Folks, Happy New Year!

Yes, I’ve been missing in action but don’t worry.  I’ll swing back into the groove.   I didn’t do the gratitude post last week not because I wasn’t grateful.  I actually have a huge list that I’m saving for later but after spending a fabulous week with my brother, his family and my folks for the holidays, I came home and degenerated into a cocoon for two reasons.

The first was that I was unexpectedly hit with a nasty cold, throwing me completely for a loop.   The cold was more persistent than I expected and nothing I did seemed to help.   It was one of those things that left me scratching my head, “WTHeck?”   Not even the self-administered healing treatments, the raw foods, or the  vitamins helped.    I finally came to the conclusion that my body would recover on its own time.  And it did – five days later!    Such a stubborn body!

Not only did I get sick but to be honest, I just didn’t feel inspired to write.   It was more important for me to curl up and go into remission and get re-connected with my inner spirit.    I spent some quiet time (for those of you who know me, when is it NOT quiet for me?  LOL) re-examining my spiritual urgings and re-evaluated things from a professional and personal standpoint.   I read books and found some interesting spiritually-related information online that I will tell you about in a future article.

I also wondered why the heck I got sick since I had been eating mostly fruits and vegetables for the last 4 to 5 months.   It puzzled the heck out of me.   But after reading about other people’s experiences, I learned that hey, we’re human.  I also learned that I might have experienced “delayed detoxification” of the foods I ate while at my brothers.

While I managed to eat substantially raw over the holidays (I even brought my Vita-Mix!), I also ate small portions of SAD food, curious to see what would happen.    Not once did I get sick – not at all.   In fact, I was fine the whole week!    But on my first morning back in Ohio, I woke up to a stuffy nose, mucus on the throat and found myself coughing!   A nasty cold was wading its way through me and I knew it.

Uh-oh.

Okay, enough about me – Michael is here and I want to turn the spotlight on him.    So I’ll stop now and get to the business at hand.

Oh WAIT (palms extending upward like a traffic cop), before I do that, I think it’s fair to tell you how we “met.”    How it happened was divine timing, let me tell you.

After the incredibly successful interview with Lance of Jungle of Life (the last part of our interview generated over 50 comments!!!), I was wondering where to go from there.

A moment ago, I mentioned that some of the reading I had done since coming back home from the holidays was spiritually related.  I was led to a site that opened my eyes about why everything has been happening in the way it has.  I’m talking about the massive fallout in the financial markets, greedy executives falling from their perches and politicians getting caught red handed with “pay for play” schemes.

All of this has to do with how the earth and its inhabitants are drastically raising its vibration toward the light.  The dark forces are rapidly falling out of favor.    Those who gained their wealth through unethical/greedy means are finding themselves in dire straits.    All of the earthquakes, forest fires and hurricanes are the Earth’s way of cleansing itself to make way for the light to gain more prominence.   That means lightworkers of the world are gaining more of a foothold because they are aligning with increasingly higher earth vibrations.    It’s a fascinating theory that very much resonates with me.

With this information, I went looking for someone new to interview and that’s when the universe brought Michael J. Chase to my attention.   It arrived in the form of a simple, innocent email from him, telling me how much he had been enjoying my blog posts and how they’ve inspired and uplifted him.    It was short, sweet and genuine.    Of course, that piqued my interest.   Who was this guy?  What did he do for a living?  I immediately went to his site.   After spending several minutes roaming around his site, I knew I had a perfect match for the Stephen Hopson Interview Series.

So, let’s get with it – LET’S WELCOME MICHAEL J. CHASE!!

1. One of my favorite questions when I want to learn about someone is by asking them to give me their 5 second introduction when I pose the question:  “What do you do for a living?”

I guess I’d have to say that my “professional title” is an inspirational speaker…but to be honest, I don’t feel like I have a job.   I truly believe that the key ingredient to living an authentic life is doing something that inspires you while creating joy for others.   Our career choices are simply vehicles, which reveal our life’s purpose – Service, Compassion, Kindness and Love.   Taking something that you are passionate about and contributing to the lives of other people is the surest path to happiness.

Stephen’s Response: Your response is befitting of a light-worker, you know that?  I admire how you’ve found your calling while bringing joy and kindness to others.  You bet that’s living an authentic life!  How could it not be?  What could be more genuine than that?  Isn’t that what we’re here to do?  To provide service?   Even the Bible has something to say about that!

Yes, I agree that taking something you are passionate about and contributing to the lives of other people is the path to happiness.  In fact, what you’re doing is actually helping me re-evaluate my goals for 2009, did you know that?!?!   Yes, that’s right Michael!  You are already making a difference in MY LIFE and the interview has barely begun!   I am so inspired by what you doing that I want to do what you’re doing too – spreading kindness and love.

My friend and hydrotherapist Linda Clifton said to me shortly before I left town for the holidays, “It’s important to frame your mind in such a way that you think more about being of service to others and the money will take care of itself.”    While I’ve known that intellectually, it wasn’t until YOU came onto my radar and rocked my world with what you’re doing.    God was using Linda to plant that seed in my mind because He knew you would come along and knock me out!

2. Tell me in 3 to 5 sentences something we can’t read in your bio or at the “About Page” at ”The Kindness Center.”

Although she’d never admit it, my mother has been instrumental in my effort to “change the world.”   If it were not for her love and protection during my childhood…I don’t think I’d be here today.   I grew up in a very unkind and abusive environment, which I was able to survive because of my mother’s love.   She is just an amazing woman and one of my best friends.

Stephen’s Response: Wow, wow, wow.  Bless your mom for being there for you.  That was mighty courageous of her because I can only imagine that she was protecting you even when risking her own physical safety.  Would that be about accurate?

Well, Michael, I’m a strong believer that every single thing happens for a reason.  The abuse you endured was in preparation for the role you now occupy, do you believe that?   We are all training for something.   Everything that happened to me as a baby, kid, teenager, young adult and now adult has not been without divine purpose.   The great adversity we each endure is to strengthen us for a future role of some sort.  We’re often not aware of the significance of everything until much later.

There are numerous examples of such adversity that has led a person to take up a cause for the betterment of the world.  Look at what Lance Armstrong has done for cancer research.   If it hadn’t been for his cancer, Lance would probably not be spearheading the work he’s doing to find a cure.  Same thing with people who suffered abuse who have decided to break the cycle of violence and turn things around.

It goes along with the thinking of why I was born deaf.  Did you know that for many years I didn’t like the fact that I was deaf?  It wasn’t until I realized I was born for a purpose when things began to turn around for me.

One last thing….we actually choose the parents and the life we have.  I know that before I was born, I made a spiritual contract with the various people I would deal with throughout my life, including my parents.  I even wrote an article about that in “What’s Your Contract with God?”

3. How long have you been promoting the act of kindness?

Actually promoting kindness as a way of life began for me in 2007.   Before starting The Kindness Center, I knew that being kind was the “right thing to do,” but I had never actually considered it as a method for personal and spiritual growth.   Since making kindness my intention for all that I think, say and do, it has completely transformed my life.   But honestly…I do not feel as if I’m special by doing this work.   Everyone has the same ability (and endless opportunities) to express the energy of kindness every single day.   It is truly our nature to be kind. What it comes down to is the power of choice.   Choosing to adopt kindness as a way of life…is choosing to be who you truly are.   We were created to be kind.   When we arrived in this world we were not unkind, judgmental, or looking to create war.   We came into this world as pure love.   The problem is that most people have forgotten who they truly are.   My mission in life is to simply remind people of their perfection and loving nature.

Stephen’s Response: You are humble and gracious.  You are also right when you say everyone has the same ability to make kindness a way of life.  That’s why I thought you were a perfect fit for this series.  It’s so important to remind people why they are here – to be kind and serve others.   Like you said, it’s our inherent nature to be kind.

You got it – choice!  (I’m nodding my head so fast that I’m afraid my neck will snap!).  It is up to us to enact what we know to be right.

It’s simple – like you said, we have forgotten who we are.  it’s time to get back to the basis and do what we know is right.    The world of greedy businesspeople, dishonest politicians and hate mongers would not want you to remember this.  They make it their business to be ruthless – why?  So they can enrich themselves while the rest of the world begs for scraps.

Well, no more!  Do you see what’s happening in America and around the globe?  The people who used greed and dishonesty to reap their fortunes are falling rapidly.    Financial institutions are coming apart at the seams and it’s all part of the changes Mother Earth and her inhabitants are making toward the light.  It’s why we need light-workers like you to help increase the Earth’s vibration to even higher levels.   WOOT!

Okay, I let myself get carried away for a minute but man, that’s my new passion!  To help increase the light and push the dark forces back further and further.  Oh yes, this is better than sex!  Whoo hoo!

4. What is the real reason you started “The Kindness Center“?

Unkindness was a disease in my family, and growing up around so much anger and sadness definitely took its toll on me.   For years I tried almost every personal growth program, self-help book, and spiritual teaching out there in an effort to find peace with myself, and my past.   After reading hundreds of books and tapping into some wonderful teachings, I was making some progress, but had yet to find the secret to being consistently happy.   But in the spring of 2007 all of that changed.   After having a major epiphany about kindness, (that crazy story is on my website)   I just knew this message needed to be shared with the rest of the world.

Stephen’s Response: And I’m with you!  I make it my commitment to join forces with you.  What about the rest of you (looking at the vast audience of over 600 people)????  Won’t you join forces with us?  Will you do a random act of kindness this week?

Not to brag or anything, but I already did my random act of kindness this week and I will make a point of doing at least one small act every single day.  Yesterday, I was decluttering my home/office and gave away a handful of appliances to surprised residents in my building that included a relatively new breadmaker, microwave, a toaster/oven and a blender.   With the exception of the blender (NO, not the Vita-Mix  –  I’m keeping THAT), the others were gifts that were passed on to me because the original owners wanted to give them away.  All I did was to “pay it forward.”

This morning I got an email from a Facebook friend who told me that two hours later my microwave found its way to the home of a young man who was struggling to save money and needed a microwave so that he could cook more at home.  How cool was that?!?!   That message lifted me up so high I was afraid I’d crack my head on the ceiling!

When you give from the heart – I’m telling you – it substantially increases your vibration.  It puts you in a position to receive even more from the universe simply because you gave kindly.

So let me ask you again, what will you give away today?  What act of kindness will you do this week?

5. One of the reasons why you’re being interviewed, Michael, is because you’ve started a small revolution, promoting the act of kindness, giving up a lucrative photography business to do so.  One of the requirements for an interview here is the demonstration of authenticity.  People who are genuinely kind and live their life accordingly are authentic in my book – how could they not be?  What caused you to make such a switch of careers and lead this way of life?

I actually had MANY critics when choosing to pursue this dream. I was sixteen years into a very successful photography career, making great money, winning awards, traveling, and considered “one of the best” in the portrait business when I closed my studio.   My incredibly supportive wife, (also an award winning photographer and co-owner of the studio) was 100% behind me though.   She knew I had discovered something very big and it could change people’s lives and the world.   So without hesitation, we sold all of the photography equipment, closed the studio doors and never looked back.

Other people thought I had completely lost it though.   As a high school graduate with no college education, the cries of “How will you pay your bills!?” “Why would you give all of this up?” “How can you make a career in kindness?” were endless.   But I’ve never really been one to listen to the voices of the “non-dreamers” in my life.   The critics are usually the ones dissatisfied with their own lives and have a difficult time seeing other people who dare to dream.   I’ve learned that if you let other people’s opinions seep into your head, you’re living their life, and not yours.   The stuff in your head, (fears and so-called rational choices based on the opinion of other people) will never lead to an authentic life.   Whenever I listen to my intellect, true happiness eludes me.   When I listen to me heart however, life always seems to carry me in the right direction.

My heart is my own personal GPS device for living an inspired life.   Like a GPS in a car, I simply type the directions into my hearts desire, trust it and go!   Sure I may miss a street or two along the way, but it’s only because I wasn’t paying attention.   The voice in your heart will always get you to your destination. But like I said…you have to trust it.

Stephen’s Response: Wow, gosh, you just gave me goose bumps!  I did almost exactly the same thing you did back in the mid-90′s.  For the benefit of those who are new here, I had a very successful Wall Street career as a banker and then stockbroker for a major firm (which ironically got merged with a bigger bank, probably saving it from financial ruin during the recent fallout).   One day I was on the beach in Florida when I had a spiritual revelation.  I knew intuitively that God had other plans for me.  The words I “heard’ that day was that I was to become an inspirational speaker, author and eventually pilot.  Like you, I had a bunch of naysayers.  They are exactly as you describe here  – people who don’t dare dream and would rather that you stay on their level to “make them feel good.”  For those who haven’t read the stories I wrote about leaving Wall Street, you can read one of them at “The Moment of My Spiritual Revelation on the Beach.”

6. If I were to ask you to dig a little further, how would you define who you really are from a spiritual/cosmic point of view?

Each day I see proof that I am in a wonderful partnership with the energy of love and kindness.   Call it God, universal intelligence, spirit, whatever…but I know that my life is a miracle and an extension of his or her creative desires.   I see these desires as the fundamental nature of love rather than fear.   Living a fearful life completely disconnects us from our spiritual source.   Fear is the cause of unkindness and the reason we abuse ourselves, other people, animals and even the earth.   Kindness, however, is love in motion and can heal this planet.

I truly believe that if we are to change the world, we must not put the responsibility on other people or even God. To change the world we must change our own hearts.   The Dalai Lama has said that “world peace begins with inner peace” – Mahatma Gandhi told us “You must be the change you want to see in the world” – and even Jesus told us that “you can do all that I have done…and still greater things.” These great spiritual warriors have continually reminded us that, we are the change – we are the peace – and a better world becomes possible when we express our divine purpose here on earth…to serve, to love, and to meet all of life with a kind heart.   And as we begin to think and act from our hearts, we will see each other as God sees us…as six billion miracles, which make up the totality and very essence of life.

Stephen’s Response: Yes, I am there too – I also have a fabulous partnership with God, universal intelligence, spirit – all of the above.  I love it!  I never go through a day without at least having a “conversation” with them whether through prayer, reflection or meditation.

Fear is our worse enemy.  I haven’t announced this to the community yet but just before the holidays, I took a Reki course from a local Reki master.  It was a weekend long seminar the led me to becoming a certified Reki practitioner.

At the end, we were given two certificates.  One was a Reki certification.   The other was a list of thoughts or maybe I should say “code of conduct” for Reki practitioners.  One of them says “Just for today, do not worry.”   In other words, do not be fearful!  Take it one day at a time.  You can worry about tomorrow if you want to but just for today, don’t worry.  I love it!

You really put it succinctly when speaking of spiritual warriors who have told us through the ages that our purpose is to love.  It’s that simple.

7. What is the best advice you’ve ever received?  Given?

Other than, “don’t eat yellow snow” (sorry, I couldn’t resist) I’d have to say that some of the greatest advice I ever received was from my 80-year old best friend, who also just happened to be my grandfather.   “Moppy” was my mom’s dad and just an amazing man.    He was always full of wit, wisdom and endless humor.   He was such an inspiration to me.

One day I called him for some much needed advice.   As I waited on the other end of the phone, expecting some profound wisdom of the ages to flow from his 80 years of life, he simply said to me: “Michael, just be yourself.”   “Geez gramp, thanks a lot, I had never even considered that.”   But after really thinking about it, his advice just blew me away!   He was so right!   I had been so busy trying to escape my past and everything I despised about myself, it was no wonder I couldn’t “find myself.”   Each day I was trying to be somebody I was not.   It was such simple, yet profound advice during that time in my life.

Sadly, Grampy “Moppy” passed away the same week I closed my photography business and began this new journey.   But I can still feel him with me every single day.   Oh, and by the way Gramp, if you happen to read this…you still owe me five bucks from the Patriots game we bet on before you left.   As always, you can just mail me cash…

Stephen’s Response: Haha, that’s funny!  “Don’t eat yellow snow.”  Hooohoo (slapping my legs).  Well, my friend, that’s a mighty good advice for anyone!  LOL.

“Just be yourself.”  That’s right.   I almost managed to lose a speaking engagement last year because I was secretly afraid I wasn’t up to snuff for the gig until a friend at the time said, “Just be yourself.”  How profound!

By the way, has “Moppy” sent the money he owes you?   If he somehow managed to slip you five bucks from heaven, please send him to me.    I’d like to make a deal with him.  Hahaha.

8. What do you consider your proudest achievement in life?

Breaking the chain of abuse in my family is definitely the greatest achievement in my life.   I remember being very young and telling my mother that I would never be the way my great grandfather, grandfather, and dad were.   The men on my father’s side of the family were the furthest things from being kind. Alcohol, drugs, extreme violence, and unspeakable acts poisoned our family.

I also promised my mom that I would be an amazing dad someday.   From that one decision, I was able to become a loving father to my now 17 year-old son, Alex.   He has changed my life in ways that he will probably never even know.   I just love him with all my heart and soul.

Stephen’s Response: You touched on something I talked about earlier in the interview.  The kind of people who are making a difference are those of you who are breaking the cycle of violence and healing others through acts of kindness.

I can only imagine the extreme violence you talked about.  I know a man who was once beaten to a bloody pulp by his father when he accidentally scratched the surface of the family car.   He told me it took many years to forgive his father for that.  Fortunately for him, he’s at peace with it (his father has passed on).

Michael, I did not want this part to end so soon.  I feel so connected to you.   You will do amazing things in the world with your kindness center.    I absolutely must talk about joining forces with you!

Words alone do not convey how deeply you’ve stirred my soul.  And now I want to join forces with you!

The key is HOW?

Click here to see Part II.

Food for thought for the audience:  That’s it – HOW can we join forces with Michael?  Will you perform one act of kindness today?  Do it!  Please.  It doesn’t have to be outrageous or expensive.  A smile could do wonders.  Pay the toll for the person behind you on the freeway.  Give away a favorite appliance that you no longer use to an unsuspecting neighbor.  Wipe the snow off your neighbor’s car or shovel the driveway for them.  Give away a coat to a homeless teen.  There are COUNTLESS of ways you can extend an act of kindness.

Then please tell us about it in the comments.  Let’s show Michael some INCREDIBLE SUPPORT and act courageously by performing an act of kindness, not to satisfy the ego but to warm your heart and those of ours.

If you liked this post and you want to be notified of the next one, subscribe via Email or Full Text RSS Feed. I would love to have you as part of the community!