Minna was a delightful guest to interview.  Born in Australia, she moved to London and became a highly paid executive in an ad agency.  Until one day when she was home with the flu.  She spilled a pot of hot tea all down her legs.  And to make matters worse, her pants stuck to her legs so that when she pulled them off, layers and layers of skin came off, too.  The codtors warned her thsat her lags would be permanently scarred if they healed at all. 

During her weeks of convalescing, she evaluated and life and realized she was not doing what made her happy.  This was the birth of the Pixie Revolution where she encourages people to do what they love instead of being trolls who lead lives of despersation.  Her interview was at times funnny, at times deadly serious, always delightful.

        In March, I will interview another group of interesting guests.  On March 1^st, I speak with Lois Wattman.  When I asked her to come on the show with me, I wondered if she thought she were a cancer survivor.  “I don’t know what that is.”  However, it’s been six years since her treatments for breast cancer with no recurrence.  Her oncologist sees her now only once a year.  I’d call her a cancer survivor!  The most poignant part of her story is that three weeks after she finished her treatments, her husband was diagnosed with an aggressive form of throat cancer.  Truly, this was beyond the pale!  However, Lois’ perspective is the show title:  “I may have cancer, but it won’t kill me!”

        March 8^th is a show that I called “Trial By Fire.”  I interviewed Sandra Ekerholm whose newly remodeled home burned to the ground two weeks after her husband resigned his job, and on her birthday.  In that Sandra’s husband has been a pastor throughout their forty-year marriage, they both wondered what did they do to deserve this.  You’ll hear her conversations with God before, during, and after the fire.

        On March 15^th, I interview a fascinating character, Dr. Aaron Flickstein.  A chiropractor by training, he, of course, works on people’s bodies.  But he does it painlessly by what he calls reediting the brain so the body does what it was designed to do.  But more interesting than that, he has a spiritual perspective to his work, which he shared with us.  Most interesting of all was the actual research that’s been done to prove the existence of reincarnation.  You’ll hear me say, “Wow!” several times during the interview.

        On the March 22^nd show, I interview a pint-sized bundle of energy and accomplishment, Captain Cholene Espinoza.  A graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy, she is one of the handful of women to rise to the rank of Captain at a major commercial airline.  She was a U-2 Spy pilot during the Cold War until she went to United Airlines.  She was supposed to be on flight 93 that crashed into the field in Pennsylvania on 9/11.  Instead, one of her best buddies from the Academy was co-pilot on that flight.  Her musings on that experience are fascinating and moving.  Galvanized in part by her near-miss on 9/11, after Hurricane Katrina, she and three other people rented a truck, collected relief supplies, and went to Mississippi for three months to help.  Her book, Through the Eye of the Storm, shows what just one person can accomplish.

        The last show in March, on the 29^th, will be an interview with psychiatrist, Dr. Henry Emmons.  I will interview him on his unique combination of Western medicine and Eastern philosophy, primarily Buddhist thought, that he employs in the treatment of depression.  It is rare to hear a physician who is trained in the allopathic model of medicine talk about the importance of meditation, of centering, and finding peace.  I will interview Dr. Emmons on his recent book, The Chemistry of Joy.

I have given countless radio interviews, including on such auspicious stations as Voice of America.  But I was the interviewee, which is quite a different role.  When I began preparing to do this show, asked myself, “What?  Are you crazy!” several times.  The first show, I was scared to death!  But being more than a touch counterphobic, I pressed on.  Thank goodness, a friend and colleague, Dr. Aaron Kaufman, agreed to be my first guest.  Rather, I should say, guinea pig.  Fortunately, he has his own radio show, so he was more familiar with how to do this than I.  He clearly carried the show.  And to my delight, the feedback I have gotten is that I didn’t sound nervous at all.  Thank goodness!

By the second show, I was somewhat less nervous, and had what I thought was a great conversation with Pat Peterman, who is a self-described “recovering Catholic.”  From her twelve years of Catholic education, she experienced church and God being rammed down her throat.  So she did what any self-respecting individual would do:  she rebelled.  However, in the process, she eschewed any hint of spirituality.  Until she turned 50.  Then she began to ponder existential imponderables.  In her interview, she eloquently described her early experiences and her initial spiritual stirrings.

By the third show, I was considerably more relaxed.  Just jazzed about doing the show, rather than feeling out of my element.  It helped when I realized that to do the interviews, I had honed the skills necessary for interviewing guests by my thirty-one years of conducting interviews with clients.  Except that, of course, I could not go as deep with guests as I do in my office.  I interviewed Chaplain Don Patterson on his experiences of being a Chaplain for the American Red Cross Disaster Response Team.  In that interview, we talked about his experiences while being dispatched to New York after 9/11.  He got the call to go before the second plane hit the second tower.  Then, exactly two months later, he again was called to New York when the American Airlines plane went down in the harbor due to mechanical failure.  This was especially significant and poignant, in that the town the plane hit was populated primarily by first responders on 9/11.  And in August of 2005, Chaplain Patterson was called to go to New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.  So clearly, Chaplain Patterson had a wealth of experience and a spiritual perspective to share.

In the next show, I interviewed Dustin Macgregor who  gave a touching interview on  her experiences with her beloved mother’s Alzheimers and Parkinsons diseases.  She gave us a wonderfully sensitive account of her devotion to her mother, her and her siblings’ management of her mothers illnesses, and her mother’s death.  In doing so, she modeled how face death with dignity.  I found the interview touching and inspiring.

I love people.  Clearly, that is the basis of my life’s work and a educator and psychotherapist.   And I love pondering important ideas.  This show allows me to do that while encouraging listeners to ponder along with me.  In the process, I get to talk with people who have fascinating perspectives and stories to share.  What could be better!  I hope this show is the mind candy for listeners as it is for me.

        I was thrilled a couple of weeks ago when I received my first fan letter via e-mail.  A gentleman wrote to tell me how inspired he was by a show he had listened to.  That’s the desired effect! 

        Other feedback I’ve gotten from people I know personally is that it is fascinating, they are impressed by my guests (I am, too!), and it makes them think.  What feedback do you have for me?

        And if you could ask me one single, most important question, what would it be?  Please let me hear from you.