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.

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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.

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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!

“…No man is an island, entire of itself…”
~ John Donne, 1624

We humans are social creatures.

We thrive through connection, community, collaboration and co-creation. And although I firmly believe that each one of us is perfectly complete in and of ourselves, at the same time, it is the nature of our creation that connection to others is what makes us far more than the sum of our parts. The example I always think of is the iconic musical group The Beatles. While each of these musicians (along with their musical director George Martin) was undeniably talented in his own right, this group collaboration was massively more creative, influential and productive than the sum total of work produced by all of these artists independently. If you think about it, you might even call The Beatles the most “pop” example of a “mastermind group”, whose sole reason to exist was to churn out challenging, trend-setting (and highly profitable!) music. It’s a clear case of “The Power of We” in action.

The power of “We” is something that has long been known to leaders, both in governments and business. In there book Meet and Grow Rich (2006), Joe Vitale and Bill Hibbler discuss the history of the idea of mastermind groups citing that many people believe the idea of “the mastermind alliance” was originated by the famous mega-business tycoon Andrew (Dale) Carnegie who attributed much of his success in rising from an impoverished upbringing to becoming the richest man in the world to the power of collaboration. And what is most interesting is that Carnegie had started using mastermind groups to help him achieve his personal goals as early as 1850, decades before he reached the pinnacle of his business success.

A look back through history shows us all manner of mastermind groups (in all but name) started by Benjamin Franklin (The Junto), P.T Barnum (The Cary Salon), Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr (The Metaphysical Group). Back when I was a music history student in Boston (I can’t
believe it’s almost 40 years ago!), I also learned about “The Florentine Camerata,” a group of humanists, musicians, writers and other intellectuals led by Vincenzo Galilei (father of the astronomer Galileo Galilei) in the late 1500s, who gathered regularly to discuss and influence trends in this arts. Taken in its broadest sense, this highly influential alliance was also a “mastermind group.”

Now the interesting thing is, most people tend to associate mastermind groups with business growth. But note that the above examples were NOT all focussed on business and profits. Far from it. Rather, these groups were havens of great ideas, inspiration and innovation. Just like The Beatles, they created far more together by dint of their mutual brainstorming and power of intention than they were likely to have done on their own.

What is even more remarkable to think about is the fact that all these groups have all changed history in some way, whether it is in business, government, philosophy, science, technology, the arts or world view.

Ok, I think I’ve made my point about mastermind groups. Now here’s the news I want to share with you.

My client and very good friend Allison Maslan has started a brand new, and very elite, mastermind group called Pinnacle Program that will have its first meeting next month (January 22nd 2011) in La Jolla, California. I am part of this group, as are also nearly 30 other entrepreneurs in a variety of fields. Some of them are names many of you would recognise I am sure. I have joined the group because I have a vision of creating something specific in 2011–a legacy, if you will–that will be the “pinnacle” of my life’s work on this planet. I believe the “power of we” will help me success in getting the project off the ground.

The Pinnacle Program is filling up, but it still has some room for a few more members for 2011. Allison is organising this group in such a way that anyone who wishes to be a part of it must be with us from the very beginning. In other words, you cannot just join later in the year. This is not a “personal development course.” Nor is it just a bunch of people getting together to network 4 times a year. It is a highly structured, very clever program with many different forms of support, including four annual full-day masterminds, weekly pod calls, monthly group coaching, and even daily support. Allison is even throwing in a full year’s free subscription to her Blastation motivational software (that’s worth $300 on its own).

If you want to check out all the details about the Pinnacle Program, go to http://ThePinnacleProgram.com

A few weeks ago, Allison and I did the “10 Steps to Reach Your Pinnacle”webinar. I know from the emails I’ve received from people who attended that some of you out there are thinking about joining The Pinnacle, but have a lot of questions you would like to ask before you commit to such a program.

That’s why Allison and I are holding an online Question and Answer session on Thursday December 9th, specifically to answer any questions you may have about mastermind groups, The Pinnacle, or the benefits you might expect from joining this group.

This is a completely OPEN call. That means you DON’T have to sign up to attend or give your email address. It will be driven solely by the questions we receive from you either in advance or on the live call.

Here’s how to attend and submit your questions:

Open Q&A about The Pinnacle Mastermind Program

Thursday December 9th 2010

12pm Pacific / 3pm EST / 8pm UK

NO SIGN UP REQUIRED! Just show up!

To attend via web go to:

http://InstantTeleseminar.com/?eventID=16352121

Click “Listen In” and you can listen EITHER via web or via telephone

(the phone number and access code will be displayed when you select “telephone” as your option).

Not sure you can make the live call? Want to ask a question in advance? There’s a question form right on that page where you can ask whatever you want. Be SURE to include your email address if you want a personal reply.

I look forward to hearing your voices on this Q&A call, and to the possibility of collaborating with some of you throughout 2011 on The Pinnacle Program.

Oh, and just as a point of interest, the above quote from Paul Simon’s song “I am a Rock” was first recorded as a solo piece in 1965, but it didn’t make it as a hit until he collaborated with musical partner Art Garfunkel and re-released the track the following year under the name Simon and Garfunkel. The words themselves are meant to be ironic, but the history of the song makes them even moreso.

Long live the “Power of We”!

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.

Be sure to subscribe to this blog for regular book writing and promotion tips (just fill in form at TOP LEFT of your screen).

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.

Transformation coach Lynn Serafinn shares life experiences with fear and its impact upon her health, and tells us about Luis Diaz’s new course on releasing fear.

PLEASE share this article with others.

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A few months ago, I wrote an article for my volunteer Transition Town group in which I shared my thoughts upon the link between oil dependency, disconnection, fear and suffering:

Our dependency upon oil has made us disconnected from the Earth and the ultimate Source of Creation in just so many ways. Most of us in “developed” nations (an irony) don’t grow our own food and have become dependent upon big businesses and mass transport (i.e., supermarkets, trucking, air freight) for the very basics that keep us alive. In the past, all we were dependent upon was the weather for our “daily bread”. But nowadays, we are dependent not only upon the ever-changing weather patterns, but also upon oil, global economies, foreign policy and corporations. What a vulnerable place in which to be! And to me, as someone who works with people and their emotions on a daily basis in my work as a life coach and teacher, I know the emotional and physical impact of long-term vulnerability. People begin to feel helpless. Helplessness leads to fear. Fear leads to depression and even disease. It can also lead to violence and crime.

While these words were originally written to support my observations about the connection between oil dependency and our wellbeing at a societal level, on a very personal level I have witnessed over and over again how feelings of helplessness lead to fear, and how fear ultimately leads to depression, disease and overall unhappiness.

I grew up in a fear-riddled household in which it felt like the roof was going to explode at any given minute. I was educated in a fear-driven parochial school where beating children (and in front of their peers) was still the norm. Later, I went on to enter a violent marriage and stayed there for 22 years, continually walking on eggshells, fearful of the next outbreak of rage. My lifelong relationship with fear had caused me to become so disconnected I didn’t even realise I had suffered multiple cases of whiplash as a result of abuse (I was diagnosed years later), which still case health issues today. It is small wonder that by the age of 40, I was diagnosed with a case of fibromyalgia so severe I felt like I was 80 years old. When my rheumatologist told me there was no cure or treatment, I broke down into a flood of uncontrollable tears at the thought of living for the rest of my life in such extreme, constant pain.

Fear is arguably the most primordial emotion of all living beings, and for human beings, I believe it is at the root of many other emotions such as anger, shame, sadness, uncertainty of self and chronic anxiety. Without a doubt, it has profound effects upon both our physical and spiritual wellbeing.

For me, I discovered the link between fear and health after I left my marriage, and started to notice that my fibromyalgia, by which I had been seriously impaired for 7 or 8 years, was vanishing day by day, until it was completely gone. I also noticed that I no longer suffered from heart palpitations, night-time panic attacks, severe digestive disorders and relentless back problems.

To give a complete comparison, these days my back problems still flare up from time to time, which is understandable after more than 20 decades of physical violence. But while, in the past, these problems were my constant companion every day of the year, nowadays I have a minor flare up once every year or two, and my body is able to heal after a single osteopathic treatment. In the past, when my life was overwhelmed with fear and anger, my body was so resistant to healing I would typically have to go to the chiropractor two or three days every week for years and the spasms and pain never totally stopped.

Looking back upon my experiences, I am 100% convinced that fear, and all the chemical and neurological by-products of it, had been deeply lodged in the very cells of my body for many decades. And I cannot tell you how lucky I feel that I finally woke up one day back in 2002 and started my long process of healing. I fumbled my way through it and discovered these things as I went along. It took me about 6 years to heal from fear fully, and believe me I really WORKED at it very hard, with personal development training (including my coaching training) coming out of my ears.

In other words, I did it the “hard way”: on my own, not sure of where I was headed, and taking years to get there.

That’s why, when I met my client (and now good friend) Luis Angel Diaz, and he told me about the work that he does, I was extremely enthusiastic.

Luis is arguably one of the world’s foremost authorities on emotional healing, and has been a holistic health practitioner since his early 20s with qualifications in dozens of traditional and holistic therapies. Those of you who have followed my work will also recognise him as the author of the international #1 best-seller Memory in the Cells: how to change behavioral patterns and release the pain body. He is also the founder of a technique called “Cellular Memory Release” (CMR). Over the years he has worked with thousands of clients at his three successful practices in Argentina and California, helping them transform their long-term pain and illness into aliveness and joy.

The goal of Luis’s work is basically to take people from where I was back in 1995 to where I am today—without going it on their own, or taking years to get there, like I did. The CMR process is a teachable process where people learn how to identify their emotions, experience them fully and release them, so they can make room for the self-healing their bodies already know how to do naturally.

I’ve done several online events with Luis over the past few months, and I am delighted to be able to invite him back to my radio show this week on Blog Talk Radio:

Transforming Fear with Luis Angel Diaz

On Lynn Serafinn’s Garden of the Soul

@BlogTalkRadio
Wednesday December 1st
6pm UK / 1pm EST / 10am Pacific
Listen LIVE or catch the replay at:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/lynn-serafinn/2010/12/01/ep88-transforming-fear-with-luis-angel-diaz

I hope you’ll tune in. You can even ask Luis questions live on the air via the chat room, Skype or by calling in on the phone at 646-727-3449 (US Number).

And then, for those of you who want take this process further, I do encourage you to check out Luis’s 2-session course that starts next week:

Releasing Toxic Emotions from Our Bodies

How to Transform FEAR into Inner Peace, Joy and Wellbeing

Tuesday Dec 7 and Tuesday Dec 14
PLUS full forum support

http://tinyurl.com/fear-dec2010
This course normally costs $197
But this December ONLY
Luis is offering it at the discount price of only $157

AND if you tune into the show today (or listen to the audio replay before Friday), you’ll find out how you can apply for one of 20 $100 scholarships he will be giving away to attend this course for only $97. Tune into the show for full details, or check out the registration page above for more info.

Hope you’ll be joining us on the show!

Wishing you a lifetime connection, wellbeing and joy,
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.

Be sure to subscribe to this blog for regular book writing and promotion tips (just fill in form at right of your screen).

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.

Lynn

Lynn explores the many ways our inner fears contribute to our stopping short of unbridled Joy in our lives.

PICTURED LEFT: photo of an actual wooden “stairway to heaven” ascending more than 50 metres, used by the famous “Voladores de Papantla” in Central America, whose breathtaking annual springtime “flying” ritual is famous worldwide.

A few years ago, I enrolled on a mega-personal-development course where I had to complete a series of physical challenges, many involving heights. One of the first challenges was to climb up to a balance beam about 25 feet high and walk across it–blindfolded. Of course, there was absolutely no danger involved, as all of us had secure harnesses attached to our bodies, with a team of strong people ensuring our safety at all times. But the ego-mind is very good at creating its own messages, even if your logical brain knows you are perfectly safe. And what is so interesting is that the messages it creates might not have anything whatsoever to do with the current situation. In all likelihood, you might find yourself replaying some very old “tapes” in your head that you might not even have thought of for years.

And that is precisely what happened to me. As I got close to the top of the pole I was climbing to get up to the balance beam, I suddenly froze. There was no way I could bring myself to make those few last steps to stand up on that beam.

Why?

Because all I could think of when faced with the prospect of walking across that 25-foot high plank of wood were images of me in 10th Grade, as I wobbled fearfully along a 3-foot high balance beam in my P.E. class, and the teacher made fun of me in front of the class saying, “Serafinn, you’re fat and you’re useless. Can’t you do anything?”

And as I replayed that mouldy, old tape (which I hadn’t even realised I still carried with me), the voices in my head said, You have NEVER been able to walk across a balance beam in the past, and you will NEVER walk across this one either. Your body is fat and useless. Don’t’ even think about this. Get OUT now!

Totally “triggered” by this inner drama, an overwhelming sense of panic, shame and sheer terror made me freeze. I simply couldn’t move. I shouted down to my course leader, “No, no, I can’t do this. I know I can’t. I’m bailing. I need to get down NOW.” And immediately I let go of the pole and sailed down to the ground on my guide ropes (even letting go was a challenge). When I landed, my entire body shook uncontrollably from the adrenaline flooding my every muscle. My legs collapsed under me and my hands were in intense pain from all the stress hormones.

My hands shaking the whole time, I took out my journal and wrote for a few minutes, exploring my flurry of emotions around this strange experience. But later, when I returned to watch some of the others on the course, I noticed that many people started out scared to death, but became elated when they got on top of, and eventually across, the beam. As I watched, I saw they were actually enjoying themselves in spite of–or maybe even because of–the fear.

My sense of “shame” and “failure” made me angry–at myself. I realised I had convinced myself I would fail, and had deprived myself of the elation others were experiencing when they had gone past their own limits.

I harnessed this anger as I approached the next challenge–climbing now a 30-foot telephone pole to the top. It looked REALLY high! But this time, I was not going to stop. I growled with anger. I shouted. I grunted. I swore. I told myself I WILL make it to the top. I will. I will. I will.

And after overcoming a few obstacles here and there along the way, I climbed just high enough to touch the “cookie” on the top of the pole. I was really happy, and felt so proud of myself.

But then, my course leader called up to me and said, “That’s great, Lynn! So, what do you want to do now?

“Now?” I asked. “But I’ve already reached the top. What do you mean?”

“Well, would you like to stand on TOP of the pole too?”

In my head, I was saying, What? On top? You want me to stand up on top of a 10-inch diameter surface 30 feet in the air? Are you kidding?

But what I replied was, “Uh, no thanks, I’m happy enough with this.” And I took a moment to hug the pole, which had carried me to the top.

I came down feeling really proud of myself. After all, I hadn’t bailed out of the challenge. But in spite of feeling happy, I noticed I didn’t feel that real rush of elation I saw others express who did choose to stand atop the pole and free-fall down to earth (on the guide ropes, of course).

After meditating upon this, I began to understand that the thing that had stopped me short of that elation was my perspective. I had viewed climbing onto the top of the pole as a danger that threatened my happiness; I didn’t want to ruin my happiness by trying something so risky. But actually, the Universe was offering me the opportunity to experience more joy. But I chose not to receive it– for the moment.

Fortunately, I had the chance to stretch my limits one last time a few months later. This time, the challenge was a 35-foot high tightrope walk! But this wasn’t just a solo walk. I had to synchronise my walk with a partner who was walking on another rope a fair distance across from me, using a balancing pole.

Well, let me tell you, every single step I took climbing up to the tightrope made my heart POUND with sheer terror! But by this time, I had finally learned how to stop, acknowledge the fear, wait a moment, and continue. When I finally stepped onto the tightrope, I was completely and utterly thrilled. I had never actually STOOD so high up before, what to speak of being on a narrow, unstable wire, and working with a partner to boot!

Every step we took together was a sheer (terrifying) joy.

But then, when we got just past the halfway mark, one of my feet slipped off the wire, and for safety reasons I was instructed to let go of the pole and glide back down to the ground.

As I touched down, I felt, at long last, the rush, the elation, the sheer ecstatic JOY I had previously only witnessed in others. My partner and I were jumping up and down and hugging each other, delighted that we had survived the challenge without quitting, even if we hadn’t made it all the way across. I was buzzing. I was alive. I was so pleased with myself for mastering the art of walking WITH fear instead of fighting against it.

But then, our course leader came over to us and asked, “You two were the first in the group to do this activity, and other people have learned from watching what you did. Would you like another chance to try it again later?”

And do you know what my brain said?

It said, What if you go up and you cannot get past your fear this time? Then, it will take away all the joy you are experiencing now. No, don’t do it again. You don’t need to finish the task. You have enough joy for now.

Enough joy??

That was 3 years ago, and a heck of a lot about me has changed since then.

Looking back on it now, I can see that while I definitely had made some major breakthroughs during that whole process, what I had not yet fully learned was the depth of my own willingness to accept less than the very best for myself. I seemed to be satisfied with overcoming my obstacles, rather than being passionately desirous of true, unfettered joy. And this was not limited to physical challenges–it actually entered into every aspect of my life: from career and financial success, to health, to love, to fun, to spiritual fulfilment.

And I as looked around me, I saw I was not the only one.

Everywhere I looked, I could see people living lives in which they felt “happy enough” by:

• Focussing on getting out of financial hardship versus wanting to create genuine wealth
• Focussing on overcoming physical ailments versus wanting to create true health and vitality
• Focussing on resolving conflict versus wanting to create true intimacy
• Focussing on “making a living” versus wanting to create a lasting legacy

Nope. Not anymore. Not me. No more “happy enough.”

Now, I’m ready to stand on top of that telephone pole–to feel the ecstasy of reaching “The Pinnacle.”

And on that note, I would like to invite you to join me and my very good friend, Allison Maslan for a warm and wonderful 2-session teleseminar called:

“10 Steps to Reach YOUR Pinnacle”

With Life and Business Strategist Allison Maslan

#1 Selling Author of the book Blast Off!

Wednesday November 3rd and Thursday November 4th*

5pm Pacific / 8pm Eastern

90 minutes duration

Register FR*EE at http://tinyurl.com/YourPinnacle

(*Please note, this is a date change from previous announcement)

On these two calls, we’ll be talking about 10 secrets that help you reach your Pinnacle in your business and your personal life, so you never find yourself settling for being “happy enough” again.

I hope to see you there!

P.S.: And if you’re REALLY serious, Allison also has a great new mastermind group called “The Pinnacle Program.” It’s starting in January in San Diego, California. I’ll be there (for sure!). Have a look and apply if you want to join us at http://tinyurl.com/PinnacleProgram

But once you’ve made it through the wobble, something else starts to happen—the dreaded “pins and needles” sensation as the blood starts to flow again in your legs. It feels absolutely horrible at first, and there is an overwhelming urge to sit back down on your leg and make it go “dead” again. But we know this is the worst thing we can do. We know the blood has to start flowing again. We know that the “pins and needles” is the signal that our leg is returning to its healthy state, where the leg recovers from its numbness, and we are again able to feel it and use it fully and effortlessly. We know it is necessary to feel the wobble and the pain (and maybe even the falling and the humiliation!) before we can move forward.

The interesting thing is, our emotional world works in exactly the same way, but for some reason, many of us do not respond to our emotions the same way we respond to our leg. Let me explain.

Emotions get “blocked” within us in exactly the same way the blood in our leg gets block—we “sit” on them and do not allow them to flow. And just like our legs, when we sit on our emotions, we go “numb”. We become detached and desensitized to our own feelings, as well as to the feelings of others. In extreme cases, we become incapable of connecting at an intimate level with anyone, what to speak of ourselves. Many of us can go on for years—decades—with blocked emotions.

When something shakes us up from our “numb” state, it is very similar to what happens when we first stand up on our “dead” leg. We wobble. We might even stumble. We have been hiding our emotions from others for so long, that when we start to allow them to be seen, our world starts to rock. People might not recognise or relate to us anymore, and because we fear losing them, we might try to convince ourselves to return to our familiar, stuck, numb place. We might also quite possibly become afraid of what we intuitively know is coming next—the “pins and needles”. This is the stage where sensation is returning to us. And just like pins and needles in our legs, it probably doesn’t feel particularly nice. We might experience an avalanche of confusing emotions like humiliation, shame, grief, anger, blame and fear. And being inexperienced with these emotions, having been cut off from them for so long, we might not know what to do with them or how to process them in a constructive way.

Now, if we were to sit our leg for decades, you can be pretty sure we would render it permanently useless, and it would be unlikely to heal. But the wonderful thing about emotions is that, even those that have been stuck for most of our lives can come back to life—if we can stay with the “pins and needles” long enough to allow the “flow” to come back into our feelings, without succumbing to the urge to jump back in the box of our numbness.

And just as how the end of the “pins and needles” stage restores full sensation and mobility to you leg, making it to the other side of your emotional pins and needles brings you into full sensation, which leads to flow at a heart and soul level. In both the leg and our emotions, feeling is the doorway to healing, and healing is the doorway to transformation.

And while the above analogy is my own, the essence of this story is the fundamental principle of the book Memory in the Cells: how to change behavioral patterns and release the pain body by my client and good friend Luis Angel Diaz. The book teaches both the theory and the practical methodology of what Luis calls “Cellular Memory Release” (CMR), where you learn how to FEEL your emotions at a deep level, not only for the purpose of healing old wounds, but also of transforming them so your life is full of awareness, sensation, aliveness and flow.

As Luis puts it, “It is about transforming the ‘Pain Body’ into the ‘Joy Body.’

Memory in the Cells is coming to Amazon at exactly 12:01 AM Pacific THIS TUESDAY October 5th (yes, that’s TOMORROW, as I write this). In celebration of the release of his book, dozens of Luis’ friends and colleagues have kindly donated a complete library of personal development gifts that you can download for free, when you buy the book Memory in the Cells on the day of its launch this week. I’m also giving away a free download (audio and text) of my mini-eCourse “Making Friends with the Monsters Under Your Bed.”

To find out more about the book and the free gifts, and to see a video in which Luis talks about how he came to develop this method to help people learn how to deal with pain, go to: http://memoryinthecells.com

AND… when you buy the book on Tuesday, Oct 5th, not only will you receive those free gifts, but you will also receive a special FR*EE 2-part LIVE online class with Luis himself, where he will take you through the CMR process, step-by-step.

This is not going to be another one of those self-help books that just sits on the shelf, unused. Luis is truly dedicated to sharing the information and practical tools in the book, and this free class is his way of showing that he “walks his talk.”

I hope you’ll join me in celebrating the release of this highly-practical, and truly healing, book by Luis Diaz. To buy the book on Tuesday October 5th, just go to http://memoryinthecells.com.

And then, I hope to see you on the fr*ee class a few weeks later.

Warm wishes
Lynn Serafinn
Author, Transformation Coach, Book Promotions

http://spiritauthors.com/contact

About Lynn Serafinn

Lynn Serafinn is a an award-winning 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 many bestselling book campaigns, including four #1 sellers in 2010 alone. She is also the creator of Spirit Authors, which offers training, coaching, business-building and inspiration for mind-body-spirit authors, whether established or aspiring. To contact Lynn for coaching, campaign management or media appearances, please fill in the form at http://spiritauthors.com/contact.

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Maria Gamb, author of "Healing the Corporate World"

Today I have the great pleasure of being the host on Day 5 of the Virtual Blog Tour for Healing the Corporate World by author Maria Gamb.

Written by former Fortune 500 executive, Maria Gamb, who spent more than 20 years trailblazing businesses valued at upwards of $100 million, Healing the Corporate World is a cutting-edge book examining the deep, and usually unspoken, ailment of the modern corporate world, offering solutions for healing at a personal, financial and even spiritual level. By showing the reader “the four cycles of transformational leadership”, Maria provides business leaders, from solo entrepreneurs to corporate senior executives, practical answers on how to transform their organizations from the inside out, and become “Change Agents”, consciously creating their own reality.

Yesterday, Maria visited Liz Pabon at www.lizpabon.com/blog. For today’s stop on the tour, I decided to ask Maria some questions about self-sabotage, feelings of powerlessness in the workplace, and how to rise above them.

*   *   *   *   *

Lynn: You mention in your book that some of us actually sabotage or compromise our own success. In your experience, what are some of the most common ways we do it?

Maria: Often times we engage in competitive behaviors, defensiveness and/or our values are compromised. But ultimately this all goes back to the same thing: we’re afraid that we’ll be found out as “not being good enough” or that potentially we believe there isn’t “enough” to go around. That means not enough opportunities, not enough resources to share, not enough praise or recognition.  These are actually basic needs: to be seen, heard and recognized.  By engaging in these “not enough” behaviors and attitudes, we often alienate those around us who can contribute directly to success.

Lynn: You mention in your book that it is vital to build teams that reflect our core values. What advice can you give for doing that when there are so many different value systems at play, and when some people in the workplace might not even be in touch with their own values?

Maria: It’s important for the individual business professional to decide what is most important to them.  If it’s honesty, for example, then you would need to quantify exactly what that means in specific, actionable terms.  Doing this helps to create a very clear framework of reference rather than an abstract ideal that will be hard for others to fulfil.  More importantly, it will be challenging for the individual to know or experience that value in another human being without this quantifiable method.

People will be different, but that’s the beauty of this.  In fact, my suggestion is to decide on 2-3 core values or beliefs of what they feel is most valuable for their team members to embody and then build that team.  There will never be a 100% perfect match where everyone has the same values, but it is important to pick the ones that matter most to you.  What you’re doing in this process is insuring that you’re all on the same page with regards to your rules of engagement in how you will work together and with others.

Lynn: You talk about “blazing a new trail no matter where you are.” What words of encouragement do you have for people who see themselves as powerless and at the “bottom of the food chain” in their business environment?

Maria: People are only victims if they choose to take on that role.  That is a belief that no one will ever hear them or understand or appreciate what they have to offer.  The truth is that the individual has to believe in themselves first and what they have to offer as truly valuable.  When they do they do not feel powerless.

A majority of the book is based on helping the reader to understand that they create their work environments and outcomes.  They are in control of their happiness and security when they work through the processes outlined.  Those who may perceive themselves as at the bottom of the food chain may not feel they can make any real difference on the scale they’d like.  However, when they begin integrating this work into their lives they first change the immediate environment and effectiveness, which builds to greater influence to those around them.  That’s the point: to use your influence in a positive manner.  But first, you’ve got to start exercising those beliefs and values into your personal and professional life first.

Lynn: A lot of your work focuses on corporate environment and teams. Most of my clients are solo-preneurs who don’t work within the same kind of environment. How can these kinds of people apply your principles? What will it bring them and their business?

Maria: The beauty of the content in the book is that it applies to all those in business, not necessarily just large corporations.  Many entrepreneurs dream of having large businesses with a huge earning potential.  That sounds like they want to build their own legacy within their niche.  The tools, tips and processes outlined in the book are universal. They share what it takes to be a person in business who creates solid, healthy relationships and influence.  With that influence they have a decision to make about how they want to use that success: to take care of themselves and their families only or to help others too.  You see, the concept of commerce was built to bring the flow of goods, services and opportunities, including the flow of money, into the world.  Entrepreneur or executive, both are engaged in this exchange.  So why not use the tools for building a more compassionate and conscious business from the start – when the entrepreneur has the dream or idea then begins to bring it into the world.  What this system brings is positive influence and affluence: the fulfilment of one’s purpose and a deeper understanding of what you’re doing and why it’s so important.

*   *   *   *   *

I hope you enjoyed this interview with Maria Gamb and that you’ll check out her new book Healing the Corporate World, which is coming to Amazon on Tuesday October 12, 2010.

You can receive a complete library of beautiful personal development gifts when you buy the book on the day of its launch, including one from me: a special report called “Why Nice People HATE Marketing” (it’s actually a sneak peek at some of the content from my upcoming book).

In addition, Maria is hosting an exciting FREE 4-day telesummit entitled “Transforming Business from the Inside Out” on October 4th – 7^th with a distinguished panel of 9 of today’s most innovative authors and speakers on becoming the ‘Change Agent’ in your business, in your life and in the world!

If you’d like to attend, all you have to do is request a “launch reminder” about the book, and you’ll receive all the information to attend. If you cannot make the live event, you can download the audio at your convenience.

To find out how to buy Maria’s BOOK and receive these gifts,
including the FREE pass to the 4-day online telesummit, go to

http://www.healingthecorporateworld.com

AND you can read all about the TELESUMMIT and the guests at

http://www.healingthecorporateworld.com/telesummit.html

Be sure to follow Maria tomorrow when the next stop on his Virtual Blog Tour is Geoff Laughton’s blog at www.spiritedmusings.com.

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

On the show, we discussed my own history of depression and post traumatic stress, from a very early age. I shared my own definition of “depression” as being “grief for the loss of a part of ourselves.”  We discussed how this definition opens up the door to dive into the pain deeply, and to honour and acknowledge our grief completely. We discussed how depression is actually a gift from the Universe to tell us that something needs our attention, and that it is ultimately an invitation for us to come back to who we truly are.

I also shared my experience with post traumatic stress, and how it can sometimes trigger depression. But, I explained, the two are quite different. While depression is an expression of grief and loss, trauma is an expression of fear. When we are afraid, it is common to respond in either a passive or aggressive fashion, whereas grief can manifest in quite different ways. I called upon listeners in the audience who believe they are going through depression to examine whether they are feeling grief or fear (or both), because sometimes there is a trauma that needs to be acknowledged and addressed.

At the end of the show, I shared my own personal message about reaching a place within ourselves where we can take a metaview of our lives, and see all of these circumstances and the emotions which arise from them as part of the greater “hero’s story” of our lives.

After the call was over, Marifran wrote to me to tell me that several listeners on the show had written to her responding strongly to the content of the show. Marifran sent me these written responses she received from listeners who suffered with depression at some point in their lives:

“I liked the definition of grieving over loss of self so we can feel the emotion.
You have to find out who the self is that you lost.” – CG

“I resonate to Lynn’s words that depression is there to get your attention.
It does not mean something about you.” – NB

“I was enthralled.”

“I am ecstatic with sheer joy and happy tears.”

“This idea of being given permission to grieve is so powerful.
Like Lynn I believe we are in a chronically undergrieved society.” – JS

“Lynn’s description of her experience is my experience.
I was so excited and grateful to hear what I’ve known expressed so clearly and directly.” – SJ

Needless to say, I was moved by the response.

Because the things discussed on this show proved to be so powerful, and this message is so important, I wanted to share it with you. You can hear the full 1-hour interview on the player below:

If you are receiving this post via email,
and cannot see the player, you many listen to it online at:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/marifran/2010/07/27/the-spiritual-journey-of-depression

Be sure to check out Marifran’s show on August 10, 2010,
when she is interviewing Vrinda Pendred about the journey of OCD.

AND… don’t forget to tune in to my own show,
“Lynn Serafinn’s Garden of the Soul”
Wednesdays at 6PM UK/ 1PM Easternon BlogTalkRadio

http://blogtalkradio.com/Lynn-Serafinn

About Lynn Serafinn

Lynn Serafinn is a an award-winning 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 two #1-selling book campaigns, and another #2-selling campaign, in just the past few months. She is also the creator of Spirit Authors, which offers training, coaching, business-building and inspiration for mind-body-spirit authors, whether established or aspiring. To contact Lynn for coaching, campaign management or media appearances, please fill in the form at http://spiritauthors.com/contact.

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Sample Vison Board from Blastation

This week I took this cutting edge new sofware programme (developed by Allison Maslan) for a spin. After reading this review (I give you screen shots of the programme and describe the features pretty fully), take Blastation for a test drive yourself on a FREE 30-day trial http://ow.ly/KMx.

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About a year ago, I attended a course with Patrick Ryan called “Awakened Wisdom”. On that course, I set many goals for myself to achieve over the next 2 years and beyond. Now, I know that I am absolutely USELESS when it comes to keeping paper documents, so I wanted to make some sort of computer-based tracking system for myself to create my 2-year targets and then break them down into smaller chunks (monthly, weekly, daily). I used an Excel spreadsheet and put all kinds of pretty colours on it. I used a different colour for each time frame: one for “Life Dream” and one for the year, month, week and day. I called it my “15-minute focus” because I didn’t want to spend gobs of time on it every day, or I wouldn’t get any work done. Instead, I wanted to use it as a way to focus my vision on the bigger picture every day, and keep my perspective on how my daily activities were working towards that goal. Here’s a screen shot of what it looked like almost exactly 1 year ago (hahah… notice that my “Life Dream” last Christmas was that my book The Garden of the Soul sold 30 million copies… I’m still working on that one!):

Well, I have to say, it did work pretty well and kept me on target for a while. If I look back at it now, most of the things I had set out to do were all pretty much achieved, and most of those things that weren’t achieved were replaced with stuff that was even better. I found this method so useful that I even shared it with several of my coaching clients, who liked it very much.

But after a couple of months, it started to get a bit of clumsy and I tended not to use it as much as I did when I first made it. There were too many words, too much scrolling up and down, no real way to “see” visually what I had achieved. I found it took me a lot longer than 15 minutes a day, because of the way it was laid out, and it didn’t really replace my need to use a daily diary quite separately from this (which I developed on yet another spreadsheet). Sometimes I found myself forgetting where I had written things down because I needed so many different places to write them!

But lo’ and behold, only a few months ago, a woman named Allison Maslan came into my life, asking me to coach her around creating a marketing campaign for her upcoming book Blast Off!. Well, of course I was really pleased to meet such a wonderful new client, and get to work on such a fun book campaign, but the bonus surprise for me was when she showed me Blastation – an online software programme she had designed for exactly the same purpose as my 15-Minute Focus spreadsheet…

But seeing them side-by-side was like comparing an old 78 rpm gramophone to a digital surround-sound system. Blastation was everything I had wanted my spreadsheet to be, but it did it all faster, prettier and more visually. It overcame every single one of the drawbacks of my home-made goals-setting spreadsheet had. Heck, it even used a similar colour scheme as I had chosen for my 15-Minute Focus, only a lot bolder and more eye-catching. I had to laugh when I saw that. It was just too perfect.

Blastation gives you 6 major areas of life in which to set goals: career, relationships, wealth, spiritual life, health and personal fulfilment (which includes FUN!).

For each of these areas, you set your “Big Picture Vision”, your “mile steps” and then your “mini-feats.” That’s very similar to the way I had my system laid out, only more streamlined. Then, it also gives you a “sunup script” which sort of reminds me of the “morning pages” Julia Cameron uses in The Artist’s Way (which I use with a lot of my clients). It also has “rocket words” which are basically your self-pep talk (or affirmations) for the day. It allows you to upload pictures, so it’s not all words, words, words.

AND do you know what? It even has a calendar that you can integrate with Outlook. I couldn’t believe it when I saw this.

But the thing I really, really liked was the “Life-o-Meter”. It’s like a petrol gauge that shows you how much you are living up to your goals. Every time you achieve a goal on time it sends you up the gauge towards 100%. Pretty cool, yes?

It also comes with excellent tutorials and guidance on how to use it effectively. Frankly, I’m going to recommend Blastation to my clients because it really is a great way to set goals, and stay motivated as you move towards them. And for coaches, it’s a great way for you to monitor your clients’ progress.

I rarely (if ever) talk about online coaching products, but this particular one just felt so fun and so USEFUL, I really wanted to review it and let people take it for a spin. Allison offers a 30-day free trial of the software, so you can see for yourself whether you think it could help you move closer to your life dreams.

And I do think a few months’ subscription would also make a really unique Christmas gift. Check out Blastation HERE.

My rating?  5-stars for:

• usefulness
• easy-of-use
• aesthetic appearance
• originality
• and FUN!

Like this article? Share it with others!

Apart from being the one day of the year where parents surrender all attempts to keep their children on a healthy diet, Halloween is also the day where we, both children and adults, get to dress up and make believe we are someone or something else for a day. What we choose could be our alter ego, our wildest fantasy or our scariest nightmare. I believe we can often learn a lot about ourselves by looking back at what we wanted to be on Halloween when we were children.

What do our Halloween costumes reveal?

I remember the very first Halloween outfit that I selected for myself when I was about 4 years old. My mother took me to the shop to look at costumes. She suggested a very pretty “Fairy Princess” costume, which was a long pastel pink and white dress with lace and ruffles, accessorised with a sparkly crown. While I liked the sparkly crown, the frilliness and the colour of the dress didn’t appeal to me. Instead, I opted for the “Gypsy Princess” costume. The colours were vivid—strips of emerald green, rich magenta, bright gold and deep purple fabric layered atop a flowing black taffeta skirt. The top was a white peasant blouse and instead of a crown, it had a brightly printed headscarf and big dangly “jewellery”. It was not at all “frilly”, and seemed exotic to me. I loved to dance and spin around and around in it, watching the skirt fly in billowy circles around me.

So, fifty years on, what can I understand about myself when I look back at this? I can see that even from a very early age I was showing my natural inclination towards the arty and bohemian side of life. And years later, I indeed would become a musician and a writer, with a tendency to move from place to place every few years (my father always called me a gypsy). While I do consider myself to be extremely feminine, I was never what you would call a “girlie girl”, and to this day I simply cannot wear pastels!

What were some of the Halloween (or other fancy dress) costumes you chose for yourself when you were a child? Don’t worry if they were scary ghosts or monsters. Maybe these characters were helping you express your natural sense of humour and fun, or maybe they were expressions of your inner courage in the face of fear. Maybe your costume expressed a hidden side of you that was not able to express itself any other way. Or maybe, your mom or dad picked out your costume for you and it didn’t express you at all! Even if that was the case, it can tell us a lot about the history of our self-expression.

What can our childhood make-believe tells us about ourselves?

Halloween is not the only time we make believe as children, of course. How many of us had favourite characters we pretended to be when we played either alone or with others? In my book The Garden of the Soul, I share one of my make-believe characters—a talking parrot named Polly who was the navigator of a space ship, taking human beings on journeys through the Milky Way. In other games, we would sometimes play “school” and I would be the teacher. Other times, we played “church” and I would be the priest. So what else can I learn about my natural personality from my childhood make-believe? Looking back, I can see that I was expressing my natural eccentricity (I was a parrot and not a human being!) and my love for exploration. I could see I was becoming the navigator—the one who would lead others to new things. I was revealing my inclination towards being an explorer, a traveller, a teacher and even a spiritual guide. There is so much we can learn about ourselves when we look back at how we played as children.

Take a moment to think back to your own childhood. What “make-believe” characters and personalities did you naturally step into? To what degree were they expressions of who you really were inside, or who you wished (or knew) you would become? What did these characters say about you at your core? What values or qualities did these characters reveal about you? Were you a super hero fighting for justice? A spy who loved risk and intrigue? A time traveller fascinated by the past or the future? A space traveller curious about what makes the Universe tick? A pirate seeking adventure or treasure? A mommy or daddy expressing family values and love?

The roles we play as adults

As children, making believe is an important tool to help us discover, explore and express who we are. But unfortunately, when many of us grow up, we continue to take on “costumes” and “masks” in our in our family, social group or work environment that, rather than express who we are, limit our authentic expression and natural personality. We take on “roles” where we “play” a certain part in our daily dramas. Examples of roles might be “the good girl”, “the wounded one”, “the sensible one” or “the peace maker”. And there are so many more besides these. Just like putting on a Halloween costume or making believe, when we step into these roles, we “become” them, and often find ourselves restricted and frustrated as a result. For instance, if you have taken on the role of the “peace maker” in your family or your workplace, you might find yourself without a voice, as you are continually trying to balance the imbalances of others around you. The irony is that you yourself might never feel peaceful, and your efforts might actually create more unrest and lack of connection in your environment. If you take on the role of “the wounded one”, you might find it difficult to become independent because you might come to believe that you need the continual support of other people or things in order to feel safe. The irony of course is that this neediness can in fact end up pushing away the very support you believe you need, only reinforcing your feelings of being “wounded”.

When we put on a Halloween costume or making believe, we know we are “playing”. But unfortunately, many of us are unaware of the roles we play as adults. We intuitively sense that something is not quite right but we cannot put our finger on it. Our roles can be difficult to recognise if we have been stuck in them since childhood and we don’t know any differently. One of the first things I help clients see when they come to me for coaching are these unconscious roles or scripts they might be playing our in their heads, that are making their lives unfulfilling in one way or another. Somewhat playfully, I call these roles and scripts “monsters”, and I teach clients how to recognise and shift the monsters both in one-to-one coaching and in my course “Making Friends with the Monsters Under Your Bed”. The good news is that over time, it is possible to become conscious of the unconscious roles we play; and as we bring them into our awareness, we can move away from feeling trapped by them, and towards being able to choose whether or not we wish to continue wearing these “costumes” if we feel they are not serving our greater good.

Taking off the masks

People sometimes ask what I mean by the term “personal transformation”. Basically it simply means bringing what was once in the darkness (unconscious and unaware) into the light (conscious and aware). When we bring our shadow into the light of awareness, we step into the person we really are, and cease playing roles that do not reflect the light of our inner Self.

While personal transformation is essential for our Self actualisation and ultimate happiness, it does come with a caveat. It is important to understand that if our role is something we tend to “default” to in our family, social or work situations, chances are many other members in that scenario are also playing their own roles, without awareness of the fact they are doing so. And if you suddenly become aware and step out of your “assigned” role, it can really rock the boat! Imagine that everyone in your life is on stage in a play. You have a part to play and you have played it for years. Then suddenly, you start reading the lines of the hero, when you are “supposed” to be playing the villain, or the servant or the milkman. Of course, the whole cast would become confused wondering who they are supposed to “play” now. All hell would break loose on stage!

When you decide to take off your mask in life, a similar scenario might take place if the people around you are not at a similar level of conscious evolution as you are. In other words, your shifting away from your previously unconscious, disempowering roles can frequently confuse and even anger your family, friends and work colleagues. With time, most will adjust, but occasionally people cannot or will not adjust to the new “you” (which is actually the “true you”) and you might actually “lose” people along the way, or at the very least be the recipient of their judgments and criticism. While this is a necessary risk we must take in the name of finding fulfilment, the thought of the ramifications of that risk can sometimes be really scary. For many of us, lack of awareness coupled by the fear of losing money, job, friends or family are the primary reasons why we stay stuck playing the roles we privately hate the most.

Transformation takes self-awareness, courage and self-honesty. But even more, it takes self-love and commitment to your own wellbeing. In order to step out of the costumes that do not reflect who you really are, you must be willing to remain steadfast in your commitment to your own happiness during the process of transition, even if it means risking a period of unsettledness in your relationships or lifestyle. This risk is essential before you can step into your true “costume”—where you are the hero of your own life.

Stepping into your superhero costume

Those of you who follow my work know that it is my firm belief that every human being is born the “hero” of his/her own life. And it is my belief that when you finally step into your Authentic Self, whatever that might be, you become a genuine superhero, and that this “costume” is the only one that is meant for you.

How do you know you have finally stepped into your superhero costume? It has nothing to do with saving the world or leaping over tall buildings. When you feel inwardly empowered, natural and free, you are the superhero. When you genuinely feel seen and heard, you are the superhero. When you feel connected to Self, other and the Universe, you are the superhero. When you are smiling and having FUN, you are the superhero.

In short, when you know you are being YOU, you are the superhero. And as you know, a real superhero is capable of great things.

Every day, I express my gratitude for being able to live a life that is in alignment with the person I know I was born to be. I have finally thrown away the countless costumes of the past that did not serve me, and I now wear one costume—the ME costume! And you know what? The “ME” costume still contains elements of that bold, colourful, dancing Gypsy Princess and the Polly the Space Navigator Parrot. In all I do, I express that same freedom and creativity that I knew was my Authentic Self when I was a child. But of course the “ME costume is so much greater than that. And make no mistake—your “YOU” costume is truly a coat of unlimited colours.

So this Halloween, as you don your holiday costume, or next week when you return to work, and step into your default role at your job, ask yourself how well these costumes express your innermost being. And if the answer is “Not very well”, perhaps it is time to explore a different fancy dress shop, and try on some new costumes for a change. But if the answer is “Yes, completely!” you just might be living the life of a superhero.

May you step into your YOU costume, and your every day be Halloween, filled with treats.

Lynn Serafinn
31 Oct 2009

P.S.: The title of this article is taken from one of my FAVOURITE songs by Ministry, which really reflects the whole idea of what we see/show of ourselves to others. Hear the track on my Blip.FM page at: http://blip.fm/~fo6cr Have fun!

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Lynn Serafinn, MAED, CPCC is a transformation coach, speaker, radio host and author of the bestselling book The Garden of the Soul: lessons from four flowers that unearth the Self.

Lynn coaches clients from all over the world via telephone. If you would like to discover and unleash your inner hero, call Lynn for a FR*EE  no obligation coaching consultation at 0845 880 28 25 during normal business hours, or fill in a consultation request form at http://www.create-a-life.co.uk/free_consultation_request.html

But all too often, “some day” and the “big break” don’t come. This isn’t because we are unlucky or have “bad karma.” It’s because we are looking in the wrong direction to find the solutions to our lack of fulfilment. After going through my own transformations in life, teaching thousands of students over the years, working with hundreds of coaching clients and interviewing dozens of fascinating people on my radio show, I have learned one thing: the circumstances of our lives cannot be blamed (or at least not 100%) for our unhappiness. What are some of the worst circumstances you can imagine? Try to imagine being a 6-year-old boy and being exiled with no possessions and left to starve to death in the Siberian wasteland. Or how about being a teenage girl whose father murders her own mother in cold blood, marries her mother’s sister, and is then acquitted by the court? Can you imagine living with such things? Can you imagine surviving them to such a point where you felt so full of joy that you have made it your life’s work to spread joy to others? But it’s true. I have met these people,* and so many others, in my work. And happiness, I have found, is 100% a matter of allowing it to happen. But if we are blocking the pipeline to our own happiness, it will never flow.

There are many ways we block this pipeline to happiness. One is the unconscious way we talk about ourselves. Most of us pay little attention to the subtle ways we verbally undermine ourselves, whether in our heads or aloud, on an almost continual basis. Another way we get in our own way are all the “old stories” we tell about ourselves, such as “That’s just the way I am” or “I’m really bad with x, y, z.” A third way we block our own happiness is the almost autonomic way we tend to slip into “roles” in different circumstances. We might unthinkingly adopt a powerless, voiceless or even aggressive role in certain family, social or professional scenarios, for example. Both we and others begin to mistake these roles for ourselves, and we end up feeling drained and misunderstood. The end result of all these “monsters” is that we become disconnected to both our real emotions and from our bodily awareness. We can even become weakened or ill on a physical level and we certainly become desensitized to the “hero’s call” that is always around us. When we reach this level of disconnection, we can become resigned to our “lot” life, and lose faith that we can ever truly be happy.

But as I said, I passionately believe that every human being is a hero, and all of these things are part of the hero’s journey—even the struggle to come back to the Self. Every hero is a hero because he or she has faced the “monster” no one else had the courage to face. All the old stories, all the roles, all the self-talk, all the feelings of fear, anger, blame and loss—these are the monsters. And when we face them and come out the other side with the wisdom that only a true hero knows, we find the elixir that makes our lives, and the lives of those around us, truly magical.

This month at the Bedford and West Herts Wellness Circle I will be doing a mini-workshop about the hero’s journey, so you can get a tiny glimpse into where you are on the path. And if you’d like to step fully into that journey, be sure to sign up for the “Transformation Trilogy” that is starting THIS Saturday and Sunday (17/18 Oct) in Bedford. The Trilogy is a set of three weekend workshops spread over three months. You do NOT have to attend all three weekends, as they are completely separate courses, but you see the progression from course to course if you do. This weekend, we’ll be “Making Friends with the Monsters Under Your Bed” where we will be looking at all the things I have spoken about in this article, so that you will be REALLY ready to step into your inner hero in Workshop 2, “Becoming the Hero of Your Own Life”, in November.

NOTE:  We urgently need 5 more people to sign up for this weekend’s “Monsters” to give the course “buzz”. PLEASE book with me via telephone no later than 8pm Wednesday 14 May. Click HERE to read all information AND to book your place.

* The 6-year-old boy is author Andrew Bienkowski, and the teenage girl is actress Brenda Adelman, both extraordinary people I interviewed on my radio show. Click links above to listen to those great past shows.