Insight | Bonnie Barnard - Part 7

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Recommended Book List by Zappos CEO, Tony Hsieh

I have a long love affair with entrepreneurs. As visionaries, they carry within them the commitment to bring their unique idea from concept into form. Conscious entrepreneurs are visionaries with ideas, however, they see themselves as shapers of a culture, not solely profiteers. They use their skills and talents for the benefit of humanity. I have a been a lifetime connoisseur of learning from these bold men and women and implementing much of what I’ve learned into my own life. Zappos founder and CEO, Tony Hsieh, is a master of creating community. He sees works as not something you go to as a separate part of life; but as a form of self expression to be done in the midst of and with others who share the same values. To Tony, liking who you work with is vitally important to a company’s success. So much so, that it takes an average of 68 days to hire a new employee as the elaborate process includes multiple interviews to...

Spiritual Insights on The Super Bowl

My big confession up front. I’m not much of a football fan. Another confession, I am a HUGE Seattle fan and my love of Seattle has overridden my neutrality for The Sport. I have found myself counting down the days until the big game on Sunday. I’m talking about it with strangers. I have a reservation made at a sports bar with my daughter and some friends for the big event. I have my Seahawks temporary tattoos ready for application; I am invested. So, today while in meditation, I pondered about this new compulsion to watch Sunday’s game. I decided to compare the little I know about football with what I know about spirituality. Here goes — Insight Number 1: At some point in our life, each of us will play the role of each major position of the game. Starting with the team owner. Each one of us has held the responsibility at some level of managing financial or relationship investments we have made. We know what...

Insight from a Poker Player’s Story

Yesterday I attended a friend’s birthday party and a financial teacher who loves poker said that most poker players like to focus on what they are really good at and ignore their weak spot. When asked, one player said she wasn’t willing to invest the time and what it took in being really bad before becoming good. For some of us, it isn’t about the time, but instead about the discomfort in experiencing incompetence, vulnerability, and the feelings that come with an intense learning curve. One’s poker didn’t improve much, she said, from focusing on one’s strength; yet, took quantum leaps from growing just a small increment in the area of weakness. This morning while journaling, I experienced this story from the perspective of spiritual awakening. The path back to one’s Wholeness includes re-living old perceived wounds and feeling the pain associated within them until realizing the original wound contributed toward a Soul Ripening and a trusting of the Universe/God. Eventually the realization comes to us that...

My Birthday Present to Me

Today is my birthday!! Yes, I am a fun-loving, adventurous, travel-addicted Sag. So, what did I buy myself this year for my birthday present? A book of 286 letter, notes, and doodles by John Lennon. I love handwritten letters. I always have and appreciate them more now that most correspondence is done by text or email. There is a power in the written word and the words that come through the arm and written out of the hand to me gives forth an intimate, thoughtful energy. Thumbing through my birthday present today, I chose a postcard from John, Sean, and Yoko they sent to their friends for Thanksgiving in 1980: This past Friday evening I attended a Prayers in the Wind service at Agape Church in Culver City. Rev. Dr. Michael had each of us write a letter as though it were from God to someone in the sanctuary; letting the person know how deeply they are loved, how precious they are, how needed they are, etc....

I Like, I Don’t Like: An Insight on Preference

Preferences are such an interesting thing. There are certain foods that I like and I don’t like. And then there foods I may like but my body doesn’t. This insight has come to show me that liking is a conceptual or habitual function. It falls in the realm of opinion. My body, however, in its desire for survival and health talks to me through visceral feedback. Its wisdom is deeper. I remember the day I stopped eating meat. I would like to say I wanted to be a gentler person and not kill animals or that I woke up to the realization that everyone in the world could be fed if each of us ate more plant-based food and less-to-no animal products. Or, point to the environment’s adverse impact due to an overabundance of cow farts (truly, I read a study on this) that influences air quality. But, that isn’t true. I quit eating meat because my body stopped me. Cold turkey (pardon intentional). One day the thought of...

The Energy of Obligation

Step into of your most recent memory of doing something out of obligation. What did it feel like? This summer I traveled up to Washington State, from Arizona, and along the way I stopped at spiritual centers to speak, teach, and sign books. I have two new books released in the past several months, one in May and one in June. I stopped at one church which invited me to speak as a favor to one of my colleagues. Favors can be dangerous, at minimum energetically unclean, as implied within them is the energy of owing and obligation. Let’s call this church, The Church of We Are Having You as a Favor (CWHYF). As a spiritual detective, I allow myself to explore various energies as a bonus to the work I do of bringing forth Divine Love, my real job. Exploring obligation, then, was definitely on the menu at CWHYF. Why waste this grand opportunity? I stepped smack into the middle of obligation and immediately my body...