If you or a loved one is struggling with life challenges-a career change, divorce, grief, addictions or compulsions-give us a call and let the Sedona Intensive give you the help you need. Don't face these problems alone. Let our support team of professional therapists help you today.
(800) 647-0732 or www.sedonaintensive.com.
 HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SWAMI SWAHANANDA
We here at the Sedona Intensive™ wish Swami Swahananda, Albert’s spiritual teacher, a very Happy 87th Birthday. He will be honored with a cake and ice cream celebration at the Vedanta Society in Hollywood on Sunday, June 29th. Albert and Scott will attend. Swami is the Spiritual Head of the Vedanta Society of Southern California. In Albert’s new book, You’re Not Who You Think You Are—a Breakthrough Guide to Discover the Authentic You, which will be published December 2, 2008 by Atria Books, a division of Simon & Schuster, Swami Swahananda serves as a spiritual conduit of the eight steps to self-realization. www.vedanta.org
 What can the stars tell us about the death of newsman Tim Russert?
Let’s take a closer look…
Tim Russert was born on May 7, 1950 in Buffalo, New York. No time of birth available.
Tim Russert was a non-nonsense Taurus—determined and single-purposed—with Mercury, how one thinks and communicates, in Taurus, retrograde. Retrograde makes him more capable of being open-minded. But what solidified his reputation as an effective interviewer of the most powerful men and women in the world—he asked the tough questions and never let up until his subject answered them—was his Grand Earth Trine: Moon in Capricorn (cold and detached), Sun/Mercury in Taurus and Mars in Virgo (picky, critical and analytical—he got what he was digging for every time).
He had Jupiter in Pisces (caring and visionary) trine his Uranus in Cancer (for all his noise about ‘family matters’ Tim was not a carbon copy of his dad or anyone else in the family).
When someone dies as young as Tim Russert was, everyone comes out of the woodwork to ‘praise Caesar’ and praise Tim they did. But he was not one who got too close to any of his subjects—he would not allow anything to get in the way of his subjective reporting, which is borne out in his natal and progressed charts. My favorite moment with Tim Russert was an interview with Hillary Clinton when she was trying to waffle on NAFTA and he made her declare, something almost impossible with either of the Clintons.
The signals for death for Tim Russert were transiting Pluto has been squaring his natal Venus in Aries for six months—this indicates that he has been at risk for some time but more than likely had not had a check-up recently, especially a medical examination that would have uncovered his heart condition. Death is always accompanied by ‘ease and comfort’ transits as well. His progressed Moon in Pisces was trining his progressed Sun in Cancer. Trines are usually always benefic. Uranus was transiting at 22 degrees of Pisces opposing his natal Mars at 22 degrees of Virgo—both Uranus and Mars indicate sudden happenstance, and Virgo is always a mark of health issues. Both would indicate trigger points for sudden death.
Tim Russert will be hard to replace because we are living in a currency where everyone in public life seem to crave being loved and adored—it’s the Oprah syndrome cloned with the Sally Field cry at the Oscars a few years ago: “You love me; you really do love me!”
God bless Tim Russert. I will miss you more than you know—I loved watching “big pieces of stuff” squirm, forced to tell the truth to a gentleman and a scholar on national television.
 FIRED!
A client recently consulted with me about what direction his life was going to take, and what conscious and clear insights I might be able to give him about himself. It still amazes me how an ordinary man like me can go so deep so fast in uncovering the secret hiding places of one’s ego and all the shenanigans this dark side puts one through to keep him or her living a life as someone they are not.
This man who I will refer to as Jonah came to me shined and polished as someone who thought he was on a mission to help change the world, perhaps in larger arenas as his reputation grew exponentially. This man thought he was spiritually fit—he was certainly attractive enough and quite engaging—no dummy this one—but his blind spot for why he was stuck and not going anywhere faster that 5 mph was hiding in plain sight: he had been fired from every job he had been hired on to do, but he had never seen this as odd and out of sorts for someone as bright and as intelligent as he was. Once I threw the bright lights on this area of his life, the blight—this major barrier to who he was and what he was supposed to be doing with his life—became as obvious as the proverbial nose on his face. Getting fired from jobs that his best thinking got him hired to perform was the turning point, the masterpiece, if you will, of what he was supposed to do with his life.
Because he was passionate about being of service to others in a counseling setting I had to help him understand that he could not give away something he did not have. In other words, who was he to tell others how to live their dream if he was living a nightmare instead of fulfilling the assignment God gave him when he was born? When we named and tagged the elephant in the living room, he had that famous “aha” and we set about seeing how he could experience uncovering who he really was and what he was supposed to do with his life through the Sedona Intensive experience.
In one short hour Jonah went from bewitched about his future to coming to understand that his story of failure in the work place was his touchstone to share with potential clients and perhaps to tell the truth in a workbook that would expose his failures as his greatest assets: getting fired from all these jobs fired him up—he was becoming passionate about how getting thrown out of jobs actually landed him in the midst of what he was supposed to do with his life: share what happened to him and how his story could benefit others. Not such shabby results from one hour of my time and his.
As each of us continues to struggle with finding our life’s purpose we might take a page from Jonah’s new book: our failures can lead to exposing who we are to ourselves and these failures have a roadmap to success if we will stay the course, continue to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God, and follow the bread crumbs to that magical, mystical thing called God’s assignment that only we can fill.
What have you failed to see that is not working in your life? What is your calling that only you can fulfill exactly as God would have you do—no one else. When I get out of God’s way all the hidden issues in my life become revealed and I am happier in such as way that all the money in the world cannot buy.
Anger before Rage
 Have you ever been madder than a wet hen and felt as though you weren’t allowed to express it? Where did this insane belief originate? For some reason within the spiritual community this ridiculous dogma is rampant. I hear all these sweet mellifluous voices saying that love is all there is, and that it is not ‘spiritual’ to be angry. OK, I understand this as a cerebral, esoteric and highly evolved ideal to work towards, but we are human with a wide range of emotions, aren’t we? Don’t you think we should allow ourselves to blow off some steam once in a while?
My experience shows that if I don’t occasionally lift the lid on my smoldering ember, it ignites into an out of control bond fire that consumes anything and anyone in my path. Or conversely, it takes on some form of depression. This is not fair to others or me.
Furthermore, when I encounter a person or situation that disturbs me, initially I want to point the finger in blame, but ultimately I need to give thanks for another opportunity for growth. When I am triggered by something someone says or does, I first need to see what it is bringing up in me. Why am I out of sorts by what this person has said or done? By looking at this situation with detachment makes me more authentic. Having answered my own question with affirmative action does not imply that the other individual should not be held accountable for his behavior; it simply means that I need to look within myself and do what I can to amend the disruptive situation. I find that most people, particularly friends, are reasonable. And in finding the courage to face the heated situation, I don’t have to give my power away.
The next time you feel a tinge of anger rumbling in your gut, give yourself permission to find something or someone with whom you can safely release your emotional build up before it escalates to rage.
 By the time you receive this newsletter Mercury will have gone direct in Gemini. In reviewing your life over the last three weeks you may have realized that anything mechanical that could fail you most likely did. With me it was my washing machine; for you it might have been your computer that acted up or your automobile (I have often noticed more cars on the side of the road with apparent mechanical problems during this phenomenon called Mercury Retrograde)—many of you may have experienced delays in air travel—or those documents you signed beginning last May 27th proved to be riddled with hidden fine print clauses or mistakes. Exhale. Thank the heavens that we will not have another Mercury retrograde until September 24.
Uranus goes retrograde on June 27, which means that Pisces and Virgo and Gemini and Sagittarians will not have as many sudden changes in their lives. Uranus in Pisces is capable of bringing new dreams and hopes and wishes that come true to these mutable signs that are most affected.
There will be a New Moon at 11 degrees of Cancer on July 2nd—which means that Cancers will have a lot of opportunities to make new beginnings, especially on the home front. This is a good time to redecorate or add-on—or possibly to move into a new house. Other water signs, Scorpio and Pisces will be favorably affected as well.
There will be a Full Moon at 24 degrees of Capricorn on July 18th, which always signals an ending of some sort for you Goats. Remember, when one door closes, there is always an escalator to the top where you have always wanted to go.
This month I want you to read the horoscope of the sign opposite you. For example, Aries, you should also read Libra; Taurus, look at Scorpio, Gemini~Sagittarius; Cancer~ Capricorn; Leo~Aquarius; Virgo~Pisces. There is an ancient theory that the redemption for the life you are now living is possible by learning the lessons that your opposing sign has to teach you. For instance, Aries says, “It’s all about me.” Libra corrects by advising that, “It’s all about both of us.” Taurus likes to believe, “This is my money.” Scorpio educates that, “This is our money.” When the Libra is convinced that she has to have a partner, Aries advises, “Look for the partnership within you.” The Scorpio has to learn that he or she must make their share of the money to be able to ante up for the greater good. You’ll find this to be an amazing lesson to open you up to more by letting go of what is not working. |
On Friday morning, the world lost a great man when Tim Russert died at 58 of cardiac arrest. I was never a big fan of Tim’s, as I tend to sleep in Sunday mornings and miss Meet the Press, however, what I have come to learn about Tim, was that he was an example, not only for journalists and the media alike, but also for every living American. Tim covered politics so fairly and impartially that most citizens, upon listening to his show, would be completely oblivious to his political leanings. In a world filled with animosity, and name calling, and the likes of Bill Maher, Bill O’Reilly, James Carville and Lou Dobbs consistently ruling our TV screens, it was nice for once to see a man who would ask the tough questions to any candidate, regardless of his personal feelings. Today, with so many problems occurring stateside, it is hard for many people to hold back their personal feelings and eliminate them from fair journalism. With so much angst around the nation, networks encourage hosts to give in to personal biases in order to increase ratings. 
Stephen Dubner co-authored a book called Freakonomics and writes a blog/column for the New York Times of the same name. He is rightfully credited with making economics accessible to everyone by applying theory to every day life. The piece he wrote on June 9, 2008 is, however, disturbing.