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.

Likewise, in challenging myself, I’ll keep you guys periodically updated on my own pay it forward experiences, which will be extending outside of my comfort zone.

Please, only one entry per household. Duplicate entries from the same IP will be deleted. This helps to make it fairer for everyone. There’s no catch here, everything is free – including payment of shipping and handling for “Journeys Out of the Body” – I cover all costs. To be entered, leave a comment below, showing your interest.

Depending upon the volume of entries, comments may only be displayed under this post for a short time. As entries grow, I may remove comments to make it easier for visitors to scroll to the comment box and enter. However, I guarantee all entries will be saved in the order they are received.

When leaving a comment, be sure to include your correct e-mail address and be certain to keep track of your spam or bulk folder after the drawing closes, just in case. Each winner of Journeys Out of the Body will be contacted through the e-mail address that’s registered with their comment. I will never share addresses, provided by entrants, with any third parties and you’ll never receive unsolicited mail when entering.

The “Journeys Out of the Body” contest will end at 11:59 PM (Eastern Time) on March 8th, 2010. All legitimate entries will then be assigned a number in the order they were received. Two numbers will be randomly drawn to determine the winners.

Both winners will then be notified, via the email addresses they provided, no later than March 10th. If one, or both don’t respond (with their shipping information) within two weeks, then one (or two) more number(s) will be drawn to determine the new winner(s). Upon receiving their permission, both winners’ names will be featured at the top of this post.

Posts Related to Out of Body Experiences

Q & A: Out of Body Experiences & Dream Symbols
Q & A: Out of Body Noises & Sensations
Astral Projection & the Big Bang
My Astral Experience With A Tribal Shaman
Experiences Out of the Body – Part 1
Experiences Out of the Body – Part 2

The Conversations With God Giveaway has closed. I’d like to congratulate Steven Labella of San Diego, California, Kirk Ray of Florida, and Ryan Brenny of Hilo, Hawaii. They each won a brand new copy of “Conversations With God.”

“I am not concerned about your worldly success – only you are. You are not to worry about making a living. True masters are those that have chosen to make a life, not a living. Go ahead, do whatever you really love. Do nothing else. You have so little time. Why would you want to waste it doing something you don’t want to do? That isn’t a living – it’s a dying.” – Neale Donald Walsch, “Conversations With God”

The above quote is one of my favorites from the film and it brings us to the second Wind of the Soul giveaway. In this second installment, I’m giving three brand new DVD copies of Conversations With God to three separate winners.

The film, directed by the Co-founder of Spiritual Cinema Circle, was meant to be a screen adaptation of the series of best selling books by the same name. Though the movie doesn’t represent the unfolding of the books – it does impart much of the same spiritual wisdom, as we follow Neale (played by Henry Czerny) through some extremely turbulent experiences.

Neale, like so many of us, prior to discovering the connection to his own divine nature, unconsciously battles his way through life. He has to scrape rock bottom before discovering the inner knowledge, which leads him out of the depths of his despair. And, that’s why this movie is so endearing to me. Granted, it has some very sad and depressing sequences, but the ultimate realization and self-awakening is what’s so inspirational.

Whether or not Neale was/is truly conversing with “God” in a verifiable way is a nonissue for me. If we are capable of quieting the mind and recognizing the creative, energetic, consciousness which flows through us, then in essence we are all conversing constantly with our own inner god or goddess. It’s up to us what we choose to do with those conversations. Neale chose to apply them in a manner which created benefit and value in his own life as well as the lives of millions of others.

Each of us has the same option. It’s up to us if we wish to allow it to work toward that which is most beneficial and advantageous for ourselves and humankind. This shouldn’t be motivated by or stem from a standpoint of following a contrived set of rules, but rather from the perspective of feeling for the inner dialogue which is most fulfilling, loving, nurturing, uplifting and translating it into action. To me, that’s what conversing with god and living life as creative, expansive beings is all about.

I wish all the best to everyone who enters.

Please, only one entry per household. Duplicate entries from the same IP will be deleted. This helps to make it fairer for everyone. There’s no catch here, everything is free – including payment of shipping and handling of “Conversations With God” – I cover all costs. To be entered, all you have to do is leave a comment below, signifying your interest.

Depending upon the volume of entries, comments may only be displayed under this post for a short time. As entries grow, I may remove comments from the post to make it easier for visitors to scroll to the comment box and enter.

When leaving a comment, be sure to include your correct email address. Each winner of “Conversations With God” will be contacted through the address that’s registered with their comment. I will never share email addresses, provided by entrants, with any third parties and you’ll never receive unsolicited mail when entering.

The Conversations With God contest will end at 11:59 PM (Eastern Time) on March 28th, 2009. All legitimate entries will then be assigned a number. Three numbers will be randomly drawn to determine the winners.

All three winners will then be notified, via the email addresses they provided, no later than March 30th. If one, or all three don’t respond (with their shipping information) within a week, then one (two or three) more number(s) will be drawn to determine the new winner(s).

If this post has been helpful to you, please consider sharing it with others. Thank you for supporting Wind of the Soul.

If you would like to see your spiritual or self-help business promoted through Wind of the Soul and you have some appropriately themed items to distribute in a giveaway, please contact me.

Posts Related to Conversations With God

The Evolution of Spirituality
Ineffable States of Enlightenment
Discovering the Truths of Your Existence
The Intelligent Mind of All That Is
Our Conscious Origin

The Louise Hay: You Can Heal Your Life giveaway has closed. I’d like to congratulate Bonnie of Redding, California and Melissa of Oakdale, Minnesota. They each won the extended edition copy of You Can Heal Your Life. Don’t forget to check the Uplifting Prizes section, in the sidebar, for ongoing giveaways of self-help and spiritual items.

It’s been six months since Wind of the Soul first went online. And, ever since its inception, I’ve been planning to host uplifting giveaways. However, for a variety of reasons, the timing didn’t seem right, so I kept putting the project off. Well yesterday, while viewing Louise Hay’s movie, You Can Heal Your Life, I felt the urge to begin. Anytime I’m positively impacted by that visceral or gut feeling, I follow it.

This first giveaway features two DVD sets of You Can Heal Your Life: The Extended Edition to be given to two separate winners. The extended edition contains four hours of additional interview footage not included in the original version of the film.

You Can Heal Your Life follows a young woman along her journey to reinvent herself through the harnessing of her thoughts and actions. Her trials, tribulations and ultimate successes are mirrored in the dialogue of several spiritual and self-help teachers, throughout the film, including Louise Hay.

Along her path, she’s presented with opportunities, in the form of uplifting messages printed on index cards. Each card contains a piece of wisdom meant to embolden her spirit. The cards concentrate on three key points: change, forgiveness and love. The movie also outlines seven major steps for healing your life: the internal landscape of change, affirmations, challenges you may face along the path, testing the depth of your commitment, forgiveness, the hidden treasures at the center of yourself and learning to accept with gratitude.

I can honestly say I enjoyed the entire film immensely, but my favorite parts were when the speakers touched on the difficulties they’ve overcome in their own lives. I always find such stories to be inspiring and extremely uplifting.

While the movie features noted teachers like Wayne Dyer, Gregg Braden, and Esther Hicks; I was particularly drawn to the philosophies of several of the “lesser known” individuals, like Elon Bonami and Cheryl Richardson.

Cheryl made this poignant statement at one point in the film: “We all go through an evolutionary process, in our growth, where we start out wishing and hoping and believing the Universe is like Santa Claus. And, all you have to do is write your list up and you get what you want. But there’s a commitment to consciousness and action that’s necessary to be able to manifest the things that we affirm or we intend.”

Another great quote from the film was by Doreen Virtue: “People don’t realize their greatest potential because they think it’s from an outside source – when it’s so divinely ordained from within.”

Cheryl’s and Doreen’s statements are examples of what makes You Can Heal Your Life different from films like The Secret. The focus is more on consciousness and our inner power than it is on acquiring things. It’s implied that the “things” are a natural byproduct of the internal changes we make, but they shouldn’t be our sole reason for striving to make those changes. You Can Heal Your Life also focuses on Louise’s work to help others overcome life threatening illnesses, and includes the story of how she healed her own manifestation of cancer.

Good luck to everyone that enters. I’ll leave you with Louise’s initial words of wisdom from the film:

“All of us our on a journey, whether we know it or not. We are all on a journey of learning to express our full potential in this world. Most of us have learned to view our thoughts as a reflection of the outside world; a reflection of what is happening to us. But what if that’s not how the Universe works?

“What if you are creating the story of your life with the very thought you are thinking now? Then perhaps, if we are willing to change the way we think, wondrous new possibilities would begin to reveal themselves to us. And our lives would move in a whole new direction. It all starts with taking the first step.”

Depending upon the volume of entries, comments may only be displayed under this post for a short time. As entries grow, I will remove comments from the post to make it easier for visitors to scroll to the comment box and enter.

When leaving a comment, be sure to include your correct email address. Each winner of You Can Heal Your Life will be contacted through the address that’s registered with their comment. I will never share email addresses, provided by entrants, with any third parties and you’ll never receive unsolicited mail when entering.

The Louise Hay: You Can Heal Your Life contest will end at 11:59 PM (Eastern Time) on January 19th, 2009. All legitimate entries will then be assigned a number. Two numbers will be randomly drawn to determine the winners.

Both winners will then be notified, via the email addresses they provided, no later than January 21st. If one, or both don’t respond (with their shipping information) within a week, then one (or two) more number(s) will be drawn to determine the new winner(s).

If you would like to see your spiritual or self-help business promoted through Wind of the Soul and you have some appropriately themed items to distribute in a giveaway, please contact me.

If this post has been helpful to you, please consider sharing it with others and/or making a donation. Thank you for supporting Wind of the Soul.

Posts Related to You Can Heal Your Life

Forgiving our Past: Key to Unlocking a Joyful Present
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The Law of Attraction & Natural Progression
Effortless Passionate Creativity
The Magic of Giving
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Realizing Your Purpose
Manifesting Desirable Results Through Balance
Discovering the Truths of Your Existence