Well, October 2019 finally came along, and that Fearless Living program was fast approaching. This was going to be my 59th year on this planet, so this year was significant for me as I was about to turn 60 in 2020. I tried everything to get out of going to that Fearless Living workshop; what was I fearful about? I didn't think that I needed to go to it. It didn't seem relevant anymore. However, every time I tried to cancel, change, postpone, or do anything that I tried to do, something prevented me from doing it.
I figured that if I was going to have to go all the way to California, I might as well fly out to Seattle to visit my newfound friend Michael Sheridan and his wife for a couple of days and then take a train down the coast of USA and see what I can see. However, it was a short trip, just 36 hours, to the California workshop.
As it turned out, Michael and his wife also attended this workshop. However, they would be flying there, so the plan was in place. I would fly to Vancouver and then head to Seattle the next day.
Seattle
Finally, the day came, and I flew out of Buffalo straight to Seattle. When I arrived in Seattle, Michael was there to greet me, and we were just like two old friends, even though we had only met in August. He took me around to all the sights, and I learned very quickly that I'm not a sights kind of guy, so we spent a lot of time talking; he told me about dream interpretation and spiritual Awakening. I had never believed in spiritual awakening or channelling or any of the many gifts he had talked about. I had always felt we had guardian angels; I could feel it in my heart, but I had never spoken in that much depth about them.
Odd Thing
We went out often for dinner. I wasn't there for very long, but we did have dinner out a couple of times, and I noticed something strange; it was just an odd thing that every time Sandy, Michael's wife, would order food, she would look to Michael and say is this okay can I have this and Michael would sort of glance in the air, and he'd say yes or no. I thought that was a little bit odd. Is Michael some control freak, or is he some kind of nutritionist who knows what she should or should not have? In reality, he would check with his guides to see if that was an acceptable choice for her.
Childhood Trauma
While there, we talked a lot about what he did and what I did, and I met his daughter and grandchildren. During one of our outings to see some of the locks in Seattle, Michael asked me about my childhood, and I told him that I couldn't remember my childhood, that I had no memories whatsoever, and, years before, my siblings had sent out a note to everyone saying that we were going to write up memories of our childhood as a gift for my Mom and Dad. I could not contribute to that gift because I had zero childhood memory. Michael told me that if I had no memories of my childhood, there must have been some trauma that I experienced that prevented me from remembering. I told him that that was not possible because, you know, I lived in a very happy family of nine children and everybody was great. I loved my family and loved my parents, and there was never any issue. However, he said that if your memories are blocked, it likely was caused by a trauma sometime in your childhood. He said that dream interpretation could help me find the answer.
I didn't believe that trauma could be involved; I just assumed that you know, as you get older, you can't remember things. I was 59 years old, and I could not remember anything about my childhood for as long as I could remember.
Then, it was time to catch a train and head down to California to attend the Fearless Living workshop. It was called the Fearless Foundations workshop. Michael drove me to the train station shaking his head, thinking that it was silly for me to take the train and they were going to fly. However, I was looking for a bit of an adventure to check things out, travelling along the west coast of the USA.
Rhonda Britten
Once I arrived in California, the course was the next day. Upon arrival to the class, Rhonda was sitting up at the front, and Michael and I sat beside each other in the class. However, we weren't very well-behaved and joking around a little bit. Rhonda immediately called us out and made us sit in different spots, making us feel like young schoolchildren again; however, she was probably right, as we would have been disruptive as we were in Montreal during that other session.
Something profound happened to me during that session; at the end of one of the segments, they did a group hug just before lunch. I'm not much of a hugger, so this was slightly awkward. Still, I decided to come into this course with an open mind and not be restricted by silly things like not wanting to hug anybody and at the end of that hug, I started to shake. It was an uncontrollable shake. I couldn't figure out what was happening as my whole body was shaking, so I quietly stood against the wall, trying to stay out of view as they were debriefing about the group hug. Still, I couldn't stop shaking, and Rhonda noticed that I was shaking and recognized that I was having a trauma response to the event.
My Path had Changed.
Suddenly, my childhood memories started to come back. And in fact, I had had traumatic events as a child. I had two specific ones, the most prominent at age seven, and so began my life, turning 60 and learning way more about myself than I ever knew. This event also marked the beginning of my spiritual awakening. My life's path had changed forever.
