Launch of New Book and Publishing Company

Just a note to say that I haven't posted yet this week because I've been busy getting ready to launch The Best of Follow Your Bliss ebook and Cordage Books, my new publishing company.

A lot of awesome things are happening. I'm going to be on this radio show today:

And it even got featured on Blog Talk Radio's front page:

So, thanks for checking in! And if you want to learn more about my journey of following my bliss, tune in to the show today! Or stay in touch through Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NinaAlvarez.WriterEditor

Global Shift and Follow Your Bliss

Friday, December 21, 2012



We survived the apocalypse.

That means another Follow Your Bliss Friday.

That also means I have to step up my game, speak more from the heart.

I want to talk about the global shift in consciousness that has been happening for years and that some say is hitting a pinnacle no-turning-back marker today.

I want to talk about how I took fifteen months of work on a now-defunct magazine and followed my intuition to re-purposing it into an eBook that I'm excited to publish. And how this was the direct result of a year of working to get closer to my intuition, sense of joy and ease, and to work through love instead of fear.

We can't separate making smarter, more powerful choices from our subsequent efforts to develop into more conscious versions of ourselves. The self-work WILL reflect in the outer work. If you aren't seeing the results yet, give it time.

I see this happening in my family and friends too, even those who are resistant to concepts that seem New Agey (but really aren't). They're getting on board and acting with increased awareness, self-care, and openness to the concept that we are here for a purpose: the basic motivating message behind "follow your bliss."

But growing pains are ... well ... pains. The last couple months I've had a heck of a time getting to sleep before 5 a.m. I've also felt a lot of symptoms below. Have you?

• Have your emotions been more intense lately? 

• Does it seem like there are more thoughts racing through your mind? 

• Have you noticed your body tensing up for no apparent reason? 

• Have you been feeling a vague - or not so vague - sense of anxiety? 

• Are you finding it difficult to get a good night’s sleep? 

• Do you seem to be compelled to keep busy? 

• Are you feeling a mysterious sense of urgency? 

• Do you have less patience? 

• Do you find yourself obsessing more over things? 

• Have your moods been shifting quickly from optimistic to discouraged - from delighted to downhearted? Does it seem harder than it use to be to enjoy life?

If you are experiencing some - or all - of these things, take heart. Believe it or not, it is a sign that something very positive is happening to you, and to the planet. These symptoms are (in most cases) a “by-product” of an extraordinary spiritual awakening - or “consciousness shift” - that Planet Earth and humanity are currently undergoing. (read more on How the 2012 Shift in Consciousness Might Be Affecting You)

Following your bliss will put you in touch with the mystery that's the ground of your own being. It's not just about enjoying your work, it's about trusting that the universe WANTS you to enjoy your work. That you are here to ENJOY your work so that it may build a better energetic universe as well as material one.

I invite you to join me on January 3, 2013 at 2 pm on the online radio show The Life's Dash with Michele Mattia as I talk with Michele about The Best of Follow Your Bliss, full of articles and personal narratives of ordinary people propelled to extraordinary versions of themselves through the transformative process of following one's bliss.

Why Not Do Things Out of Love Instead of Fear?

Fear is not necessary. There is the idea that fear is good for us, that it is beneficial and has all kinds of hidden, mysterious values. People will look back and rationalize how fear got them to do this and do that, and all I can say is, "Too bad." 

Too bad they did not do it out of love for themselves or for their fellow human beings. Too bad that they did not do it out of love for life itself, love for their own aliveness, and love for their body. Why not do things for our body out of love for it instead of out of fear of the consequences? Why not keep it healthy and happy because we love and value it, not because we are afraid of a heart attack or something else?  -David R. Hawkins 

Quote of the Day

"But you see, I have, let's say, sixty years to live. Most of that time will be spent working. I've chosen the work I want to do. If I find no joy in it, then I'm only condemning myself to sixty years of torture. And I can find the joy only if I do my work in the best way possible to me."  

-Howard Roark, The Fountainhead

My First eBook - Three Weeks to Launch!

On January 3, 2013, I will launch my own publishing company, working with designers and writers in a cooperative model that I am excited to explore and share in upcoming posts. I still don't know what I'm going to call it. I am waiting for a sign from the universe. And making lists. And getting nervous/excited.

Our first release will be an eBook called The Best of Follow Your Bliss. Follow Your Bliss was an eMagazine I created with Sandy Farnan and ran monthly for 13 issues. We loved what we did, but I had to set it aside in 2012 because my business started expanding rapidly and I also needed more time to focus on my creative writing. I had to give up Follow Your Bliss to follow my bliss!

But FYB attracted many beautiful articles by thoughtful writers during our tenure and I wanted to find a way to wrap up all that work with a big, red bow.

The eBook will be available on amazon but I'll be spending the next couple of weeks trying to create a decent website for it. I'll also be writing more about it here at the blog and discussing it on the radio spot I'll be doing on The Life's Dash with Michele Mattia!

To learn more, stay in touch, and receive updates, come connect with Follow Your Bliss on Facebook!

You Have to Follow the Breadcrumbs

The November 2010 issue of O Magazine ran a multi-part article by life coach Martha Beck about finding your calling. I want to tell you a little bit about it. If you've read Monday and Thursday's posts, you'll see I like Martha Beck.

I am completely mesmerized by this idea that we each have a calling. Still, I struggle with it sometimes. I’ve made many inroads to living a purposeful life, but working from home has its own set of difficulties.

Freedom does not equal happiness, and the greater the freedom, the greater the responsibility to make skillful life decisions. At least that's how I feel. The things I learned two years ago when I first read Beck's article, I still seem to be learning, just on subtler and more nuanced levels.

Beck explains the process of finding your calling through this analogy:

You are tracking a wild animal. You take a step, scan for it, pick up on its scent, take a step in that direction and keep going. And if you lose the scent, you go back to the last place you had it and try a different direction.

The article reminded me of something I knew but had forgotten while consumed with the day-to-day focuses of my job: following your bliss is a process.

You take one step at a time. Do you feel that inner warmth – that ‘ding’ – that YES? If you don’t, go back to the last place you did and then step from there.

Or, as my friend, the sage and eminent smart-ass Kalonda says: "You have to follow the breadcrumbs."

As I watch my friends uncover there bliss month by month, year by year, I see the same thing: that it is not usually about making a dramatic shift, but about finding the right mode in which to express their already recognized talents. Often he or she will love a certain mode of activity but just haven’t found the right setting or vehicle for it.

Oprah Winfrey, for example, writes that she always wanted to be a teacher. And she is. She just happens not to be in a traditional classroom.

Sans crystal ball, I’m just taking it a day at a time, doing the work that comes to me to my best ability and trying to separate out who I really am from who I think I should be.

How about you? Any inner dings lately?

This article was originally published in Follow Your Bliss magazine. For articles on how to do what you love and love what you do, look for The Best of Follow Your Bliss eBook, to be published in January 2013. What to be notified when the book comes out?

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10 Teachers You Can Take Anywhere

While commuting to work or standing in the unemployment line, while eating sushi or sucking down a shake and fries, while cleaning your room or making it messy, while jogging in the rain or soaking in the bathtub, you can do something profound: you can change your life. 

How? By learning. Some of the greatest wisdom the world has produced has been set to audiobook and, with the advent of iPods and MP3 players, we can take those teachings with us just about anywhere.

This week's My Favorite Monday post Nina's Top-10 inspirational books for holiday gift-giving included a whole bunch of books and audiobooks by inspirational writers you might like to know more about. If that's the case, read on for more samples from:

1) Eckhart Tolle
2) Louise Hay
3) Marianne Williamson
4) Dr. Wayne Dyer
5) Debbie Ford
6) Martha Beck

7) Cheryl Richardson
8) Caroline Myss
9) Dr. Michael Beckwith
10) Pema Chodron

Here is a brief catalog of ten powerful teachers who have helped millions follow their bliss by overcoming limiting beliefs. Some of these authors will resonate with you, some won’t. Just take a look. When you find one who resonates with you, you’ll know it.


1) Eckhart Tolle

Tolle is best known as the author of the The Power of Now and A New Earth. In 2011 he was listed by the Watkins Review as the most spiritually influential person in the world. In 2008, a New York Times writer called Tolle "the most popular spiritual author in the [United States]."

Sample: “So the single most vital step on your journey toward enlightenment is this: learn to disidentify from your mind. Every time you create a gap in the stream of mind, the light of your consciousness grows stronger. One day you may catch yourself smiling at the voice in your head, as you would smile at the antics of a child. This means that you no longer take the content of your mind all that seriously, as your sense of self does not depend on it.” -from The Power of Now

2) Louise Hay

Through Hay’s healing techniques and positive philosophy, millions have learned how to create more of what they want in their lives.

Sample: “For many years one of my affirmations has been: Only good lies before me. It is a comforting thought that wipes out all fear of the future and allows me to wake up each day with confidence, feeling at ease. I am often delighted and even amazed to observe how Life brings my next good adventure to me.” -from Create an Exceptional Life

Video: A Conversation with Louise Hay

3) Marianne Williamson

Williamson is an internationally acclaimed author and lecturer on A Course in Miracles, which she describes as "a self-study program of spiritual psychotherapy." Six of her ten published books have been New York Times Best Sellers. Four of these have been #1 New York Times Best Sellers. A Return to Love is considered a must-read by many progressive spiritual practitioners.

Sample: “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, ‘Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?’ Actually, who are you not to be?” –from A Return to Love 

Video: Listen to A Return to Love (part 1) 

Nina's Top-10 Inspirational Books for Holiday Gift-Giving

Note: this list was originally published in Follow Your Bliss magazine. For articles on how to do what you love and love what you do, look for The Best of Follow Your Bliss eBook, to be published in January 2013. What to be notified when the book comes out?

Subscribe to our mailing list

What Do You Give a Friend Who is Looking for More From Life?

This holiday, why not offer a friend or family member a book that could change their lives? The books I recommend below I've read countless times, each acting as a irreplaceable mentor in my self-development. I've even added some guidance for gift recommendations.

Finding Your Path

Excuses Begone! by Wayne Dyer
The “father of motivation,” delivers his trademark warmth and common sense approach to self-development. He illustrates how we can move beyond “mind viruses” – the unquestioned, socially transmitted beliefs that limit us. Who to give it to: A person struggling with weight loss, self-sabotage, poor self-image. Open-minded and spiritual but not too out there. (audiobook)

Steering by Starlight: Find Your Right Life, No Matter What! by Martha Beck
Once called “America’s best-known life coach,” Beck offers a funny, sincere and self-deprecating journey to finding your North Star. Includes specifically devised worksheet questions to fill out. "Trying to force the mind to do the soul's job is like trying to whittle your ear into a nose." Who to give it to: Beck regularly writes for O Magazine because she is widely accessible. Give it to someone who is looking for their authentic purpose but needs it delivered by a Harvard professor-turned-life-coach.

Follow Your North Star by Martha Beck
Published prior to Steering By Starlight, this book takes a more intimate approach, guiding readers through meditation exercises and visualizations. Beck gives instruction for attuning to the intuitive guidance our bodies send us through constriction and pain or ease and relief. Who to give it to: Someone already inclined to relaxation and meditation techniques who is looking for insight into their true calling.

Getting Unstuck by Pema Chodron
This audiobook is a dharma talk in which Pema shows how when we try to find zones of safety from life we actually suffer more. With wit and wisdom, she teaches that learning to accept the present moment as if you had invited it how to get unstuck.Who to give it to: Fine for non-Buddhists who are open to Buddhist teachings. Delivered in an accessible language for mainstream readers but the more subtle concepts might require a more advanced awareness.

Life Visioning by Michael Beckwith
An intricate, mesmerizing journey through the steps to visualizing the right future for you while developing a spiritual connection with the “all." The course offers guided meditations, creative visualization and affirmative prayer as tools to reach his outlined stages of consciousness. “There is greatness within you that awaits its release," teaches Michael Bernard Beckwith, "unlimited ideas awaiting expression through and as you." Who to give it to: People open to positive affirmations and concepts of spirit and source, interested in the spiritual journey, and looking to manifest not just things, but a better experience of life.

Healing Your Life

You Can Heal Your Life by Louise Hay
Often called the “Grandmother of Self-Help and the Queen of Affirmation,” Louise Hay also founded Hay House, the publishing house responsible for a number of books on this list. You Can Heal Your Life is an affirmation classic full of Louise’s warm, compassionate, and patient teachings on how to love ourselves. For an immediate pick-me-up, you can stream her movie online: You Can Heal Your Life –a powerful documentary on the process of letting go of negative beliefs. Who to give it to: People prone to negative thinking who will respond well to warm, easy, nurturing guidance. (audiobook)


Positivity by B.L. Frederickson
Frederickson is a social psychologist who conducts research in positive psychology, a relatively new branch of psychology that studies and measures positive emotions. She explains how pleasant moments alter our mind and body in ways in ways that increase our ability to live successful lives. Who to give it to: Left-brained types searching for reasons to cultivate positive thinking but need science and research to quantify and validate its value.

Radical Self-Acceptance by Tara Brach
A psychologist and internationally renowned expert on Buddhist meditation, Tara Brach offers kind guidance to completely accepting yourself as you are. Who to give it to: People open to gentle Buddhist teachings who need a good dose of self-acceptance and help letting go of perfectionist tendencies. (audiobook)

The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle
Eckhart Tolle’s now-landmark book that catapulted him from obscurity to one of the best-loved living writers on mindfulness. Tells the story of his dramatic awakening but mostly focuses on showing how constant thoughts of past and future rob us the healing power of the present moment. Especially powerful over audiobook because of Tolle’s resonant and calming voice. Who to give it to: People who have suffered with a lot of mind clutter, stress, and emotional upheaval and are ready for a radical change. (audiobook)

A Return to Love by Marianne Williamson
A powerful guide applying wisdom from A Course in Miracles in an easy-to-understand and satisfying read. The core message is how to ask God for miracles and allow this process of letting go to change perceptions from fear to love. A popular line from the book was even used in the movie Coach Carter. “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.” Who to give it to: Readers don't have to be Christian, but should be open to a God concept. Especially powerful for women with histories of bad relationships and self-sabotage who are looking for radical change. (audiobook)