Lynn Serafinn's Cosmic Journey

Bedford replies: ‘We are NOT stupid, Mr Prescott.’

In a recent article, former Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott was quoted to say that the Bedfordshire town of Bedford, should be given a “stupid award” owing to its local planning committee opposing the construction of wind farms on aesthetic grounds. While the implications of this opposition are duly noted, the recently formed community initiative Transition Bedford, part of the larger Transition Town Network of over 1500 local initiatives worldwide, replies, “Look deeper, Mr Prescott, and you will find that the people of Bedford are not at all stupid in matters to do with climate change and peak oil.”

To illustrate Bedford’s intelligence and to increase public awareness on these important issues, Transition Bedford will be hosting a free viewing of the film “In Transition” at the Ent Shed on Castle Road, MK40 3QY, on Wednesday 9 Sept 2009 at 7.30pm. Special guest at the event will be Chris Keene, a member of the “Zero Carbon Caravan”, a troop that is currently cycling and sailing from Wales to the UNFCCC talks in Copenhagen.

BEDFORD, BEDFORDSHIRE – 1 September 2009 – Former Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott thinks Bedford is “stupid.”

At least that is what he was quoted as having said in a recent article published by Business Green and The Evening Standard. According to the article, Mr Prescott said the planning committee in Bedford, whose wider borough is estimated to have a population of more than 150,000 people, should be given a “Stupid Award” (named after the recently released environmental film “The Age of Stupid”), calling the committee, “stupid nimbys” and saying “I hope they get upset about it.”

But a group of local Bedfordians, who are members of the recently formed initiative Transition Bedford, invite Mr Prescott to look a little bit deeper, beyond the surface of local planning committees, to see the real Bedford.

“And if he does,” says current Chair of Transition Bedford initiating group, Lynn Serafinn, “he would see an informed, passionate and proactive side to Bedford, where people are at the cutting edge on the issue of climate change.”

Transition Bedford is a part of the larger Transition Town Network, founded in 2006, which is now comprised of thousands of other towns, villages and urban neighbourhoods who are taking definitive, community driven, grass-roots action in response to climate change and Continue Reading…

Continuity – The Dance of Change within the Changeless

Meditation 77: Continuity

Continuity is a sense of begininglessness and endlessness that comes from feeling connected to Existence itself. In the Divine sense, Continuity does not refer to the act of “sticking with things” for a long period of time. In fact, Continuity has nothing at all to do with “doing”; it is an attribute of Being. Nor does Continuity refer to a need for things to be changeless. Quite the opposite, Continuity is that state we reach where we are able to witness all of Creation as a great system of continual flow and change without beginning or end. Existence is both always the same, and always changing, simultaneously. When we witness this, and feel this at our core, we come to realise that Reality is comprised of a single experience of Divine Continuity, which has infinite possibilities of expression. These possibilities flow like the colours of a kaleidoscope as we turn the wheel around and around. As these patterns are ever-changing, we cannot say there is ever truly a specific pattern, as there is no way to “freeze” them in time. When we release the need to hold on to a particular pattern, we begin to step into the awestruck feeling of Divine Continuity, and come to enjoy every moment as it unfolds before us.

It is often said that unhappiness comes in life when Continue Reading…

Awareness Raising and Inner Sustainability

Awareness Raising and Inner Sustainability
by Lynn Serafinn, MAED, CPCC
Coach, author Lynn Serafinn dicusses the inner work needed before Transition Town groups embark on awarness raising, to ensure personal and societal resilience. For more information on Transition Beford go to http://transitionbedford.wordpress.com, or visit the Transition Network at http://www.transitionnetwork.org

It’s a paradox. Effective “awareness raising” is in many ways “awareness grounding”.

What I mean by that is that we tend to think that “raising” awareness in people is a matter of telling them facts and details so they may understand the urgency of an issue as crucial as climate change and peak oil. But it is my observation that when people become over-saturated with sensory and mental data, far from this raising their consciousness, they actually go numb. It’s called “overwhelm”. I used to be that way earlier in life (and I get back there occasionally when I don’t take care of myself). When the issues of life became too much for me to bear, I became numb, disconnected and resigned. This is a spiritual tragedy for any individual. But when an entire culture becomes numb, it is not only a tragedy, it is a recipe for societal self-destruction.

My good friend Karen Maycey, who came from Manchester to speak at the Bedford Wellness Circle on Monday, went through this process of overwhelm when she was first diagnosed with stage-2 breast cancer last year. Karen has always been a very active “go-getter” in her work as a coach and workshop leader, and prior to that as an international tour guide. She had always been on the constant run all over the planet. But shortly after she was first diagnosed, and via a very intense group healing session in which I participated, she intuitively came up with a motto for herself, which was, Continue Reading…