Serenity & Courage

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,

http://www.livingincourageonline.com

Posted in Books I Read, Courage, My Stories | No Comments »

Debra Oakland’s E-Book - Living in Courage

I wanted to let you know my e-book is finished and up on the site for you to download. I would like to tell you how this book and website came about. I had decided to create a website around the word Courage. I built my first website in iWeb on my Mac. I realized very quickly that I knew practically nothing on the internet. I needed help and fast.

With the abundant help of our friend Lennie Appelquist, who is genius in online strategies. I suggest you go to my blogroll to find Lennie or go to Free Market Media and pick up his Wordpress Guide. Lennie has gone far beyond the call of duty, and knows how grateful I am. Living in Courage was created as a website on Wordpress, which is blog based, but is gaining popularity for website building. I did not know where to go from there, but knew I wanted to write.

A few months ago I was on a conference call listening to a man named David Riklin from Self Growth, the largest self improvement website on the internet. You will find me there listed under the expert section as the Courage Expert. David was talking about an e-book class he would be teaching for 8 weeks. I was intrigued, but had no intention of taking the class. My husband Cody had been in the other room and asked how the call was. I said it was good and sounded like a great way to learn more about writing e-books. I had been writing for years and stuffing it under the bed! We talked a bit and Cody said he thought I should take the course. He was very persistent, which surprised me. He walked me to the computer and signed me up. He asked if I could commit to something very foreign to me that would take a great deal of time and effort. I said a huge YES. The course was fantastic for me, and more work than I had anticipated. I disappeared for almost 3 months from regular life. I was trying to learn about blogs, social networking, branding, websites, navigating the internet, using my new Mac, SEO, studying internet gurus and their techniques, learning about writing, e-books, articles, editing, pdf and word doc files, you name it. Cody, along with my amazing friend Nicole McKinney were constant sources of encouragement. Since we all were involved in business projects at the same time, support for each other has been key. Cody is at 2media and Nicole is in Toronto Canada running very successful branding company for corporations - you can contact her at nicole.mckinney@sypatico.ca.

While taking David’s class, he strongly suggested we each join a master mind group. I love the group I joined, who will never know how much they helped me grow, as I knew nothing, zero, zip, when I joined. 10 of us from the master mind have just completed a group e-book “Guide to Home Based Business,” my chapter being the last in the book and on balance while working at home. You can download the free e-book at Guide to Home Based Business.

I have met some wonderful people. I and am now working on different projects with a few of them. In regards to my book, I started by writing articles and put some of them together for this short e-book. I used a wonderful editor Andrea Glass at WritersWay, who was very patient and fantastic to work with.

Chris Cade has been a constant source of inspiration who has helped me with my writing, along with some editing. You will find Chris Cade at Spiritual Stories and Parables, or in my blogroll.

There have been moments I wanted to pull my hair out with frustration at trying to learn so much in such a short period of time, and days of pure bliss and gratitude. I am so happy to be on this journey and it is just beginning. I will begin my next book, which will involve interviewing people around the world, writing, and learning many new skills. It took all the courage I could muster to get through leaving a 28 year career and following my inner guidance system as I took action each day. I know that I am being led perfectly each day in every action. I anticipate wonderful changes, movement and growth for this website. It has only been 3 months! Think what will happen in the next year. What an amazing time we live in. Many changes are occurring now that have been spoken of throughout history. I for one and excited to be participating in the great and many changes that are coming our way. This world will change, and as it does, I hope Living in Courage will be a place people can come for hope, courage, strength, honor, comfort, fun and information that will help heal the heart. Thank you for sharing this journey with me.

Posted in Books I Read, Courage, My Music, My Stories, Quotes that Rock | 2 Comments »

How My Story Launched This Website

Imagine this, over a 6 year period, I lost my 21 year old son, my unborn baby girl in my 8th month of pregnancy, 2 brothers to AIDS, and my father. I could have given up, felt sorry for myself, made it about me, instead I asked myself what each one of them would have wanted for me, and that was to live a life of courage, to encourage others, to have a wonderful life. Today I live with Cody, my awesome husband of 22 years, who walked this journey with me, lending me strength and courage every step of the way. Cody and I live such a blessed and incredible life together. I know that I have come through all of this more courageous, stronger, able to cope with life in a much more powerful way because of the lessons learned along the way.

Since the beginning of time, there have been stories of courage. We have all read many books, seen movies that inspire or encourage us to the depths of our soul, been around people who we look at with wonder because of the courageous things they have done. Sometimes it is something very simple, yet so profound that changes our day, sometimes it is more than we can wrap our minds around. Whatever it is that shakes us up and out of old negative patterns we wish to break, should be welcomed with open arms.

Please share your moments of courage and inspiration on this site, so we may help assist each other up to a heightened awareness of what we all are capable of. We are each a powerful architect of our own life direction, which gives us choices as to the direction we want our lives to move into.

I am so excited to hear from you. I ask that this space be kept positive and uplifting to all who visit. This is a place to come and relax with friends for a period of time, knowing that there is always a way to fulfill your dreams and assist others to reach theirs as well.

Dedicate yourself to Living In Courage, and it is my pleasure to present you with a place to share, to dream. Dream big and don’t ever, ever let anyone discourage you. Reach deep inside yourself and you will always find what you are looking for.

Posted in My Stories | 4 Comments »