by Lantham Thomas: As a woman working in the field of health and wellness, you often come across healers and practitioners of all sorts in the space, 
but no one does it quite like Gabrielle Bernstein.  A self-proclaimed “Spirit Junkie” who went from coaching small groups in her West Village apartment to selling out venues worldwide and speaking to millions of viewers on Oprah’s Super Soul Sunday. Gabby has the gift. A petite goddess adorned in crystal jewels blessed by John of God, skinny jeans, and Isabel Marant booties.

Gabrielle is creating her own arc, a new wave of spirituality that is engaging the masses with her miracle mindset. It gives me great pleasure to kick off the new year with this interview with Gabrielle Bernstein.

LW: What inspired you to write your new book, May Cause Miracles?

GB: I write my books based on what my readers need and want. I was hearing the call from my readers that they wanted a real-deal spiritual plan for dissolving all boundaries and fear. In effect, they wanted to be told exactly how to do it. It was time for me to offer a step-by-step guidebook to help readers release their negativity, achieve more happiness, and experience a greater connection to the universe. It was time.

May Cause Miracles spawned from my own spiritual practice. I begin each day with prayer and meditation. Throughout the day I use affirmations and positive intentions to move through blocks, and each evening I close the day with self-reflection and an inventory of my growth throughout the day. These three steps are offered in each day of this 40-day course.

I believe that simple, consistent shifts in our thinking and actions can lead to the miraculous in all aspects of our daily lives, including our relationships, finances, bodies, and self-image. In my new book, May Cause Miracles, I offer an exciting plan for releasing fear and allowing gratitude, forgiveness, and love to flow through us without fail. All of which, ultimately, will lead to breathtaking lives of abundance, acceptance, appreciation, and happiness. With May Cause Miracles, readers can expect incredible transformation in 40 powerful days, simply by adding up subtle shifts to create miraculous change.

What can people expect from this unique 40-day guidebook?

The payoff for sticking to the principles of A Course in Miracles, which is my guiding text, is that the more you choose forgiveness, gratitude and love, the more miracles you experience. If you’re wondering what I mean by “miracle,” it’s simple: a miracle is a shift in perspective from fear to love.

A miracle can be the moment you choose to forgive your ex-lover and let go of decades of resentment, or the moment you recognize that losing your job was not a tragedy but an opportunity to follow your true calling.

Simply put, each moment you choose love over fear is a miracle. And the more miracles you add up, the less likely you are to perceive life through dark-colored lenses. When you choose to perceive love over fear, life begins to flow. You feel peaceful and you see love in all situations. Your hang-ups subside and your life feels guided.

My dedication to living this way has changed every area of my life. I’ve let go of addictions to romance, drugs, work, food—you name it. I’ve learned to choose forgiveness whenever resentment creeps into my mind.

Fear of financial insecurity has lifted and my internal abundance, my zest for living a love-guided life, is reflected in external abundance. Today I see obstacles as opportunities and know that the universe has my back. Most important, I feel a sense of certainty that there is a power greater than myself supporting my every move.

Tell us about the 40-day program. Why was it important to give people a plan?

Like any effective practice, true transformation occurs with daily repetition. Begin with a 40-day commitment and start experiencing positive results immediately.

Why 40 days?

Metaphysicians and yogis place much emphasis on the repetition of a 40-day practice. Mythical examples range from Moses’s 40 days and 40 nights spent on Mount Sinai to the story of the Buddha reaching enlightenment on the full moon in May after meditating and fasting under the Bodhi tree for 40 days.

The number has scientific significance, too: research has shown that after repeating a new pattern for 40 days, you can change the neural pathways in your brain to create long-lasting change. So let’s take a cue from the mystics and the scientists and commit to this 40-day fear cleanse.

It’s the simple, consistent shifts that count when you’re making change—so I’ve outlined this journey to be fun and achievable. I will guide you to keep it uncomplicated and stay on track. And one day at a time you’ll become a miracle worker.

By choosing to follow this plan for the next 40 days, you’ll begin to reprogram your thoughts from fear back to love. If you dig the results, stick to the path and commit to a life as a miracle worker.

How can this book help people make their resolutions stick?

The daily repetition of this course will help you make change stick. Creating positive permanent change is simple: it comes from willingness and the repetition of new ideas. That’s what May Cause Miracles offers, along with structure and guidance.

Most readers come to this kind of work with different types of emotional or spiritual blocks. How do you envision this book serving everyone?

The really cool thing about May Cause Miracles is that readers can apply the plan to every corner of their lives. The book is divided into six chapters, one for each week. The weekly chapters contain exercises for each day of the week to transform your thoughts back to love. Each week focuses on a different area of your life:

• Week One. This week guides you to identify how fear has tripped you up and blocked your life’s flow. I’ll lay the groundwork and guide you to embrace the key principles: witnessing your fear, willingness to change, shifts in perception, gratitude, forgiveness and miracles.

• Week Two. This week is all about the importance of self-love. You’ll be guided to strengthen your relationship with yourself, and you’ll become willing to release old patterns of self-attack. Self-love is super crucial to the miracle worker practice.

• Week Three. I’ll guide you to focus on how fear has blocked your financial abundance. This week’s exercises activate gratitude for your current workplace, help you address your financial fears and guide you to shift your limiting belief system around money and work. This week is applicable to any type of work, whether you’re a freelancer, a stay-at-home mom, a philanthropist, a banker, a salesperson, and so on. Just apply the principles to whatever work you do.

• Week Four. Romance is in the air! I’ll help you get honest about how fear has held you back from romantic bliss. This week incorporates many of the Course’s rockin’ teachings for releasing fear in romance. These powerful tools will lead you to experience immediate internal shifts around romance, whether you’re single or attached.

• Week Five. I’ll give you practical exercises that shift your patterns of self-sabotage when it comes to food and your body. I will guide you to identify the root cause of your food and body issues and begin to shine light on any darkness in this area of your life. You’ll quickly come to realize that ingesting loving thoughts greatly enhances how you ingest your food and perceive your body.

• Week Six. You’ll learn to embrace the practice of being a miracle worker in the world. This week helps you shift your focus off yourself and on to your power to create energetic change in the world around you. Service is a key principle in A Course in Miracles and is strongly emphasized this week. You’ll come to realize that serving the world is like serving yourself a big, heaping plate of love. When you focus your thoughts and energy lovingly onto others your heart opens and your true purpose shines bright.

There’s a meditation album that accompanies this book. Can you talk a bit about the importance of meditation and how it will help us create radical change?

Each week of the book is loaded with guided meditations. To accompany the written meditations in the book I created a meditation album with incredible original music. The 11-track album offers readers a deeper opportunity to heighten their spirit and center into a space of peace.

In addition to calming your mind and relaxing your body, meditation offers people an opportunity to work through old fears and to cut cords with negative attachments. Most of my greatest emotional healing has occurred on the meditation pillow, and it is my mission to help others find that same miracle.

Who inspires you most?

The people who inspire me most are those who are willing to see the world from a loving perspective. People who perceive obstacles as opportunities and problems as spiritual assignments. People who choose love.

Why do you do this work?

I’ve worked very hard to transform my fearful delusions into loving beliefs and I am committed to maintaining this way of being. How dare I have the tools for finding serenity and not share them with the world? I believe it is my duty to share these gifts I’ve learned.

What started you on your Spirit Junkie journey?

I got started on my Spirit Junkie journey when I was a kid. My mom taught me how to meditate and brought me to ashrams and spiritual circles. Then I turned my back on spirituality for several years. When I was 25, I hit a big bottom and had no other choice but to turn back to my spiritual roots for help. I did just that. Since 2005, I have been on a steadfast journey inward as a self-proclaimed Spirit Junkie. And I’ve never looked back.