How do you define the word empowerment? I thought I knew what it meant until I came to write about it for this months newsletter. That was when I realized that it can mean different things to different people in differing life situations. So, after ‘Googling’ it and not coming up with any clear cut definition here is my own interpretation:
“Empowerment is a multi-dimensional process of gaining positive control of the power we all have within us, enabling us to lead better lives to the benefit of ourselves, others and society as a whole whilst being in harmony with Universal Law.”
We all know the types of lives we want to lead; we all know the kind of environment we want to live in and we all want to live in harmony with our physical, mental and spiritual selves. But unless we empower ourselves and allow our thoughts and actions to work at every level of our desires then they will never wholly come to fruition. Self-Empowerment is a gift not to be wasted or abused, without it we can only live falsely as we would not be being truthful to ourselves. Our ego’s and the physical outer world would be in total control.
Mother Nature is the embodiment of empowerment. She plays by her own rules, the Universal Laws, yet embraces change to survive, develop and expand. You only have to look around you to see empowerment at work, the forces of nature are continuously in motion with no days off, no procrastination, just pure energy in perpetual motion. Day and night, the tides, the winds and the seasons are forever with us, if they weren’t, we and the world as we know it would perish.
It’s important that we empower ourselves by giving ourselves permission to be who we truly want to be, act and do as we truly desire and to learn how to work in harmony with not only our physical, mental and spiritual selves but with those around us and our environment if we want to gain the full benefits that empowerment can and will reward us with. As with working towards enlightenment this is not an overnight process, it is a life times work and may not happen for us in this lifetime but in a future life in whatever multi-dimensional place that may be. Accept and use the gift of empowerment, feel the vibrations of Universal Law working with and for you, the feeling of harmony coming into your life.
Are you ready to be motivated in 2012? I know I am, and I hope you join me Jan 14th – 22nd along with 45 other inspiring speakers from all walks of life. 2012 is an exciting year and it’s up to each of us to make it the best year of our life! Are you with me? High five!!
I will be speaking with the lovely hosts Deb Scott and Elizabeth Hamilton-Guarino on Sunday January 22nd at 9:00 am PST, so please join the conversation about Living in Courage and show up with your questions. I look forward to speaking with you!
This is a FREE event, so how can you say no to registering? Say YES to Life and join us. You also get a free E-Book to seal the deal! Over a 9 day period you will hear 46 speaker who are experts in their field. Join the fun and your life will say YES to you!
“The secret of happiness is freedom. The secret of freedom is courage.” -Thucydides
I wanted to share a bit of my year in 2011 with you, and to tell you that I am very excited to walk into 2012 with the gifts and lessons of 2011 under my belt. Here goes!
Wonderful lessons occurred in many areas of my life, and truth be told, some frustration and challenges. These are things that are important for personal growth and change, so I remind myself that living from the inside out, as well as living in courage is my best way forward. I am learning to be more patient and embrace stillness, to commune with nature daily, to embrace my writing heart to pen, and to always enjoy the chapters of my life. I have an amazing husband, family and friends that I am ever grateful for. Better said, I am grateful for all that is here and all that is yet to come. My personal freedom is of utmost importance to me, and that freedom means living my best life from a place of love, wisdom and joy. I am grateful for you and your support of Living in Courage. I wish you a very Happy New Year in 2012!
Wouldn’t it be great to see everyone living the dream of freedom? Free will gives us the power of choice, and I like to think that true freedom lives within, as do all the great qualities of love. When we make the choice to live from the inside out versus the outside in, our lives can transform. We each have to find our own place in a complex world, but what a wonderful world we have to play and create in! Freedom from the ties that bind, whether physically, mentally or spiritually is a task worth pursuing with gusto. The importance of your personal freedom will determine your course of action. I can’t tell you what that course is, only you know what is right for you. I feel freedom is our birthright, and one that goes beyond our limited thinking feeling reality. We can feel limited when we think our freedom is in jeopardy. There are many forms of freedom. What does freedom mean to you? We can bring a sharper focus and more clarity to our sense of freedom when we understand that we are solely responsible for our life by the choices we make and the actions we take.
The voice of freedom is knocking. We can all make a difference in 2012 by making choices that reflect love, wisdom and joy. We have a collective choice to change or not to change, to grow and expand, or to contact, which restricts life, and who wants that? Freedom of choice is a gift to be treasured, so in conclusion, be a good person, be harmless to yourself and others. Respect the freedom of everyone, no matter the cultural differences. We are more alike than different. After all, if we expect to engage and enjoy our freedom by living from the inside out, that takes responsibility. In that way we can each be responsible for our own inner freedom. The one that really matters!
Let Freedom Ring in 2012 and Beyond!
Debra Oakland
Happy New Year everyone, I hope that this brand new blank page of your lives is filled with everything that you long for and brings you the freedom of peace of mind, body and soul that we all seek. Nothing could be better than making that your goal for 2012 – Freedom!
In the coming year we will find ourselves in precisely the same position in life, unless we give ourselves the freedom to choose to live our lives in the way we truly desire. What do you want to achieve for yourself and your loved one’s? I don’t mean that you have to radically change the way you live right now in this very moment because that simply wouldn’t work. What I do mean is that you must allow yourself the freedom to make small but powerful changes; let me explain ..
2011 was a truly ground breaking year for me in many ways as I decided not to chase after my dreams anymore, and to be honest with you I already have much of what I desire in my life; but for several reasons I wasn’t fully content. What I did was to allow myself the freedom we all have to concentrate on the things I didn’t want in the future but were in my life at the time. I realized that by making this choice I could use the power of freedom to rid myself of the unwanted, leaving only the things I wanted. I spent a lot of time in nature both here in the UK and in sunny California with Debra and her husband Cody (and many good friends, too many to mention here). Mother Nature showed me in varying ways how she allows herself the freedom to be and do whatever she needs to be, ridding herself of all that she no longer needs to grow and expand. Freeing herself of old constraints allows nature to recreate new life and although some of these periods of cleansing can often appear cruel and painful they are a necessary action, and that is exactly what it can feel like when we use the freedom we have to make the changes we too need to make in our lives.
Freedom is a difficult thing to achieve but if you really desire to have it in whichever area of your life you choose, the pain barrier has to be endured until you adjust. It’s often harder to change what we don’t want in our lives than to obtain what we do, but believe me when I say that releasing yourself from the constraints of unwanted aspects of your life is real freedom and the feeling of wellbeing it brings can be as good as, if not better than reaching a desire. Achieving a desire you want whilst still holding on to those things that you don’t desire is not true freedom and you will never be able to enjoy your desires until you have found that sensation of peace of mind, body and soul that genuine freedom brings. So if you only write one thing on this blank page that is 2012, write ‘I Desire True Freedom’, and read it out aloud to yourself first thing every morning, and remind yourself of that simple but powerful statement the moment you see something in your life that you no longer desire; and make the choice, take road to Freedom Take good care of your freedom, don’t hide it away, be brave and use it wisely and you will have a very happy New Year.
Vision, creativity and passion carry us to places we did not know we could go. Believing in oneself and evolving into a state of knowing is a long path to travel, with many bridges to cross. Knowingness is an ever evolving process within ourselves. How do we learn to believe in ourselves so much, that we dispel fear and doubt? This is a question I ask myself often. Intellectually, I know it is found through opening many doors. Spiritually, I know it is from connecting to the heart. I want to believe I am capable of excelling at my passion, but a lifetime of voices, lessons, schooling and all manner of dictates have told me otherwise, at least for the most part. It is up to me to have a vision, to know that I am capable of achieving my desired outcome. The most important part is knowing that I am the only one that stands in my way.
Neale Donald Walsch said “Life begins at the end of your comfort zone.” I like my comfort zone, thank you very much, but as the years roll by I know that what creates growth is change, and that means leaving your comfort zone from time to time. Often we are like children, holding on to our ‘blankey” with a thumb in our mouth, trailing our blanket of comfort behind. Part of growing into an adult means leaving the blanket behind, if we want to evolve. To grow into spiritual adulthood, it is wise to leave fear and doubt behind, which can allow us the clarity to see our vision for the future we wish to create.
What is your personal vision? What is your vision for the Collective? When following your heart and envisioning the future, is it for the highest and greatest good not only for yourself, but for everyone? A very big responsibility sits on our shoulders if we hold the vision of living from a place of love, wisdom and power. By connecting to the heart in a profound way, the obstacles that clouded our vision begin to clear. Our connection to source grows stronger, we grow stronger, allowing knowing-ness to be an essential guide. There seems to be a sense of dis-rest in so many people, no matter who they are, or their station in life. Until we each learn to hold the vision of love for ourselves and our fellow man, there will be dark clouds in the way. Sri Aurobindo said “ In order to see, you have to stop being in the middle of the picture.” Getting out of our own way is not always easy, but well worth the repeated effort.
Spend as much time as possible in-visioning the life you want to live. Examine what is truly important for that vision to succeed. What is the motivation behind the vision and how do you see it unfolding? Your vision is powerful and when you use it wisely and with love, it will bless you in all areas of your life.
We are energy. Let’s talk about this briefly. Our thought is energetic and holds within it – power. We as creators have the power to direct this energy. Cause and effect would be how things manifest outwardly in our lives, and is a direct result of how we manage that energy. The cause is our focused thought, or the recurring habits of our thinking, feeling and acting, which create effects or outcomes in our lives.
Thought is a by product of thinking. Healthy, happy creative and constructive thoughts impact all areas of our lives in a positive way, whereas worrisome and fearful thoughts impact our lives in a negative way. Simple math really! As we vibrate to this positive or negative energy, it is important to know that our multi-body system is taking orders from headquarters! We birth our thoughts through feelings as they take root and are nurtured into reality.
Energy is alive waiting to be directed in any way you choose. Consciously creating brings much more satisfactory results than unconsciously creating. Again, you do the math!
“You must constantly ask yourself these questions: Who am I around? What are they doing to me? What have they got me reading? What have they got me saying? Where do they have me going? What do they have me thinking? And most important, what do they have me becoming? Then ask yourself the big question: Is that okay? Your life does not get better by chance, it gets better by change.”
By being flexible, expansion and growth become our companions on this journey in an ever changing world. Learning to sway like a branch in the breeze is a skill. We can resist change, but it will occur regardless. Bruce Lee said “Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless – like water. Now you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup, you put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle, you put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend.” When times are unfavorable many people break down from fear and non-flexibility. I find when I have challenges in my life, most of the time it is because I am being inflexible. Ahhh, the need to be right. Gets us every time!
There are many changes going on in the world requiring us to be more flexible now than ever. With the internet and all the new technologies, we are able to connect on many different levels. The world stage is changing, challenging many old worn out beliefs and lifestyles. A much needed shift is occurring and flexibility is key to our happiness. People who are able to adapt to change are better equipped mentally and emotionally. Being resilient in times of challenge insures inner and outer flexibility, leading to a more joyful life.
When I talk about flexibility, I am not talking about being weak or passive, just open to adapting in a way that will serve you and your life. Just as keeping our bodies flexible is important to our health and well-being, keeping our minds flexible is essential to our mental health and well-being. By making conscious choices, being clear about our intentions, living our passion and being open to the change needed for a perfect outcome at the right time and place, we are expanding, never contracting. Have the courage to become a living example of flexibility and others will follow. Remember a bend in the road is not the end of the road unless you refuse to take the turn.
“Life is Delicious. Devour it with joy in every cell of your body, mind and spirit. You will see it’s perfect qualities reflected back to you in many ways, seen and unseen.” -Debra Oakland
I like to remind myself that my life is the sum of my choices, and the more I enjoy life, the happier I am. It’s simple, yet can take a lifetime of self awareness to embrace life with open arms. Quite a journey we all share!
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