Hey there, it’s Marie Forleo and you are watching MarieTV, the place to be to create
a business and life you love.
And this ain’t Q&A Tuesday, you know why?
It’s a very special episode today.
We have one of my dear friends who also happens to be an incredible spiritual teacher.
Featured on Oprah’s Super Soul Sunday as one of the next generation of thought leaders,
Gabrielle Bernstein is making her mark.
Expanding the lexicon for the next generation of spiritual seekers, Gabby is the number
one bestselling author of Add More -Ing to Your Life: A Hip Guide to Happiness and Spirit
Junkie: A Radical Road to Self-Love and Miracles.
And now she’s launching her new book, May Cause Miracles, published by Random House.
Gabrielle is also the founder of the social networking site HerFuture.com for women to
inspire, empower, and connect.
Gabby, Gabby, Gabby.
Welcome to MarieTV!
I am freakin’ psyched to be back on MarieTV!
Second time.
Second time, I know.
So good.
Your first episode, the first one that we did together, was all about manifesting and
I think, I don’t know, like 35,000 people watched that video as of right now.
They were diggin’ it, yeah.
They’re really, really diggin’ it.
Yeah.
So I know you have a new book here, which is May Cause Miracles, your brand new book.
Congratulations.
Thank you.
This is huge.
So, tell me about this book.
It says it’s a guidebook of subtle shifts for radical change and unlimited happiness.
I am so proud of you for this, this is amazing, but I wanna hear what inspired you?
Why did you write this next book?
So you and I talk about this a lot.
Yeah.
We really want to listen to what our audience wants and needs from us.
Yes.
And so I write my books based on what the call is from the audience.
So if people are...
I can sense it.
It’s not even necessarily some things people say, I can feel it.
Yeah.
So when I wrote my book Add More -Ing to Your Life, it was very clear that I needed to give
people... it’s called A Hip Guide to Happiness.
It needed to be very easy and fun for people to digest.
Right.
Spirit Junkie I felt that my audience needed to know more about me and needed to see myself
qualify the work and say, “Ok, this is who I am.
This is how I got here.”
Right.
And then when this book came to be, it was really clear to me that it was time for my
readers to be given a handbook and I kept feeling the sense of this call from people
saying, “I just wanna know how to do things.
I want to be told what to do.”
That’s really, really interesting because I’ve seen that a lot in my work and just
throughout my career that people want to be given the step by step to anything.
Absolutely.
And they...
And you do a great job of that.
Thank you.
Yeah.
But they don’t wanna figure it out on their own and I know that this is... it’s a 42
day...
It’s a 40 day guide.
Yeah.
It’s a 6 week course and it’s broken up into all the different corners of our lives.
So from our personal experience with ourself to our body image to our finances to our experience
of the world to our romantic relationships.
Ooh!
Kind of cover everything.
That’s awesome.
40 day guide, yeah.
And so tell me more about how the book is broken down.
So it’s a 40 day guide, there’s meditations.
Every day has the same ritualistic practices.
So every morning you wake up with a morning reflection, which this is also really based
on my personal practice.
Yes.
So I was like, “Oh, well what works for me?
Let me put this into a practice for everybody else.”
Yup.
And I really have to say that it works because obviously I’m walking around a pretty happy
girl, you know?
You know, I will say this too, and I love this because you and I have been friends for
years and so I see you when we’re out doing things in the world, like we got to do Oprah
together, and I also see you at parties, but I also hear from you, you know, you call me
up.
And that’s one of the things I love about you is that you walk your talk.
And so I love that you’ve put everything that you do down into a book for the rest
of us to be able to learn.
So that’s awesome.
That was kinda part of the call.
Like, the audience kept saying, “Well, what is it that you do?
How do you start your day?
How do you practice these principles?
How do you keep it going?”
And so that was really the main message was saying, “Ok, here’s a morning reflection.
Start your day with this new idea.
Here’s an affirmation that goes along with that.
You can continue to practice with that affirmation throughout the day.”
And then the final part was at the end of the evening to really sit in contemplation
and that’s when I really do most of my journaling and I do some reading and I open A Course
in Miracles.
And so I’ve given all the heavy lifting in the evening because I think people don’t
wanna do that self reflective work in the mornings.
Right.
And they don’t have a midday break...
Right.
...not everybody.
Right.
So it’s an evening exercise to just go a little bit deeper, do some journaling, get
a little dirty.
I like it.
So... so, you know, all of our MarieTV viewers, we have folks that maybe spirituality and
God is not really a part of their conversation.
But, I have to say, I think most of them it is part of it whether they consider themselves
religious or spiritual, they’re very open minded to it.
And the title of your book is May Cause Miracles.
How do you define a miracle?
So to simplify a miracle, it’s really when we shift our perspective, when we see something
with more love.
And it’s often that we’re walking around in these sort of crazy cocoons thinking, “Oh,
I can’t.
I don’t have enough.
I can’t change my body.
I’ll never have that partner.
I can’t have that experience of life that I wanna have.”
Right.
And so when we’re locked into that cocoon of negativity, we really feel as though there’s
no way out.
Right.
But through these practices we begin to shift our thinking.
And the moment that you shift your thinking, the moment that you say, “I want to see
this differently.
I’m ready to see this differently,” that’s when the miracle occurs.
So that’s awesome because I’ve heard you, you know, I attend your lectures and we always
talk and I love that idea that a miracle is simply a shift in perspective.
I feel like that’s so powerful because it doesn't mean, like, the clouds have to part
and someone comes down and then all of a sudden that your life is necessarily different because
some outside force came and, you know, changed your home or gave you a new job.
But really the power of a shift in perception, I know for me, whenever I do have that shift,
my entire life does feel different.
Yeah.
Well, when you have that energy shift, then you open the floodgates for everything to
fall into place.
And often what I teach is that there’s really a lot of powerful energy working on our behalf
and this is... this is science too.
It’s quantum physics.
You know?
Right.
It’s like we are vibrating at a certain frequency, and we talked about this in our
last episode.
Yeah.
If you start to think with higher thoughts and move into a more enlightened way of being,
then you literally...
it’s almost like you open this massive door for all of the guidance that you need to expand
your life.
And the books will come in, the teachers will come in, the resources will come in, the support
system, the publicity will come in to get the messages out.
Whatever it is that you need, you actually say, “I’m ready for this,” and you open
the door for it.
So, Gab, I know this is airing right now and we just... we’re right at the beginning
of 2013 and so many people have resolutions at this time of year.
They’re pumped up, they’re ready to, like, make all these big changes, and I know that
May Cause Miracles can help people actually transform their habits and behavior.
Tell me more about that.
Well, one of my big intentions for this book was to make it really helpful for folks that
are ready to make that resolution stick.
Because when we hit January 1st, everyone’s like, “Oh, I’m ready to make changes,”
and they’re, like, all psyched about it.
And so that’s when...
That sounded like South Park.
That sounded like...
Well, did you want me to do Cartman?
Can you do...?
Hey, Cartman.
So we have this experience of wanting to make change.
Right.
And we’re ready for that transformational experience.
So, for me, it’s like jackpot, let’s got on these folks now.
Let’s give them the tools when they're in that place of willingness.
Yes.
Because that’s what most of the book is about, is really opening up to willingness.
But January is a hotspot, it’s like right when we’re all willing to change.
Yes.
We’re ready to do something different.
And so that’s really the first step to having any resolution stick is having the willingness
to make it happen.
So let’s talk about willingness a little bit more, because I find willingness to be
this really kind of magical state, magical kind of tool.
Because, for me, if I’m hanging on to my point of view or my perspective, there’s
almost like whenever I’ve been really bratty, there’s no willingness inside me to even
have it transform, whatever my bratty state is, because I’m so committed to my own point
of view.
And I think that for many of us, and I’d love to hear your opinion on this, you know,
we say we want change but we’re not really willing to let go of either our behaviors
or our way of thinking.
And so have you noticed that with your work?
Like, the willingness piece is a bit of magic?
Yeah, I think that people have to hit a hard enough bottom to really wake up and say, “I’m
ready to do this.”
You know?
Yes.
So it’s like, for me, I’ve been on a path of trying to give up coffee for several years.
And something just hit me.
You know, I was given some guidance from one of my spiritual teachers, it was like, “You
need to clean that up if you wanna go big.”
You know?
And sometimes there’s just those moments when you’re like, “That was enough of
a bottom.”
Yeah.
And that was just a moment for me to say, “I don't wanna do that anymore.”
Right.
And so I think that you can’t deprive someone of their bottom, they have to have that experience
naturally, and there will maybe many moments of just, you know, reverting back to old behavior,
reverting back to old behavior, until you’re really ready to commit.
Yeah.
But the neat thing about January and New Year’s time is that people are kinda like looking
back at last year and they’re like, “Oh, I got shit to do.”
You know?
Right.
So they’re ready to make some change.
Yeah.
And that’s what this is really, hopefully gonna be a major guide for people to make
that change stick.
And the main way that the change will stick is because of the repetition.
Mm.
Tell me about that.
So all the yogi’s and the metaphysicians have used these practices, 40 day practices.
So when I do a cun delini meditation, I’ll do it for 40 days.
And the purpose of the 40 days is, one, from a neuroscientific perspective, it’s literally
changing the neural pathways in our brain.
Yes.
You know, we’re... we’re creating new patterns.
And then from a spiritual perspective, it’s just the more you call on spirit, the more
you call on a higher way of thinking, the more that way of thinking becomes your reality.
Yes.
And so it’s really just the repetition of a new thought.
Love it.
Absolutely love it.
Yeah.
So you know one of the things we love to talk about is the idea of winning in your business,
creating a business that you love, creating a life that you love.
And whether you’re an entrepreneur and you have your own business or you’re working
in a company or you’re a freelancer and you work for many different companies, you
know, money is one of those hot topics.
And I know that you and I often have fun conversations about this, about the spirituality of money
and, you know, can making more money be spiritual and just the idea of abundance.
And I know that on page 174 you have this, and I thought this was gorgeous: “The ego
has a get mentality rather than a give mentality.
When we’re ego minded with money, we believe we need to get more to be happy.
Our peace and salvation has a dollar amount.
Giving can often become an afterthought when getting is the primary function.
And the course teaches to have, give all to all.
This concept is confusing to the ego, but throughout your miracle minded practice you’ll
gain real clarity around the true purpose of giving.”
Talk to us a little bit about giving, the ego, getting, and how that relates to money.
It’s so trippy.
You know, the ego, it’s like money and sex are the places where the ego is just like,
goes crazy.
Right.
Right?
So it’s like with money in particular, people really get hung up about, like, this sort
of hoarding mentality or I need more to get that fulfillment or a way of, you know, feeling
like I’m good enough in the world.
Often I’ve seen in people, and I’m sure you may see this in your practice because
you really help people... you see people start earning more.
Yes.
But sometimes even when they’re earning more, it’s not...
it’s like, “Oh, well then what’s next?”
Yes.
And it’s like a lot of this sort of like hovering over, “What’s next?
I need more.
I need more.”
Yes.
And so we need to really hold that energy of yes we can receive more, yes we can earn
more, but we also can give more.
And the process of giving, and you know this because you’re business is very philanthropic.
You know?
Yes.
But not even just being philanthropic, just being a generous person in general.
The experience of saying, you know, “I’m gonna give, I’m gonna write that check,
I’m gonna hire that person, I’m gonna employ people.”
This kind of energy is not that hoarding mentality.
And the ego thinks, “I’ve got to hold it all for myself, I have to hoard it, it’s
never enough.”
But that give mentality really shifts a lot energetically.
It sort of gives you this essence of abundance.
And the essence of abundance is really what starts to call more abundance into your life.
Yeah.
And so we need to start to open up to the practices of being willing to give.
I love that.
Being generous, for me, I always try and look for the places where I’m not being generous,
like, that’s one of my practices.
So if I ever catch myself being stingy, you know, and it can show up in all kinds of places
for all of us.
I know, you know, one of the places where...
like, Josh and I will order out and he’ll be like, “Oh, can I have some of that?”
I’m like, “No, it’s mine.
Why didn't you order the good thing?”
I always have the right thing.
I’m the opposite.
Are you really?
I always order the crappy thing.
Yeah so, you know, but I think it’s fun for us to look at the places, you know, for
me especially if I feel like, “Oh, you know what?
I’m doing good,” in terms of generosity with money.
But where am I not being generous with my love?
Or where am I not being generous with, you know, other aspects of my life?
And it’s kind of, I think, it’s a fun practice.
Yeah.
You know?
And we were also talking about, you know, tithing and sedacca and, you know, the sedacca
tradition is give 10% of your earnings monthly.
Yes.
And that’s trippy for people.
That’s, like, super hardcore for folks to wrap their heads around.
But, you know, they may wanna consider tithing, the finding that there’s a place where you’re
spiritually fed.
And we were talking and we both get checks, like, random checks or I’ll get a random
PayPal statement from somebody and the subject says, “Tithe,” and it’s, like, $45.
And these are the moments when people are saying, “Oh, you have been feeding me spiritually.
I’m going to give.”And I do the same, I mean, I send checks to my Kundalini center,
I send checks to my coaches, you know, just thank you.
Yeah.
No, it is.
I remember the first couple of times that that happened, I didn't know what was going
on.
I was just like...
Why are these...?
Yeah, I was just like, “Why is this money coming?”
But then I saw the little...
the little check and it was really, really beautiful.
Gabby, I absolutely love this book.
Anything else that you want to talk about before we go into our challenge for our readers?
Anything else that you really wanna let us know?
Because I want everybody to go out and get May Cause Miracles.
I mean, books, for me, are such a source of learning and inspiration.
I have so many books.
Josh is always telling me, like, “You’ve gotta get rid of some of them.”
I’m like, “No, they’re my friends.”
And I just cannot tell you how much I love...
I love all of your books, but this one I’m really, really excited about because it’s
so practical and it gives us the step by step for true transformation.
Yeah, I mean, I guess I can just sort of close with the fact that I’m just so grateful
that people will be able to have this book as a resource.
Yeah.
And so my hope and intention for everyone is to crack people open.
And I can only do so much, you know, we can only, you know, say what we can say and we
can only make suggestions.
But it’s really the reader or the viewer that can say, “I’m gonna go take action.”
Yes.
And so my hope and my intention is for anyone who watches this episode or anyone who picks
up this book really gets the hit that they need to get to work.
And that’s when the real cracking open occurs, when we actually start to take those daily
practices and commit to the daily practices.
I love it.
And so I hope everybody gets really cracked open from this book.
Yes!
So you know what we do here on MarieTV, we always like to challenge you, our viewers,
to take action because insight, I believe, without action is absolutely worthless.
So, Gabs, I know kind of back in our green room we were talking a little bit about what
we could challenge people with today and you had a really good idea.
Like, no matter where you are in your life, whether you’re looking at improving your
finances, you wanna see a miracle around your relationships, maybe it’s around your body
or your health, any aspect of your life, Gabby’s gonna tell you right now what we wanna hear
from you in the comments.
So I really wanna make sure that people can become willing to witness what is not working...
Yes.
...and become prepared to shift it.
Ok.
And so they can share with us what they’re willing to shift.
Great.
And so looking at your life, taking an inventory, what’s not working?
What am I willing to shift?
And putting it out there is major.
I think so.
That’s a massive statement.
It’s really courageous and it also allows other people to support you because, as you
know, our MarieTV audience, our community, is probably one of the most inspiring, positive,
and supportive places on the planet.
So you can feel safe that you put the place that you wanna see a shift happen in the comments
below.
And so are we starting out with kind of the place that we’re in a little bit of pain
or discomfort with?
Yeah, I mean, there’s a place where you may feel, “Ok, I’m done with this.”
Yes.
And when you get to that place, it’s really empowering to say, “Hey world, I’m done!”
Good.
I’ve been instagramming photos every day of my green juices instead of my coffee and
telling people publicly I’m ready to let go of my coffee and I’m choosing this instead.
And, I’m telling you, having the audiences and people viewing that shift...
Yes.
...is helping me stay comfortable.
Awesome.
So that’s what we want you to do.
In the comments below, let us know, what are you willing to let go of?
What are you done with?
Make a public declaration and also let us know what you’re moving towards and how
we can support you.
Gabby, it is such a pleasure, always, to have you on MarieTV.
Thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedule to be with us here today and
to help us kick off the new year right.
I love you dearly.
Thank you.
And for you, as you know, MarieTV rocks and if you like this video, please like it and
share it with your friends.
And if you want even more great resources to create a business and a life you love plus
some personal insights from me that I only talk about in email, get your butt over to
MarieForleo.com right now and sign up for email updates.
So what I’m gonna leave you with is what I always leave you with.
Stay on your game and keep going for your dreams because the world needs that special
gift only you have.
Thank you so much for tuning in and I’ll catch
you next time on MarieTV.