Wake Up Call - Insights & Musings to Stir Your Soul

Will Trump Fall Prey to the Law of Karma?

November 14, 2018 By Tom Rapsas

I’m not going to catalog Donald Trump’s questionable behavior here. His insults and threats and fuzzy relationship with the truth have been well documented. What I’ve been wondering, and maybe you are too, is: Might Trump one day receive his cosmic comeuppance, aka karma, for his transgressions? To learn more about karma, I consulted the writings of an expert in the field, Paramhansa Yogananda, the late-Indian spiritual teacher who won a wide following in the west. (To cite one example, Apple… Read more

Finding God without Church (Spirituality for the Rest of Us)

November 7, 2018 By Tom Rapsas

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Did you know that one of America’s greatest philosophers, Ralph Waldo Emerson, was once a minister in the Unitarian church? Emerson graduated from the Harvard Divinity School and spent three-plus years as a member of the clergy. He ultimately found the profession to be “antiquated,” complaining that church services were rendered “in the dead forms of our forefathers.” He walked away to start a new life as a writer and public speaker. Like Emerson, you too may have been a… Read more

The Secret to a Happy (and Long) Marriage

October 31, 2018 By Tom Rapsas

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This month marks my 25th wedding anniversary. When I was recently asked to speak at my nephew’s wedding, I thought the longevity of my marriage might make a good topic—which got me thinking: How had our marriage endured through good times and bad? What kind of advice or tips could I pass on? My wife and I are yin and yang in many respects, different personalities that somehow fit together, with a healthy cross-section of interests and opinions that intertwine. Yet,… Read more

5 Clues to Knowing Your Path in Life

October 24, 2018 By Tom Rapsas

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How do you walk through life? Are you sure-footed with a specific destination in mind? Or do you meander, unsure of your direction or exactly where you’re headed? Every now and then, you’ll hear about a friend or acquaintance who has “found their calling.” And when you hear those words spoken, it might cause you to wonder: Does everyone really have their own calling, even me? Spiritual philosopher David Spangler says yes: We all possess a gift or talent that we… Read more

3 Daily Prayers for the Spiritual but not Religious

October 17, 2018 By Tom Rapsas

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Do you believe in a force that is greater than yourself? If yes, how do you engage and connect with this omnipresent force beyond merely recognizing its presence? For those of us who refer to this life force as God, one way to engage is prayer. I’m not talking about the formalized, ritualistic prayers of the church. I simply mean going into a silent place within yourself and engaging with what John Templeton calls “something wise within us” or what… Read more

10 Jesus quotes hidden by the Church—and what they reveal

October 10, 2018 By Tom Rapsas

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What if I told you some of the most meaningful and compelling things Jesus said during his lifetime can’t be found in the Bible? That’s because they’re part of the Gnostic Gospels, a loose collection of almost 60 ancient texts that some early Christian referred to as “the secret sayings of the savior.” Many of the Gnostic gospels were written in the first through third centuries, about the same time as the four gospels found in the New Testament. Once in wide… Read more

7 ways to be better than you were yesterday

October 3, 2018 By Tom Rapsas

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You don’t need to be better than anyone else. You just need to be better than you used to be. ~Wayne Dyer At the end of our days, we want to be able to look back and say, “I led a good life.” But what exactly is the measure of a good life? I believe the quote above from Wayne Dyer points us in the right direction. To have lived a good life has nothing to do with comparing our… Read more

Are you already holding the key to happiness?

September 26, 2018 By Tom Rapsas

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It’s a given in life. We all want to be happy, all the time. Yet, the challenges that occur in our lives, whether it’s issues at our job, with our finances, or with our spouse or kids, can often get in the way. But what if that wasn’t the case? What if the key to happiness was this simple: Do you want to be happy or not? Answer yes, and you have a life of happiness. Answer no and you don’t…. Read more

Can the book that saved Lindsay Lohan help you cope with life?

September 19, 2018 By Tom Rapsas

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At one point in time, if you asked anyone in my family who their favorite actor/actress was, there would have been no doubt as to the answer: Lindsay Lohan. We watched movies like The Parent Trap, Freaky Friday and Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen multiple times. Heck, we still watch them when they’re on today! There’s no doubt that if you’re aware of Lindsay Lohan and her acting work, you also know that over the years she has had some problems…. Read more

The Reluctant Billionaire and His 5 Keys to Happiness

September 13, 2018 By Tom Rapsas

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I think everyone should be rich and famous to learn that’s not the answer. ~Jim Carrey In the mid-1980s, Ray Chambers was one of the top deal-makers on Wall Street. Still in his 40s, he was successful beyond his wildest dreams, having earned over a billion dollars. Yet, as he went to work each day it slowly began to dawn on him: he just wasn’t happy. For all his accomplishments, he felt a void inside. Something was missing. But what?… Read more