“Release all doubt and fear. Give up believing and move into KNOWING…..big difference. Your inner guidance system operates from a place of Knowing. Follow it and be well directed.” Now, that’s what I call Living in Courage!
Paula Cole has an album titled “Courage” which was just brought to my attention by my two friends Sher and Amy. They attended Paula’s concert last night and thought of me in regards to courage. I clicked on the link and love her voice. Remember “Where Have All The Cowboys Gone?” from her 1997 album “This Fire” or Dawson Creeks theme song “I Don’t Want To Wait.” Paula won a Grammy for Best New Artist of the year in 1997. In 1999, she released “Amen” spiritually soul-influenced. In 2007 Paula released “Courage” as an artist who has grown and been on a journey of Living in Courage herself. I have included a video of Paula talking about her music – click on Read More.
Paula Cole – Courage
Tracklist:
1. Comin’ Down
2. Love Light (Cardinal)
3. El Greco
4. Lonely Town
5. “14″
6. Hard to be Soft
7. It’s My Life
8. Safe in Your Arms
9. I Want to Kiss You
10. In Our Dreams
11. Until I Met You
Here at Living in Courage, I want to share with you a gem I found in the beautiful town of Laguna Beach that I am blessed to live in.
Ohm sweet ohm. That’s how I feel about Laguna Beach’s gem of an eco-friendly store, Oasis Child. Designed to promote and inspire a love of green, holistic, and spiritual living, Oasis Child combines uber-soft organic cotton clothing; skincare products made from only the purest of ingredients; the meditative vibrations of stress-reducing yoga classes; and the health benefits of pure, raw chocolate. Does a retail boutique get any better than that?
Oasis Child is a one-stop shop for anyone hoping to live life the way Mother Nature intended. The retail store offers organic cotton lifestyle apparel for women and children, plastic-free toys and lunchbox solutions; earth-friendly baby-must-haves; eco-centric household items; soulful jewelry, crystals and gemstones; yoga supplies, and much more.
Oasis Child’s Rejuvenate Studio is located on the lower level of the green-built boutique, specializing in meditation and spiritual development. Enjoy Kundalini, Naam, Hatha, and Body Conditioning classes as you connect mind, body, and spirit. Rejuvenate Studio is also home to weekly children’s yoga and language classes, a monthly All-Night Gong Puja, Transition Laguna’s Monday Movie night, and the Orange County babywearers’ meeting, and more.
Oasis Child is packed with surprises including a “rentable” warm and inviting meditation sanctuary, a display of the exquisite art of Becky Prelitz, and a family-friendly environment that includes a play area for small children, a holistic lending library, and a breastfeeding retreat for mamas.
For most of us, living life to our full potential is a tall order that takes research, thought, and planning. Through the commitment and diligence of owner, Blythe Rowan and her staff, Oasis Child is a much-welcomed and much-needed resource for living a healthier, greener, and more fulfilling life.
As an earth-loving, healthy-living enthusiast, a visit to Oasis Child leaves me wanting for nothing… well, except for maybe one more piece of that heavenly raw chocolate: Chocolatl.
Oasis Child is located in downtown Laguna Beach at 380 Glenneyre Street just across from the library.
For more information about Oasis Child, or to order products online, visit www.oasischild.com.
Laguna Beach has a beautiful new rejuvenation spa. Blue Pearl Laguna sits in a magical setting in Laguna Canyon. Just imagine seven days of hiking, yoga, massage and pampering before eating delicious cleansing meals. Top it all off with meditation and relaxation. I have known the new owners Geo and Katresha for many years. Not only are they kind and loving people, they are dedicated to teaching mental, spiritual and physical connectedness.
Geo is an expert in the field of Yoga, having studied in India with Indra Devi, Swami Vishnu-Devananda and others. Geo has led many intensive yoga (Geo’s Power Yoga) retreats of his own design around the world. You can read more about his work, books and public appearances at bluepearllaguna.com.
Katresha was a Aussie model who turned to the health field. She studied with Dr. Bernard Jensen, who was a true pioneer in the health and nutrition industry. Katresha has her own organic skin line – Katresha’s Oils and Creams that I can personally tell you are incredible. Katresha established her skin-care line in 1978, following an automobile accident that left her skin damaged. She worked for a time as a model and spokesperson for Chanel. You can find Katresha’s products at Blue Pearl or visit Katreshaoils.com for products, press releases, reviews and testimonials. Katresha has been teaching yoga ( certified by Indra Devi as a yoga teacher in 1975) at studios in the United States, as well as at retreats in different locations around the world. When she smiles, the room light up! A true beauty inside and out. Geo and Katresha are perfect partners in life and in business who have manifested their dream to put this 25 year program into place at Blue Pearl Laguna.
Let’s talk about the new Blue Pearl Laguna a bit more. This spacious 6,600 square foot home environment has private rooms and bath for each client. Each room is named after a beach in Laguna. There is a large living space and dining room with a large fireplace of river rock, a beautiful large kitchen, massage rooms, sauna, jacuzzi and pool. There is indoor and outdoor yoga rooms as well. The grounds are in a lovely setting. I loved the soft colors of white with just a touch of dark browns and blue. My favorite painting is of Geo painted by Laguna Beach artist Jorge Dubin.
The cost for the week is between $3,000 to $3,500 depending on accommodations. If you wish a 3 day experience you will pay $750. For information on Blue Pearl Laguna call 949-494-3656 or visit www.bluepearllaguna.com.
It is my great pleasure and delight to tell you about my new favorite book – Lessons from the Source by Jack Armstrong. This book is a Spiritual Guidebook for Navigating Life’s Journey. Since Living in Courage is a Spiritual Oasis for Overcoming Life’s Biggest Challenges, I thought the two work hand in hand. I have referred this book to family and friends. The response in every case has been incredible. Lessons from the Source is a book I would compare to Conversations with God. These lessons are very powerful and if followed as directed will change your life.
Thirty years ago Jack began receiving a series of life lessons from an unknown inner source, through a process similar to Conversations with God and A Course in Miracles. In Lessons from the Source he shares these teachings for the first time. Lessons from the Source reflects a source of wisdom that sheds light on the deeper truths of our life here on earth. I must tell you Jack Armstrong is humble, kind, loving and a joy to interact with. It is very obvious to me that he puts into practice the lessons that he has received. This is a user friendly book that is offers an easy to understand and refreshing perspective on life’s journey. Lessons from the Source will provide you with tools of wisdom to add to your spiritual tool belt.
My own mother has had a remarkable experience after having read the book, as have several friends. I highly recommend you read this book and hope you enjoy it as much as I have. It is to be read and re-read, highlighted and enjoyed for a lifetime.
Debra Oakland talks with Sheila today about living in courage when life presents you with the most challenging experiences of your life. Over a 6 year period Debra lost her 21 year old son her unborn baby girl in her 8th month of pregnancy 2 brothers to AIDS and her father. …
I posted this story here at Living In Courage last year. This is a powerful message by General Douglas MacArthur. Who is not concerned with aging? Most people would prefer to stay young, energetic and healthy. How much is in the body? How much is in the mind? I talk to people all the time in their 60’s, 70’s and 80’s who say they feel very young inside. This is a tribute to true youth, no matter the physical age.
Youth is not a time of life, it is a state of mind. It is a temper of the will, a quality of the imagination, a vigor of the emotions, a predominance of courage over timidity, of the appetite for adventure over the love of ease.
Nobody grows old by merely living a number of years. People grow old by deserting their ideals. Years wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul. Worry, doubt, self-distrust, fear and despair, these are the long, long years that bow the head and turn the growing spirit back to dust.
Whether seventy or seventeen there is in every beings heart the love of wonder, the sweet amazement of the stars and the starlight things and thoughts, the undaunted challenge of events and the childlike appetite for what’s next, and the joy and the game of life.
You are as young as your faith, as old as your doubt, as young as your self-confidence, as old as your fear. So long as your heart receives messages of beauty, cheer, courage, grandeur and power from the earth, from man, and from the infinite, so long you are young.
I received a comment today one of my Living in Courage readers Mary, asking for an update on Randy Pausch’s wife Jai and the children. It has been almost a year (July 25th 2008) since his passing. During Randy’s illness with pancreatic cancer, I had frequent updates (archived in Courage and Archived Video’s) here at Living in Courage Online. For the entire journey go to Randy Pausch Updates which ended the day of his passing. We continue to send love to the Pausch family. Our hearts go out to them at this time. You will find a photo and article below from People Magazine online.
May 25, 2009 Vol. 71 No. 20 Jai Pausch Life After Randy By KRISTEN MASCIA
Almost a Year After Randy Pausch’s Death, His Widow Opens Up About Her Loss—and How She’s Rebuilding Her Life with Their Three Children
At Disney World last February, Dylan Pausch, 7, smiled triumphantly as he wrapped his arms around a giant stuffed animal, his reward for scoring in an arcade game. His passion for winning cuddly creatures brought tears to his mom Jai’s eyes. “That was something,” she says, “Randy loved to do.” Randy, of course, is Randy Pausch, the contagiously optimistic professor who died of pancreatic cancer at 47 but who left the world a moving legacy in the “last lecture” he delivered at Carnegie Mellon University in September 2007—seen by nearly 10 million people on YouTube—and his bestselling book. Now, 10 months after his death, Jai, 43, is making her way, even as she copes with still-raw grief. “The knot in my chest has subsided,” she tells PEOPLE in a rare interview, speaking partly in response, she says, to the many letters she gets from strangers asking her how she’s doing. “The pain is there, but life is going on for us.”
Not without a struggle: Still fresh in her memory is the excruciating moment on July 25, 2008, when she broke the devastating news to the children—Dylan, then 6, Logan, 3, and Chloe, just a baby. “I said, ‘Daddy didn’t want to die; he loved you very much,’” Jai recalls. “It was awful.” Their reactions were heart-wrenching. “Dylan said, ‘Well, I’m the next to die in the family,’” Jai recalls. “I had to reassure him, ‘You’re not gonna die.’”
At first she made a daily habit of watching Randy’s lecture about his childhood dreams and what he’d learned about life. “I needed to see him, watch him move, hear his voice,” says Jai, who was earning her master’s in comparative literature when she met Randy, a guest lecturer, at the University of North Carolina in 1998. “But it was like tearing the scab off every time. I had to stop doing it.” These days she channels her energy into fixing up their Virginia home, where they moved shortly before Randy’s death to be closer to her family. “I’ve ripped out the vanity, wallpapered—I need something to squirt me in the face,” she says with a chuckle. “When I’m depressed, I’ve found plumbing really works for me.”
Her greatest joy is watching her children march forward, as children do. “They’ve been so resilient,” says Jai of Dylan, a budding scientist; Logan, now 4, a Batman enthusiast; and the proudly toilet-trained Chloe, 3. Recently, with Jai’s help, they planted a garden. “Jai’s doing what Randy knew she’d do: raise them right,” says Randy’s coauthor, Jeff Zaslow. “She’s one of the strongest women I know.”
And one of the busiest. Despite her hectic schedule, she has recently taken up tennis—”I have to be engaged, so I can’t think about making dinner or the anniversary of Randy’s death”—and has started making new friends. Some years from now, when the kids are ready, she’ll show them the lecture. “It’s Randy in a bottle,” she says. “They’ll get to see their father at his finest. That’s a wonderful gift.”
I think of what we could have had and wish it would have been —JAI PAUSCH
As each person moves their attention from NOW to “Out There” communication with the source of all good is interrupted. The present moment is where all exists. Each NOW moment creates the next and the next and on and on. These moments build momentum which are needed to culminate into an experience or experiences that show up in your life. What NOW moment shows up in your life is up to each and every person individually. Really kind of simple. It takes a certain amount of courage to live in the moment.
Gratitude is a key. Think of it as your courage key! This key can open many doors that seem closed. What you want of a light or dark nature is right there waiting for you. It is your choice because you have Free Will. Choose very wisely which key you use to open which door!
Keys Recommended – Gratitude, Love, Light, Grace, Peace, Joy, Courage, Abundance, Liberty, Freedom – you get the idea.
Keys Not Recommended – Fear, Anger, Hate, Jealousy, Stress, Chaos, Disease, Pain, Limitation – I think you see where I am going with this.
Each key will open a door effectively as the other. When people use The Not Recommended Key, their NOW moments become long, tedious and painful. This just creates momentum for more of the same day in and day out.
When using the Recommended Keys, NOW moments become blissful, joyous manifestations of all good things life has to offer. The perfection and momentum of all you can dream of begins to fill your life experience. Not so very complicated is it? Yet very well hidden from plain sight for those who don’t have eyes to see and ears to hear the good news of NOW.
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