I wanted to introduce you to Kimberly Schneider, The Manifestation Maven, who I had the pleasure of meeting recently. Kimberly is the creator of The Cornucopia Method of Manifestation™, a powerful and proven 5-step process that has helped thousands of people all over North America create more of what they want and less of what they don’t in their lives. I love Kimberly’s comfortable manner, while relaying very valuable information.
A former trial attorney and psychotherapist, Kimberly especially likes working with live audiences. She specializes in “5-minute life makeovers” because a few minutes are often all she needs to identify limiting beliefs and communicate them in a compassionate yet direct, lively and compelling manner.
Kimberly facilitates www.ManifestationMastermind.com, a teleseminar coaching program, and works with select high-level business coaching clients in her Alchemy of Business, VIP Map a Business in a Day and Day of Transformation coaching programs.
A poet, dancer, world traveler, spiritual adventurer and business alchemist, she lives in the St. Louis area with her husband, two kids and two cats. Kimberly has two extraordinary children, one of whom has special needs.
If you love to live your truth, tell your story, feel your pain, express your joy, take what you need, and give what you will – You will love Owning Pink. This is an amazing online community, that supports, offers guidance, inspiration and ideas. This is done through posts, workshops, and the Pink Posse forum. This is a safe place, free of facades. Owning Pink allows you to reclaim your mojo, and tap into your most authentic you. Owning Pink roars courage to me.
Lissa Rankin created this space for you. Here is some information about Lissa from her blog – Lissa Rankin is an OB/GYN physician, author of the forthcoming What’s Up Down There? Questions You’d Only Ask Your Gynecologist If She Was Your Best Friend (St. Martin’s Press, 2010) and Encaustic: A Guide To Creating Fine Art With Wax (Random House, 2010), a nationally-represented professional artist, a mother, and founder of Owning Pink, a website and series of workshops committed to building authentic community and empowering women to get their mojo back. She is also a dog walker, a spiritual seeker, a wife, a yogini, a chauffeur, a cook, and a music fanatic. First and foremost, she is a woman, and like many women, she once thought she had to put herself into a box and choose who to be. She now accepts that, while she is all these things, no single identity defines her. She is more than what she does. She strives to be authentic, in all aspects of her life, and she encourages others to do the same.
Lissa practices holistic women’s health at Clear Center of Health in Mill Valley, California. Her nationally-recognized abstract encaustic paintings and sculptures are represented by galleries in San Francisco, Santa Fe, Boston, Atlanta, Laguna Beach, Houston,and Bethesda. She currently resides in Northern California with her husband and fellow artist, Matt Klein, and their daughter, Siena.
Here are some links for you to connect with Lissa, Owning Pink and The Pink Posse:
I had the pleasure of watching Emeril Green, on Planet Green recently. Emeril visited a courageous little town in Hardwick, Vermont. I am courageously dis-attaching from the global food system, and moving to organic small sustainable farms for our food. As Dan Rather asks in this video, where do we get our food and what are we eating? A down on it’s luck, old mining town in Hardwick Vermont started answering those questions by designing a 21st Century food system. The town has been transformed into a community wide farming circle. The global food system is killing our planet, communities and people. Processed products that are shipped on airplanes, contaminated, injected, full of chemicals, grown in bad soil with poor seeds, stored for long periods of time and who knows what, are just bad for our health, and well being Let’s participate together in making this planet a better place for all. We need more communities like Hardwick around the globe.
While cruising around online, I found a very interesting article by Steve Pavlina about 11:11. Many people are openly talking about it now. For some it takes courage to share this phenomenon. I have been overwhelmed with 11:11 visuals for over 20 years. Some interesting 11’s started showing up in my life 24 years ago, when I married Cody, who is 11 years younger than me. My son Wade (from my first marriage) was 11 years younger than Cody. My mothers husband Jim, (now passed on) was 11 years younger, and I was told my great grandparents were 11 years apart in age as well. This number shows up everywhere for me in many combination’s. My friends are asking me why they see 11:11 on the clock all the time, and what it means. Why do they happen to notice that time or number, and why more than any other time or number? I am so used to 11:11 being a part of my daily life, and did not realize it was happening to people everywhere, around the world. Many questions have been raised as to the meaning of this number combination. A site dedicated to answering some of these questions is Eleven:Eleven at http://1111journey.com/
When I saw Steve Pavlina’s article today, I wanted to share it with you. I will share a small excerpt from it, in hopes you read the whole article, as it is an interesting read.
There are many levels on which to explain 11:11. I’ll start with the most basic physically observable level and move up from there. This will take a bit of explaining.
11 is a number of course, and 11:11 is a time on a clock. Some very small percentage of people will begin to encounter 11:11 as well as the number 11 more often than chance would indicate — so much more often that you may think you’re in the midst of some crazy conspiracy once you begin to notice it.
If you’ve seen the Jim Carey movie The Number 23, there’s a similar concept behind it, although that movie is far removed from the actual experience. You may indeed think you’re going a bit nuts at first, but that will eventually pass, and soon you’ll be lead to some fascinating new insights about reality.
Numerologically speaking, you can take any number that appears in your life and sum up the digits. If you end up with a number greater than 11, keep re-summing the digits until you’re at 11 or less.
For example, my ZIP code is 89138.
8 + 9 + 1 + 3 + 8 = 29, and 2 + 9 = 11.
My previous ZIP code was 89129
8 + 9 + 1 + 2 + 9 = 29, and 2 + 9 = 11.
My current phone number is 991-1252
9 + 9 + 1 + 1 + 2 + 5 + 2 = 29, and 2 + 9 = 11.
If we include the area code, my phone number is (702) 991-1252.
Those digits sum to 38, and 3 + 8 = 11.
The fascinating thing about 11:11 is that it runs backwards and forwards through one’s life. So when you first start noticing the 11s in your life, you’ll find they run through your past as well as your present and future. Read More ….
“Have patience with all things, but chiefly have patience with yourself. Do not lose courage in considering your own imperfections, but instantly set about remedying them – every day begin the task anew.” – Saint Francis De Sales
We all could use more patience. It seems we are hardest on ourselves. Many people expect others to live up to their expectations, and more often than not, are disappointed. Looking at our own imperfections and those of others, are judgments we would be wise to let go of. Judgment, criticism, and all forms of Dis-Couragement only hurt us, they never help us expand as a kind and loving person. Every moment of every day, you have a choice. Each day you can begin again. Live in Courage. Try new things, change your daily routine, get out of habits. This is a good practice to get into. Brush your teeth, throw a baseball, write, or whatever comes to mind with your non-dominant hand. This opens new neural networks in the brain, assisting left/right brain function. A good book for this is Whole Brain Power.
I quote from the Whole Brain Power website
“Michael J. Lavery’s theories about how large and small motor-skill development of both right and left hands, is directly linked to development in the left and right hemispheres of the brain. Michael is revolutionizing our understanding of how best to train the brain. His theories are based on years of personal development of his own astonishing ambidextrous skills as a golfer, baseball player, tennis player, hockey player, painter, and guitarist, as well as his daily practice of memory drills, perfect penmanship and Da Vinci-style mirror-image handwriting with the left hand.
Over the past few years he has been transferring these skills to other people of all ages who have found rapid and phenomenal skill development as athletes in a variety of sports, including tennis, golf and baseball. But his theories go far beyond just turning good athletes into great athletes, for Whole Brain Power™ training methodologies combined with proper nutrition and an understanding of the damaging effects on the brain from television and video games, may have breakthrough implications for preventing obesity, diabetes, Alzheimer’s disease, ADD, and ADHD.
Furthermore, there is evidence of the correlation between the endogenous production of hormones with those who have followed all of Michael’s skill development regimens, including, ambidextrous hammer and ball drills, mirror-imaging penmanship and intense memory drills. The potential implications of Michael’s theories on the science of memory degeneration and hormone replacement are enormous. By reading WHOLE BRAIN POWER you will learn how the brain and body can be transformed through Michael’s simple ambidextrous skill training, penmanship and memory drills. Get ready to become part of the revolution in wholebrain development in the 21st century.
I am a member of Spiritual Cinema Circle. This review by Stephen Simon says it all. This is a move that will inspire people to live in courage and to be a beacon to encourage others.
The Blind Side
Remember what it was like to go to a movie and cry and laugh and applaud and feel great about just being alive when you walked out of the theater?
I do. And you will, too, when you run as fast as you can to a neighborhood theater to see The Blind Side, one of the most touching, wondrous, uplifting, and miraculous movies of the last several years. And, what makes the experience even more delicious is that the film is based on a true story.
Michael Oher was a homeless teenager in Memphis, Tennessee. His father had disappeared when he was a small child, and his mother was such a hopeless drug addict that the state had removed Michael from her custody. He ran away from several foster homes and simply disappeared off the state radar.
Michael was, even as a young teenager, huge and athletic. Through a distant relative, Michael was admitted to a small private high school because the football coach saw Michael’s potential as a football player. The coach persuaded the school administration to admit Michael even though his test scores were well below admission standards. Struggling to understand his new environment, Michael was a gentle soul lost in a new world, with no family and nowhere to call home.
Enter Leigh Anne Tuohy, a fiercely independent and outspoken mother and wife, who not only marched to her own drummer, but who heard the music of a completely different band. A chance encounter with Michael on one cold night convinced Leigh Anne to take the shy teenager under her wing, and into her home and family.
A shy, homeless, and frightened African-American teenager moves into the home of a white, wealthy Southern family, changing all of their lives forever.
The film is absolutely hilarious, touching, engrossing, and brilliant as it follows Michael through his experiences in high school. (The Blind Side refers to the position that Michael learns to play in football. The offensive tackle protects the blind side of the quarterback.) The family’s relentless love and belief in Michael helps him overcome his learning challenges. He also becomes such an incredible athlete that several major universities recruit him.
SPOILER ALERT (This paragraph only): if you don’t want to know more of the story before you see the film, please don’t read this paragraph. The story does indeed have a fairy tale ending. Michael becomes an All-American at Ole Miss and a first round draft choice of the Baltimore Ravens. Today, he is the starting blind side tackle for the NFL Ravens. Over the closing credits, we see photos of the actual Michael and the Tuohys.
Sandra Bullock was BORN to play Leigh Anne and she is sensational in the role, as is Tim McGraw as her husband, and newcomer Quinton Aaron as Michael. The entire cast is brilliant as is the script, the direction, the photography, and everything else!
The Blind Side is quite simply my favorite movie of 2009 and the kind of film “they” used to make. It makes me absolutely crazy when I see the lamestream critics laud dark, cynical movies and turn up their noses at positive, inspired films about the loving, kind, gentle, and compassionate aspects of our humanity. If that’s now considered “sappy”, then I am a human maple tree and proud of it!
The Blind Side is a throwback to a time when movies illuminated the beauty of life, rather than glorifying its ugliness. It should be an Oscar contender for Best Picture and I will certainly use my vote in the Academy to nominate it as such.
Please see it right away. Tell your friends and family, too. I absolutely guarantee you that you will laugh, cry, and feel goose bumps for 2 hours. And you just may love being human a little bit more when you walk out of the theater. What a gift. What a movie.
The End Of Poverty is a new documentary release directed by the brilliant Philippe Diaz. Imagine listening to politicians, economists, and leading experts in the world, along with the voices of people living in poverty. This movie is the first of it’s kind.
The End of Poverty asks why today 20% of the planet’s population uses 80% of its resources, and consumes 30% more than the planet can regenerate? Today, global poverty has reached new levels because of unfair debt, trade and tax policies — in other words, wealthy countries exploiting the weaknesses of poor, developing countries.
The film premiered in NYC this past weekend at Village East Cinema, sold out some show times, and had better box office numbers than every other film playing at the Village East including Disney’s ‘A Christmas Carol’. Unfortunately because a lot of the Hollywood blockbuster’s are coming out this weekend, ‘The End of Poverty?’ will only be playing in New York for one week (ends on Thursday), so make sure to check it out and tell all your friends in NYC.
November 18th 2009 there will be a benefit preview screening in Los Angeles for Office of the Americas. A panel discussion with the director, Philippe Diaz, the founder of OOA Blase Bonpane, and philanthropist Aris Anagnos will follow the screening. Everyone will receive a free gift bag. Tickets are still on sale. Go here for more information: http://www.facebook.com
• The richest 1% of the world’s population owns 32 % of the wealth.
• Today more than one billion people live in the slums of the Southern hemisphere.
• Almost 1/3 of the world’s population has no access to affordable clean water.
• Almost 16,000 children die each day from hunger or hunger- related diseases.
• Cutting global poverty in half would cost $20 billion, less than 4% of the U.S. military budget.
Systems that create poverty have been in place since 1492 when the Spanish and the Portuguese conquered the Americas; indigenous people were killed in mass murders, mineral wealth was plundered, local economies were destroyed, and a plantation culture was established. Although the institution of slavery was abolished in the 19th century, it still exists around the world where at least 80 million people are forced to labor in terrible conditions for very little money. The filmmaker interviews poor workers who complain about being treated like slaves, abused and humiliated, and always forced to live with no security or hope for a better life.
The economic damages wrought by colonialists, with an assist from Christian missionaries, stemmed from a series of power plays that encouraged the private ownership of land, the destruction of the communal way of life, the promotion of individualism, and the stamping out of indigenous cultures. All of these developments solidified the enormous gap between the rich and the poor.
Capitalism with its emphasis on greed, profit, and political wheeling and dealing has further widened the abyss between the haves and the have-nots. Under the aegis of neoliberalism, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund have subjugated poor nations — especially in Africa — with the burdens of international debt and economies based on raw-material exports. Two scary stories illustrate the structural violence of neoliberal polices. One is the privatization of the water supply under Bechtel (which was overturned by the angry response of the poor who could not afford it) and the injustices perpetrated on poor Africans who cannot pay for hospitals and schools.
The voices of those who have suffered set alongside the consensus of the experts bears witness to the deprivations heaped upon Southern peoples by the nations of the North who have accumulated more than 80% of the world’s resources for only 20% of the world’s population.
French filmmaker Philippe Diaz discusses his latest gem, The End of Poverty? about the systemic causes of poverty, what is terribly wrong with our system of global capitalism and its control of Western foreign policy. Interview by Jim Dingeman.
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
I recently met an amazing woman named Sheila Ulrich through a mutual Facebook friend. Sheila inspires people by living her authentic life, and has an important message to share. I call that Living In Courage. Sheila helps create a bridge between fear and life. If you are in fear, take her hand and let her walk you to the other side. As I have talked about often at Living in Courage Online, fear is a pesky illusion that the altered ego loves to trip you up with. Do not give it any power. By using the power of love, anything is possible. Sheila’s story “Facing Death, I Found Life” follows.
It wasn’t the familiar voice deep within, the physical exhaustion, or the collapsing career and relationships that got my attention. No, for me it was an ultimatum, live or die. But somewhere at the back of my mind, I had felt it coming; a lingering doubt, a faint premonition, whispers of a tragedy. Facing my own mortality, I woke up, I found myself again, and I found life.
Eleven years ago, I was diagnosed with cancer. Stage IV melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer, invaded my body. In an instant, my life changed forever. My three young children stared in horror as their mother collapsed in fear. That pain in their eyes almost paralyzed me. Through inconsolable sobs, my heart ached with their pain. They needed me, their mother, to help guide and teach them and share their lives. Even in the shock of the moment of crisis, a piece of me knew the opportunity ahead. My responsibilities as wife, mother, career woman, socialite, and friend had consumed me and I was spinning out of control. The conflict within had surfaced now in disease. I knew this was my opportunity to transform my life. I made a decision, a choice, I chose to live! The urgency to teach my children about life and death sent me searching in multiple directions. I was searching for the answer to save my life and to save my children from living a life of fear.
Doctors, tests, and surgeries became my way of life. The medical community had little to offer for treatment or preventative care. My bodily pain was unbearable, but more than that my spirit was disguised beyond recognition. I felt confused, walking through an unending nightmare. With so many questions and very few answers, I was determined to find another way. Then in a glimpse of a moment the whole world stopped, no sounds, no movement, and complete stillness. The message filled my entire being, “Heal the Whole, Body, Mind and Spirit!” A sense of peace and knowingness so profound no words can describe followed. It was then that my journey into self began. I realized that my inner voice, that hadn’t been listened to for a long time, was screaming to be heard. Little did I know, my journey began at that moment, to find my spirit once again.
Alternative healing methods were introduced to me and a whole new world of hope and possibilities opened up. I tried everything available; homeopathy, naturopathy, spiritual healing, kinesiology, yoga, etc. Through each modality experienced, another piece of me was unveiled. All my painful emotions and experiences, not expressed and discarded, were carried with me as an expression of who I was. Each step along this journey led me to uncover more and more of my life experiences I was defining as me. Who am I anyway? One by one, I began to release all the good and ugly experiences of my life I had carried so long. I began seeing the light once again of who I really was beyond this physical body.
I was transforming me, my life, while my family and friends clung to the old. Many messengers along the way guided and encouraged me to continue. With faith and barely the strength to get through most days, I put one foot in front of the other and continued the journey. As another year went by with no evidence of cancer, I was certain I was traveling the right road. Uncovering layer by layer of this old self was excruciating. It was a journey through the deepest pain and the darkest hell. When would this misery end? When would I be whole again? So many times, tired, angry, and alone, I wanted to quit. With little courage to battle alone, something inside nudged me forward. That still, small voice that had been forgotten was still screaming to be heard. The world had distracted me long enough and I began opening to the infinite knowingness within. The pain became joy, the loneliness peace. I saw clearly how I had created the pain and disease in my physical body to wake up and remember who I really was and my infinite potential. This growing awareness was an outward expansion of me. I saw how I had created the roadblocks and limitations in my life that imprisoned me and how these roadblocks held me back from experiencing the joy, peace and happiness I had been searching for. I began watching myself create the suffering in relationships and experiences, and then knew that it was only in my mind, not me. My mind was creating my suffering. To let go is freedom. I clung so tightly to past experiences and emotional pain because I thought it was me, but the me inside was really free.
The journey that I began to save my body from death became an integration of body, mind and spirit and a gift of awakening. Every moment, I continue my healing journey; a journey back to self, a journey that never ends. Every moment I create my life and continue to remember who I am and why I chose to come. My life has changed forever and I will never be the same again. I experienced death; death of my old self and a rebirth into the infinite creation of life. The experience of truly living each step of this journey was a gift so I could walk others across this bridge of life. I share this gift with you, so you too can find LIFE! Many walk through time feeling a void or lack of purpose and meaning in their life. Don’t wait for a tragedy to hit to wake up and live your dreams. Even in the darkest moment, there is a glimmer of light; a light shining bright enough to lead you to your next step. What is holding you back from expressing who you really are and living your life in joy?
Truly Alive with Sheila Ulrich Radio Show is all about HEALING.
Healing is restoring and becoming whole to live life fully. Together we can heal no matter where we are in our life cycle or what our life circumstances. Listen to our experts as we lead you on a journey of healing ALL of you. Sharing amazing stories of healing and living life fully will inspire you to be Truly Alive. Most importantly connect with friends who remind you, you are never really alone. http://www.blogtalkradio.com/Sheila-Ulrich
How is your core? I call your core LOVE. Similar to exercising your body, if your core is strong, it supports the rest of the body. When you walk in the moment loving everything, your world is supported in all ways. That core reaches out to every other area in your world. Ask “What Would Love Do Now?” and listen. Resistance will always give you an uncomfortable feeling. Breathe through it and listen. When you know what is making you uncomfortable, let it go. Use the courage you were given wisely.
Your consciousness can not act upon a mixed thought. Have you ever considered this? Do you wonder why your affirmations don’t work? Example – You decide to take a trip to your favorite destination. That is a precise, clear, pristine thought. If you left it alone all would work out perfectly. The Universe is in perpetual motion and you are the magnet of what you put out as a precise thought. The moment you start engaging in the W’s. When can I get the time off work, where will I get the money for plane tickets, hotel, etc, you have a mixed thought. Nothing will manifest or if it does, there is resistance and struggle. We manage to get in our own way constantly. Our job as creator beings is to make a decision as the architect of our own life. Think of it as building the outer experience from the inside out. Really get this as it is VIP – A mixed thought is an inconclusive thought and one your consciousness will not act upon. When you really get this, your life will change. It takes work and you must be vigilant and courageous.
I am sharing a video from Brother David because it talks of one of the most important aspects of life, no matter what path in life you follow – Gratitude. A major key to living a life of joy.
This video, featuring Brother David, a highly-respected Benedictine monk, author and spiritual leader, is a BLESSING to all those with “eyes to see and ears to hear.” Look, listen and be inspired by this powerful message on grateful living. Please visit gratefulness.org.
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Endorsements
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the #1 Self Improvement Website on the Internet
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