“Most people can look back over the years and identify a time and place at which their lives changed significantly. Whether by accident or design, these are the moments when, because of a readiness within us and a collaboration with events occurring around us, we are forced to seriously reappraise ourselves and the conditions under which we live and to make certain choices that will affect the rest of our lives.”  – Frederick F. Flack

What a profound quote…..

People around the world are reappraising their lives.  How have we been living?  What changes can we make in our own lives to leave Mother Earth a better place for future generations?  Towns, villages, communities and cities are going through global change .  What affects one, affects all.  People are concerned for the future of their children, and grandchildren.  As well they should be. Changes are happening rapidly around the planet.  People are speaking up, exposing old corrupt systems that have not been for the highest and greatest good of the people. Grassroots movements are cropping up everywhere.  It’s like the 60′s with more focus and enlightenment. I did so love the 60′s!

Have you noticed how many people are planting their own food?  I know people all over the world are growing organic gardens, looking for cleaner water, choosing to live a more simple, peaceful life.  There is a reconnection with Nature.  She has amazing gifts to share with those who acknowledge her presence with love and respect.  The damage that has been done can be repaired, but it will take many coming together individually and collectively for the beautiful shifts we dream of.  This is a time of significant change for all of us.  It can be by design if we each step in to do our part.

There is a need to look beyond color, nationality and class.  There is a pecking order that does not serve anyone. We are all a part of life, all connected.  A creation of  the Universe….our existence depends on us.  Striving to have a better home, car, job or more money than your neighbor, when coming from a place of ego, is not neighborly!  It is ego driven identification. We are God beings in physical bodies expressing ourselves in every moment through thought, feeling and action.  We are creators who create in every single second.  Let’s be vigilant about what we are creating for ourselves and others.

Debra Oakland @ Living in Courage Online

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.

Debra Oakland @ Living in Courage Online

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.

Debra Oakland @ Living in Courage Online.

Facing Death, I Found Life!

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

Debra Oakland will be my guest on Truly Alive on July 22, 2009 at 12:00 noon CST

http://sheilaulrich.com/blog/

There are possibilities, probabilities and certainties in life.  There is believing, and then there is knowing.  There is perceptual mind (tree of knowledge, altered ego) the OLD mind set that loves to question your choices and dreams. That’s the hard way of doing things. Then there is the conceptual mind (tree of life) the NEW mind set, the whole mind.  This is the easy way to do things.  Be very clear that your consciousness will go out and do things for you.  Make a decision about what you are going to do.  Let your consciousness go out, drawing to you everything that is required to fulfill your desires. Become a courageous magnet for the life you want.

The altered ego is the massive liar.  It loves to set you up, telling you that all manner of things are going to happen in your life.  The altered ego has had a ring through our nose, leading merrily on it’s way.  Be courageous and take control of your life.  How?  You create.  How do you create? Think, feel, and turn to what you are desiring.  Put your desires out as the most powerful declarations of intentions, and set them into perpetual motion.  You will be wise to remember not to listen to the altered ego’s  what, when, why, where, how, but and if’s.  It loves to trip you up.  Be the messenger for yourself.   Be kind and gentle with yourself.

What kind of a day, month or year are you going to have?  If you are waiting for something good to happen, yet you take no action (mentally, physically and spiritually) then don’t be surprised when things don’t work out.  It is important to pre-pave your life.  Feel it, think it, breathe it.  Remind the altered ego that you are not trying to destroy it, but want to bring it back into a balanced state of action.

Remember, don’t hold on to anything.  Life loves to be in perpetual motion.  Many times we get in the way , which plugs up the flow of the gifts trying to reach us.   Keep everything flowing, and you will see the proof yourself.  Set up a little mantra “I let everything flow easily and effortlessly in my life.”  Gratitude is a most important part of the journey. I hope you find the tools I present to you of  value.  Add each one to your tool belt of life.  I applaud your success as you move up the ladder of your highest and greatest good.

Debra Oakland @ Living in Courage Online

The world can seem off balance as old systems crumble, making way for a peaceful new way of living.  We are all one. When we recognize that fact we truly will be living a new earth experience.

I quote a journal article excerpt from Rene Wadlow in her article The Courage for Peace -”Favoring a relational, intuitional, opportunity-oriented way of thinking and a community, interconnective, partnership approach to social relations, this new way of being is built on our emerging understanding of universal truths: matter is energy with meaning and motion. Life is not static, it is flow. We are not broken, we are whole. If we oppress others, we oppress ourselves.”

I don’t know about you, but I for one do not feel we are broken.  I know we are whole.  Until each of us rise up and take our power back and come together as a common voice, change will only take longer.  What is so hard about living in Peace?  Who would not want to?  Really now, who in their right mind does not want a peaceful life?  Who doesn’t want love? It is all up to us.  It is decision time. Time to wake up out of a deep hypnotic sleep. Choose peace, say yes to life and Life will say yes to you.  This new world is what courage is all about.

Debra Oakland @ Living In Courage Online

There is a party going on and I am not going to miss it, how about you.  Everyone loves a good party.  This party requires Courage. Where’s yours? You may want to dust courage off and try it on.

We the people have been putting up with a “Comedy of Errors” – a ridiculous farce that is coming to a screeching halt. It seems we have been lied to by our government, religion, corporations, education, family, friends – simply the life we have been living.  Why have we put up with it?  Maybe conditioning, learned behavior, fear or simply we that have temporarily forgotten our true power.

What’s your story? How is your life going for you?  Are you living in peace, do you love, are you living a life of harmlessness to yourself and others?  Are you Living in Courage?  Most are not, but millions are making a different choice.  There is a movement of momentum building toward peace.  Can you feel it?  I can, it is everywhere.  People are tired of the bullshit we have been spoon fed.

You are seeing and will see old world systems crumble, evil exposed in all the nasty versions that have played out.  There is a huge shift in consciousness taking place on our planet.  Yes, our planet.  How exciting this is!  We are witnessing the downfall of an old world that does not serve us as a human race. Old patterns that have harmed Mother Earth. Healing is taking place amongst the chaos that appears real.  We are approaching a New World in which to live.

We are not going to take the shit that has been flung at us any longer. There’s courage for you.  We are standing up and flinging that pile of poo back at the sender (with love, of course.)  As the liars and evil manipulators of the world are standing in a steaming pile of their own evil crap, fully exposed, we who choose peace and love are rising in great numbers – Making this world a place worth living in and remembering.

There are magnificent changes coming to the earth.  What is your vision?  What do you see reflecting back at your beautiful courageous self?  Will you be part of the New Civilization coming very quickly or stuck in the quicksand?  This is a time of courageous decision making.  Choose wisely (never from ego or fear, which is illusion.)   Always choose from Love, from a place of Peace.

You will eventually have to make the right choice.  If you choose quicksand, you will discover there is no way out, without the choice for peace and love.  We will be waiting for you.  Please don’t be late for the party.

Debra Oakland @ Living In Courage Online

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.

Debra Oakland @ Living in Courage Online