Hello my name is Brenda Peeler. I first met Robyne about the time her brain began shutting down from the bus accident she was involved with. In fact, I joined her wellness center in Harrison, AR. I was intrigued, like many others of the town, by Robyne's knowledge, mind set and her approach not just with the physical but the mental and spiritual aspects as well. That was back in 1999 and it was only like one year later that her brain began shutting down with frequency and I am the one who helped drive her to Scottsdale AZ to the Barrows Institute. It's been many years since I have seen Robyne and I am very excited with her "Heroine's Journey" and her film documentary on the "Great Divide".
When Robyne asked if I would like to do the introductional interview on her I was more than willing as I too had questions. Hope you enjoy and that I have asked all the right questions for you to know one interesting individual.
Brenda: Robyne, before we start the interview I wanted to say I did a little research on you before today's interview and I am simply amazed by the many new things I learned about you. The one I am in awe over the most is your ancestry. I am truly amazed, yet not surprised. Honestly, learning about your ancestry certainly brings all the pieces of the puzzle together cause I often wondered why you were like you were and how you managed to carry this incredible exuberance and will towards making a positive difference in the lives of the people. Now I can understand why you are like you are.
Robyne: Thanks Brenda. I was pretty amazed too. This is one of those other pieces to my story that pushed me to where I am today. There are many pieces to the whole story but learning about my ancestry was almost like hearing my calling in stereo sound.
Brenda: Have you told anyone of your ancestry yet?
Robyne: No actually I have not. Not yet. There hasn't been anytime. There are so many things I have to share but so much data is coming I can't keep up with organizing it all. I'm thinking it will take some time before I can actually organize everything.
Brenda: Is it ok if I briefly update the viewers with these findings?
Robyne: Sure I don't mind if we give a brief update as too much emphasis on that right now will make it difficult for us to get started with the basics.
Brenda: I understand. I am excited and think it's important for the viewers to at least know this about you right off the bat. I think this will help them understand you better.
Robyne: Do you really think it makes that big of a difference?
Brenda: Honestly, Robyne I do because you are by no means the norm by any standards. I say this with much respect.
Robyne: Haha... you are absolutely right Brenda. I guess I am so accustom to my self and the way I have been my whole life I just never questioned it. When I first learned of my ancestry I did feel more at home and like you I had a little more insight as to why I am like I am.
Brenda: Ok well lets tell the viewers what I just learned about you. And maybe it doesn't make much of a difference to the viewers but I am impressed. I'm excited to be the first to say that Robynes family name; Arrow, is the original viking family and in that same family line there is Constantine which takes us to Constantine the Great. WOW Robyne!!! LOL
Robyne: Haha Brenda you're sounding more and more like a well spoken commentator. I guess I am just use to the ancestry now. When I first learned of my ancestry I couldn't believe what I was reading because these are the same things I have stood for, far over 40 years, basically my whole life. And to think this is the time in history that Christianity was brought into full control of the government in this instance the Roman Empire. Simply Amazing!! I just want to give the people back what is rightfully theirs. And I think it shows I have been successfully attempting to do this for over 40 years!
Brenda: What have you been trying to give back to the people Robyne?
Robyne: A choice! That they know they have a choice and the first step to understanding what that choice is comes from embracing self. Only then can one begin to understand.
Brenda: I know this is the very reason why I was so excited about mentioning it. In fact I truly believe more needs to go into this discussion but for now where do you wish to begin the interview Robyne?
Robyne: There is so much to say Brenda. Probably the best place to start is mentioning the power of prayer or the power of thought. Shortly after the bus accident and acknowledging how quickly and abruptly my life was changing from the brain injury I got down on my knees and asked GOD that if he had to strip me of everything I could accept but to please grant me one wish and that was to never take away who I was and what I felt inwardly. I feared not losing materialistic items, even my health you could say but to lose who I was inwardly, to lose what I felt and believed I was terrified.
After 16 years I am most graciously thankful as who I am and my beliefs remain only to grow with incredible insight and an understanding of a great many things. And yes, I may have been stripped of every materialistic item I have ever owned however, had it not been for who I am and what I believe I honestly doubt I would have overcome what others said I couldn't and even be here today taking my commitment to the people to this next level. So the power of prayer or as some say the power of thought, to me through my experiences, is the most powerful gift granted to each and everyone of us.
Brenda:Robyne I don't mean to interrupt but I feel an obligation to ask, "You have mentioned God on several occasions so I feel inclined to ask, Who is God to you?".
Well the God within is the joy, peace and happiness I have always felt inside. My God never really came from a book or what others said he was to be. I guess you could say that over the years I felt a special presence within and it is this presence who I claim to be God. He doesn't have a face but he has an existence within. And now the experiences from these past 16 years have me believing there is much more, sort of a grander picture to all there is.
Brenda:What experiences have led you to say this Robyne?
Robyne: Well first of all my past has a lot to do with how I feel today. When I made the commitment to make a difference in the lives of others at the young age of three, I knew there was more to my commitment. I just didn't understand it completely back then and besides my commitment to the people was much bigger than life to me. Adhering to this commitment took everything I had not just at three years of age but well into adulthood. I focused on this commitment knowing one day I would be led to the next step. It wasn't until I perservered this commitment for almost thirty years that I began to awaken to the fact that it was time to enter this next phase.
Brenda: What led to this awakening?
Robyne: You could say it was the experience of seeing the majority of people I worked with succeed with the insight I shared, that I began to realize there was more to what I taught; embracing self, loving self, giving self credit for who you are, where you have been and where you want to go.
At this time there was a driving force felt within telling me it was time to move on to the next step. At first I didn't want to move on... I seriously loved working with the people at the level I had been and seeing their great many successes. I tried to ignore this driving force however, I soon learned the more I tried to ignore this force within the more intense this force became. The time had come to take the next step.
Brenda:Robyne what do you mean move on to the next step?
Robyne: In the beginning, after acknowledging this new force within I wasn't so sure what the next step was I just knew there was more to learn and share thus I had to get in touch with myself to learn what that was. I too knew, to keep sharing at the same level as I had I could not prove to be as productive as once was. This is when I began to waken up to the next chapter of my commitment. The next step began with first accepting it was time to move on. I didn't know how to leave what I had been a part of since I was a baby. What I had shared with hundreds of thousands of people for almost thirty years was all I knew and looking out the window to a new horizon was scary but I knew I had to move on to a much deeper aspect of self. Self is the key word here.
The way I had been those thirty years was about using myself; world-class athlete, bicycle across country, thousands of lectures, etc., etc, to achieve a great many things so others could see all the many possibilities of what life had to offer. The time had come for me to look inside self and dig deeper after all up to this point I really didn't know myself other than this person who kept giving and giving and giving. I sort of forgot or you could say I never knew of myself as a person per-say rather a vehicle for others. I had to let go of that in order to learn about self and the many new things to share. Lord knows I wanted to stay where I was however, all in all, I could not run from the feelings within. I knew I had to move on and I tell you what it was really hard to walk away from the only thing I knew not to mention something I was good at and enjoyed with all my heart and being. Because of this conflict I began calling God up asking for assistance.
Brenda:Wow Robyne, this is really deep!
Robyne: I know but what's even deeper is I began praying to God six weeks before I was off to perform another coast to coast bike tour, national competition with major sponsors, body double work, boys home seminars, and so much more. I knew deep in my heart I was not going to attend any of those events. I was nervous because not showing up at any of the events meant ruining my career in the health and fitness industry. It was three weeks later when after I had a haircut, as I like a zombie knowing not how to stop was continuing the prepping motions of attending these events even while in my heart I knew I would not be there, that I was sitting in my parked car.
While sitting in my parked car along side a meter on a busy Saturday afternoon, June 29, 1996 I was basically in tears. "What am I going to do every one is going to hate me, but I must stop this madness. What more can I do to show others the possibilities? Climb Mt. Everest? No, I'm done... I must move on.". I reached inside even deeper screaming to God isn't what people do with their lives on them and what I do with mine on me. I can't continue using myself to help others see, feel and be. I was in tears mourning what I knew would soon cease to be. This was about the time I heard a voice in the backseat of my car on the passenger side. The voice was like my own kid voice and it said, "you need to turn around". I ignored it at first due to the fact I was in my own self pity. But then the voice screamed like the exorcist screaming in a deep tone, "YOU NEED TO TURN AROUND NOWWWWW!" Like someone throwing their hands up to your face and you blink I turned around with great force and this was when I saw the commuter bus heading right towards the car door where I was sitting. I had just enough time to throw my arms around my face and curse words you don't want me to repeat. Not a second later, bam.
Brenda:Oh my God Robyne I know I've heard this story before but each time I hear this story I get chills down the back of my spine!
Robyne: Yea pretty crazy stuff. And it seems the story gets even more intense like a magnet I am drawn to something. I will always believe the bus accident was a gift and perhaps the sole reason why and how I managed to overcome the brain injury. Many have said it was an evil force trying to take me out of the picture for things to come. I say it was a gift from God.
It is through this gift that I have acquired a great understanding of many things. The biggest, which I believe God led me to understand, is that there is even a higher source. One even greater than he!
Brenda:Are you serious? This is something new I have never heard you speak of. Are you sure you want to share this?
Robyne: I must share what I have within and what I have learned. I know the probabilities of things to come throughout society by saying this however, I must be honest and truthful at all expense. It is this important and I am willing to risk everything. As intense and crazy as all this sounds I fear not. What I do fear is not moving forward. Besides if I can overcome what others said I couldn't I can handle whatever comes my way through speaking my heart and what I believe. Have you ever heard or seen me lead people astray?
Brenda: Actually no Robyne I haven't.I understand your reasoning but not everyone would be this honest and forthright especially at their own expense. I am intrigued. Please, go on.
Robyne: I can feel there is something much greater than God. Not that God isn't worthy of our love and belief. He is! For God is far greater than anything else will ever be. He is however, one part of the whole. I do believe it is through God that we can see, hear and feel all things. After all it is God within. And I do believe this is what he wants others to know and why I have experienced what I have not just these last 16 years as I have but through my life in general. Perhaps the accident was a means of keeping me humbled through these experiences? This I will never know but I am here now willing to risk everything even my name to speak what I believe to be the truth thus the reason for the Heroine's Journey and the film documentary the, "Great Divide". I am sure most will agree this journey is important.
Brenda:Robyne, as you reach towards this higher source you speak of, "what will happen to your relationship with God?".
Robyne: I have already experienced this hurdle. As I started gaining a greater awareness of this higher source and acknowledging perhaps this higher source could be bigger than God I had a conversation with God. I spoke to him of the things I was learning and feeling and let him know that He, God, would always be with me as I knew him and that no way would I EVER cast him aside. You could say my relationship with God has enhanced from this awareness.
Brenda: Do you still feel God within you? Do you still hear his words as you spoke of him before the accident?
Robyne: Why of course! Louder than ever but you know I have noticed one thing.
Brenda:What is that?
Robyne: That God speaks to me differently. The words are softer more soothing, loving and gentle. Almost like he trusts me more now. Like I am on the right path and he doesn't need to keep yelling at me, not in a bad way, as he had just to get my attention.
Brenda:Why did you feel a need to speak of these things with God?
Robyne: Well because I love the God I have inside while at the same time I believe there is something more and I want God to know he is going to always be by my side no matter what I found, felt or learned. It's important to me he knows this. And the more I awaken the more important I believe all of this is. He is my first love, the first feeling I ever felt. I never want my relationship with him to cease.
Brenda:Don't you think God already knows what's in your heart?
Robyne: Sure I do but I believe he wants to hear our spoken words just like we as humans need to hear his words. The relationship with God is like a bond between two people and the bond only gets richer through communication; words each party speaks. I want God along with me on this journey cause in all honesty I believe it is through him that led me to where I am today and he is the only one who can lead me and keep me safe on this specific path.
Brenda:Robyne was there ever a time where you had feelings or insight like this before the bus accident?
Robyne: I did, but I really didn't understand the insight as I do now. When I first heard these words I was too young and hadn't experienced enough to understand. Then as my commitment grew with age I was too focused, too busy adhering to my commitment to the people. Even though I always knew there was more.
A lot of challenges were overcome these last 16 years and with each one I learned something new. With each lesson learned I had new questions. With each question answered I awakened even further with an increasing amount of confidence about self. It wasn't until I started overcoming the brain injury and looking outward that I became a bit frightened and went back inside self to try and understand the fear. Then there were visions, quantum leap experiences and so many other various signs. I was finding the speed of my growth increasing day by day, second by second and can only compare it to that of a long and grueling stillness to that of an arrow shooting across the sky almost as if I was meant to make up for lost time. I knew I had taken a long time coming out of the accident but, for those who don't understand, there was so much more than the physical aspects of the brain damage.
Brenda: I remember you mentioning in an early conversation about the time you started to go back out into society after being away for over a decade that you didn't like what you saw. Can you explain?
Robyne: Well what I had come to realize over time is that not only had I changed, because in the beginning I thought the confusion with what I was seeing out in the public was within me. Throughout the years and many attempts at looking out at the world I realized that both society and myself had changed. And from the continual attempts of inner progression I found myself more attentive to a world I knew very little about. I had to go back in again to prepare myself for what I feared.
Brenda: What were you afraid of?
Robyne: That instead of people getting stronger, more focused as I had always hoped and spent my whole life working towards inspiring others to do within I saw society was losing ground and the inner control they once had.
Brenda: But, why where you thinking that way?
Robyne: I was wanting to give all aspects, all sides the benefits of the doubt. This is just the way I think. After all, I acknowledged I had been pretty much dormant for over ten years while overcoming the brain injury. After a few more additional years consistently improving upon self and taking another look outward after a few years of this I began to recognize it wasn't just me but society had changed too. This is to be expected I thought after all it had been over a decade and a lot can happen in one year not to mention ten years or sixteen. But I have learned and experienced a great many more things since even then.
Brenda: Can you give us one instance?
Robyne: I would love too because in all honesty many more instances have been experienced. For example, one late summer eve as I was driving down the highway I mysteriously turned to look out the driver side window of my car to witness a big, bright star or maybe even a planet up in the sky. No matter how many turns I followed on the highway that night or how deep I traveled onto the back roads of the forest, to get to my cabin, that star appeared to follow every move I made as if trying to capture my attention. After getting a bit aggravated by the gesture of its constant appearance, I looked up at the sky one more time and shouted, "what is it.... what do you want?". Seconds later, startled by a voice I slammed on the brakes of my car to hear the voice say, "You need to take photos of the night sky for thirty days. Then from this experience along with the photos you will find the answers you seek. Afterwards, you must share what you learn with the people.". I sat in the darkness of my car, in the middle of the forest on this gravel road, frozen unable to move while attempting to make sense out of what just happened. At first my thoughts were, "I'm not taking any photos" and then the phone rang. The person on the other end was a good friend of mine whom I began to confide in what just happened and to my amazement my friend say's, "I would take the photos for thirty days". "You would?", I replied.
So, there I am the next night outdoors in the middle of the forest with a camera in my hand looking through the lens up towards the sky at the big, bright star. At first I didn't want to take any photos. Honestly I felt like a jerk standing out there in the middle of the forest looking up to the night sky. Sure, I was infatuated but what the heck was I doing? I truly couldn't make sense of it until, to my amazement, I begin talking to the star. I asked, "Do you know who I am?". "What is my reason for being out here?" Honestly Brenda, I didn't know what to do other than speak to it. With my finger on the capture button I was literally afraid of taking the first photo. "What was I going to find up there?", I kept repeating to myself. Then I hear the sound of the camera's click button. I had just taken the first photo and then another and another and another. Actually I was somewhat captivated by these first photos as they looked like stars blowing up into a thousand tiny pieces like fireworks on a fourth of July. I certainly had never seen anything like this before. So the mystery started captivating my enthusiasm and my reason for being outdoors at that time of the night started making a little sense. Eventually after taking, probably around one hundred photos I went inside the cabin to hook my camera up to the computer and I could not believe my eyes!
Brenda: What did you see? I have heard of planets changing their alignment but I'm curious as to what you saw.
Robyne: Remember when I mentioned asking if this planet or star knew who I was? There were a few photos with my first initial along side my last name. My heart began racing of sheer excitement when I saw the photos. "What am I working with here?", I thought. "Is this star trying to converse with me?". I look at a few more photos and to my amazement there are symbols; arrow's, of my last name in the photos. Perhaps this is all a coincidence I thought. I aimed to prove this just a freak mishap with tomorrow evenings photos.
Brenda: Very strange. Do you think it was a coincidence your name was on the photo's? Do you plan on sharing the photos?
Robyne: Well I don't know. I have learned over the years there are no such things as coincidences. Then if there are not such things as coincidences then what about the next night, and the night after and the night after? Brenda, this went on for the whole thirty days. For instance, the next night I go outside with a completely different mindset and enthusiasm towards taking photos. As I look up towards the sky I can't help but say to the big, bright star/planet, "I Love You". I begin to somewhat converse with the star, the cosmos, maybe the universe...I'm not really sure who or what I was talking to. So after taking probably the same amount of photos as the previous night I went back inside to view the photos. The same thing happened. This star appears to be reacting to my comments. One of the photos shows three words, "I luv u". Once again, because after all I am having somewhat of a hard time believing the experience that I ask myself, "Could it be this star is wanting to converse with me?". I know anything is possible but I have never experienced anything so amazing in my life. There were even heart shaped symbols on other photos that night. Why weren't these symbols, words even my name on any of the other nights when I asked something else? I find it fascinating the photos appeared to respond to the questions I asked. And yes, I have the photos to share with time stamps and everything. In fact I wrote a book on this called, "Conversation with the Cosmos".
Brenda: This is a great experience. So this went on for thirty days?
Robyne: Exactly a profound thirty day experience unlike any other. Each night the messages become clearer and more dramatic both in photos and conversation. The last night on the thirthieth day I began to cry while I made mention how much I was going to miss conversing and taking photos. It was time for me to go back to Houston, I was even behind schedule, before winter settled into the midwest. The photos that night showed the words "cry" in the sky along with a stick figure containing all the many chakra colors waving goodbye. If conversing with the cosmos is truly real, can you imagine all the possibilities? What a life changing experience!
Brenda: The story is truly hard to phantom and yes life changing to say the least. So many questions come to mind like, "What is up there? Is there more than one? Why have they chosen now to converse and why you? and What are they really trying to say?"
Robyne: There is so much more to share. I'm really trying hard to keep these stories to a minimum so you don't feel like you're reading a book. But it was this next story I am about to share that encouraged me to fulfill this journey I call the Heroine's Journey. First let me ask what do you think about the power of history or to be more accurate your ancestry? Do you believe in the strength of your ancestry and that their traits can be found even within you a thousand or more years later? What if you found out your family was entitled to the rights of England's monarchy than the current monarchy itself as one family had learned? Or, what if you had visions or dreams throughout your life and what you learned through your ancestry answers your questions as to why you have been having certain dreams your whole life? Would it help you make specific future choices, would the knowledge help you become more centered or focused or help you make life changing choices? What do you think? Or would it not change your decisions at all? Even though everyone is going to react differently I think it's a fair question to ask. Because I learned about my ancestry and I was shocked to learn, even close friends made mention, no wonder you are like you are. And it's true, Not only did learning about my ancestry provide me with a few chuckles my ancestry also helped me recognize where I was headed on this journey bridging the gap between christianity and spirituality. So not only do I have my reasons but historically speaking this is necessary, not to mention the incredible insight from numerous historical events to the extent of the cosmos conversing to me through photos.
Brenda: So, Robyne what do you wish to gain from this experience of the Heroine's Journey? Why are you sharing it with society? Are you trying to make a name for yourself?
Robyne: First no I am not trying to make a name for myself. If this was the case I would have been in the limelight years ago. Remember how during the 1994 Child Safety Bike Tour where the media showed up at a few different events? Remember how I told them they needed to leave because this event was not meant for the public only those who were a part of it in person? What about the time I did a public awareness day at Jamestown Mall where over 20,000 people showed up to a public awareness event and one of the speakers, Paul Cummins came to me and offered me a $500 check. I told him this was not a fundraiser rather a public awareness event. I stand true to my heart and what I believe. My soul is not for sale and my belief system cannot be bought.
Brenda: Robyne I know you said you wanted to avoid having a long drawn out interview. Well so far we have been here for a little over an hour and a half. I think we may have been here a little longer than we both anticipated. Are there any few last words you would like to share?
Robyne: I cannot pretend to know how this journey will end. Will I complete it? What experiences I will have to write about? Will they be powerful enough to move you and myself? What will the fate of this journey be in the end? If you choose to pursue this journey with me you will get to learn more about me as well as yourself and know you are definitely on a once in a lifetime quest with a person who may have more to offer than what meets the eye. I'm happy to be here sharing the next phase of my life with you, what I suspect is and will be the grand finale. I feel very blessed and fortunate. God Bless, Robyne Arrow
Brenda: Thanks Robyne for your time and for asking me to interview you during this very important time. I suspect what you say is true for numerous reasons as I myself have felt things changing both within and without not to mention everything you have always talked and spoke of in the past up to this point has proven itself. I will be watching intently as I follow you on this quest of the Heroine's Journey. Good luck and I will continue to pray you remain safe and within God's reach.
