Wind of the Soul

Update: March 8th–The Journeys Out of the Body Giveaway has closed. Congratulations to Goldie of California and Leah Moore of Grayson, Kentucky–they each won a copy of Journeys Out of the Body. I’d also like to thank everyone for entering. Please sign up for e-mail updates (on the left side of the page under “Subscribe”) or keep checking back, as a new giveaway will be posted very soon.

Though I still haven’t been working on writing any new spiritual or self-help blog entries for Wind of the Soul, I’ve desperately wanted to get back to hosting uplifting and consciousness expanding giveaways. And, in the coming months, that’s exactly what I’ll be doing. I have some ideas for a Wind of the Soul – “Pay It Forward” type project in 2010, with the uplifting giveaways being a major part of that project. So, to kick this first giveaway off for ‘10, I’m giving away two, brand new copies of Robert Monroe’s seminal work on astral projection: “Journeys Out of the Body.”

While the book isn’t necessarily a how-to on OBE, it does provide fascinating details into Mr. Monroe’s early excursions along the astral plane. And, it gives great insight into his mindset during those initial experiences; back when he was a stranger in a very foreign land.

Journeys Out of the Body provided an enormous amount of education and comfort for me during my initial out-of-body experiences and I can’t recommend it enough.

If you plan on entering this giveaway (and I hope you do), I only ask one thing – here’s where the pay it forward part comes into play. I’m asking that you find at least one person in need of some assistance, and you provide it for them.

Sounds simple enough right? If you’re interested in the type of subjects I’ve written and podcasted about, then you probably already help others on a regular basis anyway. However, I’m presenting this more as a challenge than a request for doing what you’re already accustomed to doing.

The “challenge” is for you to get outside the box of your normal good deeds and do something very different. Naturally, I’m not suggesting you put yourself in harm’s way or do anything crazy, but I am saying it should be something beyond what you usually do. For example, I usually do nice things for people whenever I’m out in public, such as holding doors, smiling, giving someone my grocery cart, letting someone go ahead of me in line, lifting something heavy for a person, etc.

Yet, in doing that, I’ve grown very comfortable in my routine and I rarely challenge myself to do a radically different kind of good deed. Basically, I’m talking about doing something that takes more than thirty seconds of our time. I’m talking about getting involved in something that may take ten, twenty or even ninety minutes, and possibly even days.

Now granted, this may seem like a lot to ask just for entering a giveaway, but wait until you see what I’m going to ask the winners to do! Just kidding.

But seriously, if more of us would start putting this concept into practice, I believe a single good deed (especially a “big one”) has the potential to change our world for the better. It’s like a reverse domino effect; instead of knocking them over, we’re picking them back up.
(Read the rest of Journeys Out of the Body Giveaway)

Inner Peace is the title of the 13th Wind of the Soul podcast installment. This episode features a reading of the blog post: 8 Tips for Achieving a More Secure Peaceful State of Mind, along with further thoughts on several of the ideas contained in the entry. This episode’s running time is 10:52 and file size for download is 9.95 MB. It can be played via the embedded player in the Audio section, or on your media player by following the Inner Peace link, or in the embedded You Tube players below.

Thanks for joining me for this installment. I appreciate the continued feedback regarding the podcast series.

Related Posts

Self Truths: Part 1
Shaking off Social Pressure to Achieve Self Actualization
Blazing Your Own Trail
8 Tips for Achieving a More Secure Peaceful State of Mind

The last few weeks have been filled with a wide variety of emotions and new experiences. I would like to thank everyone who expressed their condolences and support after my uncle’s passing. Your words of comfort were well received and very much appreciated.

If you’ve been following my posts for a while or have dug into the archives at this site, you’re probably aware I also spend a lot of time working on my other site, Season of Shadows. SOS, as I like to call it, represents a celebration of my favorite time of year, Halloween/fall and it delves into the paranormal.

At first glance, this website and SOS may seem like polar opposites, but they’re really not. At both locations, I spend time exploring states of awareness along the spectrum of consciousness, whether these states are being expressed in this physical plane of existence or in paranormal terms. Primarily, my writing at Wind of the Soul is based on theoretical exploration of our conscious capabilities and doing my best to help empower others through this exploration. However, recently I’ve decided to devote the majority of my time to obtaining what I feel represents actual evidence of the power of consciousness and its capability to exist outside the physical body.

Together, my mom and I have been collecting data on the phenomenon of EVPs. EVPs, or electronic voice phenomena, appear to represent communication from individuals who have crossed over to the other side. For lack of a better description, they are messages from ghosts or spirits that are imprinted on recording devices. The evidence has been compelling to say the least. And, I would have to agree with the consensus of most paranormal enthusiasts: the messages we’ve received appear to be coming from the “afterlife” or the astral plane. If you’re interested, all of our evidence is being posted in the Paranormal Video section at SOS.

So, where does that leave my theoretical and philosophical exploration at Wind of the Soul? I would have to say, it leaves it where it’s always been; it will all stay right here and when I feel inspired to share my feelings, I will absolutely create a new entry. I’ve never wanted my writing to feel forced and I’ve always refused to be a “chucker” type blogger, meaning I won’t post or throw something up just for the sake of posting – even if it causes people to visit this site less frequently.

So, the purpose of this entry was to update everyone on my recent activities during my absence, to thank you all for your wonderful gestures of kindness and to let you know you are more than welcome to get in touch with me regarding questions you may have on any of the subjects I’ve discussed. I look forward to communicating with you, both here and hopefully at SOS.

I’ve been working on getting a new post together recently, but unfortunately received some very tragic and unexpected news about the death of a loved one. I’ll be taking a short leave for a while from posting any entries.

-I love you Jeff, and we miss you.-

So far, I’ve written twelve articles and recorded two podcasts pertaining to out of body experiences. By far and away, I receive more questions and consistent feedback on this subject matter than any other. Many of you may also know I post all of my podcasts as You Tube videos. As it turns out, the Out of Body Experience Techniques video (link takes you to the You Tube video) has become my most frequently viewed to date.

Due to the growing amount of interest in my work on astral projection, I wrote this entry to share a few more of my thoughts on the subject. The following ten tips are a combination of topics I’ve yet to address and frequent questions I receive via email and messages. This list isn’t meant to be exhaustive:

1. OBE shortcuts? Just like any other form of achievement, experiencing astral projection consciously and soberly (minus the aid of any drug) takes consistent practice and work. There are no OBE shortcuts. Though I fell into astral projection “accidentally”, the experience is rarely (if ever) automatically there for the asking. The only exception to this is when I’m occasionally awakened by the vibrational state during a dream.

I still have to consistently practice if I want to have a fully conscious experience and even then, I may not encounter a projection. In roughly 99 out of 100 attempts, I only get as far as the pre-projection symptom stage. I don’t believe there is any strategy which will substitute for consistent practice of commonly known techniques. Astral projection techniques need to be routinely explored and tailored to fit the individual.
(Read the rest of Out of Body Experiences: Ten Tips)