Donald Altman is a psychotherapist, former monk, author, and international mindfulness expert who has trained over 15,000 mental health clinicians, physicians, nurses, and others. In the first half, he discussed using the power of the mind to overcome anxiety and other stress-related conditions which are increasing in frequency in today's troubled world. According to research by the American Psychological Association, "two out of every three persons has some kind of either emotional or physical symptom of stress," he reported, and ⅓ eat unhealthfully as a result of this, and ⅓ act out in abusive ways toward others. However, he sees mindfulness as a powerful method for people to handle stress and find balance and calm.
The average person has between 18,000 and 20,000 thoughts a day, he cited, and many of them are conditioned, habitual, or random. To practice mindfulness, you treat your thoughts as another form of sensation and do not view them as necessarily part of your identity, he explained. Rumination of negative or toxic thoughts can be damaging if we don't learn how to stop them and come into the present moment, he added. Altman also talked about his forthcoming novel, Travelers, which looks at how psych ward patients are treated and pathologized, along with alternative spiritual interpretations of their experiences (view a book preview). Regarding a caller trying to discover their strengths, he recommended the free online VIA Character Survey.
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In the latter half, historian, clairvoyant, and symbolic cosmologist Tricia McCannon described the ways angels appear to humans and how one can deepen their relationship with them. She delved into the history and mystery of angelic lore and shared inspiring accounts of miraculous interactions. Based on her experience, there are nine orders of angels, "and the first six orders don't look remotely human," she revealed. They operate on higher planes and don't get involved with human conditions, she added. The other three orders, which include the archangels and guardian angels, can take on human form, McCannon detailed. Guardian angels, she continued, try to assist the soul in the human body to awaken.
She recounted how a clairvoyant woman saw three female angels hovering above the fire at the cathedral Notre Dame de Paris, as well as a possible ghost of a monk on a balcony that no longer existed. McCannon recalled when a friend of hers was hospitalized with second and third-degree burns. She was doing healing meditations with her, when suddenly a female angel about seven ft. tall, dressed all in purple, appeared and began to speak through McCannon. The angel said she would heal her, but she had to turn her life around. The woman ended up healing with only one small scar, when she normally would have had scar tissue around her body. To connect with an angel, McCannon suggested setting up a prayer altar with representations of air, earth, fire, and water. Start with a prayer and speak from the heart, she said, and then follow with a protective invocation of light, and a meditation where you open up to answers that may come.
News segment guests: Jeff Nelken, Cal Orey
EMERGING ARTISTS
The first Sunday of every month, George Noory presents emerging artists for some of the Bumper Music selections. This month, we'll hear from The N!te Owls, Matt Carlton, Tony Zunt, Brothers Yates, Secretly Supermodel, Phil Mitchell Band, and Trapped in the 70s. For more info on how to submit your original music, visit this page.