 5001 Maywood Drive, Nashville, TN 37211. And I would be greatly pleased for you to share anything that you read by clicking the share button in Facebook.com/bo.sebastian, or add it to your Twitter at BoSebastian; or LinkedIN at Bosebastian5@gmail.com; or find this blog home at www.FindingAuthenticYou.com. Any of my books can be found on Amazon or Barnes and Nobel, just by typing my name in the search header.

The Protagonist Is You

The Protagonist Is You

When you write great fiction, a good technique is to make your protagonist compassionate. You want your reader to fall in love with the person you’re painting literally. To do this, this person has to have just the right amount of flaws to make him/her real, and also have some amazing hurdle he/she has to get over to find happiness. The object is to always be cheering for the protagonist even when he/she fails. But notice that the protagonist always has a goal.

On the other hand, you must write into your story a wonderful antagonist as well, because every good protagonist must have someone or something fighting against his/her good wishes. This antagonist must try to stop the protagonist from getting to his/her goal at all costs. The greater the stakes, the better the plot, the more you want to turn the page.

So, if you are the protagonist in your story of life, what exactly is your end goal? Or do you even have a goal? What are you trying to get to that seems to be insurmountable? Is it a new job, a new relationship, a spiritual life, a new home, to move to a different country, or just simply to find peace in life?

Once you discover this, also look at who and what is keeping you from your goal—the antagonist of your life. Is it real, or is it in your mind? Sometimes the greatest antagonists in fiction are shadows from the past.

The reason why this can make for a great drama is because every one of us has a past. We can all identify with a person who is trying to break free of his/her tainted background.

Then there is the plot twist. Something happens unexpectedly to change the course of the entire story. Suddenly, what your protagonist thought she was trying to achieve, unveiled something even better than imagined. Once she gets over the hurdles, she realizes that what was missing had been there all along—like the lovers who have been best friends their entire lives.

Chances are your life wouldn’t make for a bestseller. Most people’s lives are too simple to make us turn the page. But that doesn’t mean that your story is pertinent and real to the fabric of society and life. Every person’s destiny has been carefully weaved together to create a beautiful and complete story for all of us to benefit from. But why can’t you figure out exactly what the story is and how you fit into it?

As a Life Coach, I spend most of my time helping people figure out exactly what their story is, why they are their own antagonist, and how simple or difficult it will be to achieve the goals to achieve happiness.

The truth is, however, that just getting on the path to your truth is the most important part of all your work. Maybe you may never achieve your goal. But being on the road to it is what creates a forward momentum in life. So, we must take hold of our dreams and press on that gas pedal to move forward toward our dreams and desires.

If you’re not doing this, you will stay in a place of complacency, which probably included anesthetizing yourself with some kind of alcohol or drug periodically to numb your brain into one more day with no goal. Or you will fall into a deep depression that will take lots of therapy and maybe medication only to lead you back to the things that can change your life: Living it Authentically; Following your dreams; Moving from your center toward the true matters of your heart.

Try it. You’ll see what I mean almost immediately.

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Bo Sebastian is a Hypnotherapist and Life & Health Coach, available for private sessions to QUIT SMOKING, Lose Weight, New Lap-Band Hypnosis for Weight Loss, CHANGE YOUR MIND, CHANGE YOUR LIFE! at 615-400-2334 or www.bosebastian.com.

I am trying to spread the word about my blog and I need your help. Please let your friends know it exists, if it gives you hope and blesses you each day. If you are looking to enter the RSS or Atom Feed, you have to go to the home page of the blog to get there. Also, I write this Blog as a part of Finding Authentic You Ministries. If you would like to send an offering or a tithe, your donation would greatly be appreciated: 5001 Maywood Drive, Nashville, TN 37211.  And I would be greatly pleased for you to share anything that you read by clicking the share button in Facebook.com/bo.sebastian, or add it to your Twitter at BoSebastian; or LinkedIN at Bosebastian5@gmail.com; or find this blog home at www.FindingAuthenticYou.com. Any of my books can be found on Amazon or Barnes and Nobel, just by typing my name in the search header.