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Gale Minchew, PhD

Inspire • Uplift • Motivate • Empower

Blog posts

Choosing love over judgment...

It’s easy to fall into the trap of judging another who is not like you…from the most basic aspect as hair color, financial status, or disability to the intangible constructs of ideas, dreams, desires, and beliefs. Recently, I was criticized…no, accused…of not being Christian…as if that is a requirem…

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A ripple of positivity...

Over the past month, there has been so much intense energy in the air! With the Lunar Eclipse, Solar Eclipse, 8-8 Lion’s Gate, Planetary Retrogrades, and so much more happening astrologically in August, I’ve noticed that emotions have run high and behavior seems incongruent in many ways. Some will s…

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Your compassionate self...

Have you ever experienced the cycle of knowing you need to finish a project but distractions abound and you chastise yourself for not completing the task then dread the project altogether? This happened to me recently with so much activity and so many projects taking place over the summer that I won…

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Life doesn't always go according to plan...

June has been a beautifully busy month! I planned a quick trip to Florida to see my co-author, Karen Lovero, and take photos/videos for future use in meditations and spiritual messages. And, while not initially on my agenda, I ended up booking a workshop in Ft. Myers on Past Life Healing…how amazing…

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The spirit of adventure...

In April, I went on a grand adventure, traveling over 7,000 miles across the Western half of the United States. Along this journey, I had the honor of experiencing many magical moments…the peacefulness of the open plains, the majesty of the mountains, the power of the ocean, and the willfulness of t…

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The power of visualization

Over the past few newsletters, we have been exploring techniques for shifting perspective. There are so many options for doing so, we need only choose one and let the shifting begin. So far, we have discussed thought creation, setting intentions, and releasing limitations. One of my favorite techniq…

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Time to let love in...

For many, February is celebrated as the month of love and romance. You see it everywhere: along the candy aisles, the floral shop, and in advertisements for romantic dinners. The mantra is the same every year: love is in the air. It has been marketed this way for as long as most of us can remember. …

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Setting Powerful Intentions...

The beginning of any new year brings to us new opportunities. It's a powerful time. We set goals for the next 12 months…all of the fabulous experiences we want to welcome into our lives…important areas we want to improve. Often, we get off to a great start. We head to the gym, change our diet, re-wo…

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Tips on shifting perspective

Life is ever changing. As you grow from childhood into adulthood, you experience many transformations along the way. Some shifts come quite easily. Many are gratefully welcomed. But still other changes are met with confusion, disappointment, regret, anger, or despair. Unfortunately, the more you str…

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Living a Worry-Free Life...

It's a natural human tendency to worry. We have been conditioned to do so virtually our entire lives. We worry about our kids, our job, crossing the street safely, having enough money to buy groceries or pay the bills, whether we are on the right spiritual path in life...and the list goes on and on.…

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Welcoming Change Into Your Life

It's so hard to believe that summer has gone, and Fall is upon us. It is a time of change...our children have returned to school, leaves are beginning to fall, and a crispness will soon be in the air. As such, it is a perfect time to reflect upon what changes we need to welcome into our own lives.…

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A Time For Spiritual Creativity

This July is slated to be quite an auspicious time for creativity and expansion in our lives. So many spiritual indicators are pointing to this month as being a great time to get those creative juices flowing! Whatever your preferred method, why not use it to your advantage? What projects have you b…

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The signs are everywhere...

So many times in life, we pray for a sign...which job should I take? Where should I move? What career is meant for me? Is it time for a change in my life? Please, just give me a sign! But, the question becomes...do we really pay attention to the signs we are given?

Amazingly, the signs we seek are …

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An attitude of gratitude...

You may have noticed that we did not send out a newsletter in April. I was on an exciting adventure in Eastern Europe scouting locations to record meditations, perform spiritual work, and to hopefully one day soon lead spiritual tours. As an experiment, I created a few short meditations that I will …

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Rockstar Gratitude 101...

Have you ever felt that some people seem to have all of the luck?  Everything just seems to come to them...money, career, love, family, vacations...everything seems so easy for them.  Believe it or not, we all have the ability to welcome into our lives everything we desire.  Here are a few things to…

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Increasing the possibilities with affirmations...

Affirmations can play an important role in your life if you just give them a chance. From changing the way you view the world to restructuring your thoughts, affirmations can provide you with that little extra support when you need it most. As we move into the last month of winter, we can set the st…

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A New Direction

The majority of the insights I receive will appear on my Facebook page for now so that I may share them far and wide.  Please feel free to click on the link to the right of this page to peruse my posts.  While you're there, I would be honored for you to 'Like' my page so that you can easily keep my …

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The Air of Transformation

There is an air of transformation afoot.  As our world and the people who reside here continue shifting in ever changing ways, I can't help but marvel at the beauty that is all around us.  It is true that some do not see this beauty or have been stagnant in life for so long while others have endured…

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Uncharted Territory

Recently during an interview, I was asked what tips I might give to a prospective writer.  There were so many things I could have said, but in the end I settled on one tip...just do it!  There will always be some who are jealous and want to drag you down, or hope you won't surpass them in the writin…

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Counseling Outside The Box...Grief

In my counseling practice, I dwell not on the past but on the indomitable spirit of your will to go forward, to live in the present and prepare for a beautiful future.  Unfortunately, many who come into my office are stuck in the past, dwelling on issues they can no longer effect.  My patients bring…

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Retired Guest Blog Entries

The Sidewalk Ends Here…

May 11, 2011

I don’t remember any books from my childhood.  At least, that’s what I thought.  When I first tried to conger up memories of reading, I drew a complete blank.  Yes, I couldn’t think of one single book!  So, I decided to delve a little further into my mind and came up with the cute teddy bear board book my mom read to me as a toddler, Cinderella, and The Princess and the Pea.  I still have that little teddy bear book and will always cherish it.  But, can that really be all I remember reading as a child?  Pulling those memories from the frayed edges of my mind soon buried me under a wave of book covers and authors.  Oh!  What about the Sweet Valley High series by Francine Pascal?  I read that series incessantly during my teen years.  I remember spending so much money on those books…and it became a challenge…buying, reading, and arranging all those books on my shelf in chronological order.  Then, a little further back I remembered some required reading from middle school…Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret by Judy Blume and the life and writings of Edgar Allen Poe.  I admit, I didn’t care for Judy Blume, but I was fascinated with Edgar Allen Poe…The Raven, The Tell Tale Heart, The Masque of the Red Death, The Pit and the Pendulum, and so on.  But, I still wonder why they had Poe as required reading for a 13 year old!  It was probably my fascination with Poe that led to my interest in crime/suspense/mystery novels.  So, it was only logical that by high school, I had moved on to Dean Koontz, Stephen King, and Anne Rice. 

I continued to ponder the books I read as a child and found that with all the authors, titles, and genres flowing through my mind, I continuously returned to fourth grade.  It was a magical year, I suppose…a time for trading stickers with my friends, staying out of the clutches of boys chasing girls on the playground, and my first introduction to poetry.  Now, I admit I would have done almost anything to not go outside for recess, as you can imagine!  Quite coincidentally, my fourth grade teacher, Mrs. Joyce Sigler, had an exciting project for me and a friend in lieu of play time.  At recess, she would tape a large sheet of white paper on the wall and place the overhead projector in just the right spot for maximum size.  She would then place a transparency on the overhead glass, and my friend and I would carefully trace the letters and drawings onto the plain white paper.  That simple job made me feel important!  And, unbeknownst to me at the time, I learned about poetry and how to make that funny little lower case ‘a’.  I mean, who really writes an ‘a’ like that?  Ultimately, I ended up reading the entire book from which the transparencies were made.  What an exciting experience at such an impressionable time in my young life!

You may wonder what poetry could possibly fill a fourth grader with so much excitement.  This poetry was magical, complete with funny drawings…a book filled of stories such as Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout who would not take the garbage out, a crocodile who went to the dentist, and little Peggy Ann McKay who was so sick she could not go to school today!  Yes, Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein became my favorite book that year.  That year became one of my most memorable years in school and, by my estimation, served as a catalyst for my growing love of books.

I now share Mr. Silverstein’s books with my own children.  Not only Where the Sidewalk Ends, but A Light in the Attic, Falling Up, and The Giving Tree, as well.  Will my fourth grader have the same memories about reading these books as I have?  Probably not, but I hope to make an impression as great as that given to me all those years ago by one very special fourth grade teacher and Shel Silverstein!

*This entry first appeared as a guest post on basicallyamazingashley.com in May 2011