Dr. Ali Binazir, Happiness Engineer

How to be more charismatic: Interview with Olivia Fox Cabane, 26 March 2012

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls: I have a special treat for you. My friend and colleague Olivia Fox Cabane, speaker and trainer to corporations (eg Google), universities (eg MIT and Harvard) and governments worldwide, is coming out on March 28 with her long-awaited new book, The Charisma Myth: How Anyone Can Master the Art and Science of Personal Magnetism. It’s a manual on how to be even more charismatic (since all of you are already such charming devils, obviously).

As a personal favor, I have wrangled her into giving us an interview on the key principles in her book. I’ll be doing the interview this Monday, 26 March 2012. Here’s the information:

• Date: Monday, 26 March 2012, 6pm PDT/9pm EDT/2am London/6am Dubai/12 noon Sydney
• Call-in number: +1 218 862 1300
• Access code: 667202
• Duration: 40min interview, 15min Q&A

Why do you want to attend this call live? Because I’ve seen Olivia speak many times, and I can attest firsthand to the power of her teachings. Charisma can be learned, and quickly — and there aren’t a lot of people better at teaching it than Olivia. Now that she’s not jetting off to train some South American head of state and we have her all to ourselves, you definitely want to be on the call live so you can ask her your burning questions about how to present yourself even more effectively. Ideally, you would read the book beforehand so you can ask the deep questions that usually only the El Presidentes paying her megabucks get to ask.

Some of what we’ll be covering:

• Is charisma innate, learned or a little bit of both?
• The three components of charisma and how to dial each one up or down to be like Colin Powell, Bill Gates or the Dalai Lama
• Which type of charisma to use for a given situation
• Three ways to increase your charisma pretty much instantly
• Side effects and dangers (?) of charisma

Here’s a little sampler from one of her talks on a related topic:

There’s no charge for any of this, so feel free to spread the word and tell your friends about it — they’ll thank you for it.

See you there and then

Dr Ali B

PS: It is now the day after the interview, which means it already happened – and now we have a recording. I was unexpectedly on the road away from my studio equipment, so the quality of my voice is so-so. But Olivia comes through great, and that’s who you wanted to listen to anyway, so here ya go:

Interview with Olivia Fox Cabane on her new book ‘The Charisma Myth’

Right-click to download full interview with Olivia Fox Cabane on The Charisma Myth (20mb, 55min)

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Written by Ali Binazir MD MPhil on 27 March 2012

The Prospective Spouse Checklist: Interview with Isabelle Fox, PhD

As I understand it, many of you have been married or have considered marriage or come pretty darn close to it.

Now, with the divorce rate above 50%, it seems like marriage in this country has, at best, a coin flip’s chance at success. That’s just not right in my book.

And with the very public blowup of celebrity marriages, sometimes you have to think: what the hell were they thinking when they got married? Surely they should’ve known better.  (Read: Katy Perry, Sandra Bullock, the poor sap who married that Kardashian woman, and the procession of simpletons who keep marrying Charlie Sheen).

In fact, a little secret: I wrote the Tao of Dating books because I saw my friends in crappy relationships (married or not), and I thought they deserved better.

Now I’m your guy when it comes to dating.  For long-term relationships, on the other hand, I send you to the experts like Dr John Gottman — and Dr Isabelle Fox.

My friend and colleague Isabelle has been a practicing clinical psychologist for over 30 years. She just published a book entitled (more…)

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Written by Ali Binazir MD MPhil on 3 February 2012

The secret to joy and fulfillment, Kabbalah-style

As I was organizing my books today, I came across a slim volume by Kabbalah teacher Michael Berg entitled The Secret (no, not that one — a different one).  Small format, large print and few pages meant I could re-read this puppy in a matter of minutes — and I’m glad I did.  As far as boiling it all down to one principle, this Secret is a pretty good one:

The only way to achieve true joy and fulfillment is by becoming a being of sharing.

Profound, eh.  I also like the “three-part progression at the heart of Kabbalistic wisdom” that arrives at this formulation, and I quote:

“1. The only way for us to achieve fulfillment is by achieving oneness with the Creator [or Source, or Nature, or whatever you want to call it] the source of all joy and fulfillment

2. Oneness with the Creator is achieved by becoming like the Creator in our essence, for spiritual oneness is accomplished through similarity of spiritual form.

3. The Creator’s essence is one of sharing.  Therefore, to become like the Creator, we need to transform our essence and nature from that of receiving to that of sharing.”

Some of you out there have a hell of a time with the receiving bit, so instead of toning that down I’d say work on sharing even more.

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Written by Ali Binazir MD MPhil on 15 September 2011

How to succeed in spite of the recession: Marianne Williamson and Deepak Chopra on ‘The Soul of Success’

When the going gets tough, the tough get meditating.

A few weekends ago I had the privilege of attending The Soul of Success seminar with Marianne Williamson and Deepak Chopra in Los Angeles.

In these times of economic uncertainty, Marianne and Deepak had decided to transmit a message of spiritual and economic empowerment to their audience.

As a vivid demonstration of their commitment to helping their students, they offered scholarships to those who requested it. Several attendees had taken up the offer from places as far-flung as Florida and Tennessee.

Marianne has always believed in accommodating those seeking her teachings regardless of their finances, and she certainly practiced what she preached in this workshop.

I only had a vague idea of what the workshop would entail, but having had both Deepak and Marianne as teachers for many years, I implicitly trusted their message and method.

Marianne began with a powerful prayer and a 90min lecture exhorting us to (more…)

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Written by Ali Binazir MD MPhil on 17 February 2012

Book review: the recession-busting “Traveler’s Gift” by Andy Andrews

One of the great reasons to attend seminars is that you just don’t know whom you’ll encounter there.

Last month I had the good fortune to attend Mark Victor Hansen’s Mega Book Marketing Seminar.  As I was getting my network on in the lobby, someone asked me, “Aren’t you going to go see Andy Andrews speak?”

‘Um, who?,’  I thought to my jaded self, and clearly my interlocutor read my mind from the look on my face.  “Oh, he’s terrific – you should definitely go check him out.”

Well, awright, fine.  If Mark and this here guy think Andy’s cool enough to be on the podium, I’ll go see what he has to say – for a few minutes.  Then I’ll slink right back to the lobby and continue schmoozing.

Needless to say, I did not return to the lobby before I had heard every last word Andy Andrews had to say.  Not only were his words uplifting and inspirational, but Andy is one riotously funny dude (more…)

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Written by Ali Binazir MD MPhil on 5 April 2009

Book Review: “The Love Response” by Eva Selhub

I had the pleasure of meeting Dr Eva at a conference here in LA last month where she was speaking.  As is my habit with all readings, I purchased her book and had her sign it (gotta support your friendly neighborhood fellow author, y’know).

At the time, my reading queue was over 30 deep, and I didn’t think I would get around to Dr Eva’s book, The Love Response, for a while.  But the premise was so compelling and close to my heart – subtitle: “Neutralize the physical effects of stress; turn off anger fear and anxiety; restore balance and well-being” – that I found myself cracking it open.  I’m all about bringing together the holistic and the scientific, the spirit and the body, so this was right up my alley.  In two days, I had read it cover to cover.

Let me tell you that this is a magnificent and supremely timely book.  First off, Dr Eva has sterling credentials: medical director of the Mind/Body Medical Institute at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, clinical instructor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, and founder of Alight Center for Healing in Newton, MA.

What I love about this book is how Dr Eva has seamlessly blended together (more…)

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Written by Ali Binazir MD MPhil on 29 March 2009