At the end of the programme, Marianne came up to me and introduced herself by her spiritual name: Maharani. I also introduced myself to her by my initiated spiritual name at the time: Lalita. Maharani had been part of the Hare Krishna movement, and had since joined up with a splinter group, which had many western devotees, headed by another Indian guru. My guru had very few western disciples at that time, having spent most of his life’s work preaching throughout India, and this was his first visit to England.

I cannot remember much about what she and I spoke about that day, except the fact that we were both musicians. We exchanged contact information quickly, because I had to dash off and escort our guests back to the cars to take them back to their UK host’s home.

Maharani called me, and over time we became friends. That autumn, I was going through a rough time in my life, and a few months later my marriage of 22 years, which had been tumultuous for a long time, ended. Like Maharani, my former husband had been a member of the Hare Krishna society. After my husband and I split, I found it very difficult to be around anyone from those circles, and I kept my distance. Because of this, I asked we could call each other our western names—Marianne and Lynn—rather than our spiritual names. This was fine with her.

One day Marianne came to visit me at my work. I was working as a music technology teacher in Tottenham, a notoriously rough area of North London, where the infamous riots were to break out in 2011. We spoke about our experiences in the music industry. It was only then I found out she was actually a well-known punk singer, who went by the name of Poly Styrene from the band X-Ray Spex. I had never heard of the band, having been in Texas and not into punk at the time of their heyday in the mid 1970s. I had no idea how famous she was; nor did I have any idea of what her music sounded like. To be honest, while I found her past fascinating, I was really only interested in who she was in that moment, and I was happy to have found a new friend.

After my marriage ended, Marianne was very kind in listening to my grief as I struggled with the many inner and outer changes I was dealing with during the first year of my divorce. In 2003, when I finally got the courage to write to my guru to tell him why I had divorced—that I had been a battered wife for more than two decades—I never received a reply from him or from anyone else at the temple. Marianne was one of the few people with whom I could speak about this heartache, because she understood the temple culture without me having to explain. She gave me space to express both my anger and my pain. I remember one day when I was particularly upset, she led me through a visualisation over the phone. She wanted to help me let go of the past with love and grace, so she had me visualise my ex-husband enveloped in a beautiful, sparkling pink bubble. Then, we floated it in the air and we let him go, as we said together,

“Love and Light! Love and Light!”

I must admit I resisted this, as I was still full of blame and hurt in my heart. Nonetheless, I can still see that beautiful pink bubble and I remember Marianne’s soft voice as she guided me with love and affection.

Over the coming year, just as my life started to settle down a bit, Marianne’s life seemed to become more shaken up. I went to visit her in East Dulwich, where she was living at the time, and we went out to a café and had a long chat. She shared many heart-rending stories of different traumas and hardships she had endured in her youth. She also told me she had bipolar disorder, but to be honest, at that time I really didn’t know what that meant (a few years later, my own daughter was diagnosed with it, and I have come to understand it better). She really opened up to me and I could feel we had become good friends.

One time, Marianne and I were riding on the London Underground, and a woman beggar came up to us. Without hesitation, Marianne handed her a £2 coin. She told me that she always gave money to beggars, especially women. She said she didn’t care whether or not they were “real” beggars or fakes. “I give them the benefit of the doubt,” she said. She told me she herself had once been homeless, living rough on the streets when she was young. She said there was a time she had been so poor she had no shoes. The cold and exposure to the elements were so servere that her toenails fell off. She said, “I often thought if someone, just someone, would come along and help me, I could get out of this horrible situation. But most people just looked at me like I was dirt and walked away. I decided I would never treat people that way.” Since those experiences, she always gave money to women beggars.

Over the following months, I began to see the implications of Marianne’s bipolar disorder. She called me serveral times in the middle of the night during her “manic” phases. One time she called me at 2AM from a phone booth in Glastonbury, hundreds of miles from London where we both lived. She said she was confused and couldn’t figure out how she had gotten there. Then, she suddenly got agitated and she had to go find a church because the angels had told her if she didn’t, her daughter (who was in Australia) would be in grave danger. She sounded full of panic and very upset. Abruptly, before I could find out where she was, she hung up the phone. I was worried because I didn’t know how to find her or how I could help her. Later she told me that some “very nice police officers” found her and brought her to a nearby hospital. Apparently, she had run out of medication, which caused her mania to flare up.

I soon learned that Marianne’s bipolar disorder was usually fine as long as she was on her medication, but if she went off it for any period of time, these kinds of episodes would inevitably recur. One time the police had found her wandering around again, and she was brought to a hospital in East London. She had been there a few days (and back on medication) when I went to visit her one Saturday afternoon. She seemed so normal and happy—like the Marianne I knew.  Throughout the afternoon, I saw many of the other patients coming in and out of the common room. They were obviously seriously ill, and needed continuous care. But Marianne seemed fine, now she was back on her medication. I said to her, “You don’t belong here. You should be home. Why are they keeping you here?” She told me it was a voluntary facility, which meant she could leave any time she wanted. But the problem was, she’d need a doctor’s signature to get released, and as it was the weekend, the doctor wouldn’t be in until Monday or Tuesday. Then, a friend of hers (who owned a car and had driven there) came to visit. Together, we conspired to get Marianne out of the hospital and back home that afternoon. We gathered her clothes in a laundry bag, sneaked her out and drove off, my heart pounding all the way. Marianne seemed so relaxed and happy when she got home, so I really don’t care if our great escape was “against hospital rules”.

Marianne eventually moved out of London into a cottage in the seaside town of St Leonard’s near Hastings. In the summer of 2004, she invited me to stay with her for a few days. I remember how lovely she was when she met me at the train station, saying how much younger and happier I looked now. We had a fabulous time together, walking along the shore and chatting day and night.

Her cottage home was very sweet. In sharp contrast to her “punk hero” public image, her home was always fresh, aesthetically beautiful and full of light. She had a real talent for home decorating and every element of her home looked purposeful and appealing. One evening, after visiting her mom for a little while, Marianne and I went to a pub—the oldest in Hastings. We talked about life, relationships and all the “normal” things friends do. I remember we walked home around midnight, and there was a brilliant silver full moon over the sea. It was a very warm evening and we stood watching the black waves reflect the moonlight for a while. When I got back to London later that week, I wrote about the scene, and some of the descriptions from that vignette found their way into my 2009 book the Garden of the Soul.

The final night, Marianne and I stayed up late talking. She confided in me about unusual auditory events she experienced. I’m pretty sure doctors would probably explain them away as “auditory hallucinations” stemming from her bipolar disorder. But she called them angels. She described the many different angels she heard and occasionally saw. She described their beautiful white feather wings. She described how safe and wonderful she felt around them. I looked around her room, and noticed how her little cottage home seemed to reflect her love for these angels. She trimmed her dressing table with white netting and white feathers. Her curtains were gossamer fabrics in whites and purples.

I have to admit, I felt uncomfortable when she spoke about angels. I didn’t know how to respond to her, or indeed what to think about it. Was the fact I had witnessed her bipolar episodes making me sceptical? Or was my hurt from my past “spiritual” background making me unable to hear about such things? There were so many variables clouding my own perception, so how could I possibly be a judge of what was real or unreal? But most of all, why did I feel the need to judge? What was more important: to find a rational explanation, or to honour my friend’s experience?

I decided our friendship was more important than my own need to find a logical explanation to her angelic experiences. So, I stayed up late that night, listening to all she had to say about it. I asked her what her own feelings and thoughts were about these angels, rather than asserting any of my own. Like she gave beggars “the benefit of the doubt”, I wanted to give Marianne the benefit of the doubt too.

She was my friend.

But the next day, one of Marianne’s female friends from her religious community came over for breakfast. The two of them began to speak in the devotee “jargon” I had heard for so many decades. I realised that the Marianne I knew was not the one she showed to “devotees”, and that she was still very much involved in a world I had left, with great emotional pain, two years earlier. Almost instantly I felt myself shut down and pull away. I was not longer being open, fun, accepting and loving, but rather closed, fearful, judgemental and self-protective.

Then, Marianne’s friend asked me to join them for a “women only” spiritual event coming up. I knew she was being friendly, but as I was going through my own “clearing” process after my split from the temple, I couldn’t respond with anything but discomfort. They seemed baffled as to why I refused their invitation, but I couldn’t say anything. I felt like the delightfulness of the past three days had suddenly collapsed and washed away like a sand castle.

It was time to go back home. Marianne and her friend walked me to the station to catch my train back to London. We were all friendly, and hugged each other goodbye. But inwardly I knew I was acting different—sort of phoney and defensive. I wasn’t being myself. I couldn’t seem to snap out of it.

In 2005, I took a job in Bedford and moved out of London. One day after I left, Marianne called my house while my daughter was still living there. My daughter told her I had moved out. Marianne said, “Please tell her I called.”

But I didn’t call Marianne back. It was not due to anything she had done. I simply couldn’t be around anything that reminded me of my former spiritual community. But I couldn’t express this to her. In those days, the only way I knew how to deal with uncomfortable emotions was avoidance. The very sad truth is that I stayed away from Marianne because I didn’t want to feel uncomfortable around the Hare Krishna culture.

How ironic that the very thing that had first brought us together ultimately sent us on different paths.

Turn the clock ahead to today: March 3rd, 2012. Since 2005, my life has changed in so many ways. I am happy, stable and have found my own peace with the past, love for the present, and trust in the future. And for some reason, I really don’t know why, today I decided to try to find Marianne on Facebook.

After several searches and alternate spellings, I couldn’t find her under her name. So then, I tried Googling her stage name “Poly Styrene” to see if I could get a current email address. It was then I saw a long list of eulogies from every major newspaper and television station saying Marianne Elliot-Said, aka Poly Styrene, had died from a very aggressive form of breast cancer 10 months ago, on 25th April 2011. From the reports, it sounds like it all happened very fast, as she died only two months after she was diagnosed. The cancer had spread rapidly into her spine and lungs.

It was then I finally saw her music videos from the 70s, and even her most recent gigs. I read all about how influential she had been as one of the few female punk artists of her day. They made a big deal about the fact that she was mixed race. She used to tell me how she had struggled with being mixed race, but for some reason I never “saw” it, if you know what I mean. She was just Marianne. But now, in the press, it was made to be a really big deal. All kinds of famous people were talking about her as their friend. The person I saw presented by reporters was an entirely different person from the woman I knew.

It was really weird. I felt like she “belonged” to the world. My friendship with her seemed very insignificant.

I wondered if she had ever thought about me. I wondered if she remembered me with fondness at all, or if I had hurt her. Now, I would never be able to ask her these things.

You might wonder how I had not heard about this at the time she died. Admittedly, I don’t own a TV and I don’t read newspapers. And in spite of being very active on the social networks, for some reason I hadn’t noticed the news on Twitter or Facebook.

Even if I had caught the news of her death at the time, it wouldn’t have felt much different from how I feel today. Marianne had been my friend, but because I was going through my own “stuff” back then, I allowed us to lose track of each other. Now she’s gone. She was only 53. I could never have imagined she’d leave the world so young. I took her presence for granted, thinking I had time to rekindle our friendship someday, when I felt more relaxed around that past.

But time ran out.

My heart ached and I broke into tears.

I needed to get out of the house, so I went for a walk along the River Great Ouse here in Bedford, which usually helps to clear my head. I looked at the trees, just starting to bud with the first signs of spring. I looked at the black waters, always flowing downstream. I thought,

Life is endless. We come into the world and leave it. We cross each other’s paths, leave our imprint upon each other and then take our leave. Perhaps we remain together throughout our lives; perhaps we come in contact for only a few moments. No matter which, we inevitably will take leave of each other’s company on this physical plane.

But while those we may have loved might appear to come and go, what connects us all is this endless flow we call Life. Within that flow, nothing ever leaves us; their imprint upon us continues forever. It flows from us, to another and another, just as the river flows continuously to the sea, back to the Source, and back again to the river.

Taking some solace from these thoughts, I left the river and walked through a little patch of wooded area nearby. The Daffodils were starting to sprout, and the cool Earth was damp and slightly muddy. The sound of birds in the late afternoon surrounded me.

I found myself saying aloud,

“Marianne, did I hurt you?”

And then, I could feel the cool, uplifting sensation of white feather angel wings springing from the back of my shoulders, and pink champagne bubbles sparkling around my face. Like a joyful sorrow, I felt embraced by something unseen.

And I heard Marianne say,

“Love and Light!”

Goodbye, my friend. I am so glad I knew you, even if only for a very short time. Fly with the angels, Poly Styrene.

Lynn Serafinn
3 March 2012

Author Kimberly Ann Coots

Today I have the great pleasure of being the host on Day 11 of the Virtual Blog Tour of author Kimberly Coots whose book DIVINE WORTH – Break the Bonds of Unworthiness and Create the Life You Desire! launches on Amazon on Tuesday May 24, 2011.

Author Kimberly Ann Coots is a transformational life coach, business development coach and speaker. Her passion is to help shift humanity’s consciousness from fear, lack and separation, to love, connection and abundance. Through her coaching, courses, speaking and books, Kimberly is a guide to transforming unworthiness conditioning, stepping into your power and living a life you love. She is certified in many holistic and spiritual modalities. She has been ordained as a Spiritual Peace Minister by James Twyman, is a certified Reconnection Healer by Dr. Eric Pearl and is a Facilitator for the Seminary of Spiritual Peacemaking. As a successful business development specialist, Kimberly also helps entrepreneurs make a profit and a difference.

Yesterday, Kimberly visited Paula Tarrant at http://inspiredwomenwork.com/embracing-your-divine-worth/ where she answered about #1 cause of unworthiness amongst women, undoing the patterns of unworthiness and subtle ways unworthiness shows up.

Today, I’d like to share with you a recent BlogTalkRadio interview I had with Kimberly, where she talked about her book Divine Worth and her personal journey overcoming depression and family history of addiction. I hope you enjoy it.

I hope you enjoyed this interview with Kimberly Coots and that you’ll check out her book DIVINE WORTH – Break the Bonds of Unworthiness and Create the Life You Desire! at http://divineworth.com/book-launch/pages/pre-launch.html

Here’s why:

FREE 3-DAY PASS

When you visit the page at the link above and request a “launch reminder”, you will automatically receive a FREE pass to Kimberly’s 3-day “Discover Our Divine Worth Telesummit” with 9 leading authors, Coaches and Speakers on How You are ALREADY Worth Enough to Create The Life You Desire. You can listen to the telesummit online in the comfort of your own home, and even ask questions during the broadcast.

This telesummit is a completely free
“no purchase necessary” gift from Kimberly

FREE GIFTS

When you buy Kimberly’s book on Tuesday May 24, 2011, you can ALSO receive a complete library of beautiful personal development gifts from authors, speakers, coaches and other enlightened professionals from around the globe including one from me … 4 Audio Meditations from the Garden of the Soul Workshop

To claim your 3-Day Pass and read about the free gifts, go to: http://divineworth.com/book-launch/pages/pre-launch.html

Thanks for reading! As usual, please feel free to share your comments and thoughts below. I love reading your feedback.

AND… be sure to follow Kimberly tomorrow when the next stop on the Virtual Blog Tour is Jaki Bent, who will be interviewing Kimberly on most common ways unworthiness shows up, is ego connected, addictions and self-worth replacing unworthiness   To visit that “stop” on the tour, go to http://jakisblog.com/jakis-blog/

Yesterday, Mike visited Paula Tarrant at http://inspiredwomenwork.com/the-note-project-appreciation-in-action/ where they talked about value of appreciation, making a daily practice, what note project is/how it got started and those who don’t feel appreciated what to do.

Today, I’d like to share with you a recent BlogTalkRadio interview I had with Mike, where he talked about his own personal story of how he came to understand the power of appreciation. I hope you enjoy it.

If you cannot see this flash player on your screen, you may listen to the interview online at http://tiny.ly/mgCE

I hope you enjoyed this interview with Mike O’Mary and that you’ll check out The Note Project at http://noteproject.com/launch/pages/ekit.html

Here’s why:

FREE GIFTS

When you buy the special Note Project starter eKit for only $1, you can ALSO receive a complete library of beautiful personal development gifts from authors, speakers, coaches and other professionals from around the globe including one from me: 4 audio book excerpts from The Garden of the Soul.

Read about these free gifts, go to: http://noteproject.com/launch/pages/ekit.html

HELP SUPPORT LITERACY

The idea of the Note Project is already pretty inspiring, but to make it even more impactful, a portion of all proceeds from sales on the site goes to international charities that support literacy throughout the world.

Thanks for reading! As usual, please feel free to share your comments and thoughts below. I love reading your feedback.

AND… be sure to follow Mike tomorrow when the next stop on the Virtual Blog Tour is Andrew Mondia who will be interviewing Mike on impact on oneself,  what would he like one to take from this experience and appreciation in our society.  To visit that “stop” on the tour, go to http://www.andyinspire.com/?p=322

Join Patrick and Lynn this Thursday April 28th for a superb FREE webinar on how to help your clients access ‘mind intelligence.’ Audio download available.

Life coaching, business coaching, executive coaching, transformation coaching, career coaching, creativity coaching, health coaching…the list is endless.

Over the past 20 years, the rise of coaching as a profession has been nothing short of a phenomenon. It’s virtually impossible to estimate the number of coaches now on the planet, but my guess it is now in the hundreds of thousands if not more. Business coaching has been cited as one of the fastest growing professions in the world today. But the shocking news is that, according to a survey done a few years ago, a massive 70% of coaches earn less than $25,000 a year, and 50% earn less than $10,000 annually.¹

The vast majority of coaches enter into the profession with the dream of making a difference in the world and aren’t really thinking about money… or at least not until we find ourselves struggling to stay afloat, especially in the first year in business. Then, all the wonderful dreams we had about changing the world seem to fade as we go into survival mode, which isn’t at all helpful to our effectiveness as coaches. Those of us who manage to make it through the economic challenges of the first two years in practice then find ourselves with an even more complex challenge: “There are coaches, coaches everywhere. How do I stand out from the crowd? What makes ME special?”

To me, the answer to that is in two parts.

First, we stand out from the crowd when we are really and truly clear about the impact we want to create in the world, and (even more importantly) who we wish to impact. Some call this defining a niche. I call it “branding” or identifying your “tribe.” This is an organic process, and sometimes it takes a few years in practice to really land it. It’s a major part of the work I do with my own clients.

The second part is the depth and uniqueness of your skills. If you have gone through coach training and know how to ask good questions, that’s one thing; but how do you really make an impact on your clients? And how do you stand out as someone who goes deeper, and more powerfully, than the average “Joe Coach”? In other words, how do we help our clients to open up their own wisdom in profound ways they never thought possible before?

I have the great good fortune to have worked with an exceptional coach named Patrick J Ryan. If you follow my newsletters, you will recognise Patrick’s name as the author of the #1 bestselling spirituality book Awakened Wisdom: A Guide to Claiming Your Brilliance, which I launched for him one year ago this month. Patrick is a remarkable man, with a remarkable history and an even more remarkable insight. His brand of coaching sparkles amidst the rest because his style of coaching IS different. The cornerstone of his technique is what he calls “The Three Intelligences”: “Mind intelligence”, “Heart Intelligence” and “Body Intelligence.” When he coaches, he shows his clients how to recognise, read and utilise these three intelligences so they can accomplish what they want in the world while having the best possible experience. In other words, he really helps them learn how to find their Joy.

Patrick’s coaching methods are both simple and profound. In the past I’ve had the great pleasure of learning his techniques for my own use, but I am delighted say that he has now also developed a training program, called the AWE Coach Training program (ACT). This exceptional 10 week course is designed for coaches, holistic therapists, teachers, counsellors and any kind of service professionals who wish to learn how to support their clients in REALLY getting to the core of who they are and what makes them feel alive.

To give you a taster of what it’s all about, Patrick and I will be hosting 3 FR*EE webinars over the next few weeks, where you will learn the basics of the system, so you can start trying it out in your own life AND with your clients, so you can see for yourself what a powerful impact it can make, and how it can make you stand out in the crowd:

FREE 3-Part Webinar Series

Accessing Mind, Heart and Body Intelligence

Part 1: How to Help Your Clients Use Mind Intelligence

with Executive Coach, #1 bestselling author and
Founder of Awakened Wisdom Experiences
Patrick J Ryan

Thursday April 28, 2011
12pm – 1pm Pacific

Register FREE at

http://tinyurl.com/RyanWebinar1

If you cannot make the live event, register anyway to download the audio.

AND… if you’re really ready to take it further and become a masterful coach, those who register for the call will find out how they can save $500 when they register for Patrick’s dynamic ACT course starting in June. This offer will not be made available anywhere on Patrick’s site, and is only open to those registered for the webinar.

I hope to see you there on Thursday. Patrick is one of my most esteemed mentors, and I know you will learn some wonderful things on the call. Again, the link to register is http://tinyurl.com/RyanWebinar1

Warm wishes,
Lynn Serafinn, MAED, CPCC

NOTE 1: Wood, David and Falter-Barnes, Suzanne. 2007. “Coach Career Survey 2007″. SolutionBox. Accessed April 26, 2011 from http://www.solutionbox.com/surveyresults2.htm

Author Tina M Games

Today I have the great pleasure of being the host on Day 5 of the Virtual Blog Tour of author Tina M Games whose book Journaling by the Moonlight: A Mother’s Path to Self-Discovery (and its accompanying deck of 54 journaling prompt cards) is celebrating its 1st birthday on Amazon on Tuesday May 3, 2011.

Author Tina M Games is certified creativity and life purpose coach. She calls herself the “Moonlight Muse” for women who want to tap into the “full moon within” and claim their authentic self, both personally and professionally. Through her signature coaching programs, based on the phases of the moon, Tina gently guides women from darkness to light as they create an authentic vision filled with purpose, passion and creative expression.

Yesterday, Tina had a podcast interview with Yvonne Perry where you can listen to it at http://writersinthesky.blogspot.com.

Today, I’d like to share a recent radio interview I had with Tina on BlogTalkRadio. It’s a particularly lovely interview because we spoke about the natural transitions that occur throughout our lives, especially as women. Tina spoke candidly and poignantly about her challenges with post partum depression, and I shared also the impact my mother’s post partum depression had made upon me when growing up. We also spoke about natural transitions such as becoming a grandmother, going through menopause, moving to a new home and many other facets of life.

If you’ve ever battled with emotional ups and downs when going through a transition in your life (we were talking mainly about women, be really the conversation is just as relevant to men) and wondered whether or not there was something “wrong” with you, have a listen to this interview. Tina’s unique outlook on the natural progression of life, and her use of the metaphor of the cycles of the moon to help us understand these progressions, is refreshing and uplifting (if the flash player does not appear on your screen, click HERE to listen to the broadcast on BlogTalkRadio)

I hope you enjoyed this interview with Tina M Games and that you’ll check out her book and card deck Journaling by the Moonlight: A Mother’s Path to Self-Discovery this month at http://moonlightmomscircle.com/book-launch/pages/pre-launch.html

Here’s why:

FREE 3-DAY PASS

When you visit the page at the link above and request a “launch reminder”, you will automatically receive a FREE pass to Tina’s 3-day “I’m a Mom… But Who Am I Really? Telesummit” with 11 creative writing moms and grandmothers speaking on how to use intuition, journaling and creativity to explore life purpose. You can listen to the telesummit online in the comfort of your own home, and even ask questions during the broadcast.

This telesummit is a completely free “no purchase necessary”
gift from Tina, to celebrate the 1st birthday of her book.

FREE GIFTS

When you buy Tina’s book or the card deck during its birthday celebration on Tuesday May 3, 2011, you can ALSO receive a complete library of beautiful personal development gifts from authors, speakers, coaches and other enlightened professionals from around the globe including one from me …..

FREE 50-minute audio book: The Very Good King

This is a recording of a LIVE performance I gave of this story from my bestselling book The Garden of the Soul in Bedford, England in 2008. It’s a metaphoric fairy tale about what happens when we allow our true selves to blossom, and can be enjoyed by adults and children alike.

To claim your 3-Day Pass and read about the free gifts, go to: http://moonlightmomscircle.com/book-launch/pages/pre-launch.html

Thanks for reading! As usual, please feel free to share your comments and thoughts below. I love reading your feedback.

AND… be sure to follow Tina tomorrow when the next stop on the Virtual Blog Tour is Dr Caron Goode who will be talking about mom’s intuition, journaling enhancing intuition, techniques, self-discovery and the impatient mom advice.  To visit that “stop” on the tour, go to http://academyforcoachingparents.com/acpi/tina-games/

Mike O'Mary, Founder of The Note Project

Mike O’Mary (pictured left) believes every one of us has the power to change someone’s life.

When Mike was a teenager, his brothers and sisters were placed in an orphanage. He moved away to live with his father, but he visited his siblings whenever he could. While Mike always tried to do something special during the time they spent together, he never really knew what his brothers and sisters thought of him or his visits with them.

But many years later, Mike received a letter in the mail. He opened it to find a hand-written note from his youngest sister. In that note, she told Mike how much she appreciated his kindness during one of his visits, when he took her out to choose a Christmas tree. She said it was the first time anyone had ever taken her to pick out a tree, and how after all this time she had never forgotten how wonderful she had felt that day.

That note healed years of self-doubt Mike had carried with him since he was a youth. He was so moved by his sister’s note he could not help but reread it many, many times.

But then one day, Mike realized there was tremendous power in this simple note, and he decided it would be a good idea to share the story of his sister’s note with other people. First he told the story in a newspaper article. Later, he wrote a book called The Note. Mike was encouraged by the response he received from the public.

But one day, Mike woke up and thought, “If one simple hand-written note can change my life so profoundly, what if I could inspire one million people to write a note of appreciation? It could make the world a million times better.”

And that, in a nutshell, is the essence of Mike’s latest creation:

The Note Project

http://noteproject.com

The Note Project is a global movement to make the world a million times better by inspiring 1 million people to write a note of appreciation to someone who made a difference in their lives. It is free to join AND because Mike is so passionate about writing notes of appreciation, a portion of all proceeds from the sale of his book The Note on The Note Project website goes to charities that support literacy projects around the world.

Mike’s vision for how The Note Project will change the world is pretty inspiring. He says, “Everyone has the power to make the world a million times better. And it’s so simple. Just think of all the people who have made a difference in your life, whether friends, family members, neighbors, teachers, employers, co-workers, old classmates. Think of the good times you had together or the nice things they did for you…Maybe they cheered you up when you were sad or made you feel special when you were questioning your self-worth…Whatever it was, a simple note of appreciation from you could make their day, their week, and maybe even their whole year!”

To celebrate the launch of The Note Project, Mike is hosting a FREE 3-day online Note Project Telesummit where you will hear wisdom from 10 world-renowned authors, artists and speakers on the topic of “Appreciation as a Way of Life.”

The Note Project Telesummit

Mon April 18, Tues April 19, Wed April 20

12pm Pacific, 3pm Eastern, 8pm UK

Register FREE at

http://noteproject.com/launch/pages/telesummit.html

Here’s the great line up of guest speakers:

• Mike O’Mary - author, publisher, Founder of The Note Project
• Lynn Serafinn – transformation coach, author, humanity-based marketer
• Dan Millman – champion athlete, author of The Peaceful Warrior
• John Kralik - author of 365 Thank Yous
• Michael McMillan – designer, motivational speaker; author of Pink Bat
• Florence Isaacs – author, journalist, media expert
• Chester Elton –author of The Carrot Principle and The Orange Revolution
• Nia Peeples – actress, singer, charity relief worker, Founder of Elements of Life
• Brenda Adelman – actress, spiritual mentor, “Queen of Forgiveness”
• Gail Goodwin – author, founder of InspireMeToday.com

If you cannot make the live event, you can download the audio later if you register.

I hope you’ll join me in tuning in to what just might be the best “feel good broadcast” of 2011– The Note Project Telesummit on April 18-20.

Warm wishes,
Lynn Serafinn
Questions/contact:
http://spiritauthors.com/contact

P.S.: It’s completely free to join the movement to make your pledge to send a note at http://noteproject.com. But if you need a little help to think of ways to write your note, check out Mike’s book The Note on his website. It’s available either as a full color gift book (for $14.95) or as an eBook (for only $1). When you buy the book during the month of April, you can receive a great collection of free gifts. See http://noteproject.com/launch/pages/ekit.html for details.

TODAY Tuesday March 15th is the big launch day of the new English translation of the bestselling book Emotional Balance: the path to inner peace and harmony by Dr Roy Martina.

I am delighted to have been the campaign manager for this book launch. The energy has been wonderful. Our networking partners have all be so helpful and we had 3000 register for our wonderful “Emotional Balance Telesummit” last week, which I had the pleasure of hosting.

As I am writing this (at 12.30pm UK time March 15, 2011), the official launch started only 4 hours ago, and already it has hit #1 in the UK in Mental and Spiritual Healing, and #5 in New Age.

Here are the latest screenshots I took:

I fully expect to see it go higher as the day progresses, and trust we will see similar rankings in the US and Canada.

Roy Martina is a holistic medical doctor with over 30 years experience helping people tap into their true selves and “cure the incurable” by understanding the connection between emotional balance and dis-ease. He is the author of over 40 books in Dutch and other languages. He has spent the last 25 years studying acupuncture and numerous holistic techniques in order to offer people a profound level of healing, and he has been tireless in his pursuit of methods that work swiftly and effectively to aid the healing process. This work has put him at the leading edge of the holistic and self-help world.

A long-time bestseller in Dutch and other languages, this new English translation of the book has just been released through Hay House Publishers, and arrived on Amazon US, UK and Canada TODAY (March15th).

You can buy the book and receive a complete library of free gifts at

http://emotionalbalance.com/book.html

Emotional Balance is the result of years of empirical research Dr Martina conducted to discover why some people heal from illness and chronic conditions while others do not, in spite of having received the best holistic medical treatments he could offer them. As he embarked on a journey to unravel the secrets of the subconscious mind and how we sabotage ourselves, he says he discovered that our unresolved emotions and conflicts in the first seven years of our lives create deeply-rooted behavioral patterns and negative beliefs that cause us to sabotage ourselves, and that these can lead to long-term patterns of rocky relationships, financial hardship and, of course, ill health.

The end product of those years of experience and research is a method Roy developed called “Emotional Balance.” Roy explains, “Emotional Balance is a technique that allows us to return to what I call the ‘Still Point’. The Still Point is that place within us where we are in our power and are no longer governed by our egos or our past.”

Roy’s work is crystallized in his book Emotional Balance: the path to inner peace and harmony. It represents a culmination of his years of research, holistic practice and teaching, and is a substantial, comprehensive manual that teaches us how to deal with our self sabotaging mechanisms and return to our still point rapidly and easily when life knocks us off balance.

You can receive over 40 free personal development gifts when you buy the book during the launch this week, including one from me: 4 audio meditations from my “Garden of the Soul” workshop.

Also, as a special gift to everyone who buys the book during the launch celebration, Dr Martina will be delivering a fr*ee 2-Day course on how to use the book (to be delivered in April over the Internet), which will include time for people to ask questions directly from Roy himself. Roy says he is doing this because he doesn’t want his book to be just another self-help book that ends up sitting on your bookshelf. He wishes everyone who buys Emotional Balance to understand how to use the tools in the book, and feel supported as they start to apply these techniques in their lives.

You can buy the book and get these gifts including
the free classes from Dr Roy Martina
TODAY Tuesday March 15th at

http://emotionalbalance.com/book.html

As Roy always says, “Be the best you can be.”

Roy Martina is a holistic medical doctor with over 30 years experience helping people tap into their true selves and “cure the incurable” by understanding the connection between emotional balance and dis-ease. He is the author of over 40 books in Dutch and other languages. He has spent the last 25 years studying acupuncture and numerous holistic techniques in order to offer people a profound level of healing, and he has been tireless in his pursuit of methods that work swiftly and effectively to aid the healing process. This work has put him at the leading edge of the holistic and self-help world.

Yesterday, Roy visited Tambra Harck where he talked about shifting perspective of helplessness and victimhood, respecting our body and the abstract of energy is knowing.  To visit that “stop” on the tour, go to http://theartofwellbeing.typepad.com/the_art_of_wellbeing/2011/02/emotional-balance.html

Today, I’d like to share with you a recent interview I had with Roy when I got to ask him on questions relating to personal and social transformation.  I hope you enjoy it.

——-

Lynn Serafinn: In your experience, what are some of the common misunderstandings people have about the term “personal transformation”? What is the actual meaning?

Roy Martina: From my medical holistic standpoint, personal transformation can be disease forming. If someone believes that they need to be in their power and be able to do what they want, this can lead to suppression of emotions and thus be the cause of suppression of the immune system. My research shows that the only way to transform is to return to your authentic self because that is the state of being where there is no conflict between whom you are and the false image you create of yourself.

Many schools of personal transformation help people create a false persona they need to become and give them the tools to program their brains to be in that state. Often these pathways are immune depressing and cause many types of diseases. I have treated many leaders of motivation movements and self-development and understood that when we do not find the way to our authentic self we step into false power beliefs that make us sick. Personal transformation is the path of unlearning the beliefs that take us away from our unconditional loving authentic self.

Lynn Serafinn: What are the top 3 most important keys to help us transform? How can we access them?

Roy Martina: The most important 3 keys:

1. Become aware when you are not connected with your Authentic Self. You will notice because you are not at peace, you don’t feel happy and you take things personal and that creates stress)

2. The next step is to have the power or tool to let go of where you are and to find a way to return to inner peace and harmony. So the idea is that you step out of the turmoil, reconnect and from that still point look at the whole situation again but now through the eyes of the Authentic Self and discover the power of the subconscious mind and the false self-image.
3. The third step is to train your nervous system through exercises like Emotional Balance to become at ease to maintain the still point and to make choices from this power. And let go anything from the past experiences and education that block you to keep that power of authenticity.

Lynn Serafinn: There is so much talk today about conscious evolution, especially with all the 2012 “hype” in the media. What’s your personal stance on conscious evolution? What is it? Is it really happening? Where do you think humanity is headed?

Roy Martina: I am seeing the increase of the effects of conscious evolution in the media (TV programs, magazines, movies, social media, books, etc) but what is lacking is the subconscious evolution. In spiritual groups I see that most people are aware how they want to be, but when they get stressed, they fall back in subconscious patterns of jealousy, fear, anger and worries. Many struggle financially and do not really know how to make the law of attraction work for them even though consciously they understand. So we are heading in the right direction but have to shift from conscious to subconscious evolution. 2012 is a great moment in history because we make it so by the hype, so now it has become inevitable a tipping point for the better or the worse. Only history will tell.

Lynn Serafinn: If you could use your healing process to shift one thing in humanity, what would that be? How can we as a society begin this process together?

Roy Martina: The big shift that needs to happen is that most the so called ‘holistic therapists’ need to stop calling themselves ‘holistic’ (because they are not) and start to study true holistic healing. The biggest shift is when we learn to forgive and to let go the past and focus on opening our hearts. The power of healing begins not with loving oneself because that is impossible. To say ‘I love myself’ is an enigmatic paradox: who is the I and who is the self? If the “I” is pure love how can it NOT love itself? If the self is the human form why does it need to be loved if it is held together by love (itself)? We need to become the authentic expression of ourselves and that is the expression of love.

If we can make that shift in healing, we will learn that all that we resist in life is the cause of disease. Stop the resistance to express your Authentic Self and you become the source of healing of the human self (your body, mind and soul) and others.

———-

I hope you enjoyed this interview with Dr Roy Martina and that you’ll check out his book Emotional Balance: the path to inner peace and harmony at http://emotionalbalance.com/book-launch/pre-launch.html

Here’s why:

FREE 4-DAY PASS

When you visit the page at the link above and request a “launch reminder”, you will automatically receive a FREE pass to Roy’s 4-day “Emotional Balance Telesummit” with a line up of 10 TOP international experts on the topic of emotional healing and inner balance. You can listen to the telesummit online in the comfort of your own home, and even ask questions during the broadcast. This is a completely free “no purchase necessary” gift from Roy, to celebrate the release of the new Hay House publication of his book.

FREE GIFTS

Then, if you decide to you buy the book during its official launch celebration on Tuesday March 15, 2011, you can ALSO receive a complete library of over 40 beautiful personal development gifts from authors, speakers, healers, coaches and other enlightened professionals from around the globe including one from me: 4 Audio Meditations from the Garden of the Soul Workshop

To claim your 4-Day Pass and read about the 40 free gifts, go to: http://emotionalbalance.com/book-launch/pre-launch.html

Thanks for reading! As usual, please feel free to share your comments and thoughts below. I love reading your feedback.

AND… be sure to follow Roy tomorrow when the next stop on the Virtual Blog Tour is Cindy Eve who will be interviewing Roy on questions relating to affirmations, gratitude journal and self-sabotage.  To visit that “stop” on the tour, go to http://wp.me/pGa6q-y8

As usual please DO leave your comments below!

Once upon a time there was a caterpillar. She crawled upon the ground, very low to the Earth. Most of the time, her head was down, looking at where she was walking or what she was eating. Sometimes, she became daring and would climb very tall trees as high as she could go. When she got there, she found herself in a canopy of rich green leaves, full of deliciousness that filled her belly. But never did she see what was above that thick green canopy. Little did she know that beyond her tiny but sensual world lay a vast, wide sky of blue and unlimited worlds that stretched out into infinity.

Then, one day something started happening to her. She couldn’t understand why she began to feel so different. She grew tired of climbing, tired of eating, tired of moving about in her little world. All she wanted was to retreat into a world of dreams, but she didn’t know what that meant, or why she felt so called into slumber. She started to slow down. She wanted to get rid of all she had been carrying around with her. She found a cosy place for herself, and allowed the fuzzy black and green skin which she had always identified as her body to slip away until all that was left was a formless goo!

She felt confused. She didn’t feel like her old self anymore, but she wasn’t yet sure of who (or what) she was. But trusting a still somewhat unfamiliar intuition that told her it was time now to go inward and do the work of transformation, she simply allowed whatever the World had in mind for her without resistance.

Soon, she was deep in slumber. The formless goo hardened into a protective home for her, and she began to dream. All sorts of strange dreams she had while in that magical slumber! She saw herself rising up above the rich green canopy of her former existence to find something she found both exciting and terrifying. There were colours she had never seen before—with brightness and warmth that were beyond her wildest imaginings.

And then, in her dream, she felt herself start to rise above the world below. As her heart pounded, she felt the wind against her legs—no!—it was not her legs she felt but something altogether different! What were these strange and beautiful new arms had she grow? So full of colour! So light and wide-spreading!

As she allowed the updraft of the wind pull her into that bright expanse above her, she heard it whisper in her ear: “These are your wings so you can fly into the great blue sky.”

Day in and day out, these dreams became more and more vivid. She became enthralled by them, and was simultaneously both charmed and afraid of her own beauty and power in these dreams.

Who AM I? the caterpillar wondered. On the one hand, I don’t feel like myself anymore. But on the other hand, I feel more like myself than I did before. What is happening? ….

…. If you want to find out the END of the story (and I think you’ll want to), click PLAY on the video above.
If you are reading this via email, you won’t see the video, so click HERE instead.

THEN join me and my very good friends and colleagues Douglas Crawford and Altair de Almeida
as we host a very special FREE webinar called:

“Waking Up from the Dream of Separation”
Thursday February 24th, 2011
8pm – 9.30pm UK time
3pm – 430pm EST

When we will be talking about the
3 stages of true and permanent transformation:

What is the Dream?
Who is the Dreamer?
What happens when we finally wake up?

This call WILL be recorded, so if you cannot make the live event,
do please register anyway.

REGISTER FREE AT
http://spiritauthors.com/pages/workshops/pages/webinar-2011-02-24.html

This call will give you a FREE taste of the content Douglas, Altair and I
will be presenting in our brand new 6-month experiential program

The Transformation Trilogy
Starts March 25th in Cheltenham, England

Click HERE to read all about this exciting
and comprehensive program
and find out how to save £100 off the cost if you register before March 4th.

Back in September 2008, I wrote an article called “How a Broken TV Made Me a Wealthy Woman.” Perhaps some of you might remember it. In that article, I reflected upon all the wonderful things that had opened up for me since my television blew up in February 2008, and I made a decision not to replace it.

I explained how I utilised my new-found free time to start a community project, build a network of wonderful friends and business contacts, learn new online skills and finish writing my book—The Garden of the Soul.

But most of all, I discussed how my anxieties over money had not only shifted, but disappeared, as I was no longer being ‘fed’ a daily diet of fear and scarcity messages via the media and marketing companies. This inner freedom opened up so much space within me, I was able to invent new, innovative ways to grow my business and create a more fulfilling way of life.

At so many levels, my broken TV made me a wealthy woman.

It is now coming up to the 3-year anniversary of when my television blew up. I have still not replaced my old set. In fact, a few months ago I finally rearranged my living room in such a way that there is not even any space for a television. My home feels cosier, homier and more inviting. The chairs face each other, intended for interpersonal conversation, rather than having them all facing the same direction, waiting to be programmed by the incandescent god in the corner of the room.

Since learning how to live without a television, I have achieved many things:

I self-published a bestselling book and got signed by an A-list literary agent.

I built my extended network to nearly 30,000 strong and created several #1-selling book launch campaigns reaching millions of people.

I helped my own daughter achieve her dream of launching her first book. It went to the top of the charts in its category.

I became Chair of our local Transition Town movement, where I work towards helping others shift their lifestyle from petroleum dependency to a healthier, more natural and sustainable model. I’ve organised a garden share with a neighbour, who now grows vegetables in my backyard.

I worked with dozens of private clients and delivered hundreds of radio shows, webinars, telesummits, workshops, lectures and online classes.

I won a couple of awards.

I made lots of videos.

I wrote two online courses for authors.

I remodelled my home.

I travelled to Italy, Spain and all over the UK.

I took uncountable walks along the river.

I taught my grandson how to tell ‘knock knock jokes’.

But most of all, the more time I spent without a television, the more I saw all of my anxieties and insecurities about money, self-image, relationships, health, and other things dissolve into thin air.

Not only do I no longer stress about money, but I have also created a steady flow of income.

Not only have I created a steady flow of income, but I am also no longer in debt.

Not only am I out of debt, but I have also learned how to live without credit.

Not only have I learned to live without credit, but I am also positively convinced the whole notion of credit is second only to television as being the ‘drug of the nation(s)’!

Never again will I own another credit card.

My consciousness has grown. I look around me and I see things I never saw before. I see people who are feeling trapped, and they don’t know why. I see good, decent and sensitive people unable to fend for themselves economically without a clue as to what to do. I see CEOs of big corporations feeling disconnected and fearful, but they dare not allow anyone see them with their defences down.

My heart aches for humanity. It aches for our planet. I want to shout from the rooftops.

Why? Because I know what is making us ill—

Marketing!

I don’t just mean advertising of products and services. I mean the whole industry of selling beliefs and ideas. I mean the subtle mind wars in which we are led to believe we need things we cannot get, and the emptiness we feel when we try in vain to acquire that which is impossible to attain.

And this is why I became a ‘marketer’—to help others clean up the mess we’ve all made over the past century. This is also why my next book, which is coming out on June 21, 2011, is called The 7 Graces of Marketing: how to heal humanity and the planet by changing the way we sell.

If this topic gets your juices going, and you happen to be in northern California this month, I’d love to invite you to my talk ‘The 7 Graces of Marketing’ at the Insight Lecture Salon in Nevada City, on January 18th. Doors open at 6.30pm. Tickets are $20. To find out more, or to book your ticket, go to http://www.insightlecture.com/speakers/the-7-graces-of-marketing-by-lynn-serafinn-maed-cpcc/

And in the mean time, turn off the telly and see what opens up for you today.

Warm wishes,
Lynn

About Lynn Serafinn, Creator of Spirit Authors

Lynn Serafinn is a transformation coach, book promotion coach, radio host and bestselling author of the book The Garden of the Soul: lessons from four flowers that unearth the Self. She also works as a campaign manager for mind-body-spirit authors and has produced several top-10 book campaigns, including four #1-sellers, in 2010 alone. She created Spirit Authors to offer training, coaching, business-building and inspiration for mind-body-spirit authors, whether established or aspiring. Contact Lynn about YOUR book project at at http://spiritauthors.com/contact.

Sign up for Lynn’s bi-monthly newsletter Creative Spirit (fill in form BELOW) packed with inspirational articles, online networking tips, broadcast guide to her radio show, and news about upcoming spiritual author book releases.

Throughout the year, Lynn also hosts large-scale telesummits with world-class speakers on a range of mind-body-spirit topics. Your subscription to Creative Spirit will ensure you’ll be the first to know how to attend these free events.