Let’s talk about this NOW moment and how living in it can and will change your life. This is a great way to Live In Courage.
Allow yourself to sink into the moment of NOW. Sit still in a place you will not be disturbed, yet soak in what is going on around you. Perhaps there is a breeze or the sun touching your skin. Can you hear birds chirping? Maybe an aroma of fresh coffee or food cooking drifts your way. Children playing or a city alive and teeming with life. Wherever you are feel it, take it all in while you are in the stillness of NOW.
Yes, thoughts will come into your mind. Let them pass by. Notice how you feel in the NOWness and AWAREness of this peaceful moment. Notice also, when a negative, worrisome thought or feeling tries to steal your peace. You will notice the energy of the moment you were in change. You can feel it. No judging. Just notice the difference. This practice will teach you to catch yourself when you shift out of NOW. The more you can stay in the present moment in calm awareness, you will regain the power you have lost in your life.
The past is OVER in each moment that passes. Your future is created by the NOW moments your are in. What are you choosing as the architect of your life? Make powerful choices and decisions for yourself. Stand in your KNOWINGNESS, which carries much more weight and influence than BELIEVING. Say the words. Feel the difference. Believing feels heavy – Knowing feels LIGHT. The more you can exist in NOW, the more aware, peaceful, loving and joyful you will be. Living in Courage is living NOW.
Behind the scenes of chaos, confusion and conflict lays LIFE. Life Is Everything and available to everyone. Life loves to fulfill itself through you as anything you create as the architect of your life. The best way to shut down your good is to engage in negativity and giving your attention to all it’s nasty family and relatives. Have CLEAR CONCISE thoughts and feelings because your mind cannot act upon a mixed thought. The most dominant though and feeling will manifest right before your eyes. Love and fear cannot co-exist in the same space. YOU always get to choose.
Never forget the power of gratitude. Be grateful for what you have NOW. Everything is here for you, for me, for everyone. The human drama can take it’s toll in many areas of life. Use KNOWINGNESS to guide you through the waters of life. Not fear or doubt. The answers are not OUT there – that is living from the OUTSIDE IN. The answers are right where you are right NOW. That is living from the INSIDE OUT. You decide, you choose, you create, you, you, you. Only you.
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.
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.
Here is my newest quote at Living in Courage – “Gratitude is a drug, it is free and non-toxic.” Yep, free as the air you breathe. You don’t have to pay for it, travel around the world to find it, be rich, poor, educated, any particular race, color, creed or anything you can think of to find it. It sits right in you heart. Imagine if people walked around all day saying how grateful they were for every little thing! Just imagine. Our world would shift immediately. But no, most people run around wanting more, feeling unappreciated (notice that comes out of not appreciating!) complaining, feeling stressed for uncountable reasons, and are just plain tired. This does not go on all day, but for the parts of the day it does, well, it just brings more of the same. The only way out of the cycle repeating over and over, is a feeling of love and gratitude to whoever you worship. To your body, mind/brain for carrying you through each day, to Mother Earth & the Kingdoms of Nature who hold you in their arms. Gratitude to everything and everyone, for mirroring exactly what you need to see and experience. If you want to look in the mirror and see a different image, then make some changes.
Saying a simple thank you is difficult for some people. I see many parents raising their children without the courtesy of a thank you when they receive. Simple gestures will alter the course of your life. I know people get tired of hearing we are all ONE, but it is true. What we do to ourselves, we do to another. Everything connects. Image the gratitude of a child starving in a third world country when they receive anything to eat. This child needs food and clean water, something we take for granted and expect to be there 24/7. What is wrong with this picture? When did we become so immune to our fellow men, women and children? There are many people dying for no reason. Time to wake up folks, time is running out for us. No joke.
There will be some powerful choices to make in the next few years for all of us. Starting now will eliminate a great deal of pain for ourselves and others. The time is now, now, now. Not tomorrow, or when we have more time, money or energy. Look deep inside, for you are courageous. You came into this world with all the answers inside you, but fell into a hypnotic sleep. This sleep is losing it’s hold on people all over the world. When you wake up, what do you want to see?
Debra Oakland@ Living in Courage Online
“There are only two ways to live. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as if everything is.
Happy Easter to everyone this fine day. I plan on keeping light and fun – and you? It is all about gratitude, love and joy this fine Sunday. Have some eggs and make sure they are really colorful. Chomp on some chocolate, run around and play. Today is for being grateful. Whatever else you do just enjoy it to the fullest.
As I sit here in Napa California for a weekend of serenity and relaxation, I look forward to some fine wine and food. My husband Cody is finally reading the Shack (I was not ready to give it up!) and he loves it. We sit in our room, overlooking the vineyards and hills. Gratitude is the order of the day. Cody took a long run thru Calistoga, and is preparing to find “the best coffe in town” as he is a coffee snob of the first order. I think about courage and the ability we have each day to choose. Well, today I choose to courageously move into the day and enjoy every moment. I just began reading Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson & David Oliver Relin. I have heard about this man Mortenson the abundant consistant courage he exibits in his life. I will let you know more about one man’s mission to promote peace, one school at a time. He built 55 schools for girls in the forbidding terrain that gave birth to the Taliban. I look forward to this story of adventure and the power of the humanitarian spirit.
Have a wonderful weekend. I send you love and blessings from Napa Valley,
Here is another video of Matt, doing his little dance around the world. Please join in. Here at Living in Courage, we love following Matt and the Gratitude Dance.
Debra Oakland @ Living in Courage Online
Dancing is like dreaming with your feet! ~Constanze
Gratitude is such a big part of our receiving. This wonderful quote reminded me that when we do our own personal gardening of the soul by pulling weeds of negativity and planting seeds of positivity, we become charming gardeners. Have a wonderful week and I am grateful to you who visit me here at Living in Courage.
“Let us be grateful to people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.”
As I sit near a window overlooking the pacific ocean, I can in this moment, only feel grateful. I look back on my life at all the stories, real, imagined, my history, each one that has brought me to this moment. I have come to the conclusion that living in the present, “this now moment” is a gift I have been given and one I have not spent enough time with. I takes great courage to live in the moment, without being distracted by the furious pace of the world.
There are many gifts presented to us daily. Which ones get opened is a choice only we can make for ourselves. I wonder how many truly gratifying gifts I missed out on because they were not wrapped in pretty paper. A gift that is content to wait patiently until I open my eyes enough to see it. When I live totally present in each moment, completely immersed, life is dramatically different than when I am distracted.
Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift – that is why we call it the present. ~~Unknown Author
Gift yourself in courage to live in the present moment. Try it on for size and see how it fits. I am sure you will find the more you live in the now, the happier your life will be. Here is a book “The Present Moment” by Thich Nhat Hanh you may enjoy. It is a retreat on the practice of mindfulness.
Today I am grateful for every beat of my heart, for every breath I take, and this gift of life I have been given. What are you grateful for? Think about it. Gratitude is essential for manifestation. How can we be given more when we are not grateful for what is already in our lives? Doesn’t that seem to go against the natural laws of the universe? As a whole, we greatly underestimate the power we hold to create excellence on our lives.
Those who have achieved greatness in the face of adversity pushed through every obstacle, using their will, courage and spirit that is the core of achievement. There are many times when we get what we want, and instead of savoring the moment in gratitude, off we go, running to the next thing that seems so important. Focus is lost. Gratitude is sometimes forgotten or ignored. We start asking why our lives are not working as well as expected. A circle of activity that repeats over and over until we take action to make things change.
With the wonderful presence of new technologies, the pace of life has accelerated greatly, leaving many people with “not enough time” for the simple pleasures in life. Make a choice to choose what brings you joy and peace. Be grateful. When waking up decide how you want your day to go by placing a clear picture of the activities in your mind, feeling positive and successful. When going to bed in the evening, be grateful for the activities of the day. Write it down 5 things. That may help put it in a more solid form for you to look at from time to time. This will keep you out of worry and negative thinking habits, allowing your mind to reprogram itself to success. You are so powerful. Take a stand in your life. It is so important you do this. Your happiness and a courageous life “well lived” depends on it. I send my love to each of you as you take your stand in the joy your were meant to be. Go out and make it a great day.
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