Okay so there were some technical difficulties with Oprah's online course last night. I gave up around 9:15 and went to bed. This morning, they don't have the podcast up.

But before I did I got something out of it.

A few big things - for me.

1)Different places have their own frequency and vibe. I've had an increasing urge to MOVE out of East Texas for over a year now. This place - the local culture, the vibe of the evangelical religious right - just feels oppressive to me. I feel an undeniable pull toward an ocean and a city - I always feel more connected to my self, the planet, and God when I am near a beach. I feel creatively and emotionally fulfilled surrounded by the metropolitan conveniences. My ideal culture would also be more open-minded. I've lived in other oppressive cultures before and I just don't feel I can live up to my full potential and fully express myself in places that are narrow-minded and oppressive. I feel like I'm creatively oppressed here, like I'm holding myself back with the mental and emotional energy field here. I think my husband feels the same way, but he's more resistant to change than I am. I've been praying and meditating that we'd get the perfect job offer in a large coastal city with open-mindedness and forward thinking in the culture.

Eckhart Tolle described his NEED to move when writing the book A New Earth and his other book The Power of Now. He described it as the energy field in a city or place. He articulated what I'm feeling in a way that made my feelings of wanting to move more legitimate and valid.

Having lived in lots of different places I can tell you for sure that New York City has a different vibe than East Texas, Brooklyn has a different vibe than Manhattan, Morro Bay, California has a totally different frequency than Tooele, Utah and Salt Lake City has a different vibe and frequency than Lithuania. That there is a different energy field in different locations on the planet is undeniable.

None of these places are bad or wrong. They are just different on a fundamental level and they effect people's thinking and emotional-live's differently. I yearn to be in a place that feels more friendly and accepting of who I am.

To tell you the truth I'm tired of being such a gypsy - but, the thought of making this place my permanent residence makes my soul revolt. I'm praying for the perfect opportunity to gracefully move to the perfect permanent residence for our family.

2) The second major insight I got was that all creative endeavor is born of stillness.

This is huge. It's not necessarily news to me now, but it brings me back to a time after Zack was born when I realized my mind was taking on a life of it's own and it just never shut up! Shut up! I would yell to my own mind. I can't sleep, I can't focus, I can't make decisions! I can't have any peace!

I started taking yoga to combat what Tolle calls incessant thinking- the constant and repetitive background noise of our minds.

It has taken me about two years to accomplish more a discipline in my mind. I'm meditating every day and taking yoga and feeling more centered and feeling more peace and stillness in my mind. It truly is making me feel more creative. Prior to this experience I'm not sure I ever really saw the value in stillness. I think all that thinking was sort of like - self-stimulation - mental masturbation is the best way I can describe it. Activity that's not really producing a truly gratifying result for cheap entertainment.

The third thing is that I noticed was my emotional response to the Christian question. Can I believe in consciousness and in Jesus too? Since reading A New Earth I have had my eyes opened to the true meaning in the Bible. I truly feel awakened when I read it now. Previously inconceivable passages now have meaning.

If you don't think there is any way to experience God than through your rigid plan - fine, stay invested in your rightness. But, for me - I know that I do not get closer to God by invalidating or minimizing anyone's spiritual experience. That applies to Mormons, Evangelicals, Catholics, Buddhists, Muslims, Hindus, Christians, Atheists, Agnostics, Yogis, any one else on the planet.

Did anyone else have any personal insights while watching Oprah's online course about A New Earth? Please share - I would love to hear about your personal insights.