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