Internet Radio Show
Emerging Creativity for the Journey of Self-Realization
- G. Brian Benson
- Download
- Click "" below to listen
Welcome to “Healing From Within” with host Sheryl Glick author of The Living Spirit Answers for Healing and Infinite Love which shares stories of spiritual awakening spiritual communication, healing energies miracles and discovering and using intuition to navigate the journey of a physical life. Today I welcome G. Brian Benson author of Habits For Success which shares ways to create a foundation of happiness balance and fulfillment through the discoveries of inner awareness.
As listeners of “Healing From Within” are well aware Sheryl and her guests share intimate experiences and insights into the metaphysical aspects of life which reveal much about our energetic or spiritual needs and our mind- based, ego reality, or the physical world. When we learn to respect and merge both sources of wisdom we can actually find out much more about ourselves, others, and the world and begin to process all our amazing spiritual gifts to live a more balanced joyful purposeful and healthier lifestyle.
In today’s episode of “Healing From Within” G. Brian Benson an award winning author radio host filmmaker and speaker shares the value of trusting intuition and his own personal journey of self-growth learning to live an authentic and fulfilling life. Brian is a 4XIronman triathlete and cross country bicyclist who knows the value of hard work and never giving up on dreams.
When Brian is asked to think back to childhood and remember a person place or event that left an impression on him and may have shown him or others the path he would take in life or the values that they would perhaps hold dear Brian immediately says his mother always told him that he always just wanted to help people. Brian also shares that he worked in his father’s golf shop and golf range business and while so many men would have loved to be in that place, especially Sheryl tells Brian, her husband who lives and breathes golf and would have loved being in that place. But Brian knew he had to find other ways to awaken his interests and find how to communicate his enthusiasm for learning to move past restrictions and the comfort zone to expand into the fullness of living.
When asked what it means to be a man of heart and to allow your genuine nature to shine Brian says he feels like it means to live an authentic life and he has found happiness and fulfillment in writing speaking producing and acting. He is accomplishing things that he would never have thought or dreamed possible. It wasn’t until he left his job that he really began to see how alive he could feel simply by being himself and following his intuitive heart instincts.
It may be said that many people innately know how they should be living their lives, but often common sense is not always common practice. It seems fear is what holds most of us back.
Sheryl says that is obviously fear and the need to follow the expectations of others: our parents teachers loved ones and not wanting to disappoint others or be a failure in some sense that can hold us back. It is indeed also our societal training and programming that dampens the spirit of curiosity and imagination and demands facts figures and stability as the most commanding force for our decisions. In addition the fear of Change for many people holds them back from trying new ways to go forward and explore life. Actually change is inevitable and necessary for our search of true self and remembering who we are as Spiritual Beings having a physical life.
Brian wrote and this is absolutely how the awakening process begins for most of us….”There comes a time in all of our lives when it becomes more painful for us to stay mired in our old habits than to step outside our comfort zone and risk the unknown as we journey towards finding our true voice. Your true voice is the language of authentic fulfillment joy and happiness. While speaking your true voice, creativity flows fears subside and peace of mind prevails. I truly want everyone to find his or her true voice.”
Sheryl says, “It took Brian over forty years to find his spiritual voice and for her a little longer than that,” but we eventually overcome stifling conditions to hear the internal beat and to overcome that inner voice that says we are not enough. It is the ultimate internal battle of overcoming feelings of unworthiness. It’s ok to have fear and be scared. Fear can be a good thing and lead to resilience as you push past the restrictions that hold you back from doing the inner work that will free you from many past habits or misconceptions to allow you to find acceptance of self, others, life, and simply flow with life letting go of resistance from past thoughts and realities you were given as a child by those who thought they were protecting you from the dangers of life.
Brian tells us about his awakening process and how he felt and how he decided to act on those feelings.
Brian wrote, “In my heart I think I always knew that I wasn’t going to be working at the golf center for the rest of my life. I felt an intuitive tug pulling at me early on during my eleven year tenure of running the facility. It was the same tug that I bravely followed into triathlon racing during college, but this same tug wasn’t quite strong enough or more likely, I didn’t have the courage to listen to it. But now it pulsed stronger than ever and wouldn’t allow me to stay complacent in something that wasn’t my true calling. That didn’t make the initial conversation about wanting to leave the business with my father any easier…..When I finally did gather the courage, it went much better than I could ever have imagined. My father revealed if he had it to do all over again he would have become a gold club professional instead of an independent insurance agent because he loved to teach and help others with their golf game.
Brian discusses the importance of building a foundation and balance in life which are important keys in moving towards your most creative and authentic life. The word foundation means the basis or groundwork of anything. When we think of a foundation we typically think of a building and the foundation is the strength of supporting the entire structure and protecting the building from external damaging forces such as storm earthquakes and strong winds. Well the foundation of a person applies to us as well. Forces like judgment low self-esteem fear untruths inaction jealously resistance apathy and imbalance may undermine our success. We must seek ways to build self-confidence empathy self-esteem and greater love for ourselves.
Balance can be thought of as mental steadiness or emotional stability: habit of calm behavior, judgment, etc and a state of equilibrium or equal distribution of weight… It is important to have balance because we have more energy—Because we have eliminated many of the things that aren’t really that important.
Things flow smoother for us—Living in balance makes it possible to be fully alive and to live by making choices in the moment.
We make decisions because we want to not because we have to and we try to be proactive rather than reactive.
We are able to be our true selves—We can focus on what it is we want to do not what it is we have to do.
WE have a solid foundation and stay focused moving forward to our goals and dreams.
Sheryl says that in regard to balance and building your own solid foundation regardless of others in your life who may try to hold you back because of their unresolved fears you find inner strength to move forward.
In her book The Living Spirit Sheryl wrote, “ Highly conscious human beings now and in the future are the templates for the evolution of humanity and for the creation of a finer state of harmony and balance. It will be in the sharing of our dynamic beautiful inspiring thoughts and in rethinking and reprogramming any limiting thoughts that the shift will move many of us to a more productive level of purer thought and action. With great self-awareness and Cosmic awareness come a greater responsibility to share and exchange these ideas with those who will listen. Awareness of existing energies emotions and the motivations for our behaviors help us to balance our own energies.”
Our intuition becomes clearer/louder. The greatest thing about being in balance Sheryl feels is that we are able to live from our heart and listen to our intuition or soul guidance.
Brian offered a lovely quote in his book “If we disconnect from our heart we disconnect from our life source” (Author Sonia Choquette)
Brian shares a description of intuition and how it is the key element in advancing our understanding of spiritual and physical life so we may see the reality and move away from any illusion or misinformation that stifles our creativity. Intuition is a direct perception of truth fact independent of any reasoning process. It is a keen and quick insight.
Intuition can be communicated in many different ways:
- A Feeling of Restlessness when you feel it’s time to make a change to explore new challenges.
- You May Notice a Recurrence of Thoughts and Opportunities that keep presenting themselves to you like synchronicity messages that will not stop till you pay attention
- You Have a Sense of Peace and Confidence Even When Your Decision Doesn’t Seem Rational..When your intuition speaks you feel confident and clear as opposed to when your ego speaks and presents uncertainty and fear.
- Dreams and Visions Pay attention to your dreams. They can offer a roadmap for change.
- A Gut Feeling This feeling can hit you when you meet someone or have an important decision to make. It may come to you in the form of a peaceful or excited feeling or as a sinking uneasy feeling that is sign something is off. It is important to pay attention and honor both signals as they help you move towards a goal or avoid something that may not be right for you.
- You May Become Ill— When you ignore your intuition and its repeated attempt of communication you may create stress or bring illness into your life. Physical signs like anxiety and sickness can edge into your life because you are ignoring your intuitive signs that you need to change something.
- You May Feel Inspired and Have a Sense of Knowing You may feel excited and inspired and desire to make things change or happen that helps you energetically proceed forward.
There are many reasons people don’t use their gift of intuition. One of the main ones is that they haven’t been taught how to use it. Growing up most of us were not taught to feed our mind our ego and our thoughts instead of our heart. We only became comfortable in using and believing our five senses. It’s time to add a sixth sense—intuitions.
It may take time to become more aware of this inner guidance and the benefits for following it as fear of breaking free from old habits is still very strong but those old habits inhibit us from fully shining and reaching our full potential and its never too late to trust your inner guidance.
Overcoming lack of trust is an important step towards paying attention to inner guidance but there are ways to improve your intuition and improve trust in yourself.
There are Ways to Improve Intuition Meditation During meditation we are able to give our brains a rest from the busy life and schedule that most of us lead, which in turn helps us to feel more rested balanced and centered
Lead a healthy lifestyle. Eat better and eat less. Exercise Proper hydration Getting enough sleep. These are all great places to start.
Strive for life balance Practice maintaining an open-minded playful experimental nonjudgmental attitude. Daydream, doodle brainstorm and write down words and phrases that come to you when problem solving.
Look at eliminating negativity from your life. Yoga is wonderful to build strength and flexibility and to slow down and quiet our bodies. This slows down our mind as well.
Rhythmic Exercises Walking running swimming tai chi and yoga. Allowing your mind to rest helps intuition come through.
Brian shows us how do we begin to step out of our comfort zone and what exactly is a comfort zone?
A comfort zone is a situation or position in which a person feels secure comfortable or in control. A comfort zone may be defined as anything that keeps our anxiety in check. Or a behavioral space where your activities and behaviors fit a routine and pattern that minimizes stress and risk. It seems it is a a way of securing a sense of security and familiarity so when we leave our comfort zone we’re opening ourselves up to the possibility of stress and anxiety because we aren’t sure of what will happen next. A hint of anxiety can be helpful and push us to take some risks get more done and continually better ourselves. Healthy stress is a catalyst for growth motivation and optimal performance.
Helpful Hints for Stepping Out of Your Comfort Zone
- It’s ok to start by taking small steps.
- Try to reframe your fear into excitement. It’s a way to view what you are doing in a positive light instead of a potential negative light. Realize that whatever could go wrong isn’t as important as what could go right and be beneficial in your growing awareness of your own talents and goals.
- Remember why you are stepping out of your comfort zone. When you focus on your reason it may give you a boost of courage energy and focus. Remember why you are taking the risk and how much it means to you to extend yourself beyond any fear.
- Mix things up. Hang out in new locations. Visit a new restaurant. Wear something different Begin to stretch yourself out of your daily routine.
Sheryl always tell her clients who come to me for energy healing sessions and intuitive readings that there is no failure, only opportunities for new experiences and to develop the soul’s reason for having a physical life at all and that is to experience feelings emotions on all sides of the spectrum so we can remember who we are as spiritual beings having a physical life and begin to really create the best version of ourselves. Brian have a chapter “It’s Ok to Fail.” and he shares with us that concept.
The definition of fail is to fall short of success or achievement in something expected attempted desired or approved. But failure is good in that it teaches us so much. Without failure we wouldn’t be the people we are meant to become. It is an important part of building the foundation of success. Think of it as a means to the end. Just keep trying and with each attempt encourage yourself to appreciate your efforts resiliency and patience for if you are on the right path in your spiritual life plan eventually you will achieve your goals. Brian says It’s ok to fail. In fact it’s recommended.
And allowing yourself to feel vulnerable is a big step in connecting with important issues and people. The word vulnerable means being open to moral attack criticism temptation etc. or being capable of or susceptible to being wounded or hurt. Many people will do everything in their power to avoid allowing themselves to feel at the deep level or express their personal truth if they feel they will be citied or harmed in any way economically socially spiritually or face loss of anything they hold dear. While being vulnerable isn’t easy Brian deems it to be well worth the effort. When we begin to see those who open themselves up it gives others permission to do the same and allows love to expand accept yourself and life as it is and to empower your ability to create and express yourselves in ways that illuminate your life to truth and wellbeing.
Sheryl feels that Brian’s explanations through the use of words that explore our human thinking such as vulnerability, creativity, failure, intuition, balance, foundation, service, intentions, and so on, all explore the nature of your inner life or soul being so you may have a framework of guidelines to help you explore and expand your own emotions leading to more acceptance and appreciation for your life, and creating a space of peace goodness and kindness within, so you may face the challenges of your life in a more positive way.
Brian may simply want you to know that anything and everything is possible when you finally know who you are and begin to move past the fears and limitations of your childhood training and explore your own path to enjoy life on your own terms as you give out to the world the happiness and light you will find in this process of awakening transforming and living in truth. Brian offers in a clear understandable process solutions to age old questions that often have eluded many people and delayed their progress towards healing and living in joy and peace.
In summarizing today’s episode of Healing From Within we have seen how G Brian Benson walked away from a safe and secure lifestyle to pursue his dreams and spiritual goals taking a chance on life and himself and ultimately finding his personal power to find joy in aspects of life that others may not have thought important. Listening to his heart and following his mind or spiritual connection to all of life he was able to find and walk his life path to his destiny which was to be a free soul supporting his discoveries of what is valuable to him and indeed to all of us. It is the ability to move past fear and limitation and discover the fire or passion within that allows us to handle our challenges in appropriate and successful ways doing the best we can in all areas of our lives. Changing fear to joy happiness and well being is an immense accomplishment that demands consistent effort self investigation of emotions and learning to love yourself and others as they are.
As Brian explored the word “Gratitude” which is the quality or feeling of being grateful or thankful he wrote, “Our attitude is the lens which we see the world….try and give thanks for all that comes your way, the good and the bad. You may ask , ”Why would I want to give thanks for something bad that happened?” Well, we are here to learn and grow, and the greatest learning opportunities usually occur during trying experiences. Be thankful for them and the new hopefully wiser you who come out of a tough situations. The trying times will eventually pass and you will be better prepared the next time around or better yet, you can help someone else going through a tough time with your experience.”
Brian and I would have you begin to explore your feelings and let go of past control instincts to allow life to unfold and to flow with it instead of resisting out of fears your deepest and most creative loving instincts. Embrace yourself and life, Live each day with curiosity and hope and find ways to laugh smile enjoy all the beauty within yourself and in the World. Make life what you envision and create it as you walk the path of your life each day.
