AwareNow™: The Official Podcast for Causes

In a conversation framed with referenced quotes, we go deep with the always inspiring Dr. Michael Beckwith, a spiritual teacher creating leaders not followers. Michael Bernard Beckwith is the Founder and Spiritual Director of Agape International Spiritual Center in Los Angeles. Founded in 1986, Agape is a trans-denominational community comprised of thousands of local members and global live stream...

Let’s change this gilded age and celebrate achievement for what it is – a mindset that has overcome challenges through investment of time, endurance, dedication, perseverance, commitment and so many other virtues. Let’s offer encouragement of effort rather than praise. Let’s focus our attention on the person achieving, rather than the measurement of it. Why? Imagine our world where people never st...

Release the Genie Fact: When a genie enters a room ,it doesn’t turn on the lights, it turns off the darkness. This article is inspired by those brave warriors dealing with adversity and invisible demons. The type of difficulties that the hardest question you could possible answer is “How are you?” It is the time when it is easier just to throw out the stock prepared “I'm fine” response. Bonus poin...

In the film IMPERFECT, a professional company of actors with disabilities defies expectations by taking center stage in a rendition of Chicago the musical. Capturing the raw, honest stories of the actors inside the production process and outside the theatre in their everyday lives, IMPERFECT reveals a rare behind-the-scenes look at talented artists who push to succeed as professional performers, n...

Artist and designer Jim Evans, aka TAZ, learned his trade in the San Francisco underground rock scene. He has illustrated comics, album covers, rock and film posters, as well as advertising and magazine illustrations. Evans is the founder of the TAZ collaboration, which is responsible for hundreds of gig posters, album covers, and rock ephemera. TAZ has turned out numerous posters for bands l...

While a ‘duel’ can be defined as a formal fight between two opponents, Dave Navarro and PADHiA are two like souls fighting the stigma of mental health issues through artistry and advocacy. Rewriting and reframing mental health as ‘aspects of the human experience’, they work to write a new narrative for mental health and addiction. Featured in: 'The Clean Edition' of AwareNow Magazine Topic: Mental...

Let me set the scene. We have all been given the gift of Free Will. Dr Wayne Dyer beautifully said that “Life’s great paradox is that we are all doomed to make choices.” A choice means that we are going to get things wrong, on average, at least half of the time. We live in a universe of cause and effect. Despite the gift of being free to make our own decisions, wrongdoings will alwa...

Finding good mourning… in a world of grinding grief is one of the greatest challenges in the world today. Mourning is a very universal human response. We must find ways to mourn our lost loved ones even  when  we find ourselves in a world of people dealing with various stages of grief. Featured in: ‘The Rights Edition’ of AwareNow Magazine Topic: Grief, Mourning, Loss, Hum...

“Let’s just build one school…” According to the 17 Global Goals of the United Nations, quality education will contribute to ending world poverty and hunger, increasing health and well-being, and protecting the deterioration of the planet. Yet, as reported by Village Impact, there are still 258 million children around the world who are not provided an education— more than half of these reside in su...

What started with a sticker has become a global empire of iconic expression through the artistry of Shepard Fairey, as he uses his platform, Obey Giant, to make public statements with passion and purpose. As we explore ‘the writing of wrongs’ in this edition of AwareNow, Eddie Donaldson (aka GuerillaOne) speaks with Shepard about his work. Featured in: 'The Rights Edition' of AwareNow Magazine Top...

It’s homework night. What, aren’t you excited?! Whether you are the parent trying to get your kid to understand Algebra before dinner, or you remember being that struggling kid, memories of “homework night” usually end with dread, fear and frustration. No one is smiling at the end of the night, and the dinner got cold. Featured in: ‘The Origin Edition’ of AwareNow Magazine Topic: Education, P...

What lies beyond this life is something that has haunted humanity from the beginning.  We have all come from “No thing” to “Now here” to return to “No thing.” Allow me to share my story with you, and what I can remember from my NDE (Near Death Experience) of what lies beyond. Featured in: ‘The Origin Edition’ of AwareNow Magazine Topic: Spirituality, Humanity, Death, Life Produced by: Awarene...

When a Shaman who as a boy was told he would marry the Princess of Norway, one day meets the Princess of Norway who has given up her dream of finding the love of her life and her hope of truly being seen, this is when Shaman Durek and Princess Märtha met. The rest is history (in the making). With an unwavering commitment to social change and an unbreakable bond tested and proven, Durek and Märtha...

A princess who leads by example, empowering others simply by living her own truth, Princess Märtha Louise of Norway doesn’t bow to standard protocol or societal norms. Rather, she stands for what she believes, unafraid and unapologetic of her authentic self. As opposed to being defined by her title, she boldly defines the title in terms of her own as an agent for change. Featured in: ‘The Origin E...

Through his no nonsense teachings, Shaman Durek demystifies spirituality by making it attainable and understandable for not only the layman, but also for the more spiritually advanced, and everyone in between. Shaman Durek is redefining what wellness means by putting the power back into the hands of the people, so that they may live consciously, authentically, and in alignment. Featured in: ‘The O...

From running the scene in Venice as a b-boy with his crew, to running in the mountains as a man grounded with nature, lessons learned along the way by this graffiti icon are many. This is Eddie Donaldson, aka GuerrillaOne from The Seventh Letter. I had the privilege to have a conversation with a legend in the graffiti world, Jayme Burtis, better known as Vision. It went like this... Featured in: ‘...

Vision is the ancestor to awareness, as a thought is the ancestor to an action. I had never considered before that vision and awareness are so closely related, and that you cannot have one without the other. There is no clear dividing line between where one stops and the other starts; they merge into one. Featured in: ‘The Vision Edition’ of AwareNow Magazine Topic: Vision, Sight Produced by: Awar...

Want to clear a room? Talk about suicide. Want to please a room? Make a joke. Want to confuse a room? Make a joke about suicide. As of 2019, I had a couple of fun letter combinations that specified my special brand of “crazy”. You didn’t ask, but here they are: ADHD, GAD, MDD. An attempt to neatly package the type of suffering I endured and the duration of said suffering. Featured in: ‘The Vision...

Every now and then, I think of you. I can't do it too often, or I will start grieving all over again. Pain like that never really goes away. It gets especially tough to manage around your due date or during Pregnancy & Infant Loss Awareness Month - when the memories throw my feelings into complete disarray. Featured in: ‘The Vision Edition’ of AwareNow Magazine Topic: Pregnancy Loss, Infant Lo...

“Don't mistake my kindness for weakness.” I know I have heard, and most probably used this phrase myself in the heat of the moment. What I initially meant  was that I can be kind, but don’t think that means I am conceding, giving in or stepping back from my position…. Featured in: ‘The Kind Edition’ of AwareNow Magazine Topic: Kindness Produced by: Awareness Ties Written & Narrated by: Pa...

Forced into hiding after being ordered off air by the Taliban at gunpoint, Mehr Mursal Amiri, 24, was ordered 'to go home, remain there and never return' after militant Islamists burst into Afghanistan's National TV network RTA's studios in Kabul, as female news anchors are now banned from the air. She was also berated for wearing make-up and refusing to wear a hijab. Mehr, who is in her final yea...

When we were created, we started life as a full Pencil; eager to write out our story on life's page and leave our mark upon the world and all of those in it. We are all unique with different colours, shades and strengths. The origins of a Pencil come from nature. The wood of a tree, which itself was once a seed. Lead from the earth, as a raw mix of minerals and metals. The lead in the Pencil is th...

The beach and the ocean have been playing a special and integral part of my life for the past few years, but even more so recently. It serves as a short refuge from some of my physical issues as well as helping me to balance out my thoughts. Spending time weightless in the water, the taste of salt on my lips and at times the cold biting at my skin feels like a completely different world. It remind...

This past week my family and I lost my cousin to the clutches of drug addiction and I continually wonder - what was going on inside Elan genetically, psychologically, socially and environmentally? No longer having the control to regulate desire, judgement, or impulse can seem strange and foreign but the truth is we never know what is truly going on inside a person’s head. Featured in: ‘The Outside...

Unity is defined as a state of being united or joined as one. It is also used to describe ‘being in harmony’. The ultimate unity is the universe. Literally translated, it is Uni (one) Verse (song). As far as we know, we all come from this one song. Trouble is, have we somehow forgotten the words? Featured in: ‘The United Edition’ of AwareNow Magazine Topic: Humanity, Unity Produced by: Awareness T...