Wouldn’t it be wonderful to let our creativity be something that unites us, not separates us? Welcome creativity flowing in and through your life. We are creators. We are directors. We are the architects of our own lives. How about directing your life by welcoming all the greatness life has to offer you? Trust the hierarchy of your being that will set into motion the great possibilities you dare to dream. Let your brilliant mind express through you everything you can conceive in the future. What you can conceive you can achieve. Let the future come closer to you.
Mom in Disneyland at Tune Town
We are all given a divine spark of love and light to basically express the oneness of who and what we are. I am always inspired by Walt Disney, the creation and ongoing creativity during and since his passing. My mother BJ visited from Ruidoso, New Mexico to celebrate 75 years young and healthy. Mom told me that thinking of going to Disneyland after 20 years made her feel 5 years old again. We ran around like kids, met 2 wonderful people who surprised Mom and I with lunch and a birthday cake to celebrate. Thank you Silio and Nikki. You made our day and gave us memories that will last forever.
What an Incredible speech! Barack Obama said millions stood up with courage and clear purpose and we somehow managed to change the world. There is the promise to end this war in 16 months. He talks of Jefferson, Jackson, Roosevelt and Kennedy and how they led by principles, not by calculation, but by conviction. We the world are being summoned for a higher purpose. He talks of sending a message shore to shore to say “You matter to us. Our future is your future.”
I love that Barack Obama speaks of Martin Luther King and what he called “The fierce urgency of now.” America, our moment is now to Live In Courage each and every day and to support our President elect every step of the way. We have a bright new future. It will take time and it won’t be easy, but we are America. We are brave, strong and courageous. Be the light you came here to be. Shine your light far and wide. Barack Obama is shining for all to see.
My friend Teri Hewitt-Ceplo from Hawaii sent this to me this morning. Her friend Marianne Williamson wrote this wonderful tribute to Barack Obama. I want to share it with you. Here at Living in Courage we feel uplifted, hope, love and joy for this election outcome along with the future of the world. People around the world are responding with hope and enthusiasm. I have never seen an election such as this, that has given rise to the people in full participation. What a moment in history. Miracles do happen. Just say yes. Yes we can.
The political sentiments now storming America in the form of support for Barack Obama are a mighty wind indeed. For those trying to say this is all just hot air, it’s time to point out that so is a windstorm. And storms have a function, in nature and in us. They blow away everything not built on a firm foundation, and make room for a lot of new growth.
I’m a boomer, so I know this feeling. We have been here before. We knew what Bob Dylan meant when he sang, “Something’s going on here, but you don’t know what it is….Do you, Mr. Jones?” And something is going on again. What we’re experiencing here is a new conversation– something qualitatively different than the promises of effective problem-solving that pass for an excitement factor in his opponent’s campaign.
Try to dismiss it though she might, someone who has the capacity to change a society’s conversation has the capacity to change the society. From Bob Dylan to Gloria Steinem to John Lennon to Martin Luther King, Jr., people who use words to foster new thinking are the ones we see in retrospect to have opened doors to a better world. Hillary was right when she said Dr. King couldn’t have passed Civil Rights legislation without Lyndon Johnson, but Johnson couldn’t have done it without King, either. Johnson had the Presidency, but King had the vision. Today we have the historic opportunity – one that comes around only rarely – to have President and visionary be the same person.
A great national leader does not speak just to circumstances; he arouses a nation’s soul. The idea that Obama could not only arouse our soul but also handle our circumstances (has he not handled a pretty formidable circumstance already, giving her such a run for her money?) seems far more probable to me than that Hillary could not only handle our circumstances but also arouse our soul.
Jefferson. Lincoln. Roosevelt. Kennedy. Damn right, their words mattered. Try googling “great speeches” and see what comes up. Great words and great speeches have changed the world because they have changed the way we see the world.
Washington-think is so old-fashioned, so treat-the-symptom-and-pretend-you-healed-the-disease, protect-the-status-quo type of stuff that millions gave up on it a long time ago as an agent of true social improvement. But while few of us are looking to the American government to save the world, we’d prefer that it not destroy it either. Obama was right when he said that we have to do more than just end the war in Iraq; we need to end the mindset that produced it.
At the end of World War II, in the last speech he ever wrote yet died before having a chance to deliver, President Franklin Roosevelt said, “We must do more than end war. We must end the beginnings of all war.” The source of the debacle in Iraq was not an event; it was a mindset. The source of our environmental problems was not an event; it was a mindset. The source of every problem is the mindset that preceded it. And only someone who can speak to the source of a problem can eradicate its roots.
The ability to inspire new thinking is a more important ability in a leader today, than simply being a “problem-solver.” We’re always trying to solve something…. solve health care…solve the economy… solve social security, and so forth. Yet according to Carl Jung, our most important problems cannot be solved; they must be outgrown. Just figuring out who has a better plan with which to treat the symptoms of a problem is not the one who ultimately solves it. What we need is someone with a better state of mind, who will lead us to a better state of ours.
Being swept up in Obama’s inspirational ability is not naïve; thinking inspirational ability doesn’t count for much, is in fact naïve. For in the ability to inspire lies the ability to command the most powerful forces of all. No plan, no piece of legislation, no Washington strategy or political maneuvering would alone be enough to change the probability vector of America’s future. For that, we would need a mighty wind. And a mighty wind now blows.
I have always loved this quote. It talks of character, which I see in Barack Obama. Have a wonderful day and don’t forget to vote tomorrow. Barack Obama lost his grandmother today. One day before election.
Here at Living in Courage Online we send our heartfelt love and sympathy to the entire Obama family.
Watch your thoughts, for they become words. Watch your words, for they become actions. Watch your actions, for they become habits. Watch your habits, for they become character. Watch your character, for they become your destiny.
I don’t know if you have read my e-book “Living in Courage” available for free when you sign up for my monthly newsletter. I talk a great deal about putting labels on everything. We have become a society that engages in 5 very negative habits – criticism, condemnation, judgment, blame and gossip. It is time to take our stand, to take our “Will” back. Use your free will by choosing peace. Live in harmony in the present moment – from your center, or core. You can’t repress negativity, but you can make a choice to control it with your free will.
Make a date with yourself. Talk to yourself. What is coming up for you? Spend some time with yourself and let the negativity go. Release it by looking at your value system. Do you have any value in holding on to the frustration, rage, jealousy, resentment, limitation, loneliness or the desire to strike back?
Know that love is the true nature of your being, and fear is the counterfeit that wants to be who you are. Bring fear to zero. You get to choose not to let these negatives be a part of you, or to control any part of your life. When negative thoughts or feelings come up say, “No, this time I will hold peace, I choose peace. I will say yes to life and life will say yes to me.” Now you are using your free will to be greater than that self created emotion.
Power yourself up to live in courage. Everyone has a contribution to make on this earth. Climb out of the box. You are more than labels. Right, wrong, conservative, liberal, straight, gay and on it goes. We paint everything with insane labels (all judgment of self and others) which cripples our true identity. Make a choice to recreate your life into the life YOU deserve – An Absolutely Fabulous Life!
Life knows no boundaries, life is liberty. We are the only ones that limit ourselves. As children we never doubted the wonders of life available to us. Don’t you think it is time to get the magic back? Miracles wait for you to say YES to LIFE.
The song contained one of Dave Stewart’s favorite passages from Dr. King, which was hauntingly delivered the night before he was assassinated. King says: “I just want to do God’s will. And He’s allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I’ve looked over. And I’ve seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land!”
I quote Dave Stewart “People long for a connection— whether it is to music, to their country, or to a big idea. Regardless of what happens in November, Senator Obama has reminded millions of people that they have the power to connect to bigger ideas. He is, in essence, the embodiment of a new anthem for change. He has continued King’s narrative from what was once thought of as a dream to a reality. I find it especially relevant that Barack Obama will accept the Democratic Party Nomination for President 45 years to the day of King’s “I Have a Dream” speech.
When we were originally writing the song, Bono was crafting the words in a way that would make people think about the fact that ‘America’ as a concept was a truly great idea, based on the bedrock of equality. I find it more pertinent than ever to release it now; to the moment America finds itself in, daring to re-imagine itself and its place in the world.
When I set out to make a video for the new version of this song, I wanted to honor all of those millions of people, especially young people, who are, for the first time, feeling empowered to voice their beliefs. I wanted to capture how Obama’s message of change has echoed across the broad fabric of what is America. To do that, we’ve cast the film with an eclectic array of personalities, including Forest Whitaker, Jason Alexander, Whoopi Goldberg, Cyndi Lauper, Barry Manilow, Joan Baez, Macy Gray and Joss Stone. They appear alongside veterans, teachers and everyday citizens— all of whom have been touched by this simple idea of change. As an Englishman, I’m not an expert in all the intricate details of American politics. But as an artist, I understand how rare it is to inspire a connection to a bigger idea or purpose. This video isn’t so much an endorsement of Barack Obama as much as it is a celebration of all those who have picked up a sign, who have registered to vote and are working to make the world a better place. So as Senator Barack Obama ascends to the mountain top, let us not forget all of the others who for the past 40 years have sung anthems of change to make this moment possible.”
LYRICS
This is my American Prayer
This is my American Prayer
This is the time to finish what you started
And this is no time to dream
This is the room
We can turn off the dark tonight
Maybe then we might see
American Prayer
American Prayer
And this is the ground
That keeps our feet from getting wet
And this is the sky over our head
And what you see depends on where you stand
And how you jump will tell you where you’re gonna land
American Prayer
American Prayer
My oh my
Couldn’t get much higher
Lets not kick out the darkness
Make the light brighter
And these are the hands
What are we gonna build with them?
This is the church you can’t see
Give me your tired, your poor and huddled masses
You know they’re yearning to breathe free
This is my American Prayer
American Prayer
American Prayer
When you get to the top of the mountain
Will you tell me what you see
If you get to the top of the mountain
Remember me
LIST OF GUESTS IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE:
Dave Stewart
Forest Whitaker
Amy Keys
Macy Gray
Jason Alexander
Colbie Caillat
Whoopi Goldberg
Joss Stone
Buju Banton
Ann Marie Calhoun
Barry Manilow
Linda Perry
Cyndi Lauper
Sergio Mendes
Herbie Hancock
Mike Bradford
Margaret Cho
Cindy Gomez
Speech
Joan Baez
Daedelus
Pamela Anderson
Peter & Gordon
Sierra Swan
Nadirah X
Perez Hilton
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