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.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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!”
Many thanks to Evelyn Thomas of Lizard Life Coaching who selected the number 27 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 27: Poise from “Lessons from the Iris: the Principle of Receiving”
Poise is a state of being in which you move freely and effortlessly within your own energy.
We tend to think of Poise as a word used to describe the quality of someone who is physically graceful and calm. Many of us also believe Poise to be the ability to control our emotional expression. While these external symptoms might sometimes be indicators of Poise, there are not the key elements. In fact, they might even been a shield that is covering up a lack of genuine Poise. How many of us refrain from expressing our emotions because we have told ourselves that it is the more “poised” thing to do. But if such emotional restraint is coming from the desire to appear mature, professional or in control, it is unlikely to be genuine Poise. You can tell the difference between the two, because true Poise results in a feeling of ease, satisfaction and freedom, while false Poise results in a feeling of being stuck, frustrated or stifled…
If you would like to read the rest of this meditation, please click over to my NEW blog portal at http://www.lynnserafinn.com. If you haven’t yet subscribed to that blog, please do so, as this blog will be discontinued shortly (it will just be a regular website) and all my meditations and other blogs will be sent from the new portal.
AND…
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!”
Below is the first part of your Garden of the Soul Meditation/Practice for the week. As I mentioned in last week’s post, I am moving ALL these posts to my new blog at http://www.lynnserafnn.com. If you wish to continue to receive them, you will need to come over to that site and subscribe, as shortly this blog will be discontinued (I just had too many blogs!).
This week’s number was selected intuitively by my great Twitter friend Lisa Lauffer (aka @deepwaterscoach) of Colorado. Lisa is a Co-Active coach and she always sends me fabulous cheesy disco on Fridays on Twitter.
Lisa selected number 19, which is the number for the attribute of “Life Purpose”. In my book The Garden of the Soul: lessons from four flowers that unearth the Self, Life Purpose is part of the section called “Lessons from the Rose”. The Rose teaches us “The Principle of Giving” which everything that emanates from within you, out into the world.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Day 19: Life Purpose Life purpose is the active process of embracing, expressing and living our reason to exist. Many people imagine Life Purpose to be something that they discover by asking the age-old questions of “Who am I?” and “Why am I here?” And while to some extent this is true, the term “Life Purpose” is meaningless until we consciously integrate our thoughts and feelings, and set them into action in our lives. If Life Purpose were merely a matter of receiving a message from some Divine source, it would mean we had a passive role to play with it, and it would not be an active process. We would probably fight against it, as we would perceive it as something that had come from outside of ourselves, and against which we were the powerless victims of fate. This is why it is important to remember that Life Purpose is an attribute of the Principle of Giving. It originates within the Self, and it can only manifest when we ourselves choose to send it into the world in an outward direction. At this moment we begin to live our lives “on purpose.”
Knowing this, we can finally cease our endless battle in life…
To read the rest of this meditation,
including your enquiries for the week, CLICK HERE
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This meditation came from my upcoming book The Companion Guide to the Garden of the Soul,which is a practical guide to the lessons from the four flowers that appear in my bestselling book The Garden of the Soul: lessons from four flowers that unearth the Self,. If you haven’t picked up your copy yet, check it out on Amazon by clicking HERE.
NOTE: I am moving to a new blog at www.lynnserafinn.com, which is a web portal for all of my various website. The article below is NOT the complete meditation. To read the complete article, please go to www.lynnserafinn.com, and be sure to subscribe to that new blog so you receive all future meditations and other articles.
Meditation 77: Continuity Continuity is a sense of begininglessness and endlessness that comes from feeling connected to Existence itself. In the Divine sense, Continuity does not refer to the act of “sticking with things” for a long period of time. In fact, Continuity has nothing at all to do with “doing”; it is an attribute of Being. Nor does Continuity refer to a need for things to be changeless. Quite the opposite, Continuity is that state we reach where we are able to witness all of Creation as a great system of continual flow and change without beginning or end. Existence is both always the same, and always changing, simultaneously. When we witness this, and feel this at our core, we come to realise that Reality is comprised of a single experience of Divine Continuity, which has infinite possibilities of expression. These possibilities flow like the colours of a kaleidoscope as we turn the wheel around and around. As these patterns are ever-changing, we cannot say there is ever truly a specific pattern, as there is no way to “freeze” them in time. When we release the need to hold on to a particular pattern, we begin to step into the awestruck feeling of Divine Continuity, and come to enjoy every moment as it unfolds before us….
*If you wish to read the rest of this meditation (and there’s quite a lot more to read), come on over to my NEW blog at http://www.lynnserafinn.com. Over the next month, I will be gradually shifting ALL my blogging over there, so please subscribe to it to be sure you stay on top of all Garden of the Soul events.
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
Here is your Garden of the Soul Meditation/Practice for the week. This week’s number was selected intuitively by Co-Active Coach Jude Jennison, CPCC. I read Jude’s selected meditation LAST Wednesday on my weekly broadcast of “Lynn Serafinn’s Garden of the Soul on Blog Talk Radio. You can listen on demand at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/Lynn-Serafinn. (While you’re there, mark the show as your favourite!)
Number 45 is the number for the attribute of “Growth”, which comes from the section my book “The Garden of the Soul” called “Lessons from the Daffodils”. The Daffodils teach us “The Principle of Becoming” which is all about youth, rebirth, discovery, evolution and creativity… and of course the process of growth. Let this one take root. It’s a subtle one.
And be sure to tune into next Wednesday’s show to find out what next week’s number is. AND if you’d like to help me write my book, and get a chance at having your name announced on the radio and in my next book, don’t forget to send me your intuitive number for next week’s meditation.
The Daffodil
Day 45: Growth Growth is our willingness to expand beyond our boundaries and move into a different space. I say “willingness” because, while the natural tendency of all life is growth and expansion, true Growth can only take place via a combination of consciousness, will and intention. For instance, if you stop tending to your garden for only a few weeks, you will quickly see the life-forms spread out in every direction and create chaos, as conflicting intentions compete for space. A garden that gets choked with weeds, or a body that becomes riddled with cancer, are both signs that our consciousness and intention are competing rather than working with the principle of Divine Growth.
The Daffodils in The Garden of the Soul are teachers of this balance between consciousness, will and intention. As spring approaches, they become conscious of the changes in the time and space around them, and the, at precisely the right moment, willingly and freely expand beyond the boundaries of their underworld as they burst into the chilly late winter air. Rarely do you see a lone Daffodil. Rather, they spread like a bright yellow sea throughout the countryside, taking all the space they want, with the sole intention of announcing “Spring has come!” In doing this, they begin the cycle of Divine Growth.
Similarly, when we set our consciousness upon an intention of bringing about powerful change, whether for ourselves or the rest of the world, we begin to tap into our own natural potential for Divine Growth. To do this, we must, like the Daffodils, settle our consciousness into the “underworld” of a quiet mind. Then, as our consciousness becomes full, we must hold the enquiry, “What is needed now, at this point in time and space?” When our consciousness hears the answer to this question, we will then feel the will arising to act upon it. At this point, it becomes our choice to allow that will to flow or not. If intention is not there, then we are apt not to answer the call. If intention drives our choice, then we are more likely.
Without Divine Intentions, our decisions are likely to take on the qualities of the overgrown garden. When we set our Divine Intention by asking, “What is needed now, at this point in time and space?” we connect to the purpose of our actions, and become able to set our Divine intentions and initiate the process of Divine Growth.
Symptoms of when it is blocked or distorted Inertia, routine, narrow-mindedness, resistant to new things, directionlessness, falling back on habits, dull spirit, decay
Symptoms of when it is flowing Open-mindedness, willingness, full of intention, vision, faith, productivity, expansiveness, exuberance, evolving spirit
Enquiries to cultivate this attribute
What is needed now, for me and for the rest of the world, at this point in time and space?
What will grow if this need is filled?
What will grow if it is not filled?
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I hope you liked this week’s Garden of the Soul Weekly Meditation. Read below to find you how you can help me write my next book, have your name mentioned on the radio, and have a chance to be mentioned in the book, under my acknowledgements.
ABOUT THIS COLLABORATIVE BOOK PROJECT…
I am writing a “Companion Guide to the Garden of the Soul: 80 Daily/Weekly Practices to Allow Your Spirit to Blossom”. The book has 80 Daily (or Weekly) meditations to help to cultivate the spiritual attributes of the four flowers in the book. All 80 attributes are already “assigned” a number, but the entries for them have not necessarily been written yet.
YOU CAN HELP ME WRITE MY BOOK!
Every Wednesday through Sunday, just send me a number from 1 – 80 that you pick intuitively.
I will put all the numbers into a “hat” and chose one at random.
I will publish the correlating “meditation” for that number on the following Friday.
AND… if you number is selected, I will also read your name and your intuitively chosen meditation ON THE AIR on my weekly broadcast of “Lynn Serafinn’s Garden of the Soul” at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/Lynn-Serafinn. Now that our show is 1 hour long, I have plenty of time for this. It’s just so much fun.
AND…I will also mention every person whose number was selected in the “acknowledgements” section of my book when it is published!
HOW DO YOU SEND ME YOUR NUMBER? You can SEND me your number by:
HERE’S THE BEAUTY OF IT…
If you send me a numbers for which I haven’t written the entries yet, I’ll write them as you send them. In other words, if 10 of you send me 10 new numbers, then I will write 10 new entries, but I will only post only one per week. That way, you will help me write my book, and you will receive a free meditation every week.
SO FAR THE WEEKLY MEDITATIONS I HAVE SENT TO YOU HAVE BEEN:
Day 75: Self-Awareness, selected by Kristina Berglund
Day 11: Boldness, selected by Kate Parker
Day 13: Vitality, selected by Callie Carling
Day 48: Discovery, selected by Geoff Laughton
Day 54: Rebirth, selected by Cindy Papale
Day 45: Growth, selected by Jude Jennison
Day ??? Coming next week! What does YOUR intuition tell you?
I look forward to receiving your intuitive number this week.
Hi there Garden of the Soul friends,
Here is your Garden of the Soul Meditation/Practice from LAST week (Wednesday 8 July 2009). I am sorry this didn’t come to you on Friday as usual, but I was preparing for some amazing training I did in London over the weekend on the Transition Town movement. I’ll share that with you later this week.
Last week’s number was selected intuitively by cancer survivor and author Cindy Papale. I read Cindy’s selected meditation LAST Wednesday on my weekly broadcast of “Lynn Serafinn’s Garden of the Soul on Blog Talk Radio. You can listen on demand at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/Lynn-Serafinn. (While you’re there, mark the show as your favourite. Cindy will be one of my upcoming guests in October).
Number 54 is the number for the attribute of “Rebirth”, which comes from the section my book “The Garden of the Soul” called “Lessons from the Daffodils”. The Daffodils teach us “The Principle of Becoming” which is all about youth, growth, discovery, evolution and creativity… and of course the process of rebirth. And in many ways, my training with the Transition Town Network was very much tied into this idea of rebirth. Dive deeply into this one. It’s a meaningful one. And be sure to tune into tonight’s show to find out what this week’s number is
AND don’t forget to send me your intuitive number for next week’s meditation.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Day 54: Rebirth Rebirth is that point in our personal transformation when we emerge from the old and into the new. True rebirth of any kind involves letting go of the past. In the autumn, the trees allow their dry, lifeless leaves to drop to the ground, return to the soil, crumble away, and help to create fertile ground for new vegetation to grow, and also for the trees themselves to flourish. Similarly, in our own lives, Rebirth takes place when we let go of the old emotions, as well as old patterns of thinking or behaving that do not bring us joy, and allow them to slip away naturally to become a part of the ground from which our Rebirth will take place. When we do this, we feel ourselves reborn into our true and authentic Nature.
In The Garden of the Soul the Daffodils teach us about Rebirth. They burst forth in the early springtime, like bright beacons deep within the dark wood, rising from the fertile ground that has been formed by the leaves of the ancient trees that surround them. Drinking deeply of the nourishment of the history of the forest, they are creating new life every spring, leaving behind the coldness of the earth and bringing forth colour, hope and joy to everyone around them. Then, when spring is over, they return to the Earth, and their own leaves and petals become fertile ground for their own re-emergence the following spring.
Just like the coming of spring, Rebirth is a natural and divine process. It does not come about from artificially suppressing or denying emotions. Rather, it is about being very in tune with the rhythms of our own lives, and with the world around us, just as the Daffodils are in tune with the seasons. When we develop this awareness, we know intuitively what we need to be happy, and are able to let go of what is no longer feeding our Souls. When we do this, we learn how to take nourishment from all that has come before, even the painful things, instead of sitting within the decay of dwelling upon what once was, and feeling lifeless as a result. Our past then becomes a vital and life-giving part of our bigger hero’s story, rather than a smaller story in which we feel continually stuck. When this happens, we can know with certainty that we havestepped fully into our Divine Rebirth of Self.
Symptoms of when it is blocked or distorted Bitterness; full of regret; staying stuck; feeling old beyond one’s years; prone to chronic illness; crippling limiting beliefs; despair
Symptoms of when it is flowing Hopefulness; lightness; positive; youthful outlook; strong immune system; able to nurture one’s self; not grudge-bearing
Enquiries to cultivate this attribute
What thoughts of the past do I think about over and over?
What would my life be like if were free of these thoughts?
If I allowed myself to be reborn into my true Divine Self, what would I be like?
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I hope you liked this week’s Garden of the Soul Weekly Meditation. Read below to find you how you can help me write my next book, have your name mentioned on the radio, and have a chance to be mentioned in the book, under my acknowledgements.
HOW TO HELP ME WRITE MY NEXT BOOK…
I am writing a “Companion Guide to the Garden of the Soul: 80 Daily/Weekly Practices to Allow Your Spirit to Blossom”. The book has 80 Daily (or Weekly) meditations to help to cultivate the spiritual attributes of the four flowers in the book. All 80 attributes are already “assigned” a number, but the entries for them have not necessarily been written yet.
YOU CAN HELP ME WRITE MY BOOK!
Every Wednesday through Sunday, just send me a number from 1 – 80 that you pick intuitively.
I will put all the numbers into a “hat” and chose one at random.
I will publish the correlating “meditation” for that number on the following Friday.
AND… if you number is selected, I will also read your name and your intuitively chosen meditation ON THE AIR on my weekly broadcast of “Lynn Serafinn’s Garden of the Soul” at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/Lynn-Serafinn. Now that our show is 1 hour long, I have plenty of time for this. It’s just so much fun.
AND…I will also mention every person whose number was selected in the “acknowledgements” section of my book when it is published!
HOW DO YOU SEND ME YOUR NUMBER? You can SEND me your number by:
HERE’S THE BEAUTY OF IT…
If you send me a numbers for which I haven’t written the entries yet, I’ll write them as you send them. In other words, if 10 of you send me 10 new numbers, then I will write 10 new entries, but I will only post only one per week. That way, you will help me write my book, and you will receive a free meditation every week.
SO FAR THE WEEKLY MEDITATIONS I HAVE SENT TO YOU HAVE BEEN:
Day 75: Self-Awareness, selected by Kristina Berglund
Day 11: Boldness, selected by Kate Parker
Day 13: Vitality, selected by Callie Carling
Day 48: Discovery, selected by Geoff Laughton
Day 54: Rebirth, selected by Cindy Papale
Day ??? Coming tonight! What does YOUR intuition tell you?
I look forward to receiving your intuitive number this week.
Personal Transformation and Why it is Important for the Greater World (Part 5 of 5)
by Lynn Serafinn, MAED, CPCC Personal Transformation Coach and bestselling author
For Part 1: view post dated 7 July 2009
For Part 2: view post dated 8 July 2009
For Part 3: view post dated 9 July 2009
For Part 4: view post dated 10 July 2009
Becoming BIG Just to share with you, three years ago, I claimed my own life purpose:
“I am the all-embracing voice that frees the hearts of millions
to sing their own true song.”
Notice this life purpose sounds very “big”. A life purpose should be big! When I work with clients to find their life purpose, we don’t stop until it takes their own breath away. My purpose still takes my breath away, and it gives me tremendous self-permission and motivation. How can I “free the hearts of millions” if I stay in a box living a small life? For instance, I wrote a book and I also do a radio show. Both of these reach an audience that is far greater than I could ever have reached if I stayed “small”. My book is all about finding one’s voice and living the life you were meant to live. Reaching a wide audience is not driven by my own personal desire for fame, but rather by my life purpose. I know that I can only help free the hearts of millions by reaching millions of people.
Balance, resilience and recovery Getting to the stage of discovering and claiming our life purpose is wonderful, but if I were simply to get clients all high on life during our coaching sessions with no tools to recover from the inevitable ups and downs of life, then they would simply burn out and are likely to go back to their old patterns in life. In my book The Garden of the Soul, as well as in my own life, I follow a simple balancing model of Four Principles: Give, Receive, Become and Be. Life is like riding a surfboard. There are always going to be waves going up and down and side to side. Surfers know how to sense the waves and stay on the board, and if they do happen to fall off, they know how to get out of the way of the board, and also how to get back onto their feet. All in all, it’s a fine craft learning how to find balance, expanding the awareness, trusting your intuition, responding to the situation and enjoying the ride.
And that is what really what life is all about too. In my own life, my book, my coaching and my workshops I use this model of “Give, Receive, Become and Be” to master the art of balance, resilience and recovery, so that we can find a sustainable way to find fulfilment, manifest our life purpose and become the heroes of our own lives, and bring all those wonderful gifts into the world for which we were created.
And that is why personal transformation is so important, not merely for our own sakes, but for the sake of the entire world. If you have been stuck in an unfulfilling state of life, resisting the call of your own life because you thought it would be selfish to do so, or felt you did not have the courage or ability to change, go for a walk into Nature today and simply listen, allowing the Universe to speak directly to your heart. You will hear that all your reasons for avoiding your own life are based upon fear of being alone in your story. Step into that fear and embrace your purpose in life, and allow the Universe carry you. If you feel any doubts, remind yourself that this wonderful Universe is big enough to carry each and every one of us.
AND… never forget: the Universe WANTS you to succeed!
* * * * *
That’s the complete article
“Personal Transformation and Why it is Important for the Greater World.”
Ready to explore your own journey of personal transformation?
I offer free 30-minute consultations to a limited amount of prospective clients every month. CLICK HERE to request a free consultation.
Be sure to subscribe to this blog to receive upcoming articles AND visit the Create-a-Life Coaching website for free eBooks, newsletter and more.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lynn Serafinn, MAED, CPCC
For more information about Lynn and her work, visit:
Personal Transformation and Why it is Important for the Greater World (Part 4)
by Lynn Serafinn, MAED, CPCC Personal Transformation Coach and bestselling author
For Part 1: view post dated 7 July 2009
For Part 2: view post dated 8 July 2009
For Part 3: view post dated 9 July 2009
The role of coaching in this process In my coaching, this is a major facet of how I help people. First, I help them realise the unconscious limiting belief patterns they have created and carried with them for many years (perhaps since they were children). Because coaching focuses on the “now” and not the past, it is not essential to go back in time to the cause of these beliefs; but often I find that as soon as clients see the pattern emerging in their lives, they can frequently scan back in their memory and find the root of it without effort. Usually, they are amazed that the belief has gone back so far in time, and they begin to see the impact this belief has had upon them, sometimes for many decades. This in itself can create a huge shift in the clients’ view of life, and they see that they are truly at choice to change their belief system, if it is no longer working for them in their current lives.
Stepping into your life purpose Of course, as you begin to transform, it is also important to learn compassion and forgiveness towards oneself as you release these old belief systems, so you do not blame yourself for wasted time or spend time dwelling on regrets for past decisions. This process of “letting go” is the next stage in transformation. Taking a step back and seeing the bigger picture of the story of your life, instead of all the little stories in isolation, you begin to see who the world has been calling for you to become within your lifetime. At this stage, I help clients identify and claim their life purpose.
A life purpose is not the same thing as a career or defining what you want to “do”. A life purpose is identifying your ultimate impact on the world—your legacy. Once we come to understand that we actually have a life purpose, we look at life differently.
If the words “impact” or “legacy” are too challenging for you at this point, trying substituting them with the word “gift”. To get a clue as to your purpose in life, ask yourself these questions:
What keeps calling me over and over again throughout my life?
What do I keep resisting out of fear?
If I could create/do anything, what is the “gift” I would want to leave behind for the rest of the world?
What would I need to stop resisting so I could give that gift?
When you begin to see that you have a “gift” for the world, it shifts your sense of purpose. Instead of believing you are powerless and insignificant, you begin to see your own importance in the world. When I work with clients at this stage, I help them “claim” their life purpose, and learn how to give themselves full permission to live that purpose, for the sake of giving the gift that only they can give. This is when all the old, out-of-date belief systems simply start to slip away. No longer do we see ourselves as selfish human beings for living our life purpose, Rather we start to see that our own personal transformation and fulfilment is actually the key that can unlock a future world that is full of peace, harmony, compassion and wide-spread happiness at a global level…
To be continued.
Be sure to subscribe to this blog to receive complete article.
Coming up in Part 5:
“Becoming BIG” and
“Balance, Resilience and Recovery”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lynn Serafinn, MAED, CPCC
For more information about Lynn and her work, visit:
Personal Transformation and Why it is Important for the Greater World (Part 3)
by Lynn Serafinn, MAED, CPCC Personal Transformation Coach and bestselling author
For Part 1: view post dated 7 July 2009
For Part 2: view post dated 8 July 2009
The impact our beliefs have upon us When we are convinced that something “is” true, it stands to reason that we will not bother to look at it a different way. So at the core of this feeling of powerlessness is the belief that something simply “is” and we are not at choice with it.
But the minute we are willing to try to see the same situation from a different angle, we have stepped out of the role of being the victim, and become one step closer to our Authentic Self. For instance, if someone has the habitual tendency to criticise you, you might have developed a belief around the fact that you are trapped in this situation and cannot escape it. At the core of this belief might be a deeper belief that you are weak and powerless, or that you actually are all the horrible things that the person is saying you are. Standing in these beliefs, you already believe yourself to be weak, flawed and vulnerable, and your reactions will be dictated by these beliefs. Because you feel so vulnerable, you might react by counter-attacking their criticisms. Or, if you are feeling very flawed and weak, you might simply “stuff” your feelings so as not to get into an argument, only to feel upset or irritable about it later. You might even believe that what they are saying is true, and beat yourself up about it rather than get into a conflict with them.
This is classic “passive-aggressive” behaviour. In either case, whether passive or aggressive, you have still allowed their criticisms to affect you emotionally, and to enter your mental and physical world. In the long term, this can cause stress and even disease. In some extreme scenarios (such as abuse or incessant bullying) it might be necessary to take yourself physically out of the situation as a first step, but until you learn how to realign and rebalance yourself from such energies in the outside world, you will simply continue to swing back and forth in a passive-aggressive pattern, without being truly free of its effects.
Learning to realign Learning to realign is a matter of developing the ability to step into different perspectives where you are not “taking on” the energy of that critical person, and you do not feel the need to expend any of your own energy towards it, whether physical, mental or emotional. When you begin this process of realignment, you start to see that person as someone who is simply trapped in their own sense of powerlessness, and their criticisms lose their energy. When you do not take on that undesired energy, and you do not expend any of your own energy to reflect it, you remain equipoised, balanced and stress-free. And when the body and mind are not under stress, it means you are not only healthier and happier, but you are also more able to be creative and find more solutions to the challenges in your life. So while it is true that you cannot change the person’s behaviour, their behaviour no longer has a negative impact on you, and you find that you are more able to create the outcome you truly desire for yourself…
To be continued.
Be sure to subscribe to this blog to receive complete article.
Coming up in Part 4:
“The Role of Coaching in this Process” and
“Stepping into Your Life Purpose”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lynn Serafinn, MAED, CPCC
For more information about Lynn and her work, visit:
Personal Transformation and Why it is Important for the Greater World (Part 2)
by Lynn Serafinn, MAED, CPCC Personal Transformation Coach and bestselling author
(if you missed Part 1, view post dated 7 July 2009)
The stories we tell ourselves In my work, I have discovered that many people would indeed change, even at the age of 50 or even older, if they believed they had the power, choice and courage to do so. I hear them say things like, “Ok, all that sounds really good, but I can’t change my life. I have a family, job, etc. It would be SELFISH for me to change. My world would fall apart. I would let everyone else down. It would be irresponsible of me. I cannot change my life. Isn’t it the mature and dignified thing to simply accept what we cannot change?”
Well here’s something that might come as a shock to you—if you are not living the life that the world had in mind for you when you came into this world, and you are currently suffering as a result, it is actually selfish of you NOT to transform yourself, and step into the person you were always meant to be. Why? Because you are not on the outside of the world looking in, or the inside of your own little world looking out. You are an integral part of this greater world called the Universe. You are like a facet in a very intricate diamond. If I take out your facet, the entire system loses a bit of its lustre. When you are not living the life the Universe deeply desires you to live, you not only get caught in an endless karmic swirl of frustration and personal dissatisfaction, but you also cause the Universe to weep for that person it knows you are, and for the impact it wants you to create in the greater world.
“Whoa there—impact?” you may ask. “Who me? You say I am supposed to create an impact? People like me don’t create an impact on the world.”
Well, here’s the news:
You are exactly the same kind of person as those you consider to be great heroes
Everything you do already creates an impact, whether you are aware of it or not
Why we stay stuck I believe that the reason why so many of us stay stuck in lives that do not fulfil us is because we believe we are powerless. I believe that this feeling arises from a basic lack of connection to Self and the rest of the world. When we feel disconnected from Self and other, our energies are driven downwards—mentally, physically and emotionally—and we become less able to see and feel our impact, even though we are indeed creating one. We begin to feel isolated and insignificant, and these feelings can lead us to believe we are very small and therefore have no impact upon the world. And sadly, when we believe ourselves to be these things, the world (and the life) we create for ourselves only reinforces these beliefs again and again.
Seeing so much “evidence” around us confirming (or so we believe) that we are small and insignificant, we develop the underlying belief that life is “happening to us” and all of this is simply beyond our control. As soon as we adopt this belief system, where we hold ourselves to be powerless, we have stepped into the role of the victim. Playing the role of the victim is a very subtle thing. Many of us may not realise we are doing it, and would argue that it is not true. Many of us might say, “You’re wrong. I’m not playing the victim. It’s just that the economy really is bad right now” or “It’s just that my parent/partner is always so critical of me” or “It’s just the way my life is right now” or “It’s just that my body is prone to such-and-such illness.” As soon as such “is” statements become our truths, we take on the role of the victim because we are saying that we are simply powerless against the forces around us. And in some distorted way, this because a very satisfying place to be for many people (I used to be like this myself) because it allows us to blame another person, entity or circumstance for our troubles, thus making us feel less critical of ourselves. But deep down, we are simply spinning in a vortex of powerlessness that we ourselves have chosen…
To be continued.
Be sure to subscribe to this blog to receive complete article.
Coming up in Part 3:
“The Impact Our Beliefs Have Upon Us” and
“Learning to Realign”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lynn Serafinn, MAED, CPCC
For more information about Lynn and her work, visit:
Personal Transformation and Why it is Important for the Greater World (Part 1)
by Lynn Serafinn, MAED, CPCC Personal Transformation Coach and bestselling author
Like so many other coaches I know, when I first started my coaching practice, I was going through many changes in my life. Moving to a new country, major illness/surgery, my father’s death, menopause, divorce from a 22-year abusive marriage, recovery from post-traumatic stress, leaving my decades-old religious and social circles, doing a Masters degree and a full teaching qualification, feeling the pangs of “empty nest” when my daughter started her adult life, moving to a new town with nothing but a computer and a suitcase of clothes, living completely on my own for the first time since my 20s, becoming a grandmother, changing jobs three times while climbing the corporate ladder in the educational sector, “making it” by becoming a director of a college department with a good salary and even better prestige, and then suddenly dropping everything to change my career completely to start my own coaching practice (and all the training that goes along with it) had all come within an unbelievably short time period of only 7 years. Furthermore, by the end of those 7 years, I was already in my early 50s. Who in their right mind would start their lives over from scratch at such an age and after going through all that change already?
So, was I in my right mind?
Well, since making the decision to embark on my own journey of personal transformation:
A long list of long-term physical illnesses have vanished from my life
I look and feel 10 years younger than I did 10 years ago
I won a business award for my coaching
I started an organisation called the Global Wellness Circle that is transforming the holistic community in central England
I became a talk radio host and frequent media guest
I have been a keynote speaker at such events as International Women’s Day
AND I wrote and self-published an Amazon bestselling book called The Garden of the Soul: lessons from four flowers that unearth the Self
Furthermore, I have coached and mentored hundreds of people through the process of their own personal transformation.
But regardless of all those wonderful things, for which I am truly grateful, the most significant thing of all is that I can honestly say I am truly, deeply happy and fulfilled, and that I know my life has meaning and purpose.
Fleeting versus Ultimate Happiness A sense of purpose is the most important element in finding deep, core happiness. “Every day happiness” can come to us in many guises. We are happy when we fall in love, have children, are accepted for great new job, complete a course of study, or win a competition. But all of these things are what I call “fleeting happiness” because they are dependent upon time and circumstance. What happens when circumstances change? Where is happiness then?
Ultimate happiness—or joy—can really only come when we are connected to a sense of purpose. You might call it “Divine Purpose” (or at least I do). I firmly believe that every human being is born with an innate purpose to fulfil in this world, and that unless and until we hear the call of that purpose—and answer it—we will continue to spin around in life, trying to get as much “fleeting happiness” as we can find. But the problem with this is that as soon as the “fleeting happiness” runs its course, we will simply look for our next “hit”, because we don’t necessarily have the deep core happiness and joy that comes from living a life “on purpose.”
To be continued.
Be sure to subscribe to this blog to receive complete article.
Coming up in Part 2:
“The Stories We Tell Ourselves” and
“Why We Stay Stuck”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lynn Serafinn, MAED, CPCC
For more information about Lynn and her work, visit:
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).
Hi there Garden of the Soul friends,
Here is your Garden of the Soul Meditation/Practice for the week. This week’s number was selected intuitively by the warm and wonderful Geoff Laughton (Twitter @GeoffLaughton) of Colorado. Some of you may remember Geoff as he was one of my past guests on my radio show on an episode called “Growing up in Your Relationships” back on 4 March 2009.
I read part of this week’s meditation earlier tonight (Wednesday) on my weekly broadcast of “Lynn Serafinn’s Garden of the Soul on Blog Talk Radio. You can listen on demand at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/Lynn-Serafinn. (While you’re there, check the March archives to hear Geoff’s show … it was a good one).
Number 48 is the number for the attribute of “Discovery”, which comes from the section my book “The Garden of the Soul” called “Lessons from the Daffodils”. The Daffodils teach us “The Principle of Becoming” which is all about youth, growth, rebirth and creativity. That’s why it’s so cool that Geoff picked this particular number.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Day 48: Discovery Discovery is our willingness to explore places, both outwardly and inwardly, which we have not encountered before, or to delve more deeply into ones we already think we know. The great discoverer Christopher Columbus had no idea what he would find when he sailed westwards across the great Atlantic, or even if he would survive the journey. Similarly, genuine Discovery is when we step into our fear of the unknown for the sake of the thrill of Discovery itself, rather than being attached to the result of what we might find.
The Daffodil
The Daffodils in The Garden of the Soul teach us that no Discovery can take place until we fully embrace whatever shows up in our lives and hold it as an essential part of our journey. Until we do this, we will continually reject the gift of Discovery. True Discovery comes when we step fully into absolute Trust, and are willing to let go of control. After sailing across the stormy seas of our daily lives, we come to the ultimate Divine Discovery when we meet with the essence of who we are, and discover the Source of that essence.
Symptoms of when it is blocked or distorted Fear; stubbornness; overt cautiousness; lack-lustre life; feeling stuck; seeing no options; feeling you “missed the boat”
Symptoms of when it is flowing Thrill; eager anticipation; flexibility; trust; curiosity; highly observant; fascination; willing to go on; able to be with fear
Enquiries to cultivate this attribute
What am I not trusting that is holding me back in life?
What might I discover when I learn to trust?
What will I discover when I meet my Divine essence?
Practical exercise to cultivate this attribut Imagine the most distant galaxy in the Universe. Now imagine you are boarding a spaceship going to that galaxy. Once the ship takes off, there will be no turning back. The journey is so long, it is almost assured you will never return to Earth. What are you feeling as you are sitting in the cockpit before take-off? As the ship leaves Earth’s orbit? As you approach the unknown galaxy? What do you most want to discover?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I hope you liked this week’s Garden of the Soul Weekly Meditation. Read below to find you how you can help me write my next book, have your name mentioned on the radio, and have a chance to be mentioned in the book, under my acknowledgements.
HOW TO HELP ME WRITE MY NEXT BOOK…
I am writing a “Companion Guide to the Garden of the Soul: 80 Daily/Weekly Practices to Allow Your Spirit to Blossom”. The book has 80 Daily (or Weekly) meditations to help to cultivate the spiritual attributes of the four flowers in the book. All 80 attributes are already “assigned” a number, but the entries for them have not necessarily been written yet.
YOU CAN HELP ME WRITE MY BOOK!
Every Wednesday through Sunday, just send me a number from 1 – 80 that you pick intuitively.
I will put all the numbers into a “hat” and chose one at random.
I will publish the correlating “meditation” for that number on the following Friday.
AND… if you number is selected, I will also read your name and your intuitively chosen meditation ON THE AIR on my weekly broadcast of “Lynn Serafinn’s Garden of the Soul” at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/Lynn-Serafinn. Now that our show is 1 hour long, I have plenty of time for this. It’s just so much fun.
AND…I will also mention every person whose number was selected in the “acknowledgements” section of my book when it is published!
HOW DO YOU SEND ME YOUR NUMBER?
You can send me your number by:
HERE’S THE BEAUTY OF IT…
If you send me a numbers for which I haven’t written the entries yet, I’ll write them as you send them. In other words, if 10 of you send me 10 new numbers, then I will write 10 new entries, but I will only post only one per week. That way, you will help me write my book, and you will receive a free meditation every week.
SO FAR THE WEEKLY MEDITATIONS I HAVE SENT TO YOU HAVE BEEN:
Day 75: Self-Awareness, selected by Kristina Berglund
Day 11: Boldness, selected by Kate Parker
Day 13: Vitality, selected by Callie Carling
Day 48: Discovery, selected by Geoff Laughton
Day ??? Coming next week! What does YOUR intuition tell you?
I look forward to receiving your intuitive number this week.
Hi there Garden of the Soul friends,
Here is your Garden of the Soul Meditation/Practice for the week. This week’s number was selected intuitively by our lovely Callie Carling of London. She sent the number 13. Callie says, “13 is unlucky for some, but not for me.” I selected this number at random from about 10 numbers I received this week.
I read part of this week’s meditation earlier this week on my Wednesday broadcast of “Lynn Serafinn’s Garden of the Soul on Blog Talk Radio. You can listen on demand at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/Lynn-Serafinn
Lucky number 13 is in the number for the attribute of “Vitality” that (once again) appears in section on “The Rose: The Principle of Giving.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Day 13: Vitality
The Rose: The Principle of Giving
Vitality is that inner quality that generates Life. Vitality is one of the easiest and most direct indicators of our connection to Divine Source. It’s easy: if we expend great amounts of energy and feel drained, we know we are not in alignment with Source. When we feel full of life, and feel unstoppable as we progress towards our dreams, we can be confident we are in alignment with Source. When we are in alignment, we become agents of Divine Vitality, wherein lie unlimited creative possibilities.
In The Garden of the Soul the Rose is the sweet embodiment of Divine Vitality. Her vibrant colour, her unrelenting scent, her prickly thorns, her full blossoms that burst with life so full that they make the rose bush bend under their weight, give us a model of Vitality that speaks directly to the heart. And herein lies the key. Vitality means Divine vibrancy, not merely physical health. And while it is always essential to care for the body, true Vitality comes when all parts of the Self are connected and in flow.
Symptoms of when it is blocked or distorted Lethargy, frustration, headaches, exhaustion, irritability, apathy, boredom, sleeplessness, aches, pains, chronic disease
Symptoms of when it is flowing Enthusiasm, bubbly personality, glowing health, sparkling eyes, unstoppable, fun loving, ready to go, radiant inside and out
Enquiries to cultivate this attribute
Where in my life do I feel the most lethargic and apathetic?
Where in my life do I feel the most enthusiastic and radiant?
What things would be wonderful to add into my life that would give my heart a real surge of Vitality?
Practical exercise to cultivate this attribute Think back to a time in your life when you felt radiant, vibrant and glowing from the inside out. Where were you? Who were you with? What were you doing? Reflect upon all the elements of that scene that made it wonderful, and write down one key word or metaphor that reminds you of each of these elements. Read these key words aloud every morning, and set the intention to find one small thing in the world that day that can bring you the essence of that same feeling of Divine Vitality.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I hope you liked this week’s Garden of the Soul Weekly Meditation. Read below to find you how you can help me write my next book, have your name mentioned on the radio, and have a chance to be mentioned in the book, under my acknowledgements.
HOW TO HELP ME WRITE MY NEXT BOOK…
I am writing a “Companion Guide to the Garden of the Soul: 80 Daily/Weekly Practices to Allow Your Spirit to Blossom”. The book has 80 Daily (or Weekly) meditations to help to cultivate the spiritual attributes of the four flowers in the book. All 80 attributes are already “assigned” a number, but the entries for them have not necessarily been written yet.
YOU CAN HELP ME WRITE MY BOOK!
Every Wednesday through Sunday, just send me a number from 1 – 80 that you pick intuitively.
I will put all the numbers into a “hat” and chose one at random.
I will publish the correlating “meditation” for that number on the following Friday.
AND… if you number is selected, I will also read your name and your intuitively chosen meditation ON THE AIR on my weekly broadcast of “Lynn Serafinn’s Garden of the Soul” at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/Lynn-Serafinn. Now that our show is 1 hour long, I have plenty of time for this. It’s just so much fun.
AND…I will also mention every person whose number was selected in the “acknowledgements” section of my book when it is published!
HOW DO YOU SEND ME YOUR NUMBER?
You can send me your number by:
HERE’S THE BEAUTY OF IT…
If you send me a numbers for which I haven’t written the entries yet, I’ll write them as you send them. In other words, if 10 of you send me 10 new numbers, then I will write 10 new entries, but I will only post only one per week. That way, you will help me write my book, and you will receive a free meditation every week.
SO FAR THE WEEKLY MEDITATIONS I HAVE SENT TO YOU HAVE BEEN:
Day 75: Self-Awareness, selected by Kristina Berglund
Day 11: Boldness, selected by Kate Parker
Day 13: Vitality, selected by Callie Carling
???? Coming next week! What does YOUR intuition tell you?
I look forward to receiving your intuitive number this week.
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: TALK RADIO: Stepping into Our Personal Legacy Location: Blog Talk Radio Link out: Click here Description: Author and Personal Transformation Coach Lynn Serafinn hosts French author, marriage family therapist and consultant Marie-Eve S. Kielson. Author of the book “Messengers: the courage to rebel, the power to inspire”, Marie-Eve will share with us the 15 messengers we encounter in life that are the universal threads that connect us all, as brought to life through 15 chosen works of art of by the late, renowned metal sculptor Madeleine Stanley-Jossem (Marie-Eve’s mother). She will also tell us how she now uses stories in her work with clients to put together a sense how are all connected, how to beat the odds, and how to do what is in our hearts to do. Start Time: 18:30 Date: 2009-06-24 End Time: 19:00
If you aren’t aware of the Weekly Meditation “game”, see info below to find out how to play.
Here is your Garden of the Soul Meditation/Practice for the week. This week’s number was selected intuitively by Kate Parker from Leicester, England. Kate intuitively picked number 11, which is in the number for the attribute of “Boldness” that appears in section on “The Rose: The Principle of Giving.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
DAY 11: BOLDNESS Boldness is our willingness to be seen in the world. This does not mean making ourselves the centre of attention, although we might indeed find that we our noticed by others when we are bold. Boldness means we are daring enough to express our Truth using whatever the Universe has given us as our unique talent, and to live our life purpose regardless of what others may think, and in spite of what limiting beliefs we carry around about ourselves. When we are living according to our life purpose, we are fully standing in boldness.
In The Garden of the Soul the Rose teaches by example as she stands her own boldness. Standing erect and armed with thorns, she remains poised in her own beauty, softness, sensuality and alluring aroma. True boldness has nothing to do with being aggressive or rude. Nor does it mean we are never fearful. It means to pick up the challenge of the unique life purpose (our dharma) that calls us, in spite of our fears. True boldness is spiritual. When we step into spiritual boldness, we have embraced our Eternal Dharma.
SYMPTOMS OF WHEN IT IS BLOCKED OR DISTORTED Timidity; self-criticism; feeling useless; wandering; drifting; withdrawal; avoidance; intoxication; passive or aggressive
SYMPTOMS OF WHEN IT IS FLOWING Confidence; faith; vibrancy; steadiness; sense of Higher purpose; able to recover when shaken; self-worth; clear vision
ENQUIRIES TO CULTIVATE THIS ATTRIBUTE
Where do I tend not to be seen in my life?
What stories have I told myself about why I disappear?
What will change both in my own life and in the wider world when I finally step into Divine Boldness?
PRACTICAL EXERCISE TO CULTIVATE THIS ATTRIBUTE Take your journal and write a story about a situation in your current life where you know you are not allowing your Divine Self to be seen. Then put your pen down and meditate upon the unique gift you carry for the world. Now rewrite the same story as it would happen if you gave this gift to the world by allowing yourself to step into your Divine Boldness.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I hope you liked this week’s Garden of the Soul Weekly Meditation.
YOU CAN HELP ME WRITE MY NEXT BOOK! To “play” all you need to do is:
Subscribe to this blog
Pick a number from 1 – 80 that you select intuitively.
Post a comment to this post below with your “intuitive” number (so everyone has a chance to play, comments will go “live” after I announce the winner for the following week)
I will put all the numbers into a “hat” and chose one at random and publish the correlating “meditation” for that number on the following Friday right here in the Garden.
Watch every Friday for a brand new weekly meditation, and then send me your new intuitive number
HERE’S THE BEAUTY OF IT… If you send me a numbers for which I haven’t written the entries yet, I’ll write them as you send them. In other words, if 10 of you send me 10 new numbers, then I will write 10 new entries, but I will only post only one per week. That way, you will help me write my book, and you will receive a free meditation every week.
AND… I will also mention every person whose number was selected in the “acknowledgements” section of my book when it is published.
Sound like fun?
If you haven’t yet sent your number for the week, go ahead and send it now. Maybe yours will be next week’s Garden of the Soul meditation, to be posted next Friday.
A question came up on one of the coaching networks recently as to whether or not coaches should do health/wellness fairs.
Well, in my opinion, YES!
I do mind-body-spirit, wellness, complementary health fairs quite regularly and straight “health” fairs a bit less regularly. Here are a few compelling reasons why you should, and a few tips that could make them work for you.
Why you should display at wellness fairs
Your primary aim at a fair is to get people’s names onto your list. Be sure you have a proper email list for them to sign (not just a blank sheet of paper) so it looks official and you capture the information you require. The challenge then becomes GETTING people to part with their information. One way I have done this is to buy about 50-100 cheap and cheerful gift bags at a £1 shop (or dollar shop in US). Buy ones that are 3-4 in a package for £1 (or $1). Fill them up with leaflets and articles, and put a sticker of your company (with your website URL) on the front of the bag. Line up all these nice “goodie bags” on your table. Tell people they can have one if they give you their email address. I use this method all the time to promote my Global Wellness Circle, so it means the bag is filled with flyers from lots of other practitioners as well as myself. However, you can find things to fill it with that are just from you. This strategy works like a charm… people simply want that bag, even though it is filled with promo materials! I routinely get about 50 new names on my list at every event I do.
Your secondary aim is to get people to agree to a free consultation or sample coaching session. At such events, the best way to do that is to offer a 10 minute micro session. Be careful, however, and only offer it to someone who is already engaging with you and who seems like a likely client. If you simply have a sign up that says “free sample sessions” you are likely to have a queue of people who are looking at you like some sort of free psychic or tarot card reader, and they are only doing it for entertainment. This is a waste of your time. If you do a micro session, stick to the 10 minute limit, and leave them with an enquiry. Get their contact info and see if they are willing to set up a full consultation with you. Put it in the diary, and make sure to drop them an email that says, “I look forward to our consultation on X date.”
Things you should have in place for the show:
Get yourself a speaker slot. This is ESSENTIAL! Most of these fairs will give you the opportunity to do a 20 – 40 minute talk. Many of them do not charge an extra fee for this, but some might. If you do a talk, make sure that you have a clear call to action built into it (i.e., to sign up for a course, telecourse, workshop, purchase a book, etc). If you give a talk, and have no call to action, you are wasting a golden opportunity. Be SURE you get people to sign in and provide their email address when they attend your talk (ask them to tick a box giving you permission to send them info on your upcoming workshops).
Be SURE you have at least one other person at your table with you. Choose that person should know all about what you do and should be comfortable and genuine with helping to promote your services. Sometimes I give someone a portion of the table to display their own products, in exchange for supporting me. How do they help? Well, you are going to need time of here and there for “bio” breaks, a walk about, lunch, etc., No one can go all day without some relief! Also, if you are giving a talk, you don’t want your table unmanned, or you will lose potential clients/sales. When you do walk about, don’t be away for more than 15 minutes at a time and make sure that you are making use of the time by establishing valuable contacts with other vendors at the event.
Give attention to your display. This doesn’t have to be an expensive investment.A lot of people think you need an expensive banner or sign. While flashy signs/banners are nice, they cost a lot and are inflexible (i.e., once you have them, you can’t change them). A cheaper and more adaptable option is to have felt/Velcro display boards. I have a 3-panel tabletop board that is very lightweight and fits in a carrier bag. I take it everywhere with me (even on trains). I use one side to promote my coaching/Wellness Circle, and I have the other side JUST for my book if I am at a book event. I can change it around and add new things as they come in (ex: a new book review, a radio show I want to promote, a new course I am offering, etc).
Create a few attractive things people can take away for free … NOT just flyers and business materials! Write an article or a whole newsletter they can have (making sure your photo, bio and contact details are on the bottom). Free articles are some of the best and easiest freebies you can offer. Make sure it is on a topic that is immediately relevant to your niche and the kinds of clients you want to attract.
Create a few things you can SELL. Don’t have any ideas? Try recording some visualisations on an audio CD, for instance. Slap a label on it with your contact details. Sell if for what anyone would charge for a CD. Even better, make an audio course and workbook, and put it all on a CDR. Try to make your money back for the table fees.
The last mind-body-spirit fair I did, I made back every penny of my rent from book sales, I made a new client (who is still with me) and I collected 60 new names for my Wellness Circle, which turned into revenue as pretty much all of them have since started attending my Wellness Circle events. PLUS, these folks are now receiving regular updates about my workshops, books, etc., and many of them are buying them now that they have gotten to “know” me.
So all in all, wellness fairs are a great way for coaches to be seen, increase your list, and establish long-term clients/customers.
If you are planning an upcoming fair, drop me a line and let me know if I can help in any way.
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.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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
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:
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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
Meditation 65: Wisdom
Meditation 27: Poise
Day 19: Life Purpose
This meditation came from my upcoming book The Companion Guide to the Garden of the Soul, which is a practical guide to the lessons from the four flowers that appear in my bestselling book 
DAY 11: BOLDNESS
[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 
