Here's a story that's gonna get you thinking for sure. It might even sound a little creepy to you.

It starts off with a tennis match between a coach and what seems to be a troubled man. As the tennis match continues, the man barks orders to himself like a drill sargeant.  You can see that this isn't a healthy activity. Needless to say tears and pain ensue in the story.

I won't give away the ending for you but it brings up a lot of questions about your inner guide.  It is often stressed that we should listen to our intuition and what our internal monologue is saying to us but what happens when that inner guide is screaming orders at us? Read More…

Let's face it. Every now and then we end up procrastinating a little longer than we should. I've definitely been guilty of staring at a task longer than actually working on it.

This is not only a bad habit but it may tell a lot more about you than you think.  Most people just chalk it up to be lazy but failing to accomplish a goal could be due to a negative mindset, internal worries, or a fear of success.

So to help you get out, do more, and be the best you, here are 5 excellent resources on how to set your goal, achieve it, and feel good throughout the whole process.

Click on the titles to go to the articles. We'd also love to hear what your tips and tricks are for getting things done.  Please drop a comment below if you have something to share with the community.

How to Kill Your Excuses

by Leo Babauta from ZenHabits.net

Great article that reconfigures your thinking in 7 steps to kill all those pesky excuses that keep you from achieving your life's desires. Read More…

Every now and then a great book comes along that not only wows its audience but sparks movement. And that is what Aya: A Shamanic Odyssey is.

Written by Rak Razam, this journalistic account of the reality that Peruvian shamans live in is both entertaining and enlightening. It covers Amazonian shaman practices as well as the increase of Ayahuasca use in the Western world.

Here is an excerpt from the book courtesy of the author and publisher. Enjoy.

Aya: A Shamanic Odyssey

by Rak Razam

INTRODUCTION: SEEKERS of the MYSTERY

LIMA AIRPORT, PERU
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 28th, 2006

THE CLEAN WHITE WALLS OF THE CUBICLE ARE TAGGED WITH grafiti: “We who solve mystery, become mystery,” alchemical wisdom handed down through the ages and now in the sterile men’s toilets at the Lima airport departure lounge. Scrawled, no doubt, by one of the tourists waiting out in the food court.

Outside, milling under the ubiquitous gaze of security cameras are bright splashes of colorful souls wearing crystals, beads and native American Indian paraphernalia, middle-aged academics with “Erowid” drug website t-shirts, and passengers that give you that odd conspiratorial smile that says: yes, we are here for the conference. And here we are chowing down on McDonalds and Donut King, getting our last hits of civilization before hitting the jungle city of Iquitos and shamanic boot camp.

It feels like some whacked out reality TV show, a generational snapshot of a new psychedelic wave just before it breaks. Bright-eyed Westerners about to die and be reborn in the humid jungles of Peru, drinking the hallucinogenic brew ayahuasca…

Ayahuasca is a plant medicine that has been used by the indigenous people of South America for millennia to heal physical ailments and, they claim, to cleanse and purify the spirit. It was discovered by the West in 1851 when the legendary British botanist Richard Spruce explored the Rio Negro Basin and was introduced to the vine by the Tokanoan Indians. Spruce gave the vine its scientific name Banisteriopsis caapi; in different areas of South America it is also known as yagè or hoasca. For a while in the mid-20th century chemists who isolated the active properties of the vine called their compound “telepathine.”

Read More…