Barbara Berger is...Copenhagen Cool

Copenhagen Cool is a series of portraits about all the amazing people whose paths I cross during my sojourn here in Denmark. For the first portrait in this series, meet Barbara Berger: a spiritual sister whose path reflects light and truly inspires.

1. Where are you originally from?
I’m from the US.

2. When did you come to Denmark? Why?
My father worked in the Pentagon – he was a high military person – and when I was 17, I had a boyfriend who got drafted to go to Vietnam (it was during the Vietnam War). We were against the war and so I ran away from home with my boyfriend. We were underground for several years and ended up getting political asylum in Sweden. So I lived in Sweden for 2 years before I met a Dane and moved to Denmark. I’ve lived in Denmark since 1968.

3. Did you always know you would write books?
Yes. I have written since I was a kid. My first published book was about this journey and the youth rebellion in the US against the Vietnam War. The book was called “The Journey” and it was published in Sweden and Denmark in 1968.

4. You wrote a book entitled The Road to Power: Fast Food for the Soul--what inspired that?
I have been a seeker on the path all my life, but especially since that transformative day when my book “The Road to Power / Fast Food for the Soul” was unexpectedly channeled to me during the summer of 1994. At that time, I was trying to combine a stressful career (as a copywriter), pursue my spiritual studies and growth, and fulfill my obligations as a single parent with three sons. I was so stressed that I finally decided I had to take a break. So I closed down my business for three weeks and told everyone I was going away. But I didn’t go anywhere. Instead I took my bike and went up to the forests and beaches north of Copenhagen everyday and walked alone, meditated, prayed, sat under the trees, listened, stayed late on the beaches. After three weeks of peace and silence I was just sitting on the beach late one afternoon when it was like I got knocked on the head and a voice said to me, “Barbara you are going to write this book… so get out your pen and paper and write this down.” So I got out my little notebook and listened. Then the voice said, “The title of the book is ‘The Road to Power’ (later also known as ‘Fast Food for the Soul’) and the title of chapter one is… and this is what you are going to write about and the title of chapter two is… and this is what it’s about…” until the whole book was delivered to me… and then the voice said, “now go home and write it.” So I did.
Once I wrote the book, nobody in Denmark where I live would publish it even though I was an established author with many books already published. Then my guidance told me to publish it myself and to give it away. At the same time, I had given the manuscript to Jane Aamund, Denmark’s most famous woman author and journalist, who was in the hospital with cancer—hoping it would help and comfort her. She read the manuscript over and over again and when I visited in the hospital, the pages were strewn all over her bed. While she was in hospital, I printed 1,000 copies of the book. When the book was ready, she came out of hospital and wrote a full-page article that appeared on the front page of the Sunday section of Denmark’s biggest newspaper “Berlingske Tidende”. Suddenly lots of people wanted the book and I began receiving letters and calls from people telling me the book had really changed their lives. The book became a bestseller in Denmark and the rest of Scandinavia and it is now published in 30 languages around the world.

5. What are some of your other titles and can you tell briefly what they are about? My newest book is The Awakening Human Being – A Guide to the Power of Mind (just released in Denmark, the Netherlands and South Korea so far) and my bestselling book before that from 2007 Are You Happy Now? 10 Ways to Live a Happy Life (Now published in 14 languages). For details about all my books see my Web site – www.beamteam.com

6. Your book, Fast Food for the Soul, offers techniques for all to improve the quality of their lives. Why do you think there are so many of us stuck in old patterns? Most people are not aware of the power of the mind and don’t realize the basic mechanism that we can only experience our own thinking. It’s really very simple once you see it, but until you do, you continually believe you are a victim of outer circumstances. When you wake up to the nature of mind, you understand that all you can experience is the content of your own mind, in other words your own interpretation of events. It’s amazing when you see it – also because it means you suddenly understand that you can do something about your life if it’s not working… it means you have the power to change your life. (That’s why the book is called The Road to Power!)… but read the book and see. The book presents a lot of fast, easy techniques that can help change your life immediately…
All my books are about the nature of mind – what it is, how it works and how you can use this understanding to change your life.

7. What do you think the collective consciousness of the world is today? As I said above, most people are asleep and by that I mean most people are unaware of the nature of their own minds. So they are walking around and just reacting to outer events instead of understanding that they are only experiencing their own thinking. And because of this they are unable to take responsibility for their own lives and experiences. And they don’t know that they have the power to change their lives.
What do you wish it to look like? So I write books to spread the understanding of the way the mind works so people can take back their power and begin to improve their own lives. When this happens, when you start working with yourself, it in turn influences everyone you come in contact with. By changing yourself, you change the world.

8. Do we all have the power to change our lives, the world? If so, what's the technique?
When you work on yourself, when you do inner work, your world will begin to reflect back to you the changes going on inside yourself. It works like this:
You are a conscious human being who has thoughts and beliefs. Your underlying beliefs and thoughts about this thing we call life determine your world view. Your world view determines your morality and ethics or you could say your world view is your morality and ethics. Your morals and ethics determine the way you talk and act. The way you talk and act influences and determines all your relationships—your relationships with your family and friends, your relationships at work, your relationships in your community. All these relationships are determined by your thoughts and beliefs which result in the way your talk and act. Thus you can see that your underlying beliefs are the direct cause of your influence on your relationships and the world around you—your environment and the world.
In this way you can see that by doing inner work and becoming clear, by working with your own thoughts and beliefs, you are changing the way you interact with and influence the world around you. As you change, as you wake up to reality and become a kinder, more peaceful and loving person, your interactions with all the people you meet changes. And this in turn influences them and their thoughts and ways of interacting with other people, which in turn influences your community and yes your world.

9. You are a parent. How has that affected your life journey? What advice would you give to other parents about imparting important life-changing techniques into their own lives?
The most important thing we can teach our children is the way the mind works. This is the key to living a happy life and also to changing the world. So many people have told me after reading my books that this information should be taught in schools! I totally agree. People are especially excited by my description of the mental laws (which you can find in my new book The Awakening Human Being and also in an older book called Mental Technology) and tell me they think this should be something every school child learns.

For more information on Barbara Berger, her books and her work, please visit href="www.beamteam.com">www.beamteam.com

Read Chapter One of Berger's bestselling The Road to Power:Fast Food for the Soul here!