Ok, now you are probably going to think I’ve lost the plot. Twitter changed my life. Let me tell you how. AND I am going to attempt to tell this story in lines of 140 characters or less. It all started when I launched my book “The Garden of the Soul” in April 2009. After a year of mastering [...] […]
Presenting an exciting NEW concept on the Internet, combining coaching, learning, community and business-building in a creative, spirit-based environment… SPIRIT AUTHORS GRAND OPENING Register for free at: http://spiritauthors.com/pages/grand-opening.html Spirit Authors (www.spiritauthors.com) is an innovative new membership site where established, new and […]
SIDEBAR NOTE: If you haven’t yet gotten your copy of Allison Maslan’s Number-1 seller, check this page out before Friday 29 January: http://myblastoff.com/booklaunch to receive 20 free mind-body-spirit gifts when you buy the book, “Blast Off!”. This is a true story of how one small thing can change your life. Back in September 2009, a fellow named [...] […]
I have a HUGE appeal I want to make to all of you. As most of you know by now, amongst other things, I am a book promotion coach for spirit-based authors. For the past 5 months, I’ve been working with a VERY wonderful woman named Allison Maslan. Allison came to me wanting me to design [...] […]
TUESDAY UPDATE! Yesterday I told you all about the launch of the book Blast Off! by my good friend and client, and fellow Spirit Author, Allison Maslan. Well I am pleased to announce that her book came out early this morning and has already been dancing around the top 25 list in “Entrepreneurship” category all morning here [...] […]
Hi everyone! Happy Monday to you. I just HAD to put this blog post up today because tomorrow, Tuesday 19 January, is a day I’ve been looking forward to for the past 5 months. Tomorrow is the day that my very good friend and client, Allison Maslan, is launching her new self-help book Blast Off! The [...] […]
By guest blogger Allison Maslan Note from Lynn: The exciting launch of Allison’s new book, Blast Off! The Surefire Success Plan To Launch Your Dreams Into Reality is coming THIS Tuesday, January 19. To find out how you can buy the book and receive more than 20 beautiful mind-body-spirit gifts during the launch, go to www.myblastoff.com/booklaunch. Are [...] […]
I can hardly believe that we are now into the second decade of the new millennium. It seems like only yesterday I was watching the fireworks over London (on TV) as we passed from the 20th century into the 21st. I don’t know about you, but I have a truly wonderful feeling about this [...] […]
It’s hard to believe that my radio show Lynn Serafinn’s Garden of the Soul is coming up to its 1st anniversary this month with episode 49. I wanted to celebrate the occasion in style, so I had in mind I wanted an extra special guest for that particular broadcast. I am delighted to tell you who [...] […]
Happy New Decade everyone. I am SO pleased to reveal the identity of some of the FANTASTIC guests I have lined up for the first few months of 2010 for Lynn Serafinn’s Garden of the Soul radio show on BlogTalkRadio. You’ll see some names that will really interest you, I know! The shows are not [...] […]
Many thanks to Simon Ireland-Davies of ID Coaching, Liverpool, who selected the number 65 for this week’s meditation. If you would like to help me write my upcoming book “The Companion Guide to the Garden of the Soul” and possibly have your name listed in the acknowledgements of the book, and announced on my weekly radio broadcast, just select a number from 1-80 and post it in the comment thread below.
Meditation 65: Wisdom
from “Lessons from the Lily: the Principle of Being”
Wisdom is the natural energy that flows through us when we surrender our ego so we may establish our connection with the Divine. Wisdom does not come to us as the result of learning. It is not something can be increased by any type of effort. Wisdom is Eternal, Infinite and Absolute. It belongs to no one and to everyone, simultaneously and equally. When we imagine that we can capture Wisdom via our own efforts, we are operating from the platform of ego, wherein we imagine that there is a limited amount of Wisdom to be gained in the Universe, and that it can be controlled and conquered by our own efforts. If this were the case, then the Universe would be a merciless and poverty-stricken place, as only the strongest or most intellectually gifted would ever have access to Wisdom. But the Truth is the Universe is infinitely opulent and full of mercy. Wisdom is the birthright of all living entities, and no effort is required to manifest Wisdom other than to allow it to enter us, without ego blocking its way.
In The Garden of the Soul, the Lily is the bearer of Wisdom. She stands alone, allowing the light of the full Moon to bathe her with its illuminating rays, Without effort, she absorbs whatever Wisdom is shone upon her, and then creates a mesmerising diamond-like mandala of light and reflection around her so that others may be able to see and delight in what she knows intuitively. She does not block the rays via any kind of shade or cover. She allows all of them to shine upon her equally, without judgment or preference…
If you would like to read the rest of this article,
including the Enquiries for the week,
read the complete entry on my NEW blog at http://www.lynnserafinn.com.
AND while you are there, be sure to subscribe to that blog, as this blog will shortly be discontinued and moved to the new site.
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If you would like to find out how to master the four Principles of “Give, Receive, Become and Be” from my book The Garden of the Soul, as well as many other skills for personal transformation, join me and my colleague Vicki Goodyear on the Transformation Trilogy Weekend Workshop Series. Two new UK series starting 17 October (Bedford), and 7 November (Totnes, Devon). Click HERE for complete information and to book your place.
AND… if you think money is an issue, be sure you read about our innovative “Gratitude System” that, we hope, will enable everyone to attend.
See you there!
Warm wishes,
Lynn Serafinn “Turning up the volume of the music in your heart!”
Darlene Siddons, host of "Good Morning Inspiration"
Lynn Serafinn
Lynn Serafinn will be interviewed on the “Good Morning Inspiration Show” with host Darlene Siddons on BlogTalkRadio.
Date: 22 July 2009
Time: 19:00 UK time (2pm Eastern)
Episode title: “Turning Up the Volume of the Music in Your Heart!” Link to show: Click here
Description: Lynn Serafinn is a Personal Transformation Coach, bestselling author, teacher, motivational speaker, talk radio show host and community leader whose passion in life is to help people find and express their authentic voice. Her debut book The Garden of the Soul: lessons from four flowers that unearth the Self is a transformational journey towards finding her own voice, and is an Amazon bestseller in both the UK and the US in spirituality, mind-body-spirit and self-help. Owing to her long and diverse professional history in the music industry– from symphony violinist, to opera singer, to east-west fusion artist, to a number-1 electronic dance artist in the 90’s– Lynn’s writing is lyrical, rhythmic, colourful, highly visual and undeniably metaphoric. Lynn is also the Founder/Leader of the Global Wellness Circle, a thriving community-based holistic education project spread throughout the United Kingdom, and host of the weekly radio show \”Lynn Serafinn\’s Garden of the Soul\” on Blog Talk Radio. On today\’s show, Lynn will share a bit about the creative processes used in writing the book, the key teachings of the book and how they can help us create happier lives, how looking at our own life stories can help us unlock our life purpose, find our inner hero, and find relief from emotional pain. She will also share a few excerpts from the book, read in her uniquely inspirational style.
Start Time: 19:00 UK time Date: 2009-07-22 End Time: 20:00 UK time
Date: Friday 7 August 2009 Start Time: 7.30 PM (doors open at 7pm) Location: Life and Soul Academy, Boxmoor Hall, St Johns Road, Hemel Hempstead, Herts, HP1 1JR Tickets:http://tinyurl.com/gots-7aug09
Lynn Serafinn, MAED, CPCC
A one-woman show!
An unforgettable multi-media performance combining storytelling, music, poetry, performance, inspiration and life lessons. Presented by Lynn Serafinn, award-winning Personal Transformation Coach, teacher, musician, public speaker, radio host and Amazon bestselling author of The Garden of the Soul: lessons from four flowers that unearth the Self.
“As spiritual as Deepak Chopra and as magical as Paulo Coelho.” Lina Nahhas, 1-Urban Humanity
Tickets: £10 at the door; £8 in advance.
Special offer through Friday 17 July ONLY: Get your ticket PLUS a signed copy of the book for only £20 (a 50% savings on cost of entry).
Title: Mind Body Soul Show Location: Real Coaching Network Online Link out: Click here Description: Host Steve Toth interviews author and coach Lynn Serafinn about her book “The Garden of the Soul: lessons from four flowers that unearth the Self” and how the lessons from the four flowers can help to improve our daily lives. Start Time: 2:00 UK time Date: Saturday 27 June (In US: Friday 26 June, 9pm Eastern, 3pm Pacific)
Title: Dresser after Dark Location: Syndicated on 35 different US/UK radio stations (see list) Link out: Click here Description: Host Michael Dresser interviews author Lynn Serafinn about the meaning and teachings of her book “The Garden of the Soul”. Syndicated on 35 radio stations in US and UK. Click the link to see ful list and find a station in your area. Start Time: 1:00 AM Date: 2009-06-25
(Stations shown below in bold have a live internet stream so you can listen right now!)
Author and Personal Transformation Coach Lynn Serafinn hosts British coach, workshop facilitator, award-winning writer, and active permaculture consciousness raiser, Corrina Gordon-Barnes. Winner of the Ooffoo Laureate Award for her writing, Corrina will be sharing her message of the urgency for us humans to make the transition from seeing ourselves as separate beings, to recognising we are all interdependent. She will explain how these unprecedented times are urgently calling each of us to rise above our inhibitions and fears of failures, to invent new, sustainable solutions for our ecological, societal and internal environments. She will also share some of her top tips for overcoming obstacles to new inspirational ventures, so we can create positive change both in our personal lives and in the greater world.
An Evening in the Garden of the Soul Location: Putnoe Library, Library Walk, Putnoe Street, Bedford, MK41 8HQ Date: Thurs 25 June Time: 7pm – 9pm FREE entry (but please reserve your tickets in advance; see below) Click HERE for event flyer: http://www.give-receive-become-be.com/pdfs/Putnoe-Library-Flyer.pdf
Description: Get up close and personal with Lynn Serafinn Bedford Bestselling Author of “The Garden of the Soul: lessons from four flowers that unearth the Self”
BOOK: The Garden of the Soul by Lynn Serafinn
Title:
Author, Coach, Lynn Serafinn
At this very special and transformative event, Lynn will share:
Her creative processes used in writing the book
The key teachings of the book and how they can help us create happier lives
How looking at our own life stories can help us unlock our life purpose, find our inner hero, and find relief from emotional pain
A few excerpts from the book, read in Lynn’suniquely inspirational style.
* Light refreshments served *
* signed copies available for purchase *
* Free admission, but tickets must be reserved in advance *
Pick up your free ticket during opening hours at the Putnoe Library
OR request one from Coral Clarke by calling 01234 276 462
OR via email at Coral.Clarke@bedford.gov.uk
Start Time: 19:00 Date: 2009-06-25 End Time: 21:00
Title: SHINE Radio Show on Westside Radio, Southall, London Location: 89.6FM (London) Link out: Click here Description: SHINE, the weekly west London community motivational show hosted by Carla features Lynn Serafinn, personal transformation coach and author of the Amazon bestseller “The Garden of the Soul: lessons from four flowers that unearth the Self.” Start Time: 15:00 Date: 2009-06-11 End Time: 16:00
Title: TALK RADIO: Integrating Spirit and Human Location: Blog Talk Radio Link out: Click here
Description: Author and Personal Transformation Coach Lynn Serafinn hosts life empowerment facilitator, transformational life coach and talk radio show host, Joe Rumbolo. Joe will share his story of how he overcame the challenges of his own lack of confidence, and learned how to recognise and step into opportunities he would never have dreamed of in the past. He will tell us about his experiences with creative channelling and his thoughts on conscious evolution, and will draw upon the material from his workshops to offer us tips on how to “dump the junk” that holds us back, so we can move towards the ascension of our own higher consciousness.
Listener questions: call at 646-727-3449 during broadcast (US number). An online chat room is available during the show for people to ask questions/make comments.
ABOUT THE SHOW “LYNN SERAFINN\’S GARDEN OF THE SOUL” www.blogtalkradio.com/Lynn-Serafinn
Weekly show exploring personal empowerment, life purpose, balance of mind, body and spirit, and how to tap into the inner hero that lies within every human being. Lynn hosts a line up of distinguished guests including authors, coaches, artists, motivational speakers, social reformers, community leaders and others who are actively making a positive and inspirational impact upon the world.
ABOUT YOUR HOST
Lynn Serafinn, MAED, CPCC, is a Personal Transformation Coach living in Bedford England, dedicated to awakening the authentic voice in all people through her company Create-a-Life.
Lynn is also the Founder/Leader of The Global Wellness Circle, an exciting holistic community project that is rapidly spreading throughout the UK. Start Time: 18:30 UK time (13.30 EDT) Date: 2009-06-10 End Time: 19:00 (1400 EDT)
SHOW: Lynn Serafinn’s Garden of the Soul EP20-Feeling is Healing GUEST: Steve Ryals DATE AIRED:Wednesday 3 June 2009
Every now and then, you meet a person whose every thought, word and way of looking at things just seems to shine back to you like a mirror. My guest on my last episode of “Lynn Serafinn’s Garden of the Soul” was one of those rare mirrors, whose clarity of heart was so evident that we were able to connect within seconds of first speaking together. That person was Mr Steve Ryals, a licensed spiritual coach and “Feelings Coach,” and author of the transformative book Drunk with Wonder: Awakening to the God Within.
Steve’s book kicks off with a bang. The opening words of the first sentence hurtle us directly into a graphic scene in which he describes one of his many experiences shooting speed in Haight Ashbury in the 1960s. From that scene, we travel along with Steve down the rabbit hole of bereavement, depression, alcoholism and dissociation. But Steve shows us this descent only for the sake of contrast, for his book is far from a nostalgic ode to the Summer of Love. It is, rather, a collection of spiritual dialogues between Steve and his Higher Self.
Which brings us to explore the reasons why this book is described as “‘Where What the Bleep Do we Know?’ meets ‘Conversations with God’”.
First, let’s talk about “Conversations.” Dialogue as a literary vehicle is as old as philosophical thought itself. While so many of our modern philosophical works are presented in the form of scholarly theses, the Greeks, the ancient Indian Vedas and countless other oral traditions of the past utilised dialogues (and metaphoric stories) to present and explain complex spiritual concepts. Following in the tradition of these ancient texts, Steve Ryals, in Drunk with Wonder, allows his “Higher Self” to engage in an ongoing debate with his “lower self”, who asks many of the same kinds of questions we might also ask during the process of our own spiritual evolution.Such a dialogue enables Steve to speak eye-to-eye to the reader, rather than positioning himself “above” the reader as some kind of expert. In this way, the reader travels along with Steve as his two “selves” hash out finer details of the meaning of life. In travelling along with Steve on the journey, he becomes our ally in our own transformation.
If any of you have read my book, The Garden of the Soul, you will no doubt remember that I also use dialogue in my discourses with the Four Flowers, the Very Good King, and also in my escapades with Crow in the story “Learning to Breathe.” I did this because I strongly feel that carefully constructed dialogue is possibly one of the most effective means of presenting a deep, spiritual message. Steve’s use of dialogue is slightly different, although the impact is similar. When I read Drunk with Wonder, the dialogue reminded me a bit of how Boethius wrote the classic work The Consolation of Philosophy way back in the 6th or 7th century. In that work, a reluctant and depressed Boethius is visited by the personification of Philosophy, who brings him to a state of Divine Wisdom through the vehicle of dialogue. Steve does much the same in Drunk with Wonder except that his teachings come from our 21st century perspective, where quantum physics, field theory and holistic thinking have informed our way of explaining the nature of Truth.
Which brings us nicely to the whole “What the Bleep Do We Know?” thing. Back in the days when I was studying Vedic (ancient Indian) spirituality, I used to chant a lot of Sanskrit mantras. The Sanskrit word “Sat” appeared in many of them. Most books translated the word “Sat” as “eternity”, but I always felt that this did not give the true purport of the word, so I made up the word “is-ness” to explain what I felt the word “Sat” to mean. I remember my daughter, when she was little, always used to comment on how much she liked that word, because it was easy to understand the complex meaning of the word “Sat” by thinking of it in that way. Well, as I was reading Drunk with Wonder, to my great surprise and delight Steve also uses the word “is-ness” to describe our intrinsic and unchanging state of being. This made-up word speaks to us at a direct and intuitive level that bypasses the intellect and eradicates the need for logic…which I sort of think is at the backbone of Steve’s Truth. When we start to trust and release the need to understand the Infinite by means of our own finite thought, we start to step into the Divine.
Ok, so I’ve tried to explain a little bit about the style in which Steve’s book in written, but in this blog post I am not going to give away what the profound, yet easy to understand, teachings of the book contain. For that, you will just have to pick up your own copy of Drunk with Wonder and travel with Steve through his journeys with his Higher Self. But first, if you want to get a feeling for how, well, feelingly Steve presents his pathway to the Truth, check out his beautiful reading of one of the poems from the book near the end of the podcast. To my delight, he said that there is indeed an audio version of the book available via iTunes (see link below).
Steve and I did quite a lot of talking both before and after the show, and I felt like we had so much more we wanted to share. He is a lovely person, with a lot of passion for his work and for people in general, so he really is (as I said at the top of this article) just so easy to talk to. We both felt there simply wasn’t enough time on the air to cover everything we wanted to discuss. The whole experience has really got me thinking to extend the show to 60 minutes in length. My guests just keep getting better and better and 30 minutes is just not long enough.
Guess I’ll just have to invite Steve back some day.
AND… watch this space, because I’d actually like to collaborate with Steve to create some sort of intercontinental spiritual awakening experience sometime in early 2010. I’ll keep you posted.
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If you want to find out more about Steve and his work, listen to the podcast below. And after you do, be sure to visit Steve’s websites, and check out his book on Amazon.
NEXT ON
Lynn Serafinn’s Garden of the SoulWednesday 10 June
SHOW: Lynn Serafinn’s Garden of the Soul
Ep21-Integrating Spirit and Human
6.30 PM UK time, 1.30 PM Eastern, 10.30 AM Pacific, 7.30 PM CET
Author and Personal Transformation Coach Lynn Serafinn hosts life empowerment facilitator, transformational life coach and talk radio show host, Joe Rumbolo. Joe will share his story of how he overcame the challenges of his own lack of confidence, and learned how to recognise and step into opportunities he would never have dreamed of in the past. He will tell us about his experiences with creative channelling and his thoughts on conscious evolution, and will draw upon the material from his workshops to offer us tips on how to “dump the junk” that holds us back, so we can move towards the ascension of our own higher consciousness
About the show, “Lynn Serafinn’s Garden of the Soul” Weekly broadcast exploring personal empowerment, life purpose, balance of mind, body and spirit, and how to tap into the inner hero that lies within every human being. Hosted by Lynn Serafinn, Personal Transformation Coach and author living in Bedford England dedicated to awakening the authentic voice in all people. She is the author of the Amazon bestselling book The Garden of the Soul: lessons from four flowers that unearth the Self, and the Founder/Leader of The Global Wellness Circle, a holistic community project that is rapidly spreading throughout the UK.
SHOW: Lynn Serafinn’s Garden of the Soul EP19-The Art of Joyful Living GUEST: Ruth Hegarty DATE AIRED:Wednesday 27 May 2009
Ruth Hegarty, LOA Coach
When I first spoke to Ruth Hegarty on the phone, she felt to me like a ball of bright, fluffy, yellow sunshine wafting through the ether. She was just so upbeat and approachable. But then again, that is what Ruth is all about as a Certified Law of Attraction (LOA) Coach. In my observation, many people have the impression that the Law of Attraction is intended as means of attaining monetary “success”. And while that may or may not be a part of how LOA might manifest in your unique life story, what LOA is really about is attracting that which makes us truly and “outrageously” happy (as Ruth says it). Small wonder that she calls her own radio show, and her whole approach to life, “The Art of Joyful Living.”
Ruth said that she finds LOA not only appealing, but also practical, joyful and empowering. She says that LOA offers us the means to enjoy the moment and have a joyful life at all stages of our journey without putting our life on hold (which she calls “an abysmal scarcity model”).
At a practical level, Ruth gave us three essential parts to the Law of Attraction that crystallise its essence:
The Law of Like Attracts Like
The Law of Deliberate Creation
The Law of Allowing
In explaining “like attracts like,” Ruth gave as an example that if we are unhappy about our lives, and we focus on it, we will only attract more unhappiness.
She said, however, that many people try positive thinking and then come to the conclusion that LOA doesn’t work, because they do not progress onwards to “deliberate creation”. After that, she said, people may still sabotage the deliberate creation because they don’t “allow” things to happen. She gave examples of we do this at a subtle level in the live show (listen to audio below).
With regards to “deliberate creation”, Ruth described how journaling and vision work help us to open up and become more creative. The more we picture the dream, she said, the more it will manifest. She said it is not the “how” that will bring about creation, but rather just the “what” and the “why.”
Being a coach who coaches creative process, I can attest to the fact that when people get too much into the “how” of things, it can shut down the creative process completely. They start to get overwhelmed by the enormity of it. The only thing that is essential for the creative process is to see what it is you want to create, and why you want to create it. “How” is a demotivator, whereas “what” and “why” are motivators. Even if you do not believe in LOA, surely from an intellectual platform you can see the logic of this simple law of creative process.
Ruth also told us about her new Law of Attraction Starter Kit, which has just come out yesterday (Friday 29 May). She said it is an easy and fun to use Law of Attraction home-study program with a focus on practical exercises that show you how to “do” Law of Attraction. She has assembled 10 ways to put LOA into action into your life. The kit includes an audio program with full transcripts.
Plus, you will receive over $2,500.00 worth of fun and powerful bonus programs and products absolutely F*REE when you purchase theLaw of Attraction Starter Kit during the launch anytime between now and Friday 5 June.
Ruth says that these F*REE bonuses are being supplied by some of the top people in the Law of Attraction, personal development and self-image fields and can’t be obtained together like this anywhere else.
Guess who one of those “top people” is? ME of course!
Everyone who buys Ruth’s book can download the first 6 chapters of my upcoming eBook “The Path of Least Resistance to the Self” in both text and audio format. In those chapters, I talk about the importance of understanding what alignment it, how to know when you are in alignment, how you sway from it, and how to return to it.
Perhaps one of the most generous gifts is Eva Gregory’s 12-week e-course “Wake up to the Dream”, which is valued at almost $700. And apart from Eva’s and mine, there are 11 other bonuses available when you buy Ruth’s Law of Attraction Starter Kit.
But the thing I was most amazed to hear (and you can hear my genuine surprise when I am on the air) was the price of the LOA Starter Kit when I asked Ruth how much it cost. It’s only $47!Well, at least during the launch that’s the price (after that, it goes up to $97). Gosh, in the UK, that’s less than £30. I can’t thing of any other 6-week course you can find for that price. What to speak of the fact that the course includes audio, transcripts, workbook, resource list and direct access to Ruth via email.
And…
Ruth just wrote me an email telling me that, to celebrate the launch of this brand new product, the first 25 people who purchase it will receive a private 1-to-1 coaching session with her!
That’s pretty generous, don’t you think? Ruth definitely does NOT suffer from “scarcity mentality”. To me, what makes Ruth a genuine LOA practitioner is that she really walks what she talks.
Wednesday 3 June
SHOW: Lynn Serafinn’s Garden of the Soul
Ep20-Feeling is Healing
6.30 PM UK time, 1.30 PM Eastern, 10.30 AM Pacific, 7.30 PM CET
Author, licensed spiritual coach and “Feelings Coach”, Steve Ryals. Steve will be sharing his story of his journey from being a down and out drug addict in Haight Ashbury to an alcoholic to someone who now helps others to get in touch with their feelings, let go of their “old stories”, and reconnect to their passions so they can finally live the life of their dreams. Steve is also author of the powerfully transformative book “Drunk with Wonder”, which is described as “Where What the Bleep do we know meets Conversations with God.” Steve will also share an excerpt or two from his book on the air, and give us some practical tips for developing our Higher Self.
About the show, “Lynn Serafinn’s Garden of the Soul” Weekly broadcast exploring personal empowerment, life purpose, balance of mind, body and spirit, and how to tap into the inner hero that lies within every human being. Hosted by Lynn Serafinn, Personal Transformation Coach and author living in Bedford England dedicated to awakening the authentic voice in all people. She is the author of the Amazon bestselling book The Garden of the Soul: lessons from four flowers that unearth the Self, and the Founder/Leader of The Global Wellness Circle, a holistic community project that is rapidly spreading throughout the UK.
GUEST: Sheila Finkelstein DATE AIRED:Wednesday 20 May 2009
I met the charming and fascinating photographer Sheila Finkelstein via social networking earlier this year, when she offered to be a joint venture partner for my book launch campaign. Like all the other joint venture partners, Sheila offered a free gift to anyone who bought my book during the launch. When I saw the unique gift she was offering, I was immediately impressed. It was a self-reflective photo-journal of thoughts and perceptions she had during the process of peeling a red onion. The reflections made during this most humble activity proved to be a veritable journey into self awareness. “Wow,” I thought, “this is really out-of-the-box. This woman is definitely someone I want to know better.” And so began my friendship with the wonderful Sheila Finkelstein.
To me, what makes Sheila an extraordinary artist, and an extraordinary person, is her ability to see things in ways that many of us simply miss. Remember when you were a child and saw pictures in the clouds? Sheila goes way beyond this. She has the uncanny vision to see a face in a crest of sea foam, or a heart in a reflection made between a reed and the surface of a pond. And that is just scratching the surface. On the show, Sheila and I talked about several of her thought-provoking photos, which she very kindly compiled onto a single page for my listeners to see. Have a look at these photos and others of stunning natural beauty at http://www.sheilafinkelstein.com/links-lynn-interview.html
But Sheila doesn’t just take photos; she also teaches others how to use the camera as a tool for personal transformational, through which you can learn to see the world with new and different eyes. On the show, Sheila shared a few tips on how to get started. First and foremost, she said, you should always carry a camera with you. While I am not a photographer, I do appreciate how having a camera in my mobile phone (even if not a very good one) has helped me chronicle the different seasons when I walk through the woods or along my beloved River Ouse here in Bedford, England. Taking a photo compels me to stop and appreciate what is there, instead of just walking through it. It also helps me to connect with the flow of life around me in a deeper way. And that is just from a grainy out-of-focus camera shot. Have a look at Sheila’s photos, and you can get an idea of the quality of Sheila’s photography, and what her students must experience as they work with her.
Sheila tells me that her work has helped many of her students, who had previously believed they were “not artists”, to find and express their unique vision, by noticing the extraordinary in the seemingly ordinary, and the magic that is all around us within what she calls the “accidental art” of the world.
Sheila and I have also collaborated on a promotional video entitled “Song of the Rose”, which is a reading of a poem from my book The Garden of the Soul set to music composed by London musicians Bleep Test (two of my former students) and illustrated by a collection of Sheila’s stunning nature photography. If you haven’t seen the video you, be sure to check it out on YouTube at http://tinyurl.com/rose-song. I am really fond of this video, and I would welcome your comments and ratings.
From my perspective, Sheila perfectly exemplifies the “Principle of Receiving” (taught by the Iris) in my book The Garden of the Soul because she is able to open her senses fully and receive what is all around her, and to see the treasure that is contained within the smallest of the small.
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I urge you to check out Sheila’s art and her work. If you have been looking for a novel way to experience self-discovery, check out Sheila’s 4-week telecourse:
“Through and From the Lens”
Discovering Beauty in the Ordinary
Experiencing it as Extraordinary
If you sign up using THIS link, you can save $30 on Sheila’s course as a “Friend of Lynn”:
Wednesday 27 May
SHOW: Lynn Serafinn’s Garden of the Soul
Ep19-The Art of Joyful Living
6.30 PM UK time, 1.30 PM Eastern, 10.30 AM Pacific, 7.30 PM CET
Author and Personal Transformation Coach Lynn Serafinn hosts Certified Law of Attraction Coach, educator and talk radio show host, Ruth Hegarty. Ruth will be telling us how she helps women entrepreneurs create effortless success. She will also share her own story of how she went from an extremely shy underachiever, to someone who truly understands the personal demons that hold us back and, most importantly, how to shed those demons and transform into outrageously happy, successful, confident and prosperous beings without sacrificing our authenticity. Listen LIVE or download the broadcast “on demand” at: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/Lynn-Serafinn/2009/05/27/Ep19-The-Art-of-Joyful-Living Listener questions: call at 646-727-3449 during broadcast (US number)
About the show, “Lynn Serafinn’s Garden of the Soul” Weekly broadcast exploring personal empowerment, life purpose, balance of mind, body and spirit, and how to tap into the inner hero that lies within every human being. Hosted by Lynn Serafinn, Personal Transformation Coach and author living in Bedford England dedicated to awakening the authentic voice in all people. She is the author of the Amazon bestselling book The Garden of the Soul: lessons from four flowers that unearth the Self, and the Founder/Leader of The Global Wellness Circle, a holistic community project that is rapidly spreading throughout the UK.
Lynn’s links
Find “The Garden of the Soul” on Amazon US: CLICK HERE
Find “The Garden of the Soul” on Amazon UK: CLICK HERE
SHOW: Lynn Serafinn’s Garden of the Soul EP17-Forgiveness as a Pathway to Freedom GUEST: Brenda Adelman DATE AIRED:Thursday 14 May 2009
I first met the lovely Brenda Adelman on the coaching networks. When I first heard her story, and about her current work, I knew that she had to be a guest on my show “The Garden of the Soul.” Read on and you’ll see why.
Originally from Brooklyn (like me!) but now residing in Los Angeles, California, Brenda is an award-winning actress, Unity Church Prayer Chaplain, and Forgiveness Coach. What is a “forgiveness coach”? It is someone who works with clients at a deeply spiritual level to enable them to “forgive the unforgivable.” For her outstanding work in the field of forgiveness, helping others to forgive, and overcoming tremendous forgiveness of her own challenges as well, Brenda was the recipient of Hero of Forgiveness Award from the International Hawaii Forgiveness Project in 2008.
What makes Brenda a hero of forgiveness? In 1995 she heard a shot that, as she describes it, “shattered her world” when her mother was shot and killed at point-blank range… by her father. If that would not be enough for one young person to forgive, her father then went on to marry her mother’s sister. On the show, Brenda read an excerpt of this story as she tells it in her upcoming book, Forgive and Be Free: A Pathway to Personal Happiness. I must say that it is gripping and chilling at the same time. The shock of it, as Brenda reads it, does justice (as much as one can with words) to the shock she must have felt when this happened. Brenda then told me about all the subtle ways this impacted her at a deep level. Grief, anger, rage, shame, depression, loss and so many other emotions became a tangled web in her life.
I am quite sure that most people would agree this is just about as close to “unforgivable” as you can get. So imagine coming to a place within yourself where you were not only able to forgive everyone in this situation (father, aunt, the court system, society, the universe, God, self…) but you were also able to step into peacefulness and inner joy. Pretty amazing, huh? Well, now imagine that you not only reach this place within yourself, but you also use all of your talents and abilities to help others overcome devastating loss in their own lives by learning how to forgive. This will give you an idea of who Brenda is, and what she does.
Brenda has created a one-woman show entitled “My Brooklyn Hamlet” that tells the story of her journey from tragedy to freedom in a theatrical setting. After the show, she delivers a workshop entitled “Forgiving the Unforgivable as a Path to Freedom.” She does this, she says, “to open people’s hearts and gets them out of blame.”
As a special gift to our listeners, Brenda shared her 5 Top Reasons to Never Forgive and Why You Must:
Number 1 reason why you tell yourself you must never forgive:
If I forgive this person I am condoning what he/she did. Why you must: Forgiveness is for you, not them. It sets you free.
Number 2 reason why you tell yourself you must never forgive:
My anger assures me that this person will never be in my life again. Why you must: Your anger assures you that this person is constantly in your life through either obsessive thinking about them or suppressing your thoughts about them.
Number 3 reason why you tell yourself you must never forgive:
They will hurt me again.
Why you must: Being angry and unforgiving actually increases the odds of you being triggered emotionally (being upset) by something else that they do.
Number 4 reason why you tell yourself you must never forgive:
Who would I be if I forgave them?
Why you must: You wouldn’t be the same person who holds a grudge, lives in fear and needs a wall up to protect yourself. Your open heart, good judgment and healthy boundaries would lead to a life of more joy.
Number 5 reason why you tell yourself you must never forgive:
What happened to me or a loved one was just too horrible. Why you must: It was horrible. In order for you to create the beautiful and empowering life that you want you need to acknowledge that, grieve what was lost and/or what was taken from you and learn how to release those parts in you that are stuck in darkness and pain.
And finally, Brenda reminds us that “Forgiveness is a process not an event.”
If you want to find out more about Brenda, listen to the podcast below. And after you do, be sure to visit Brenda’s websites, to get a whole lot of free forgiveness “stuff”:
Sign up to find out when Brenda’s new book, Forgive and Be Free: A Pathway to Personal Happiness will be available and get a small gift called Your Personal Forgiveness Assessment at http://www.forgiveandbefreebook.com
And join Brenda for her next free “Forgiveness Teleclass” on Wednesday,May 27th at 5 PM Pacific time “What is a Healthy Boundary? How do you Set It?” Sign-up at http://www.forgivenessandfreedom.com (replay available).
Going to be in Los Angeles in June?—Come see award-winning actress Brenda Adelman in her one-woman show, My Brooklyn Hamlet, on Sunday, June 7th at 7 PM at Celebration Theatre in Hollywood. Get tickets online at www.celebrationtheatre.com . A Q&A follows the performance.
NEXT ON
Lynn Serafinn’s Garden of the Soul
(this show was already aired; catch the blog and podcast shortly)
Wednesday 20 May
SHOW: Lynn Serafinn’s Garden of the Soul Ep18-Photography and Transformation
6.30 PM UK time, 1.30 PM Eastern, 10.30 AM Pacific, 7.30 PM CET Author and Personal Transformation Coach Lynn Serafinn hosts American photographer and transformation teacher Sheila Finkelstein.Sheila will be sharing her tips for using the camera as a tool for personal transformational, through which you learn to see the world with new and different eyes. She will tell us about her success in helping people who previously told themselves they were “not artists” to find and express their unique vision, by noticing the extraordinary in the seemingly ordinary, and the magic that is all around us within what she calls the “accidental art” of the world. Check out Sheila’s stunning photography in Lynn’s video “Song of the Rose” at http://tinyurl.com/rose-song.
About the show, “Lynn Serafinn’s Garden of the Soul” Weekly broadcast exploring personal empowerment, life purpose, balance of mind, body and spirit, and how to tap into the inner hero that lies within every human being. Hosted by Lynn Serafinn, Personal Transformation Coach and author living in Bedford England dedicated to awakening the authentic voice in all people. She is the author of the Amazon bestselling book The Garden of the Soul: lessons from four flowers that unearth the Self, and the Founder/Leader of The Global Wellness Circle, a holistic community project that is rapidly spreading throughout the UK.
Lynn’s next live appearance: Saturday 23 May
EVENT: Edenbridge UK Independent Authors Book Fair 9 AM – 4 PM
VENUE: Rickards Hall, 72 High Street, Edenbridge, Kent TN8 5AR
The first Independent Authors Book Fair takes place as part of the Eden Valley festival. The festival celebrates the West Kent community of Edenbridge town and the surrounding villages. The Book Fair presents twelve independent authors covering a range of genres. There will be a programme of talks, presentations and readings running throughout the day from 9.00 – 4.00. Light refreshments will be available. Join Lynn and 11 other UK independent authors for this inaugural event. Get to meet authors 1-to-1, ask questions, hear talks of writing and publishing, and purchase signed copies of their books. Be the first to be in the know about who is setting the trends in the independent writing field.
Amongst the speakers, author Lynn Serafinn will be delivering a talk on her new book The Garden of the Soul: lessons from four flowers that unearth the Self which reached Amazon bestseller status in both the US and the UK the first week of its release in such categories as spirituality, mind-body-spirit and self-help. Visit Lynn’s book blogsite at http://www.give-receive-become-be.com for more information and full media kit for The Garden of the Soul. More information at: http://www.ukindependentauthors.co.uk/Edenbridge_Book_Fair.html
Realising the Gift in Goodbye: Lynn Serafinn’s interview with author Gemini Adams on BlogTalkRadio reveals how Gemini’s journey through bereavement led to her finding her authentic voice.
SHOW: Lynn Serafinn’s Garden of the Soul EP16-Voice as a Key to Wholeness GUEST: Gemini Adams DATE AIRED:Wednesday 6 May 2009
I met coach, author and spiritual healer Gemini Adams earlier this year when we were both guests on John Levine’s Happy and Healthy Hour in Cambridge, England. Gemini is a Brit by birth who currently makes her home in Los Angeles, so I was fortunate to have crossed her path on one of her occasional trips back to her homeland. What I noticed about her as soon as I met her was how open and generous she was. She did not even know me and she immediately took one of her books out of her satchel, signed it and made a gift of it to me. Of course, I knew I had to have this woman on my radio show.
Gemini is the author of a unique book called Your Legacy of Love: realise the gift in goodbye. The book was prompted by Gemini’s mother’s untimely death from cancer, when Gemini was only 21 years old. While much of the book gives us deep insight into the largely unspoken impact of bereavement upon the human spirit, and how it can last far longer than most of us care to admit, this is not just another book about loss and how to deal with it at an emotional level. Gemini offers the reader practical answers to how to deal with the “D” word, so that your loved ones are not left with a big gaping hole in their lives.
That practical solution is to leave a legacy of love for those you will leave behind. Gemini offers a range of practical, creative and pleasurable ideas for what that could be, ranging from letters to your loved ones, personal biographies, musical diaries, detailed instructions for how you wish to be remembered, and many other ideas. Gemini gives many compelling reasons why we should do this when we are well and fit, rather than waiting for the time when, heaven forbid, we find ourselves diagnosed with a life-threatening disease. She describes in detail, giving many case studies, how the gift of a legacy of love can help those we leave behind deal with grief and bereavement after we pass on.
And like all books, especially of this type, there is always a story behind it. Gemini explained to me how the process of writing this book also helped unlock her own voice to find ultimate wholeness of self and peace with the universe after years of previously unresolved bereavement. In a private interview, she told me how she believes that “our authentic voice is always there, but we are scared to use it.” Having done past life regression, Gemini came to the conclusion that this might be the culmination of issues that have transpired of many lifetimes, and that it can go on for generations. She says that she finds this to be especially true of women, and that she felt that this was a kind of historical, collective pain that all of us must confront and overcome. To overcome this, it is essential that we break through the fear of judgement. She said that writing offered her great healing in this regard, but the inner barriers are often more formidable than what can be resolved through writing.
It was this need to break free from these fears that ultimate drove Gemini to take action. Going strongly against her middle class instincts, she decided to give up her previous lifestyle and move out of London, out of the UK altogether, far away from everyone and everything she knew. Giving up all her personal possessions, she went to live in someone’s garden shed in Los Angeles, surviving on the dole. It was here that Gemini at last found the voice to write this book, and in doing so she found, and began to live, her life purpose.
Gemini told me that the entire experience of moving through her own bereavement, and ultimately finding her own voice, gave her a deep personal intention and underlying need to make a contribution to the world, and that her motivation is never money or fame. She says that she knows she is helping others to live freely through her work, and that the ultimate intention of the book is to heal and to help others to heal.
When I asked Gemini what her “bigger message” for the world was, she said, “You can be who you really are; you don’t need all the pretence. Education is designed to undo ourselves. Forget what others want for you. Become a unique, pioneering person. YOU are the one who must be satisfied.
If you want to find out more about Gemini, listen to the podcast below. And after you do, be sure to visit Gemini’s websites:
NEXT ON
Lynn Serafinn’s Garden of the Soul
(this show was already aired; catch the blog and podcast shortly)
Thursday 14 May
SHOW: Lynn Serafinn’s Garden of the Soul
Ep17-Forgiveness as a Pathway to Freedom
6.30 PM UK time, 1.30 PM Eastern, 10.30 AM Pacific, 7.30 PM CET Author and Personal Transformation Coach Lynn Serafinn hosts award-winning actress and Forgiveness Coach, Brenda Adelman. Brenda will be sharing her story of how she learned to “forgive the unforgivable” after her father murdered her mother and married her mother’s sister. A trained chaplain at the Unity Church and recipient of “A Hero of Forgiveness Award” from the Hawaii International Forgiveness Project, Brenda now leads forgiveness workshops entitled, “Forgiving the Unforgivable as a Path to Freedom” and regularly tours with her own one-woman show, “My Brooklyn Hamlet.” Brenda will tell us about her journey through deep loss and pain, and resultant depression, to the ultimate freedom and joy she experienced when she learned how to open her heart to forgiveness. Brenda will also reveal her “three steps to forgive and be free” and her “top five reasons to never forgive, and why you must,” and will read us an excerpt from her upcoming book, Forgive and Be Free: A Pathway to Personal Happiness.
About the show, “Lynn Serafinn’s Garden of the Soul” Weekly broadcast exploring personal empowerment, life purpose, balance of mind, body and spirit, and how to tap into the inner hero that lies within every human being. Hosted by Lynn Serafinn, Personal Transformation Coach and author living in Bedford England dedicated to awakening the authentic voice in all people. She is the author of the Amazon bestselling book The Garden of the Soul: lessons from four flowers that unearth the Self, and the Founder/Leader of The Global Wellness Circle, a holistic community project that is rapidly spreading throughout the UK.
Lynn’s next live appearance: Saturday 23 May
EVENT: Edenbridge UK Independent Authors Book Fair 9 AM – 4 PM
VENUE: Rickards Hall, 72 High Street, Edenbridge, Kent TN8 5AR
The first Independent Authors Book Fair takes place as part of the Eden Valley festival. The festival celebrates the West Kent community of Edenbridge town and the surrounding villages. The Book Fair presents twelve independent authors covering a range of genres. There will be a programme of talks, presentations and readings running throughout the day from 9.00 – 4.00. Light refreshments will be available. Join Lynn and 11 other UK independent authors for this inaugural event. Get to meet authors 1-to-1, ask questions, hear talks of writing and publishing, and purchase signed copies of their books. Be the first to be in the know about who is setting the trends in the independent writing field.
At 1245 -115 PM, Lynn will deliver a talk on her new book The Garden of the Soul: lessons from four flowers that unearth the Self, which reached Amazon bestseller status in both the US and the UK the first week of its release in such categories as spirituality, mind-body-spirit and self-help.
Some thoughts on the teachings in my book The Garden of the Soul. Click HERE to find out how to purchase the book today.
Over the past months, I have been sharing with you some of the life lessons from my book, The Garden of the Soul: lessons from four flowers that unearth the Self.The main body of book is divided into four sections, each one represented by a particular flower. You might think of these flowers as my “guides” or “mentors”, who teach me four spiritual principles:
The Rose teaches the Principle of Giving
The Iris teaches the Principle of Receiving
The Daffodil teaches the Principle of Becoming
And finally, the Lily teaches the Principle of Being
Today I would like to share some thoughts on the Lily and the Principle of Being.
Last month, I spoke about “The Principle of Becoming” (lessons from the Daffodil). The Principle of Becoming calls us forth to let go of “old stories” and allow change to occur for the purpose of expansion and growth. The Principle of Becoming is extremely important because without the conscious act of letting go, we tend to hold on to old patterns of behaviour, old emotions and old belief systems that no longer serve us and keep us stuck in so many ways. The Principle of Becoming is vital to our ability to adapt, experience joy and actualise our own creativity.
While the Principle of Becoming is all about our need for a sense of change, regeneration and rebirth so we can grow and have a sense of aliveness, the Principle of Being reflects our need for a sense of continuity, serenity and timelessness so we can feel safe and have a sense of identity. And while the Principle of Being is the seeming opposite of the Principle of Becoming, it is actually its essential counterpart. Without a firm hold on the Principle of Being, change in our lives can often make us feel vulnerable rather than free. But when both of these Principles are present and working together, they provide that much-needed balance between our desire for outward expansion and our desire for inner stability.
“Being” refers to continuity.
Our “Being” is that which is constant throughout our lives.
Being is…
That safe place to which we can return reliably no matter what else is happening around us
Our sense of Self that is not dependent upon time or circumstance
Our inner knowing of who we are regardless of changes in our age, occupation, education, marital status, achievements, belief systems, social circles or economic status
Our personal wellspring of serenity, wisdom, peace, inner tranquillity and satisfaction
In other words,”Being” is our sense of eternal identity, and is independent of our ever-changing personal relationships and roles in life.
To assess your own connection to your ”Being”, a good question to ask yourself might be, “Who am I when I remove all the labels about myself?” In other words, “Who am I when I am not the mother/father, daughter/son, husband/wife, boss/employee, this profession/that profession, rich/poor, young/old?” etc. In a quiet moment, ask this question, without self-judgment, and you will begin to get an idea of how much (or how little) you are in touch with your own essential “Being”.
At an even deeper level, true “Being” means an awareness of who we are beyond even more subtle designations of “self”, such as our intelligence, our talents, our nationality, our faith, our ethnicity or even our gender. Now ask yourself “Who am I without these designations?” and look more deeply into yourself to get a sense of that “Being” that lies at your centre. How easy or difficult do you find this?
Now go even deeper still and strip away all designations whatsoever, even to the point of letting go of the boundary between Self and the Universe. At this point, you realise at a deep level, and not merely with your intellect, that you and everything around you is Spirit. You come in touch with your own essence-your own eternal, pure consciousness- where you can see your connection to all of Creation, and is not dependent upon being within a particular bodily form at all. This ultimate understanding is at the core of the Principle of Being.
Some of us might find this perspective shift very challenging, if not scary, if we are at a point in life where we feel little inner connection to our own Being. We might fear that without some kind of “label” we will lose all sense of identity completely, and simply slip into a feeling of “nothingness”. If we dig down to discover the underlying cause of our fear, more often than not we will find it is triggered by a deep-rooted feeling of unworthiness. We do not feel we are “enough” without our worldly attributes. In other words, we have become accustomed to defining our worthiness through our roles, achievements and designations. We feel that we need these roles and designations to feel worthy of love, abundance-to be worthy of “Being”. When we have this underlying belief in our own unworthiness, it stands to reason that we would fear the loss of Self if we were to lose our labels.
But in actuality, the truth is just the opposite. Far from losing the Self, when we reach a state of genuine connection with our “Being-ness”, where no designations are needed to define who we are, our sense of identity is profound. At this point, we are able to find immense peace within the understanding that our identity is no longer dependent upon any external factor and is not subject to circumstance. When we finally release the need to identify the Self with “things” that come and go throughout our lives, we come into contact with our true Self, embracing it as eternal, and transcending all change. And there is an immense sense of safety within this sense of “Being”, which is both immutable and indestructible.
The lessons I learned from the Lily in The Garden of the Soul (and especially in the story in the book called “Message on the Bridge”) guided me gently and lovingly through my own fears and attachments, so I could return to the essence of who I truly am. And the Lily as an image is an inviting and appropriate symbol for the Principle of Being. In the west, the Lily is frequently used in funeral ceremonies as a symbol of eternal, spiritual life. In the east, the water lily (or lotus) is a symbol of eternity and divinity, used to represent the soul, the spiritual master and even the spiritual world itself. In my own personal experience, back when I used to live in Arizona, I remember seeing a very special type of cactus that only bloomed one night a year, during a full moon. While I don’t know the name of this flower, it seemed to me that its white, star-shaped blossom was yet another kind of Lily, who appeared like a solitary hermit praying to the moon itself, shining brilliantly against the dark night for only a few hours. In fact, some of the imagery in my book where I meet the Lily come from my memory of that remarkable cactus flower. To me, the Lily, in all of its lovely permutations, was the perfect metaphor for the Principle of Being, as its beautiful, strong, white petals look like a hand of outstretched fingers, reaching upwards towards the heavens, providing a bridge between the earthly plane and the Divine.
The Four Principles of Give, Receive, Become and Be provide an easy model to check balance and flow in our lives. When we learn how to recognise these Principles in ourselves, we are more easily able to know how to recover from the inevitable upsets that come into our lives. The Principle of Being, like all the other Principles, helps us to enter into a deeper and more meaningful relationship both within our own Self and with the world around us. By tending to the Four Flowers within the Garden of our own Souls, it becomes very easy for our true Selves to blossom.
Master the energy of the Four Flowers in your own life this month!
During the lovely month
of May, I am offering a 30-minute
“Garden of the Soul Coaching Assessment”
to a very limited amount of new clients for the highly discounted price of only…
£20
That is 70% off my usual coaching price.
There’s no catch and absolutely no obligation.
During our Garden of the Soul Coaching Assessment, we will:
Explore the Four Flowers/Principles
Assess the current state
of flow in your own life
Identify which of the Four Flowers/Principles is currently most in need of nurturing
Identify which attributes of that Flower/Principle you would like to call forth
Identify actions and/or changes in perspective that could help you find the balance and flow you seek
My personal aim is that you will:
Experience a session that is be light, fun, colourful and inspiring
Leave with a feeling of renewal, focus, self-awareness and optimism
Book your “Garden of the Soul Coaching Assessment” for only £20 HERE:
Your Time Zone
Times your are NOT available
You will receive confirmation of your session within 48 hours of your request.
This is a limited offer:
1 assessment session per person
Open only to the first 10 new clients who book their session before the end of May.
(If no more sessions are available, you will receive a full and immediate refund).
If you decide you would like to continue 1-to-1 coaching together, your £20 assessment fee will be applied towards your first pre-paid block of coaching.
Show: Lynn Serafinn’s Garden of the Soul Episode 14:Using Sound for Healing and Happiness Date aired: Thursday 23 April 2009
This week on my BlogTalkRadio show Lynn Serafinn’s Garden of the Soul, I interviewed Australian (living in UK) musician, recording artist and composer John Levine of Alphamusic. John was a guest on an earlier episode in February, but he had some technical difficulties that prevented him from being able to dial in, and his interview was less than half the length of what it should have been. On that episode he spoke a bit about what led him to create “alpha music”, after watching his father live through a lifetime of stress-related diseases, only to die from them at the early age of 58.
On tonight’s show, John shared further insights into the mind-body-spirit connection. He explained a bit about the different waves in the brain, and how alpha waves can enable natural restoration of health and wellbeing. He explained a bit about how his Alphamusic which has been proven both anecdotally and scientifically to induce alpha waves in the brain, and how this results in a reduction of stress hormones, and an increased a feeling of relaxation, not dissimilar to a meditational state.
We played two samples of John’s music on the air. First was a short excerpt from his 1984 composition “The Silence of Peace”, which was played on a grand piano in a studio. John said the complete composition is 1 hour in length, and that the full relaxation benefits can be felt after listening to the piece for at least 15 minutes–he cautioned that it should not be played whilst driving! .
The second piece was “Gratitude”, which was a electro-acoustic composition from John’s 2007 album “Emerald Forest”. Played in a free-form ambient pastiche of various acoustic instruments blended with the occasional synthesiser, this composition has a markedly more complex feel to “Silence of Peace”, while still maintaining an open approach to musical structure. Of the air, John said that one of the salient features of Alphamusic is that you specifically cannot sing it or tap your toe to it. In other words, you cannot anticipate what is coming up, or repeat it, as there is no real structure. Still, there are simple melodic motifs (usually built around specific harmonic intervals) that keep it from being so abstract that it feels “avant garde” or discordant.
Now, I am not a scientist, but I did teach music technology and acoustics for many years. And I feel that it is this precise intension NOT to have structure that is what creates the alpha waves in the brain. Why? Very simply this: when we humans anticipate something, our brain gets very busy analysing and predicting. This anticipation keeps us in a heightened state of awareness, or a Beta state. While this is extremely useful for work, if we are in a continual state of heightened awareness, our bodies become over flooded with stress hormones. And the fact is, our minds and bodies will stay on alert whenever they perceive the need to be. However, when our senses detect something cannot be analysed or predicted, and there also appears to be no danger, the brain will eventually let go of the need to be on alert. And that is exactly what John says is the intent of the music-to lower the “fight or flight” reaction of the brain that increases stress hormones. There are no downbeats, no meters, no predictable phrases, no verses/choruses, etc. The music just “is”. And when the brain gets the message that everything just “is”, it allows itself to relax into an alpha state. It’s really very simple.
Tonight we could only play a few minutes of these substantial tracks, and John has more than a dozen albums available on his website. He sells many of them to holistic practitioners, teachers and medical professionals who use them to reduce anxiety, fear and stress in their clients, students and patients (dentists especially love John’s music!). Check out John’s complete repertoire at www.silenceofmusic.com.
AND…
you can receive a very special FR*EE Alphamusic gift from John Levine PLUS 25 other beautiful mind-body-spirit gifts
when you purchase my book The Garden of the Soul: lessons from four flowers that unearth the Self before the end of April 2009. To find out how, go to http://tinyurl.com/lynn-bonus.
Wednesday 29 April Ep15-Astrology, Numerology and Birth Order to Discover Your Life Purpose 6.30 PM UK time, 1.30 PM Eastern, 10.30 AM Pacific, 7.30 PM CET Author and Personal Transformation Coach Lynn Serafinn hosts Conscious Living Communicator and author Michelle Payton, Ph.D. Michelle will be sharing a process she created called “Birth Mix Patterns” that combines Astrology, Numerology and Birth Order to connect with your unique personality patterns, to improve your relationships and discover clues of your underlying life purpose. Michelle will also be offering a short demo of Lynn’s Birth Mix Patterns right on the air, so you can see how easy and informative it is to do yourself, so be sure to have a pen and paper ready to take some useful tips! Listen LIVE at: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/Lynn-Serafinn/2009/04/29/Ep15-Astrology-Numerology-and-Birth-Order-to-Discover-Your-Life-Purpose
Listener questions: call at 646-727-3449 during broadcast (US number)
You can receive 26 special mind-body-spirit gifts
when you buy my book The Garden of the Soul: lessons from four flowers that unearth the Selfduring the month of April 2009.
Find out how to get these beautiful gifts at: http://www.give-receive-become-be.com/pages/bonus.html
Title: Flitwick Mind Body and Soul Fair Location: Rufus Centre, Flitwick, England Link out: Click here Description: Rufus Centre, Steppingley Road,
Flitwick, Beds MK45 1AH
18th & 19th April 2009
Sat 10.00am – 5.00 pm
sun 10.30am – 4.30pm
Entrance £3.00
Don’t miss this fabulous mind-body-spirit fair. Free talks on both days. Lynn will talk at 1 PM Sat and 12.30 PM Sunday. Signed copies of the book The Garden of the Soul: lessons from four flowers that unearth the Self also available. Start Date: 2009-04-18 Start Time: 10.00 End Date: 2009-04-19 End Time: 16.30
Boosting Your Emotional Intelligence – an Interview with Gail Sussman Miller
[NOTE to readers: this blog post originally appeared on my social network "Lynn Serafinn's Garden of the Soul" on Ning. When I refer to people by name as "our own" and "right here", I am referring to that network, which can be accessed at http://gardenofthesoul.ning.com. Come JOIN us!]
This evening on my radio show, Lynn Serafinn’s Garden of the Soul, my guest was our very own GAIL SUSSMAN MILLER. For those of you in the Garden who have not met her, Gail is a coach, writer and public speaker, living in Chicago. I met Gail about a year ago when I attended one of her excellent teleseminars about reaching your target audience. At that time, I found her energy to be so warm and loving that I simply had to become her friend. On the spot, even though she didn’t know me at all, she volunteered to be one of my “beta readers” for my book (which was, at that time, unfinished). Since then, she has not only been one of my readers, but also a reviewer, a joint venture partner, a friend, a guest on my show and NOW (as of tonight’s show) we are talking about doing a workshop together sometime soon. How cool is that?
Anyway, if you don’t know Gail, become her friend because she is one fabulous lady who really knows how to make you feel welcome. And that is probably why she is so good at what she does. One of Gail’s many specialties is working with small groups to develop “Emotional Intelligence”. The term, she says, was originally coined by Daniel Goldman. On the show, Gail explained how we generally equate “intelligence” with the brain and measure it with “IQ”. This kind of intelligence is fairly static in life. That is to say, we all have a certain amount of “brain” intelligence, and while we can study and learn, brain intelligence itself does not generally increase to a great degree as a result of learning. Our bodies also are great repositories of intelligence (Luis and Fran you are always talking about this!). Lastly, however, our emotional bodies are also great bodies of intelligence. And unlike brain intelligence, emotional intelligence CAN be increased. And a good thing too! Most of us grow up with vastly underdeveloped emotional intelligence. We simply “react” rather than learn how to “respond”. Through development of conscious awareness, however, we can learn how ot separate ourselves from this reactionary modus operandum, and move away from feelings of being controlled by our emotions, and into a place where we feel at choice and within true selves at all times.
These are the ideas that Gail spoke with me about on tonight’s show. She also gave 3 of her 10 “secrets” to developing emotional intelligence. I’m NOT going to tell you what they are!!! (ha ha). If you want to find out these first 3 secrets of emotional intelligence, well you’ll just have to listen to the show by CLICKING HERE..
AND… Gail also wrote an eBook called (as you might have already guessed) “!0 Secrets to Boost Your Emotional Intelligence”. AND… here’s the very cool thing. She is giving it away to everyone who buys my book during its launch. Now, the launch was SUPPOSED to be over today (Wed 8 April) but I have decided, as it is Easter week, that it will run through Easter Monday. That means, if you buy “The Garden of the Soul” on or before this coming Monday, you can STILL get access to download 26 beautiful mind-body-spirit gifts from my friends and colleagues…. many of whom are right here on this site like Gail, Fran Stockley, Amber Rojas, Kathleen Schulweis, Gina Marks, Sheila Finkelstein, Jessica McGregor Johnson and Glenn Smith (did I miss anyone?).
To get Gail’s great eBook, along with all the other wonderful gifts from our friends here in the Garden (and many others besides, just go to http://tinyurl.com/lynn-bonus and find the links to Amazon to buy your copy of my new book The Garden of the Soul: lessons from four flowers that unearth the Self. Then come back to that same site and enter your name, email and purchase code. That’s all there is to it. you will then be able to “unlock” the bonus page and download all the goodies. Remember…. this page will ONLY be online until Easter Monday, so be sure to claim your copy of the book and these bonuses now.
To find out more about the wonderful Gail Sussman Miller how she teaches women solopreneurs, executives and companies how to turn obstacles into opportunities by boosting their emotional intelligence her many courses, training, coaching and other skills, visit her websites at:
P.S.: If you missed Gail’s show and you don’t have time to hear it now, you can access it “on demand” at www.blogtalkradio.com/Lynn-Serafinn or subscribe to “Lynn Serafinn’s Garden of the Soul” via iTunes.
P. P.S.: NEXT WEEK on my show on BlogTalkRadio, my special guest is our own BRUCE MORSE, American artist, photographer, poet and author of the book “Forgive Myself”, which I JUST read last week. Bruce will be sharing his personal story of how he found peace with personal crises in his own life, including the death of his young son, through the pathway of personal forgiveness. Bruce will also share selections from his book. His story is remarkable. Be sure you tune in next WEDNESDAY 15 APRIL 6.30 PM UK/1.30 PM EDT at www.blogtalkradio.com/Lynn-Serafinn
BEDFORD, ENLAND, 8 APRIL 2009. Bedford author Lynn Serafinn became an Amazon UK best-selling author yesterday when her debut book, The Garden of the Soul: lessons from four flowers that unearth the Selfentered the top selling titles on the day of its launch on 7 April 2009, hitting as high as number 18 in its genres.
Amazon’s sales ratings are updated hourly. Books are not only rated in their rank according to their sales in “all books”, but also within a range of different categories. If a book appears in the ”Top 100″ within any given category, it can be said to be a best-seller.
The Garden of the Soulachieved “Amazon Best Seller” status in the UK in the rankings at 1230 PM on Tuesday 7 April, the day of its official launch, when it ranked 25th in the New Age/Occult category (assumably because it contains content about Indian spirituality) and 28th in the Mind, Body, Spirit/Spirituality category. Later in the day, these rankings rose to number 18 and 21 respectively. It shared this list with authors such as the Dalai Lama, Rhonda Byrne, Deepak Chopra and Paul McKenna, and it is actually AHEAD of some titles by Doreen Virtue, Abraham (Esther Hicks) and Eckhart Tolle. All in all, it is mighty respectable company to be amongst, especially for a brand new author.
In addition to this, by the morning of Wednesday 8 April, Lynn’s book had also reached number 92 in the extremely competitive “Self Help” category, and its rankings in the overall books on Amazon reached an extremely impressive figure of number 1,494 amongst its many MILLIONS of books.
Some words from Lynn: All of this is extremely satisfying for a first-time, self-published author working on a complete shoe-string marketing budget and who owes all success to the collaborative efforts of her many colleagues on the social networks! All hail to the power of the world wide web! When it works, it really works. And all of that is just from the first 24 hours! The real work has only just begun.
I am feeling truly grateful today. After two solid years of writing, rewriting, editing, proofing, marketing, coordinating and overall madness… the baby is finally born, and I now release it to the world. Just so you know how important each and every reader is to me, here is my “Artist’s Manifesto”, which I wrote in May 2007, and appears in the Introduction to The Garden of the Soul:
“An artist is a person who has awakened to the thrilling realisation that the real meaning of what he creates can only manifest via the multi-coloured perspectives of those other than himself.
In this state of being, he releases his vision, unattached to its destination.
Until that moment, he is not yet an artist, but a dreamer.
The true beauty of his art takes birth in the things others see in it that he does not.”
Synopsis: The Garden of the Soul: lessons from four flowers that unearth the Selfis a book about becoming whole…
Called ‘as spiritual as Deepak Chopra and as magical as Paulo Coelho,’ The Garden of the Soulis a journey on the ‘path of least resistance to the Self’ through the imagery of four flowers that represent four spiritual principles: ‘Give’ (the Rose), ‘Receive’ (the Iris), ‘Become’ (the Daffodil) and ‘Be’ (the Lily).Taking the reader on a daring and magical journey through the author’s life and imagination–from stage fright and burnout in a classical music conservatory, to life inside an Indian temple, to a hidden life of domestic violence, to finding inner peace atop an old English footbridge–The Garden of the Soul explores birth, death, love, art, spirituality and transformation in an eloquent, poetic and ultimately unforgettable way. It is an open invitation to readers to explore how they are already the heroes of their own lives.
Title: RADIO: Healing the Universe Location: BlogTalkradio Link out: Click here Description: Crystal Clear Speaks with Joe Rumbolo. Joe interviews Lynn Serafinn, author of The Garden of the Soul: lessons from four flowers that unearth the Self. Start Time: 1:00 GMT (yes, 1 AM) Date: 2009-04-03 End Time: 2:30 GMT
Title: AMAZON LAUNCH! The Garden of the Soul Location: Amazon.com worldwide Link out: Click here Description: Official Amazon launch date of Lynn Serafinn’s book, The Garden of the Soul: lessons from four flowers that unearth the Self. Receive 25 beautiful bonus gifts when you purchase the book on the day. Find out how at http://tinyurl.com/lynn-bonus Start Time: 12:01 EDT Date: 2009-04-07
VIDEO NOTES: Title: “Song of the Rose” from the book “The Garden of the Soul” by Lynn Serafinn Description: Excerpt from the book “The Garden of the Soul: lessons from four flowers that unearth the Self” by Lynn Serafinn, as read by the author. While this substantial 400 page work is comprised primarily of narrative stories, each section of the book begins with a poem or “song” sung by one of the four flowers. This “song” is called “Song of the Rose: Maysong.” The Rose is the teacher of the “Principle of Giving”, which encompasses attributes such as passion, self-expression, boldness and life purpose. The Song of the Rose gives you a glimpse into the sensual undertones of the teachings of the Rose, who later takes the author on a journey through the stories of her own life, to explore her own connection to the many colours of passion, from the sacred to the profane. Set to an uplifting instrumental soundscape by London-based band Bleep Test, and illustrated with brilliantly captivating nature photography by Sheila Finkelstein, Lynn’s uniquely lyrical and rhythmic approach to reciting poetry evokes an understanding within the listener that goes far beyond the mere meanings of the words.
ABOUT THE BOOK: Title: The Garden of the Soul: lessons from four flowers that unearth the Self Author: Lynn Serafinn Publisher: Bright Pen Books ISBN13: 978-0-7552-1126-5 ASIN: 075521126X Available from:
This video, including any portion of audio soundtrack and/or visual images, is for promotional purposes only and may not be sold. It may, however, be shared and posted on your site or blog without special permission, as long as it remains intact and you include these notes in your listing.
Title: RADIO: Happy and Healthy Hour Location: Cambridge radio 105 FM, or http://www.209radio.co.uk/shows/profile.php?show=happy Link out: Click here Description: John Levine hosts the Happy and Healthy Hour. John interviews author, personal transformation coach and teacher Lynn Serafinn. Lynn discusses her new book The Garden of the Soul and reveals four simple principles that can help you express yourself through your authentic voice and find out who you really are (re-broadcast from 24 March). Start Time: 12:00 GMT Date: 2009-03-31 End Time: 13:00 GMT
Title: The Doctor Sally Show Location: BlogTalkRadio Link out: Click here Description: Doctor Sally interviews Lynn Serafinn, author of The Garden of the Soul: lessons from four flowers that unearth the Self. Listen live online or one demand at the above link Start Time: 18:00 (UK time) Date: 2009-03-30 End Time: 19:00 (UK time)
Title: Virtual Blog Tour for Garden of the Soul: Gail Sussman Miller Location: Gail Sussman Miller’s Blog Link out: Click here Description: Stop number 15 on the Virtual Book Blog Tour for Lynn Serafinn’s new book The Garden of the Soul: lessons from four flowers that unearth the Self. Check out Gail’s Inspired Choice blog and find out what she has to say about the book. Date: 2009-03-25
Title: Virtual Blog Tour for Garden of the Soul: Kristina Berglund Location: Kristina Berglund’s Vedic Art Blog Link out: Click here Description: Stop number 14 on the Virtual Book Blog Tour for Lynn Serafinn’s new book The Garden of the Soul: lessons from four flowers that unearth the Self. Check out Kristina’s Vedic Art blog and find out what she has to say about the book. Kristina is also the artist of the fabulous mandala artwork on the cover of the book! Date: 2009-03-24
Title: RADIO: Happy and Healthy Hour Location: Cambridge radio 105 FM, or http://www.209radio.co.uk/shows/profile.php?show=happy Link out: Click here Description: John Levine hosts the Happy and Healthy Hour. John interviews author, personal transformation coach and teacher Lynn Serafinn. Lynn discusses her new book The Garden of the Soul and reveals four simple principles that can help you express yourself through your authentic voice and find out who you really are. Start Time: 12:00 GMT Date: 2009-03-24 End Time: 13:00 GMT
Title: Virtual Blog Tour for Garden of the Soul: Callie Carling stop 2! Location: Callie Carling’s Holistic Feathers Blog Link out: Click here Description: Stop number 13 on the Virtual Book Blog Tour for Lynn Serafinn’s new book The Garden of the Soul: lessons from four flowers that unearth the Self. Check out Callie’s holistic feather blog and find out what she has to say about the book. Date: 2009-03-23
Title: Virtual Blog Tour for Garden of the Soul: Gina Marks Location: Gina Marks’s Blog Link out: Click here Description: Stop number 12 on the Virtual Book Blog Tour for Lynn Serafinn’s new book The Garden of the Soul: lessons from four flowers that unearth the Self. Gina interviews Lynn on the topic of personal transformatin, and the mind-body-soul connection. Lynn shares her views on the link between emotional repression and chronic illness, and shares her own journey of recovery from a crippling case of fibromyalgia and other ailments, and how this led her to understand the four spiritual principles of “give, receive, become and be” that appear in her book The Garden of the Soul. Date posted: 2009-03-21
Title: Virtual Blog Tour for Garden of the Soul: Duncan Brodie Location: Duncan Brodies’ Blog Link out: Click here Description: Stop number 11 on the Virtual Book Blog Tour for Lynn Serafinn’s new book The Garden of the Soul: lessons from four flowers that unearth the Self. Check out Duncan’s blog and find out what he has to say about the book. Date: 2009-03-20
Meditation 65: Wisdom
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[NOTE to readers: this blog post originally appeared on my social network "Lynn Serafinn's Garden of the Soul" on Ning. When I refer to people by name as "our own" and "right here", I am referring to that network, which can be accessed at 
