My Spiritual Side

Two life changing things happened to Elle Halliwell the year she turned 30. She was diagnosed with leukaemia and, two days later, discovered she was pregnant.
She faced an impossible choice: save her own life or risk it to give birth to her son.
Spoiler alert: she chose both. She also chose a new path.
When confronted with her mortality a decade ago now, the well known journalist, author and entrepreneur returned to her spiritual practices and her connection to something greater than herself.
She did it by putting one foot in front of the other. Quite literally.
Elle credits her long solo walks with healing her emotionally, a ritual that has sustained her ever since.
In this episode of My Spiritual Side, Elle shares how hearing an audio cassette of Wayne Dyer at 14 set her on a spiritual path, the toll of ‘career misalignment’, learning to like herself again - and how she’s navigating the end of her 20 year marriage with compassion and love.

In this episode, Elle shares:

• The healing power of walking as a spiritual practice - the ultimate mind-body connection

• How hearing an audio cassette of Wayne Dyer at 14 set her on a spiritual path

• The toll of ‘career misalignment’ - taking a job for validation but feeling out of alignment

• The wake-up call of her cancer diagnosis, two days before discovering she was pregnant

• Her technique for practising mindfulness

• Her life-changing 500-kilometre trek along the Italian Camino to mark her 40th birthday and was it taught her about herself

• How she learned to like herself again

• Finding beauty and growth in discomfort

• The power of the mind to heal the body
• Living with cancer as a daily practice of gratitude

• Navigating divorce with compassion, love and kindness

Key Quotes

On walking as spiritual practice:
“It’s a meditative practice… just the act of putting one foot in front of the other. This rhythmic motion made me feel connected to the world as a whole. I was alone with my thoughts, listening to my feet crunch against the gravel, sitting present with the sounds around me, feeling the sun on my skin. Being exposed to nature brought me this profound peace that I really I don’t think I’ve been able to achieve any other place or time”.

“I can’t tell you the profound of things, like life changing benefits, that just putting one step in front of the other has done to my life”.

Key Mantra:

“If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at will change.”

Books / resources:

A Mother’s Choice by Elle Halliwell

Wishes Fulfilled by Dr. Wayne Dyer

Breaking The Habit of Being Yourself by Dr. Joe Dispenza

Dying to be Me by Anita Moorjani

The Obstacle Is The Way by Ryan Holiday

A Monk's Guide to Happiness by Gelong Thubten

More Information

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ellehalliwell/?hl=en

Website: https://www.ellehalliwell.com/

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There’s a point in life when many of us become disconnected from our spiritual selves until the moment we wake up, when re realise it’s not working for us, and decide to return. Bestselling author, activist and global thought leader Marianne Williamson remembers her own awakening and has inspired millions to do the same.
Her seminal book, A Return to Love, did that for me.
Marianne joins me in this episode of My Spiritual Side, to talk about her latest book, Midlife Awakening - inviting us to see this third chapter of life not as a winding down, but a new beginning - a chance to consciously shape the rest of our lives and reconnect with our true selves. We explore what it really means to live with purpose, the transformative power of prayer, why forgiveness - of ourselves and others - is essential, and why it’s never too late to take a stand for our own unlimited potential.
We also talk about late-life love (yes, the Holy Spirit can work anywhere) and how, when we do the inner work, midlife can be a time of blazing light.
Enjoy this enlightening conversation with one of the most influential spiritual teachers of our time, Marianne Williamson.
In this episode, Marianne shares:
The importance of a morning spiritual practice; start each day by saying ‘Bless the world’. Like exercise, spiritual attention helps work our attitudinal muscle
The “spilt” that occurs in our youth - the moment we become disconnected from ourselves
How A Course in Miracles changed the course of Marianne’s life - a daily practice of mind training
Why midlife is not an era of ‘data collection’ but ‘application’; we have a choice to consciously shape our next chapter rather than surrender to ‘the prevailing winds’ of ageism and misogyny
Life purpose. Marianne challenges the ‘faux strain of feminism’ that defines purpose solely through career. “Our purpose is to show up in any given moment with greater love”.
Why it is not too late; There is no time limit in the quantum field.
How this awareness brings urgency - and clarity. A desire to heal what needs healing, to speak our truth and contribute to the world future generations will inherit. “If we join together, this can be a time of blazing light”.
Why forgiveness - of others, and of ourselves - is essential. Carrying grievances into the present denies life the opportunity to begin again. “You can have a grievance or a miracle, but you can’t have both.”
Spiritual practice is a moment-by-moment choice: to stay anchored in the past, or to open ourselves to the future. To be right, or to be happy.
Romantic love remains fully available to us in midlife when we do the spiritual work to make us ready
One of the most powerful sentences we can ever say: “I am willing to see this differently.”
How to explore our own spiritual side - by staying open.
Key Quotes
“God knows how to be God. Just make room.”
“We’re choosing every moment. We’re choosing consciously or unconsciously - but we’re choosing.”
“Your purpose is the same at 20 as at 80: to show up in each moment with greater love. There is no other purpose.”

Key Mantra:
• Only what you are not giving can be lacking in any situation
• You are 100% responsible for your life experience - and if you don’t take that responsibility, the price you pay is that you won’t be able to change it

Books mentioned in the episode:
Midlife Awakening by Marianne Williamson
A Return to Love by Marianne Williamson
A Course in Miracles by Dr. Helen Schucman
The Obstacle is the Way by Ryan Holiday

Marianne Williamson Australian tour:
👉 Access exclusive listener discount here (discount codes are embedded)
📍 Brisbane - 22 February: BOOK HERE
📍 Melbourne - 25 February BOOK HERE
📍 Sydney - 26 February BOOK HERE
More Information
Mariannes’s Instagram and Website.

Follow My Spiritual Side online on: Instagram, Facebook. Find out more about The Spiritual Book Club here.
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From The Spiritual Book Club
This is special bonus conversation with the man known as the Zen Millionaire, Ken Honda.
Ken is a global mentor on happiness and prosperity, and the author of more than 200 books that have sold over 9-million copies worldwide.
This interview was originally recorded for The Spiritual Book Club, where each month we explore an inspiring book and speak with the author - some of the most impactful spiritual teachers of our time.
In this conversation, we delve into Ken’s latest book, True Wealth: and talk about intuition, cultivating an abundance mindset, and the idea that every day offers us a chance to change our lives.
From time to time on My Spiritual Side, I’ll be sharing some of our most inspiring book club conversations. Like this one.
Enjoy this uplifting, intimate chat with Ken Honda.

In this episode, Ken Honda shares:

* How synchronicities are everywhere. We can we train ourselves to find meaning in seemingly random events that we call coincidences: ’When you pay attention, there's always a clue”
* The art of decision making. Get curious
* His edict to not die with your dreams. ‘The only responsibility that anybody has is to fulfil your dream’
* Make decisions from intuition rather than rational thought
* How to enhance our Money EQ
* Money is energy. Money has two sides: devil and angel. It’s up to us which side comes out.
* Why money is an ‘inside job’
* What we should do to become wealthy
* How to expand our inner ‘money container’
* Why money affirmations work. ‘Instead of demanding money, you’re willing to receive. It's the same thing, but a totally different energy’. (This is coming from a former accountant!).
* A perspective shift on debt
* Why gratitude is the most powerful spiritual practice of all
* A reminder that every day we are given the choice to change our life

Key Quotes
“The only responsibility that anyone has is to fulfil your dream”.

“I love affirmations. ‘Money comes to me easily and effortlessly’. By listening to affirmations, you feel so good. You feel less stressed around money, you feel more motivated to receive more money so you don't feel any greed to ask more. Instead of demanding money, you are willing to receive. It's the same thing, but it's a totally different energy”.

“True joy, true abundance, true wealth happens when you are in total surrender and help others and find it so joyful”.

“Unless it's a thing no human being has done before, go to Mount Everest without oxygen or something, then it's hard. But if it's a dream that somebody has done it, like owning your own store, writing a book, making a million dollars, a billion dollars, somebody has done it, you can do it”.

Key Mantra:
‘Everybody else except me is my teacher’

Books / resources:
True Wealth. 9 Lessons from a Grandfather on Happiness and Abundance by Ken Honda
Happy Money. The Zen Path to a Happy and More Prosperous Life by Ken Honda
Die with Zero. Getting All You Can From Your Money and Your Life by Bill Perkins.

More Information

Website: https://kenhonda.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/happykenhonda/?hl=en

Follow My Spiritual Side online on: Instagram, Facebook. Find out more about The Spiritual Book Club here.
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If you’ve read the hit novel, Tilda is Visible (and if you haven’t, you must) - the story of a woman who becomes invisible in her 50s (sound familiar?), you might have suspect author Jane Tara is channelling her own life.
Turns out, she kind of was.
Jane Tara has written more than a hundred children’s books, novels and plays, but she’s never been as revealing as she is in this deeply personal piece of autofiction. She admits the novel is a thinly veiled invitation for all of us to wake up to the truth that true fulfilment begins with self-discovery.

In this episode of My Spiritual Side Jane opens up about her own quest to find herself - through divorce and kids growing up - and the inner work required to override the relentless negative voices in our head. She shares why she never misses her daily meditation, how she refried her life at 50 and why spirituality doesn’t need to be a chore.

In this episode, Jane shares:

• Her morning meditation ritual that sets the tone for each day
• The messages of personal growth, healing and childhood trauma woven through Tilda is Visible
• Her writing mission: “Make them care.”
• The many failed attempts at meditation before finally landing on a practice that worked
• Why spirituality should feel joyful, not heavy
• How a Dr Joe Dispenza meditation changed the course of her life on her 50th birthday
• The personal growth tools that helped her rise after divorce and other challenges
• How to override the negative voices - including her own internal critic, “Pearl”
• How the brain “value tags” repeated thoughts, and how to interrupt the negative loop
• The power of vision boards for positive manifestation
• Her visualisation philosophy: “Visualise beyond what you want.”

Key Quotes

“The older I get, I feel like our journey and our spirituality should be playful. It should be fun. If you find something a drag, it's just not your path”.

“Somewhere along the line, I started to think of this work as an adventure. How lucky are we to be having this life experience and to be on this adventure where we get to, if we put in the work, see the mystical and magical around us”.

“Your life is not going to change because you change where you live or the relationship or the job. You've got to change how you think about it all. You've got to start changing those thoughts”.

“You don't really get what you want, you don't get what you're thinking you want. You get how you're feeling at a vibrational level”.

“Everything goes back to self worth. Do you think you are worthy of these wonderful things or not?”

“We are spiritual beings having a human experience”.

Key Mantra:

“Things as they are, no mortal has ever seen, though the words be familiar as household words and perpetually on the lips of men. We cannot see things as they are, for we are compelled by a necessity of nature to see things as we are”.

Books / resources:

Out on a Limb by Shirley MacLaine

Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself by Dr. Joe Dispenza

More Information

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/authorjanetara/?hl=en
Website: https://janetara.com/

Follow My Spiritual Side online on: Instagram, Facebook. Find out more about The Spiritual Book Club here.
The Spiritual Book Club: Find out more about The Spiritual Book Club here.
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Chances are, you already know this man’s voice. Grant Lyndon is one of Australia’s most prolific voice artists as well as an actor, meditation teacher and father of four.
But beneath all that, Grant is a seeker.
After chasing his teenage dream of becoming a “rock star”, it was an acting teacher in his 20s who suggested he learn to meditate - a simple practice which changed everything. Grant went on to train as a Vedic meditation teacher, crediting his twice-daily practice with helping him “grow up”, discover his purpose, and shape an identity beyond the shadow of his father, a well known broadcaster.
In this episode of My Spiritual Side, Grant opens up about the transformative power of meditation, what makes a good dad, and the unexpected plot twist that amplified his gratitude.
In this episode, Grant shares:
The time he bailed on a Vipassana silent retreat
How learning Vedic meditation changed his life
How the passing of his mum became a time of presence, connection and surrender
His desire to be a present father to his four kids - and inspire other dads to “wake up”
How his acting and voiceover career became a full-circle moments that felt predestined
Finding his purpose: to remind people of the light within themselves
The importance of movement to strengthen our mind and body
The shock cancer diagnosis which forced him to reassess his priorities and live with greater consciousness and more peace
Why we must sit in our pain, physical and emotional, and surrender to it
His belief that everything shifts when we begin with a single intention: to be more spiritual

Key Quotes
“The moment I actually sat down and closed my eyes with that simple instruction, my life changed. I felt that my life started to make sense. That beneath the noise was something very pure and something with purpose”.

“I felt that when I started meditating, I could be a proper grownup and that the world could take me seriously because I started taking myself seriously”.

“I think my purpose is to remind people of the light within themselves”.

Key Mantra: Be patient with yourself and with others.

Books / resources: Leo Moves (Instagram), Siddhartha by Herman Hesse, Maggie Dent, Steve Biddulp

More Information: Instagram, Website

Follow My Spiritual Side online on: Instagram, Facebook. Find out more about The Spiritual Book Club here.
The Spiritual Book Club: Find out more about The Spiritual Book Club here.
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