I have released a series of three free videos on myths about trauma and PTSD and on post-traumatic growth.

This might be helpful for retuning Iraq veterans, but it is designed to be helpful for anyone who is struggling with the aftereffects of trauma.



I just came from the supermarket, where I passed a guy with a t-shirt that read:

333

Half evil

An Inclusive T-Shirt

I laughed, but also thought the shirt’s message was a nice way to point to inclusion. I have spoken and written about this subject many times. Most situations and people are not one thing or one way; they are a mixture of dark and light; good and evil; hope and despair; wanting to change and fearful of change.

It’s good to be reminded of that, especially with a little dose of humor.

And that’s my thought for the day.

When I began writing books, I was just passionate about making a contribution to others and the world. And I was clueless about writing and publishing. BUt I was persistent and I stumbled around until I figured it all out.

For years, book royalties have been a good source of passive income for me, an bonus I wasn’t really thinking about when I started. I have written 29 books (my next one, A Guide to Trance-Land comes out from W.W. Norton next year) and it is so cool to get checks every six months from my publishers. I never know how much they will be for, since sales are variable, and I never count on this money as income, so it is always a pleasant surprise.

I’ve discovered that most people are a bit stymied by the writing and especially by the publishing process, so I have created an online Book Writing and Publishing Course. The course tells you where to start (never write your non-fiction book before you sell it; but always write much, if not all, of your fiction book before you sell it), how to get yourself to write (Did you know you could write a book in five-minute chunks and it would take you less than a year to get it done?), how to get an agent (I’ll tell you how I got one in one day!), and how to make it likely your book will sell to a publisher and to readers.

You can take the Book Writing and Publishing Course at your own rate and pace, when it convenient, from anywhere you have online access. I wish I had had this course when I started. I would have made many thousands more dollars, had even more books published and written, and avoided myself costly errors. It’s a bit like having a friend in the publishing industry.

If you want to see a book with your name on it and want to set up ongoing sources of passive and residual income, visit:
http://www.getyourbookwritten.com/online-writing-course/

Those of you who receive my monthly newsletter know I have been on a kick of finding cool new psychological research that can make a positive difference in people’s lives and help them to realize new possibilities.

To that end, I have just created a new website, blog, podcast and email service to disseminate this cool and useful research.

See more at www.PsychMinutes.com

Out of the blue, I was invited to be on The Today Show on Monday, March 17, 2008. Since I am already on the East Coast (I’m in D.C. at the Psychotherapy Networker Symposium teaching until Sunday), I agreed. A few people I have mentioned this to wanted to know how it happened. I was contacted by a writer asking me to comment on some Irish proverbs (I had never heard any of these proverbs) and their relevance to relationships. The resulting article was published in Women’s Health magazine and timed to come out in time for St. Patrick’s Day. Since I have an Irish background and name and am male, they wanted to know whether I would come on The Today Show for a “He Said/She Said” segment featuring the theme and Women’s Health editor/columnist Nicole Beland. I don’t really have a current book to hawk, so I plan to just have fun with it. They tell me it will be on during the 10 O’clock hour.

Here’s the clip: 
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/23673963#23673963

I saw the movie The Bucket List the other day (starring Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson). There’s a part in the movie in which the two characters find themselves atop a pyramid in Egypt. Morgan Freeman, who is extremely erudite, tells Jack Nicholson that the Egyptians believed that when you die, before you can enter the afterlife, you are asked two questions:

1. Have you found joy in your life?
and
2. Has your life brought joy to others?

I have no idea whether these questions are accurate in terms of Egyptian beliefs, but they spoke to me. How would you answer them right now? And if you aren’t happy with your answers, what will you do to change your life so that you can have a better answer in the future? I have created a new seminar that will speak to these questions in what I think is a powerful way. It’s called The Possibilities Process. It will be held for the first time this summer in New Mexico and is limited to only 10 participants.

Visit:  http://www.billohanlon.com/events/intensives/transformational/intensive.html

I have just created some new videos that I hope will help people get over trauma (especially returning troops that are really suffering from trauma, and, reportedly killing themselves in record numbers). Here’s the first one. Check it out here, go to You Tube and grab the code and put it on your website or blog.

Here’s a nice possibility-oriented idea. Each day, search for the person, situation or thing that has something to teach you. Keep your eyes, ears and mind open for this teacher and make a point to find him, her or it before you go to sleep for the night.

If it appeals, try this simple idea and let me know how it goes.

Wow, I am shot. Ryan Nagy and I just finished our intensive seminar on learning to use the Web to spread the word about your work or passion and how to create passive income. We did hands on training in creating blogs, using Google AdSense, creating audios and videos to upload or sell on the web, creating and using autoresponders (if you don’t know what those are, you’ll have to come to the next Santa Fe Web Whisperers Boot Camp in January 2008-stay tuned for details), podcasts and lots of other stuff.

I actually learned a lot during the week and many people felt empowered and excited, in addition to being exhausted.

I’ve decided to start using this blog I have had sitting around for some time to chart my travels and keep anyone who is interested up to date in regard to my latest adventures on the “psycho-jet-set.”

I’ve had a hectic spring, made a bit more hectic by filling in for Insoo Berg, who died suddenly and unexpectedly this past February, leaving a large non-profit group in Finland without a speaker for the 280 people they were expecting at Insoo’s workshop in late March. The group (Ratkes) contacted me asking me if I could possibly come over in the six days I had between workshops in upstate NY (Ithica and Fredonia) and North Carolina, to do a three-day workshop. I did and it all went well, but it was a challenge dealing with the jet lag.

I am in Hong Kong as I write this, just having arrived from Singapore. I have one day to rest, then do a two-day workshop here for my old friend George Zee, a Jesuit priest and psychotherapist who sponsors many major workshops here in Hong Kong.

Singapore is amazing. My wife Steffanie was visiting there for the first time and Singapore has become one of her favorite overseas cities (she also likes Melbourne Australia and London England).

Singpore is a very lush city, filled with trees and plants, and is a safe and prosperous place. Most people from the U.S. only know that chewing gum is illegal and the some American kid got caned for spraying grafitti on a bunch of cars. But there is much more to the place than that.

Almost everyone speaks English very well in Singapore. The subway system (the MRT) is easy to navigate and very inexpensive.

I’m still a bit jetlagged, so I’ll end this for now. More later from who knows where.