Viva Editions are books that inform, enlighten, and entertain. The very name, "Viva!", is celebratory. And while Viva Editions is a line of books that are as fun as they are informational, the intention behind Viva is very serious—these are books that are truly helpful and intended to enhance people's lives.


Monday, January 24, 2011

BJ Gallagher wants to inspire YOU!

BJ Gallagher

BJ Gallagher

Posted: January 24, 2011 07:49 PM

Americans love new beginnings. We love the idea of wiping the slate clean and getting a fresh start. We are a profoundly forward-looking, optimistic people. As someone wise once pointed out, "Just as the Victorians repressed sexuality, Americans repress history." We have little or no interest in the past: "It's over," "It's done," and "There's nothing we can do about it," we pronounce. Rather, we are intrigued, excited and energized by what the future holds. Our favorite question is: "What's next?"

New Year's isn't the only time we make resolutions to embrace new beginnings. We do it on "big birthdays" and for other meaningful life events. A wedding, a divorce, a retirement, a graduation, a promotion, a new job, a new house -- there are all sorts of significant emotional events that can trigger a decision to make positive changes in our lives.

We make lists of what we'd like to be, do, and have in our lives. We re-commit to goals and projects that got put on the back burner during the recession. We dust off our dreams for the future -- though still a bit wary and tentative, lest we let our expectations get too high and set ourselves up for disappointment.

And many of us make entirely new and different commitments for living our lives -- having re-evaluated our values and changed our priorities due to the hard times we've been through. We decide to create a newfuture for ourselves.

Hope springs eternal in the human heart. Today -- any day -- is the perfect day to fan that flame of hope - for ourselves, for our loved ones, for our country, and for our world.

26 Ways to Live You Best Life Now...

Affirm that your life has purpose and meaning.
Believe in your skills, abilities and talent.
Count your money and make your money count.
Disregard the doubters and critics around you.
Enjoy foods that make you feel vibrant and healthy.
Forgive those who have hurt you... because forgiving them frees you.
Give yourself credit for having weathered tough times.
Honor your spiritual beliefs by living them.
Inspire others with your compassion, kindness and character.
Jump skip, bend, stretch, run, walk... move your body!
Keep your sense of humor -- even if others have lost theirs.
Listen to your intuition and heed its wisdom.
Manage your time and energy as precious assets.
Never Give Up on yourself.
Open your heart, your home, and your wallet to those in need.
Push Boundaries and test your limits.
Question self-limiting beliefs and old habits.
Rebound quickly from disappointments and setbacks.
Surround Yourself with people (and pets) who love you.
Take Time to nourish your body, mind and spirit.
Understand that you're perfectly imperfect.
Veer away from negative or toxic influences.
Wear clothes that make you feel wonderful.
Express Gratitude for the blessings in your life.
Yawn in the face of fear.
Zing with Joy each day you're alive!

And remember ... It's never too late to be what you might have been!

Follow BJ Gallagher on Twitter: www.twitter.com/BJ_Gallaghe

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Enjoy a cup of courage!

Therapy Soup

The Bravest People In The World

By RICHARD ZWOLINSKI, LMHC, CASAC

One isn’t necessarily born with courage, but one is born with potential. Without courage, we cannot practice any other virtue with consistency. We can’t be kind, true, merciful, generous, or honest. Maya Angelou

Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear. Mark Twain

Every day, ordinary people like you and me overcome extraordinary travails. Despite our fears, our hardships, our pain we keep embracing life. In fact, sometimes the most ordinary people are the bravest people in the world. Best-selling author ofThe Courage Companion, Nina Lesowitz talks what it means to face the world with courage.

Welcome, Nina. How do you define courage, bravery?

In our day-to-day lives, the virtue of courage doesn’t receive much attention. Courageous is an adjective usually applied to soldiers, firefighters, and activists. In fact, most of the people we interviewed claimed that they were not courageous! I think that’s because the image that comes to mind when you try to define the word courage is that of the firefighter rushing into the burning building.

I would call that bravery. And that mental image of someone climbing a mountain during a snowstorm with an impending avalanche? I would call that recklessness. I think there’s a huge gulf between recklessness and courage. Courage is having the ability to face down your fears and reclaim your inner power. Recklessness means taking unnecessary risks.

Can you tell us a little bit about why you became originally interested in writing about Courage?

In writing my new book, the Courage Companion, my co-author and I started thinking about larger-than-life heroes throughout history and ordinary people. Growing up we learned about men and women with tremendous courage – Susan B. Anthony, Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr., and also Fannie Lou Hamer who was 44 when she got involved in the civil rights movement helping African Americans to vote. She was beaten and jailed, yet she continued to speak, and raise money, and she helped organize the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party.

We thought about how much courage it takes to take a stand against oppression and try to change the status quo. But we also thought a lot about ordinary people, and wanted to try and find out how people battle all kinds of fears and tap into their inner power. So we interviewed people throughout the United States and Canada to try to define the characteristics of courage.

From those interviews, we selected a range of stories that we feel epitomize qualities of bravery and gutsiness. A common denominator in all of them is that these people took action in the face of their fears.

Also, personally, I got divorced when my children were young, and I was terrified of the future. I was able to get through it with the help of Sue Patton’s Thoele’s book, The Woman’s Book of Courage: Meditations for Empowerment and Peace of Mind.

Tell us about what have you discovered?

I discovered a few things:

I found out that when you avoid the thing you fear, your fears grow until they begin to control various aspects of your life. And as your fears increase, you miss out on the opportunity to live a full life. Like so many people, I often felt insecure even though I appeared confident. I realized that many of my life choices were governed by fear. For example, I write about my own experiences in the book – I was held back by the number one fear shared by many people around the world – the fear of public speaking.

Many years ago, I chose public relations as a profession because I thought I was more comfortable being behind the scenes. Whether organizing an event, a speaking engagement, or a media interview, I was always presenting someone else’s point of view. In fact, I give clients tips for how to put their best foot forward on camera, but I sidestepped the spotlight whenever it came anywhere near me. I was afraid to contract for a second book (my book that came out in 2009 – Living Life as a Thank You) because of my fear of public speaking. I knew I would have to talk about my book at bookstore signings and in media interviews and the thought terrified me!

Then the day came that I had no more excuses: I couldn’t put off my publisher with the usual maneuver about how busy I was – working full time, raising two children. My children were off at college, and my full time job had turned into a part time work-at-home gig. So I decided to join Toastmasters in October 2009 to help me overcome my fears. Toastmasters not only helped me succeed in doing live television interviews that fall, it also inspired this book!

I also discovered that we need to look at the factors that predispose us toward being afraid. As you know, the root source of fear is childhood conditioning. But there is a whole science around the fact that the human brain can develop new circuits even later on in life—and that’s called neuroplasticity, which refers to the ability of the human brain to change neural connections in response to new information and experiences.

So we can use techniques to change our self-perception and develop courageous states of mind. Positive thinking promotes positive outcomes, and pessimism begets negativity. So to generate a courageous attitude you have to train yourself to start thinking more positively in order to overcome those treacherous inner voices.

And finally, I discovered that people can survive and even thrive after crises: a question that has always been in the back of my mind. How do people continue to live after they’ve experienced some of the worst that life can throw at them? When faced with adversity, some people succumb to severe depression, while others are able to overcome losses with fortitude and resilience. The book is filled with those stories:

  • Eli Rosmarin—who was 16 years old in September 1939 and living in Sosnowiec, Poland when the Germans invaded, is one of those “ordinary” people who show us through their example how deep our capacity to surmount evil can be. Currently residing in Pompano Beach, Florida with his wife of 55 years, Eli summons up his courage and remembers how he managed to survive the unthinkable.
  • Alexis A. Moore, Founder & President of Survivors In Action who survived abuse and a terrifying campaign of cyberstalking.
  • Romel Joseph, the blind Haitian violinist who captured worldwide attention after last year’s earthquake destroyed his music school in Port-au-Prince.”He was trapped inside for 17 hours. His wife actually died. She was trapped in the building as well, and she did not get out. He kept himself alive by singing the music he loves so much in his head, playing it over and over. When he got out, he was injured and went to a hospital. He’s back in Haiti, trying to rebuild his school.”

More with Nina, coming soon…

Nina Lesowitz, co-author of The Courage Companion, and two bestselling titles including Living Life as a Thank You, is also an award-winning marketing professional who runs Spinergy Group, which represents authors, corporate clients, and nonprofits. Nina lives in Northern California with her husband and two daughters, and is on the executive committee of Litquake, San Francisco’s literary festival.