FEARPROOF Your Holidays with Presence

Dear Reader,

Have you ever wondered why this supposedly most joyful, loving time of the year is often filled with stress, worry, overwhelm, and family tension? Do you find yourself dreading the holidays, wishing for the simplicity of a less complicated and materialistic world? If so, you are not alone and may be in the majority of fellow humankind at this frenzied time of the year.

What if you could go through this holiday season with a feeling of genuine gratitude, generosity, kindness, and love for others? What if instead of stress and hurry, you felt calm and present with each person, each moment, each special meal, shopping purchase, and were truly moved by the spirit of the season?

If this sounds unrealistic and naive, but, tickles your curiosity, read on.

My favorite movie that gets me into the holiday spirit is "It's A Wonderful Life" starring Jimmy Stewart. George Bailey (no relation) is stressed out at the holiday like so many of us. He has a wonderful wife and family, has lived a very fulfilling life, but in the midst of his life circumstances that are tragic, he looses touch with how wonderful his life actually is and instead gets caught up in his thoughts of fear, failure, insecurity and contemplates suicide. Just as he is going to jump into the freezing waters off a bridge, his guardian angel knows his generous and compassionate nature and jump in first. Caught off guard and returning to his true Self, George jumps in to save Clarence the angel and in so doing stops his own death. As they dry off Clarence grants George's wish and creates a world as if George Bailey never existed. In the end George Bailey realizes he is the luckiest man in the world and that he actually has "a wonderful life."

Nothing changed in George's life except his consciousness. His perspective on his life stopped swimming in the negativity of fear and anger and instead he stopped still in the moment and realized the perfection of the life he already had.

So too for us when we stop the frenzie of our busy minds and pause--we smell the eggnog, see the beauty in our kids and grandkids, focus on what we have and not what we desire that we don't have. All that changes is that our mind clears like George's did and we drop into the reality of the present moment. From there our negative thinking stops spinning out of control and we see life from a wiser and more truthful perspective. When we don't know where to look for happiness and joy at this time of year we try to fill ourselves up with food, drink and "stuff" in the form of presents. We trade presence for presents. Which is more valuable? Which lasts?

Presence is the secret to slowing down the clock of time that keeps ticking away our short lives. When we find the secret of the present, our presence will last forever.

Have a Happy Holiday with you and your loved ones,

Joe

Fearless in Sedona

Dear Readers,

This past weekend fifteen courageous people met for a retreat with me in the beautiful red rock mountains of Sedona, Arizona. The participants ventured from the four corners of the USA and from points in between-- Seattle to Florida, Los Angeles to New York, and in between.

They were drawn by the beauty of Sedona, but more significantly, the common desire to live a fearless life--free to live as their true Selves and courageously pursue their heart's desires in love, work and change on all levels. Fundamentally they came to discover the unique gift of who they are and share that unabashedly with with the world.

Sedona was the perfect place to cultivate this spiritual journey inward. It is filled with breathtaking vistas of inspiring red rock formations. We gathered the first day as strangers and quickly became a very cohesive, trusting and open group of kindred souls united by a common desire to know our true Self and to discover how to live from that true Self rather than the compelling habits of our egos.

We learned first how to listen deeply to ourselves and each other by quieting the thoughts of fear, self-judgment and insecurity. Then we listened to the voice of Truth in the hearts of each of us. We learned to listen to the guidance of our feelings, to take us back to that place in us that knows no fear-- only joy, peace and wisdom.

In the afternoons we ventured away from our retreat facility to a mountaintop outside of town, taking time to hike the trails, reflect and write alone and then return to the group to share our inner discoveries and refine the process of self-discovery.

What people found was that buried in the unknown of our inner Self lies health, love and wisdom. We learned to trust our Selves and to see that living from there is not only possible--it is there whenever we choose to live in the world as our true Self. The result was a lessening of fear and increased courage to Be in this world, but not of it. The level of transformation that occurred amazed me and exceeded any expectations of how close we all are to living fearlessly, not only in a retreat setting, but wherever we live.

For more information on my future retreats go to my news and events calendar on my website.

Live and Love Fearlessly,

Joe

Being In the World, But Not of It

Dear Readers,

This past two weeks has been fun, exciting and full as my book, Fearproof Your Life has been released to the public. Life has been a whirlwind of activity from book signings, talks, TV, radio and print interviews. It has been a blast!

Ironically, in the midst of sharing my book with the world, I have had moments where I felt back in the past and feeling fearful. "How could it be that I was feeling overcome with fear?" I reflected about this and realized that my regression back to the old feelings of fear served a purpose -- to remember how I used to live when I didn't know what I know now, and to feel a deeper compassion for those who live in fear now, as I once did on a daily basis. Understanding the source of fear doesn't mean we aren't still human and loose awareness of our choices from time to time, especially when we are engaged in something new, challenging and unknown to us.

The other big lesson for me is that old adage from scripture: "Being in the World but not Of It." As I go out and share the message of my book, I have met hundreds of people and listened to callers on the radio who resonate with my message. The more I listen, the more I realize how important my message is for the world now. I realized the importance of my deeper discovery of how to be in this world wholeheartedly without taking on the fear of the world.

As the drumbeats of fear get played more each day for yet another war in the Middle East, the fear level is rising. More justification for more violence born of fear. Fear occupies our world and our leaders. Fear occupies our media. Will we let fear occupy our own minds?

Is it possible to be fully engaged in this world but not live at the effect of people lost in the illusion of fear and separation from their true Selves and each other? Is it possible to stay engaged, make a difference and live in peace? I think so. I know so.

But, I totally understand the temptation to become overwhelmed, hopeless and even despairing in the light of current conditions. I fell back into fear myself, but luckily I know how not to take my own misguided thinking seriously. I know how to reconnect with who I truly am and not be swayed by the forces of fear mongering. "We have nothing to fear but fear itself," as FDR once famously said. We get to choose whether to live in fear or not.

I am grateful to be doing what I am doing. I feel one with my true purpose to be sharing my discoveries with you and to watch so many wake up to the possibility of living in this world but not of it.

If you would like to hear some of my interviews from the past weeks or hear some in the future, just go to my web site to the "news" or the "media" sections.

Until next time, Live fearlessly, Love fearlessly,

Joe

Life in Motion

As I sit at my desk in my cabin, I am observing life in motion. The Boundary Waters’ mist of Autumn crept across the lake at dawn, becoming thicker and thicker till I could no longer see the island, fifty yards away. Now it is beginning to lift and I see the faint outline of red pines and rocks on the shore. The daylight is breaking through. Later, it will inevitably lift completely and the island will be fully visible—it is life in motion.

Our lives are no different than the changes in nature—what was once invisible becomes visible and what was solid and real, later vanishes with the passing of time. This can be as large as life and death or as mundane as plans for a weekend changing.

This weekend I was supposed to be doing a retreat for Native American youth at the Grand Portage Reservation with my friend Adam. He called on Monday with “bad news” saying that it would have to be postponed due to his mom’s unexpected heart surgery. He sounded scared and overwhelmed. I offered my time to talk to him about it, which he accepted appreciatively—again, life in motion.

I felt a moment of disappointment as I was looking forward to the retreat and spending time with my friends, but this soon transformed into a feeling of relief and gladness at a freed-up weekend to close down the cabin with my wife. It is the peak of the fall color and we had a glorious trip up the north shore of Lake Superior and the Gunflint Trail to our cabin—life in motion.

When we arrived at the cabin, we saw what we had been warned of---a three-foot rise in the lake in the past month. After a seven-year drought, the rain raising the water level was a welcome. However when we arrived at the cabin we soon saw the destruction that rising water can create—our docks were broken and disconnected from the shoreline, our boats were flooded, and our two kayaks had floated away to some unknown landing place on a 22,000-acre lake—life in motion.

I now see the island in front of me as the fog is beginning to lift.

My wife and I had to land the boat in a very precarious situation but we managed to dock the boat and within a short time had it unloaded and were repairing the dock and reconnecting it to the shore. We then pulled the partially sunken boats on shore and secured them after bailing out the water.

I continued to investigate the surroundings, the wilderness’ silence was interrupted by my wife’s call, “The kayaks have floated away!” At first I thought, “Oh no, not my favorite kayak. I can’t believe they’re gone. I thought I had pulled them up high enough on the shore.” A short period of guilt and embarrassment ensued. However, my feelings quickly passed to acceptance and we directed our energies to taking care of business—life in motion.

The next day we began our search for the wayward kayaks. Our lake is very large and filled with hundreds of islands, inlets, bays and infinite hiding places where they could be. We drove with binoculars in hand searching for our lost friends. Suddenly, one of them appeared several feet above the shore and into the woods, obviously thrown up by the force of wind and waves. It was slightly scratched but overall in remarkably good condition. We were delighted—life in motion.

The island is now clearly in view and the fog is mostly gone. The second kayak is still missing. Will we find it? We don’t know—life in motion.

And so it is with all our lives—life in motion: the unexpected happens, people get sick and die, have surgery, money is made and lost, relationships begin and end, the fog comes and the fog disappears revealing the sun that never really left. Our state of mind, the peace we feel or loose site of, is always there when we accept what is in front of us and see that we have a choice, whether to fight change, to be overcome by disappointment or accept what is and move forward to the next step—life in motion.

Live and love fearlessly, Joe Bailey

Transforming Fearlessness into Right Action in Burma

Dear Friends,

As I witness the events this past few weeks in Burma, I am reminded that courage comes from a deep connection to our spiritual core--the true Self. Thousands of Buddhist monks have risked their lives and many have died, in service of the Truth.

With an increasingly harsh and repressive military dictatorship, the monks defied the threats of violence and retaliation and in droves have taken to the streets in non-violent protests. They have gradually been joined by thousands of fearless citizens who were inspired by the monk's courage.

In my new book, that is released in two days, FEARPROOF YOUR LIFE, How to Thrive in a World Addicted to Fear, I talk about "Right Action". Some think that becoming fearless and peaceful means becoming passive, but as the monks and people of Burma have demonstrated by their courage, this is not the case. This is a quote from chapter 9, "Transforming Fearlessness into Right Action" that points to what they are demonstrating:

As we look at the larger issues of the world the same choice is before each of us: the path of fear or the path of courage to change. Will we transform our world from one of fear to one of empowerment, peace and courage? Will we let the forces of the ego cripple us in the face of the challenges we face today or will we be our fullest true Selves and transform the imbalances, injustices, and dangers that confront us into opportunities to express ourselves fully, honestly and totally and thus improve our world?

One of my favorite quotes about this is by Nelson Mandela (who is actually quoting Marianne Williamson).
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine as children do. It’s not just in some of us, it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

Nelson Mandela’s life is certainly a poignant example of his own quote. As he sat in a South African prison he had a vision to stop Apartheid in his country, not by violence, but by taking back their power and forgiving his oppressors. Through his conviction, vision and courage he transformed an entrenched system of oppression by just being true to his Self and inspiring a whole nation and eventually the world to support his efforts.


Throughout history, when enough people choose the path of truth and love over fear, nations and communities change. This occurred in the collapse of the Berlin Wall when thousands of Germans took to the streets, moved by inspiration to change. In our own countries' revolutionary war, ordinary men and women stood up to the tyrannical rule of the British and against all odds overthrew the world's largest empire and gained our freedom that we still cherish to this day.

As we discover the peace and calm of living as our true Selves in the world, our compassion, inspiration and courage are quickened by the witnessing of injustice and the forces of ego. Being our Selves makes doing courageous actions "right".

Live Fearless, Life from Love,

Joe

Fearless Fly Fishing

Dear Readers,

This past week I spent fly fishing on the Williamson River in Oregon with my colleague and friend Dr. George Patterson and our Fly Fishing for the Mind group. George and I did a retreat combining fly fishing, the beauty of nature and discovering how to live a fearless life. The setting was the Klamath Basin, home to some of the largest rainbow trout in the world and in the high desert of the Oregon near Crater Lake National Park.

The crisp fall air welcomed us each day as we woke up to Qi Gong exercises, a hearty breakfast and a morning seminar on living fearlessly. We then ventured out to the river with our trusty guides to float the river, take in the fall beauty and perhaps catch a trophy rainbow trout. After a day of fishing we sat around the fire or watched the sun set over the river and shared our reflections and discoveries about ourselves from the day.

This retreat focused on the topic of my new book, Fearproof Your Life. Many transformations occured with the participants as we looked within to discover the secrets of living fearlessly. One participant reminded me of the power of willingness and an open mind to transform our lives. She came to the retreat with more fear than the others--of flying in a small plane, of leaving her sick cat, of meeting strangers far from home to do something she wasn't that accomplished at. But her fear didn't prevent her from coming, because her desire to be free of fear outweighed her habits that have kept her trapped in a world of fear.

Willingness opens the door to our hearts and minds, to discover the beauty of life that is revealed when we drop the veil of fearful thoughts that obstruct our view of a majestic world and the love of others. She became present to the moment when her fears subsided and she experienced her true Self. The first step in moving from a life of fear to one of peace is willingness. It only takes a small amount to make that first step, but the rewards for doing so are immeasurable.

Perhaps you will join us on our next fly fishing for the mind adventure to Patagonia, Chile next February.

Live Fearlessly,

Joe

Avoiding the Fall Frenzy

Dear Readers,

This past week was a very intense time for me, as it is for so many of us at this time of the year--getting kids back to school, adjusting to new schedules, and cramming in the last fling of summer activities before we begin our jobs in earnest. It seems like we're all busier than usual at this time of the year.

As I shifted gears this week from summer to fall mode, I found myself back in the frenzied lane feeling, at times, overwhelmed, out of balance and worried if I could "get it all done." For a while I lost consciousness of who I am--my true Self; that place in each of that knows no time, has no fear, and is filled with purpose, energy and creative thoughts and actions. I forgot for a while and then I remembered--to look within, to reflect and quiet my mind. In that stillness I remembered who I am and I was at peace again.

Suddenly I had clear, focused energy to do all the details, activities and jobs to be done. I became productive without being frenetic. I felt grateful for my life and all the people in it. As I approached my publicity tour for my new book I felt up to the task and excited about it, rather than overwhelmed.

Then Thursday "it" arrived. My new book, "Fearproof Your Life," was waiting on the doorstep when I ran home between meetings to pick something up I had forgotten in my rushed state of mind. As I opened the package, I felt like a three year old on Christmas morning opening their first present. Four years of reflecting, writing, editing, re-editing, scores of people helping in the process of publishing a book and now it is here.

I am grateful and proud of my new book. I am grateful to know what I know and to be able to return home to my Self as I did this week when I got overwhelmed. I am also so happy to be able to share this with all of you.

I am the luckiest man in the world!

May your Fall be a productive and peace-filled time in your life.

Joe Bailey

Fearless Ordinary Heroes

Hello and welcome to my new blog!

As I reflect on the past month of the many tragedies that have hit so many people I know ( the Minnesota bridge collapse, the floods in southern Minnesota, the largest forest fire in northern Minnesota's history near our cabin in May, and the ongoing fears related to the war in Iraq, global climate change and the economy), I am struck with the resiliency of ordinary people. I am amazed at how tragedy and crisis often bring out the best in us.

Take for example, the school bus driver who was on the 35W bridge collapse who became an overnight national hero for doing what he said, "anyone would have done the same thing in my situation. I didn't really even think about it--I just knew what to do." In the process he risked his own life and saved all of the children on the bus who were terrified. This courageous young man was an "ordinary hero." Not a John Wayne, Arnold Schwarzenegger, just an ordinary guy, who rose to the occasion.

Or, the husband who saved his wife and a neighbor from drowning in the recent Minnesota flood and lost his own life. He too was an overnight hero--just an ordinary guy doing extraordinary things.

Where does this courage in the face of fear and danger come from? Why do people seem to act so selflessly, so wisely, so courageously in extraordinary circumstances, but not in everyday life?

I believe that they are not anymore special than you or me. They just acted from their true Self. They probably couldn't explain it later, they just acted as Nike says, "Do it!". When we drop our personal sense of self (the ego) we connect to who we really are--the true Self. This true Self is that core of our being that is connected to everyone and everything else. It is our spirit. When we are connected to our true Spirit we do the extraordinary.

Tomorrow I am interviewing six ordinary heroes to make a video to show at my seminars and on my website. I chose these people because they all have one thing in common--they all faced extraordinary circumstances (rape, floods, cancer, brain tumor, an accident) with remarkable ease, fearlessness, humor, and inspiration to all those around them. They were able to access an understanding of the source of their experience--their own thinking and creating of experience--and they chose to live from their healthy Self and not their habits of ego.

I will be posting what I discover in these interviews with you and let you in on their secret--the ability to maintain equanimity and calm in a terrifying situation.
Stay tuned!

I look forward to having a conversation with you about how you too can live a fearless life, no matter what is happening to you and around you or even just in the world in which we now live. I look forward to hearing your stories of ordinary heroes and hope you will share them with me on my blog.

If you want to know more about me, my new book "Fearproof Your Life," and how you can discover this understanding for yourself, go to my website.

Live Fearlessly!

Joe Bailey

Don't Miss: Sedona Arizona Workshop

Fearproof Your Life

November 2 and 3, 2007

[click here for workshop]

[click here for flyer]
Joe will lead a spiritual workshop at
Gregory Drambour's Sedona Sacred Journeys
in Sedona, Arizona

The intention of this Sedona workshop is to provide each participant with an experience and an understanding of how to live a life without the constraints of fear—to live life from our true Self—the source of purpose, wisdom and inspiration.

In this two-day program we will explore the nature of fear, what its roots are, and how to naturally operate from a fearless state, thus improving the quality of our lives in each of these areas:

• Self-confidence
• Trusting our Selves—our instincts, insights, intuitions, dreams and wisdom
• To live your life courageously and with a sense of acting on your spiritual purpose
• To allow yourself to love and be loved
• To discover how to immunize yourself from the fears of others and those that use fear to control and manipulate others for their own purpose
• To listen deeply to your inner voice—the language of the heart and your spiritual intelligence
• To act from inspiration your whole life, with others and the world

Through a gentle and relaxing process we will discover our true Self, a place where fear does not reign, only love. We will learn and discover through:

• Presentations
• Reflection and journaling
• Small group sharing and exercises
• Dialoguing through question and answers

Cost: $495 (travel and lodging not included)