I realize that this is where I’m supposed to share my life story in a nutshell—or at least offer the highlights, my biggest epiphanies, and my qualifications for writing about wisdom. Instead, I’ll put it simply: I hurt.

I hurt a lot, for a long time, and I caused it.

When I was younger, I carried around numerous victim stories to justify my negativity and misery. After years of suffering, I realized I truly was the cause—no one and nothing else made my life hard.

I was the one thinking undermining thoughts. I was the one drowning in overpowering emotions. I was the one dwelling on the past. I was the one who moved around all the time, hoping to escape myself. Eventually I realized that I was the only one who could change how I experienced the world.

I knew it wouldn’t be easy—that I’d have to let go of certain things and make certain choices over and over again. And so I do, in as many as moments as I can, knowing I will never be perfect—but finally accepting that’s okay.

I started tinybuddha.com as a community blog in the fall of 2009, after tweeting quotes through @tinybuddhafor more than a year. It’s a place where people of all ages share how they apply wisdom to everyday life—a space where people write authentically and sometimes vulnerably about the challenges we all face.

Though people often ask me about the numbers—the Twitter followers, the page views, and the unique visits—that’s not why I run Tiny Buddha. I do it because engaging in this way connects us on a meaningful level and allows us to make a positive difference in each other’s lives.

I run Tiny Buddha because I’m done hurting alone. The world’s a far brighter place when we choose instead to heal and thrive together.

If you are not familiar with author and blogger Lori Deschene, you should be.  Her new book entitled “Tiny Buddha, Simple Wisdom for Life’s Hard Questions” is a must read for anyone wanting to explore some of the deepest questions you might ever be asked.   Lori not only intertwined her own personal story, but she used Twitter to get answer from her followers about what she calls Life’s Hard Questions.

Nearly one thousand people responded when Lori began asking life’s hard questions on Twitter, planning to create a collaborative book.   As Lori states the insights from the people who responded formed the backbone of “Tiny Buddha“.   This book is not a guide of absolute answers.  It’s crowdsourced wisdom, often supported by scientific, psychological and sociological research, that may help you experience meaning, happiness and peace right now, regardless of your circumstances.

In my interview with Lori we explore not only her very interesting personal story, but the insights and wisdom of the thousands of followers at her website and blog. If you are asking yourself, what are these “hard questions” here are just a few to peak your interest: 1) Why Is There Suffering In the World? 2) What’s the Meaning of Life? 3) Can People Change and How? 4) Does Everything Happen for a Reason? 5) What Does It Take to Be Happy?

“Tiny Buddha” is a book designed to get you to think as well as take action on your thoughts.  Lori has created a section at the end of each chapter where she provides options for the reader to put what they learn into practice.  It is one thing to read and reflect on  these “hard questions’ it is another thing to start to move in a direction to change old patterns and beliefs that do not serve us anymore.  I personally think that the layout of the book evokes deep thought, contemplation and the freedom to explore what will work best for you.

Lori approaches this truly from the “Buddhist” perspective which is very refreshing.  No judgement–she is just a guide helping you find your own way while you ponder some of “life’s hardest questions”  If you want to learn more about Lori’s blog, or sign up for her amazing daily inspirational messages please click here to read more.  You can also watch a great YouTube video about Lori’s thought on how to build real community on the Internet.

I hope you enjoy a wonderful interview with a fascinating author on a mission to unite and help people with every day pain and suffering.   You can also follow Lori on Twitter by clicking here

Currently Mr. Gladstone personally represents individual authors such as spiritual teachers Eckhart Tolle and Neale Donald Walsch, radio talk show host Thom Hartmann, international peace advocate Dr. Ervin Laszlo, philanthropist Shari Arison, novelist Victor Villasenor, environmental activist Hunter Lovins, Chicken Soup for the Soul book series creator Mark Victor Hansen and many other outstanding authors and professionals dedicated to creating books which inspire and improve the world. Mr. Gladstone is also the author of THE TWELVE, a novel of ancient wisdom as well producer of the film Tapping the Source and co-author of the book Tapping The Source.

Over the last several months I have grown to know author and literacy agent Bill Gladstone.   Bill a fascinating man, and  has a true passion for helping and serving people through great books, and connecting people for the greater good.  I recently interviewed Bill about one of his many co-authored book entitled ” Tapping the Source”

This book was written and co-authored with John Selby, Richard Greninger and Bill Gladstone and brings to light the works of Charles Haanel’s Master Key System combining short-form meditation techniques with new psychological insights assisting one in tapping their personal potential.

Charles Haanel never claimed to have invented the process of manifestation that he taught. In fact he often refers to classic sources in the Judeo-Christian heritage and Greek and Eastern traditions to highlight the ancient wisdom he’s drawing from and expanding upon.  But beyond classic parallels, his personal vision appears to be uniquely inspired with new psychological insights and remarkably clear elucidations of the core principles that drive our everyday lives:  ” What you and I desire, what everyone is seeking, is happiness and harmony.  If we can be truly happy, we shall have everything the workd can give. If we are happy ourselves, we can make others happy.”

The primary difference in the qualities of Haanel’s vision is that he’s not fixed on material possessions or giant bank accounts or a fleet of fancy cars in the garage.  Yes, he does fully support abundance, but he bases his teaching on the fact that what we really want deep down is to feel genuinely happy and in ongoing harmony with ourselves and the world.  He says “Harmony and happiness are states of consciousness, and do not depend upon possession of things.”

Haannel stated that ” creative power does not originate in the individual, but in the Universal, which is the source and foundation of all energy and substance; the individual is simply the channel for the distribution of this energy.” Haanel was not only a wise man, but very spiritually connected soul bringing awareness and light to the world.

If you want to learn more about Charles Haanel and Tapping the Source, please visit the Tapping the Source website by clicking here.  There is also a full featured DVD that is excellent and will provide you with insights from some of the greatest minds in the personal growth, spirituality and mastery  today.

Enjoy my interview with Bill Gladstone a wonderful author and compassionate man on a mission.  To learn more about Bill Gladstone please click here to be directed to his website.

More on Why Jonathan Brings Credibility and Fresh Perspectives to Personal Growth and Balanced Living.

Dr. Jonathan Ellerby is one of the most credible and accessible personalities today who can help people of all backgrounds to bring real change and vitality to everyday life by making timeless spiritual tools, alternative healing, and modern psychology simple to understand and easy to apply.

People are calling Jonathan “a guide to inspired living today”. Having travelled the globe, and earned his PhD in comparative religion with a focus on healing, Jonathan has researched, experienced and applied spiritual philosophies and practices in diverse settings, cultures and faiths. With deep compassion, humor, and down to earth common sense, Jonathan’s world of experience allows him to embrace the world as an author and teacher. Dr. Ellerby helps audiences to sort through all the mixed messages of self-help to find what matters most, and what works.

Jonathan is the CEO of the Tao Wellness Center and Inspired Living Community in the Riviera Maya of Mexico. As the leader of this world-class event center and residential development with a focus on wellness (opening January 2012), Jonathan’s impact on the world of well-being and practical inspiration has expanded into the community and corporate arenas.  The former Spiritual Program Director for the acclaimed Canyon Ranch Health Resorts and a Hay House author, Jonathan has appeared in diverse TV, radio and print settings including Larry King; the Yoga Journal; Ladies Home Journal, New York Times, Woman’s Day, WholeLiving Magazine; CNN, Montel Williams Radio; Martha Stewart radio and several documentary films. Author of the international best-selling “Inspiration Deficit Disorder,”  “Your Spiritual Personality” (CD set) and international best-selling  “Return to the Sacred: Pathways to Awakening,” he has two new books to be released in 2011!! 
With a background as a spiritual counselor, senior healthcare executive, hospital chaplain, business consultant, Interfaith Minister, and a counselor to celebrities and CEOs, Jonathan brings a rare perspective with both depth and breadth. Jonathan views himself first as a husband and father, and he too faces the challenges of living a life of balance and meaning in a world of stress, change, and reaction. He understands changing diapers and managing a mortgage as well as he understands ancient cultures and the psychology of the spirit; Jonathan is as at home in the remote villages of Africa as he is in uptown Manhattan. Recently, Jonathan and his family have relocated full time to the Mexican Caribbean.

Stay tuned for his new two releases in 2011, and his upcoming events in which he will be speaking alongside personal growth legends Jack Canfield, Don Miguel Ruiz, and others.

Please contact us for more details about Jonathan and his work:

connect@jonathanellerby.com

In this spiritual parable entitled ” The Prayer Chest” authors August Gold and Joel Fotinos tell the story of Joseph Hutchinson a man who know the reality of tragedy all to well. His life has been filled with misfortune and adversity.  A widowed father of two, living on a farm that is about to be taken from him, he embarks on a unexpected journey that will bring him face to face with the greatest fears, and ultimately with his greatest discovery…a mysterious wooden box hidden in his attic over one hundred years earlier.

This box, “The Prayer Chest, contains the Three Secrets that will change his life and the lives of everyone around him. What starts out as a journey to save his children and himself turnes into a quest where he–and every reader who has ever struggled–discovers the power to make every prayer come true.

In my interview in this podcast with August Gold, we throughly explore the topic of prayer and as she states “Prayer doesn’t come to you, it comes through you.”.  This particular fact is radically different than what many people believe about prayer.  Most people expect change to happen to other around them.  The prayer that the authors are writing about is about opening yourself to be changed in order to receive the answers to your prayer.

If you really listen to and take in what August is speaking about in our interview, you will understand that prayer is 90% listening.  As August states ” The moment we put our prayer “out” our work then is to welcome everything that Life brings us from that point forward, no matter whether is looks like the answer to our prayer or not. Welcoming everything means welcoming the “dark” as well as the “light”, oftentimes the dark experiences come to us because they are what stands in the way of receiving the answers to our prayers.

If you want to learn more about the power of prayer  I recommend that you read “The Prayer Chest“.

If you want more information about the authors click here to be directed to their website.  I hope you enjoy this interview with author August Gold.

I personally love book that are designed to get us to think from our heart, and not our head.  ” The Seeker, The Search, The Sacred will truly inspire your heart center.  The book offers the reader a collection of universal spiritual quotations that the author has collected over the last thirty-five years.  They are divided into three distinct categories, within which they are presented chronologically–from the earliest to the most recent.

Guy starts the book off with a great quote from Walt Whitman’s classic work “Leaves of Grass”. And I quote ” Would you sound below the restless ocean of the entire world? Would you know the dissatisfaction? the urge and spur to every life; the something never still’d–never entirely gone? the invisible need to every seed? It is the central urge in every atom to return to its diving source of origin, however distant.

As Guy writes ” In the first of these four lines, we’re asked a vital question: is the a part of us that longs to know–that’s willing to seek out–what lies hidden just beneath the thought–tossed surface of ourselves? If our answer is “Yes”, then Mr. Whitman goes on to suggest what awaits us there in that great, undiscovered country of our innermost Self.

In my interview with Guy we explore the wisdom of the Mystic Masters and the timeless ideas and what they help us reveal to ourselves.   These timeless ideas are designed to ignite and allows us to remember our “seeds of fire”–discrimination, intention and illumination.

Please join with me in a wonderful interview with an amazing author and man with ageless wisdom.  Guy will share with us timeless insights, thoughts that will stur our soul and settle our hearts.

This book is part of a much larger vision and quest for author Guy Finley called One Journey.  It is Guy Finley’s vision to allow his readers to share their insights, vision and wisdom at a new his new community based website One Journey.net.  You can be connected by clicking here.

encourage your to visit the website and watch the great video–it will truly inspire your soul.

I’m a 29-year-old entrepreneur, coach and value investor obsessed with adventure, life experiments and learning. I also have a small problem listening to authority.

For the past 8 years I’ve run experiments on myself and others to better understand what lights us on fire. I noticed a process for making these discoveries and started helping others find the same through coaching, writing, documenting folks living their legends all over the world, and doing all kinds of wild adventures. It turns out to be pretty fulfilling work and pretty damn important.

now help people discover passion & purpose, explore dreams and do work they love. I do this here at Live Your Legend and through my value investment fund, Cumbre Capital Partners, modeled after the Buffett Partnership’s of the 50′s and 60′s.

I’ve had my share of soul-crushing jobs and believe me, there’s a better way.

The longer story…

Ten years ago my dad gave me a copy of What Color Is Your Parachute. After reading it two epiphanies hit:

1. Everyone deserves to do meaningful work that they’re actually good at.

2. In order to have a chance at finding it you have to dedicate yourself to learning, improving and experimenting with all kinds of stuff.

So my adventure began…

After university, I was rejected from my dream job, so I took the road less traveled to Spain to run with the bulls. My 7-week trip turned into a year, where I co-founded an English teaching company for businessmen, and lead tours through Morocco and Portugal on the weekends. Spaniards prioritized enjoyment over money and I realized life did not have to be lived the way it was in the States. Exploring, seeking meaningful adventure and limit testing quickly became a huge part of life.

I sold the business only to move back and fall into corporate hell, which I couldn’t stand a day over 7 months. I fired myself in search of something I could actually screw up.

I launched my first blog, ReadingForYourSuccess (which has since been replaced by LiveYourLegend) to document my experiences as I sought out work that mattered to me. I then stumbled on a preventive health care startup, BioIQ, with a product I actually cared about, and spent two years running their Market Validation team and learning what made a business tick.

Now I wanted something of my own that better leveraged my time, gave me balance, helped others and lit a fire in my belly. So I launched an investment partnershipthat recreated the way Warren Buffett managed investments for families in Omaha, Nebraska when he was 30 years old (I’m a life-time Warren Buffett fanatic).

We launched in the heart of the 2008/2009 economic meltdown. Good thing my fire was lit, because it was a terrifying start. But looking back the timing couldn’t have been better. Working for someone else in the space never crossed my mind because the lack of balance, ethics and wide-spread greed disgusted me (they probably wouldn’t have hired me anyway).

Meanwhile my desire to learn and help people on a more personal level kept me up at night. I began teaching speed reading and writing and coaching on helping people find their freedom and do work they love. After 8 years of running experiments on myself and others to better understand what lights us on fire, I noticed a process for making these discoveries.

I soon became the go-to guy among friends and colleagues when they were tired of dreading waking up each morning. If they were in search of something more meaningful, I got a call.

I was pretty much the guy people grabbed when they wanted to quit and just needed a push. I loved it so I started helping others find the same through coaching, writing, documenting folks living their legends all over the world, and doing all kinds of wild adventures.

I began measuring success on whether I could help even one person. So far so good.

Things started to catch on and my blog reached the top 1% of websites. Turns out other people cared about this stuff too. I’ve since written for some pretty big blogs and websites and surrounded myself with uber passionate people (including a kettlebell workout with Tim Ferriss, some exchanges with Tony Robins & Seth Godin, long-distance running with Leo Babauta and tequila tasting with Keith Ferrazzi). It’s been an amazing ride.

Along the journey I also bought an engagement ring from Warren Buffett after receiving a personal letter from him (he owns a sweet jewelry store in Omaha) and married my college love of seven years. This is my greatest success to date. For those interested, our Croatian honeymoon was the best education I’ve had in years.

I now own my calendar and spend my time doing things I enjoy with people I love and respect. I couldn’t ask for more.

And in case that wasn’t enough detail…

I am fascinated with pushing physical and mental limits and sharing it with others. I especially love fitness challenges. Some of my recent experiments include swimming from Alcatraz to San Francisco and then the length of the Golden Gate, trying out a vegan diet for a month (I’m now about 90% plants), gaining 10 lbs of muscle in 90 days with no supplements or meat, a few years of competitive Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Summiting Mt. Shasta and Finishing an Ultra Marathonin my Vibram barefoot running shoes. I learn something new with every adventure – turns out to be the best way to learn who you are. There’s plenty more to come.

I love to learn and have completed multi-day courses in Karrass Effective Negotiating, Iris Speed Reading, Spirit Rock Meditation, Toastmasters Public Speaking, Strengths Finder 2.0, Social Media Marketing, A-List Blogging Bootcamps and Tony Robbins Unleash the Power Within (UPW), Get the Edge, Relationship Mastery and Mastering Influence. I devote a couple weeks a year to this stuff and spend the rest of the year making it a part of my life. So far the biggest life impact has been Tony’s UPW.

I have attended university at the London School of Economics, Universidad de Sevilla

and University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB). My Spanish is not as sharp as it used to be but I can still get by and I love the language! Usually the cab ride from the airport into town is all I need to get back into it…

I am fascinated with all that makes for a well-lived life including nutrition, health, fitness, relationship building, psychology, motivation, negotiating, rapport building, influence, time management, communication, speaking, stewardship, gratitude and lifelong education.

I spend my time between San Francisco, Santa Barbara and the rest of the world. My most recent journies took me to Chile, Argentina, Peru, Machu Picchu, Dubai and the beaches of Oman.

I love learning from new people, making connections, traveling, teaching and building things.

I’m dedicated to the road less traveled. If you’re here, I’m guessing you are too…