Renee Rothberg's Blog

Guilt works its way into the body and forms physical pain when the guilty feelings are overly consuming. Guilt has many causes, but the most harmful cause is the strong sense of failure over expectations. Failure can be real or imagined, and it generates a myriad of feelings, one being guilt.

When guilt manifests as pain, the pain is hard to cure. Rare is the healer who recognizes this cause. Usually the symptoms seem to belong to a recognizable disease, intense ache or affliction. Tre...

There are times when life presents challenges that feel too painful to bear. These challenges can be physical, emotional and spiritual in nature, and can come from internal and/or external causes, or even from realms that are beyond our comprehension. The challenges are faced in many ways, and each way leaves an imprint on the person facing the challenges.

Humor is considered to be a positive way to face challenges, and in general, that is true. It becomes negative when the humor is ai...

a few days ago a man died who was a mentor to one of my sons

the night he died he came to me to deliver a message

he whispered to me that his passing from life to not-life felt natural

natural like waking in the morning

natural like watching the clouds go by

natural like humming a beloved song

natural like fearing the prick of the needle administering the life-saving formula

he’s with me now as I write

he says that his life was full and he loved his wife

he says his ...

Spirit is going to share information about the brain.

Recently, my first grandchild was born. To honor this auspicious happening, we’ll start with brain activity right after birth. During the first week of life, a baby’s brain focuses on three activities:

recognition of light on his or her body (not only through the eyes);awareness of soft sounds like whispers and humming; andclose smells, such as the smell of his mother and other people who come very close, the odor of the c...

As written in the post Sugar addiction: beating the cravings, sugar addiction “is an addiction that starts in infancy or childhood so that its foundation is deep-seated and broad.” The work of beating the cravings and of eating foods containing sugar in moderate amounts is extremely difficult. Once sugar addiction is created, the pull of sugar is stronger than the desire to resist it.

Prevention is possible, but it requires a commitment of the people surrounding a child to keep the child’...

Sugar addiction is generally stronger than addiction to nicotine. It is an addiction that starts in infancy or childhood so that its foundation is deep-seated and broad. To break sugar addiction requires more than a desire to limit sugar intake. The pull of sugar outweighs most people’s ability to resist its tremendous power.

The way to beat sugar cravings is as follows:

Eat a diet high in at least two of these food items: (a) bell peppers; (b) nuts, such as walnuts and pecans; (c) se...

Contentment is an elusive state of being. It isn’t a natural goal because it feels static and dull.

However, contentment is anything but dull! It requires investment of purpose, focus, and desire. To be content is a constant movement towards stability. And stability requires balance.

Contentment has three requirements:

It requires an awareness of one’s situation in the world, that is, an understanding of society with its expectations and its allowances. To be content in society mea...

The voices we hear in our heads are self-generated, and each person has the ability to alter the noise. Trauma can cause different voices with different intonations. For example, a person who has experienced childhood abuse from several people might hear reprimands or criticisms in various pitches with varying pronouncements; however, the words come from within. When criticism or put-downs or disparagement or constant fear of abuse are part of a person’s past or are felt in the present, inne...

Recently, a friend told me about a male friend of his who travels to a country where the laws around prostitution are lax. This man goes there because he is unable to sustain a relationship with women and he wants a woman who will fulfill some of his sexual needs. This man has no problem engaging in sexual activities with the women in this other country because he believes prostitution is a way of life there.

This story prompted me to ask Spirit about prostitution. I received three answer...

The ability to overthink existence is human behavior. The human brain is designed to fathom and to describe, then to dig deeper and deeper and to create explanations. A normal question of purpose or evasion: “Why am I here? Who cares why I’m here?”, is a constant accompaniment of human life. The search for meaning plagues humans so that they formulate answers that are plausible or fantastical.

The search for spiritual connection is a normal aspect of human existence. Religions provide spi...