If you’re looking to reclaim your inner space this month, Karen’s luscious Walkingspirit Retreat runs June 26th to July 3rd in Tuscany, Italy. See full details at the end of this article to find out how to book and receive a discount as one of Lynn’s subscribers.
When Karen Maycey (pictured above) changed careers to become a coach in 2005, she was asked a simple question: “What is your dream?” Karen replied quickly, saying, “My dream is to run a retreat in the mountains!”
She had first had this dream when she was working as a tour guide in the Austrian Alps. During that period of her life, Karen had a successful and exciting career as a guide for long haul and adventure holidays. She had taken groups to the Great Wall of China, through the US National Parks, and countless times through New Zealand and Australia. And throughout those times, she kept dreaming of creating her own retreat-not one that was defined by the tour companies that hired her-which would incorporate yoga, walking, being in inspirational surroundings in the mountains (her favourite place) and good quality home-cooked food.
But the fact she was so successful at her job actually proved to be a distraction to Karen, and over time this dream got somewhat forgotten.
But when her coaching trainers asked the question, “What is your dream?”, the dream reappeared. And this time, she knew her mountain retreat would also include coaching.
But while the picture of the dream became clearer in Karen’s mind, life took over, and once again the dream got pushed into the background of her life. She says, “The dream sort of ‘hung around’ but it was semi-forgotten.”
In 2006, Karen she met a man named Verran, who was at that time a marketing director of private company. Soon, the two became a couple. Like Karen, Verran loved the mountains and the great outdoors, but his job offered little opportunity to live his passion. He had a dream to start a new company that incorporated his love for the outdoors and his work with businesses. Karen encouraged and supported him to follow his heart, and Verran resigned from his job. He soon started a company called “Outside Insights”, where he works as a walking guide taking businesses into the outdoors for team building, problem solving and personal growth. But Karen’s own dream was still not yet manifesting,
Then, April 2007 she took a course called Awakened Wisdom with Patrick Ryan where one of the tasks was to create a “mandala” envisioning her dreams for the future and how she wanted to “be” in the world. Over and over again, the theme of retreats kept popping up, along with being open-hearted, tapping into cosmic love, being a shining star, and being a catalyst for change and an inspiration. She was inspired by the words of Marianne Williamson that spoke of allowing one’s light to shine, and that it didn’t serve anyone for her to hide away. In making this mandala, Karen knew it was time to start being that shining star.
Astonishingly, within weeks of coming to that realisation, she was called by a company called “The Big Stretch” for an interview, and was subsequently hired. “The Big Stretch” was very close to her dream, as every gave her the opportunity to lead personal development courses for small groups that involved a “full on” week of coaching and walking in mountains of Spain. She felt this new job “semi-satisfied” her dream, but the bigger dream was still on the back burner. But all of it was slowly building up to the experience she truly wanted to create, and helped to give her the confidence she could do it.
But then, things changed.
In May 2008, Karen noticed a lump in her left breast. Shortly thereafter she went for an operation and her first diagnosis. At age 37, Karen had grade-2 breast cancer.
Karen was filled with shock and disbelief. How could she have cancer? She had always been so healthy and health conscious. She was young, fit, active, sporty and spent a lot of time outdoors. How could this happen?
But after the initial shock, she got down to dealing with the situation. After all, this was a matter of life and death. But Karen soon realised it was not so simple. She realised that deciding upon a treatment regime had to be something that matched her philosophy in life. Trusting her intuition, and frequently needing to hold true to her convictions in the face of advice she was receiving from her NHS doctors, Karen decided not to do chemotherapy, and embarked on a naturopathic route to healing. She felt her healing could only really happen if she worked in a way she herself believed.
Karen says, “I think what matters is that you believe in the choices you are making.”
She spent more than a year on an intense 5-hour a day regime that included detox and supplements, costing her thousands of pounds.
And all through the process, she kept saying to herself, “When I get better, I’ll do this or I’ll do that” But while her treatments seemed to be working well, and she began to look more healthy and vibrant than she did before the cancer, whenever her test results came back from the lab, the doctors never said, “Your cancer is gone forever.” Instead, they would always say, there is more work to do. It seemed like everything in her life was put “on hold” while she focussed on her cancer.
But then, over the Christmas holiday in 2009, things changed again.
She and Verran were on holiday on the La Vacchio farm in a valley in northern Italy. They spent many hours talking together about the experience of the past year and their vision for the future. Looking at the beautiful surroundings, Karen felt a shift within her. Suddenly, she realised how long she had been delaying her dream, year after year. But now she saw it was time to start living in the now. If she kept using other things as excuses to delay her dreams, they might never come true. And if she simply put her dreams on hold while she had cancer, she might even die before she had had the chance to live life fully.
In one instant, she shifted from a ‘When I get better then I’ll do…” attitude, to a ‘Go for it!’ attitude. It was time to do her retreat–NOW.
And in the serendipitous fashion of the Universe, no sooner had she made this shift, the owners of the farm asked her and Verran if they would be interested in running a retreat on their farm! So all of a sudden they had their venue sorted, without any effort.
Karen’s entire life has changed since then. She lives life fully and makes the most of every moment. She didn’t do this last year when she was focussing on her illness. There’s no more waiting for tomorrow, no matter what the situation might be–even when you have cancer.
So now, Karen wants to share her dream with the world. She says, “I’m really looking forward to showing others that self–indulgence–this lovely thing-is actually a gift for the sake of their happiness and health. I want people to have a gorgeous time reconnecting with nature and themselves, chilling out, and recharging their batteries.”
“What I want people to gain from the retreat is to know they matter–that they are important–and that they can choose their attitude in every moment. The retreat is an opportunity to kick-start loving life and to shift from deferring one’s dreams to being in now. The yoga, coaching, walking, wonderful food and beautiful surroundings will all bring that. It’s all about being in the present and going for what you want.”
“In a way, that’s the secret to life,” she adds.
WALKINGSPIRIT RETREAT
Date: June 26-July 3, 2010 (7 days)
Place: La Vacchio Retreat (in valley north of Luca, Tuscany, Italy
Retreat Leaders: Karen Maycey (coaching), Verran Townsend (walking guide), Lisa Jones (yoga)
Agenda: Coaching, Yoga, Walking, organic food, relaxing and fun!
There will be group coaching every day 1-2 hours, and the opportunity to have one 1-to-1 session of either coaching or yoga during the week.
Cost: £995 (including accommodation and food)
You can get £25 off to cost of the retreat if you say “Lynn sent me” when you book!
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 two #1-selling book campaigns, and another #2-selling campaign, in just the past 4 months. She is also the creator of Spirit Authors to offer training, coaching, business-building and inspiration for mind-body-spirit authors, whether established or aspiring. She’s also in Round 2 of the Next Top Spiritual Author contest! To check out Lynn’s video entry, brand new book proposal and read 80 pages from her book The Garden of the Soul, go to http://www.NextTopAuthor.com/?aid=2016. A free gift awaits you when you cast your vote.
You’re probably wondering what the heck this has to do with anything. Why is Lynn suddenly publishing a recipe? Well, I think the fact that when I tasted this I thought I had gone to heaven might be reason enough. But if we need another reason, I can think of several, which I shall share with you AFTER the good stuff… the SOUP!
Equipment
The good news is, you don’t need any fancy equipment for this one. I am using a Tribest “personal” smoothie maker, and I imagine a good blender would also do the trick. For me, my personal smoothie maker is perfect because I live alone, and there is no waste or leftovers. It’s also extremely energy efficient because it is tiny, and you only need to run it for a few seconds to make your soup. The recipe below is for ONE serving (about 12 oz/400ml). If you have a larger blender/smoothie maker, and want to make more soup, just increase the amounts as desired.
Note: If you don’t have organic veg, or you don’t have whole spices to grind, you can still make this recipe, but really the taste is completely different. And if you think you don’t have time to make this, my TOTAL preparation time was LESS THAN 5 MINUTES!
Ingredients
First of all, I highly recommend getting your produce from a local organic farm. I just started ordering a weekly fruit and veg box from Riverford organic. They deliver it fresh right to your door. I have to tell you, the asparagus was SO tender, it was like eating a completely different vegetable from anything I’ve ever had before (and the humus I got from them was simply to die for!).
50 gm organic tofu (about 1” x 3” x 3” block)
6-8 stalks organic asparagus
¼ bulb organic fennel
¼ teaspoon black peppercorns
¼ teaspoon Himalayan salt
¼ teaspoon whole cumin seeds
1/8 teaspoon powdered kelp (optional; I add this to boost my sluggish thyroid as it’s rich in iodine)
1/2 teaspoon extra virgin organic olive oil
1/2 cup water. The water should either be room temperature or slightly warm, if you prefer warmer soup. Do NOT use very hot or boiling water, as it will expand in the blender AND it will also kill off the nutrients.
How to make it:
Grind peppercorns and cumin seed with a mortar and pestle (you can use powdered, but it simply isn’t the same!). Set aside.
Cut tofu into 1/2” chunks and put in blender cup. Put in just enough water to cover them.
Blend tofu until it is a smooth cream.
Chop asparagus and fennel into small enough chunks to get around the blade of the blender. Put into blender and pulse until chunky.
Add ground pepper, salt, cumin, kelp and olive oil. Blend for 30-40 seconds.
Your soup is READY to eat! If it’s too thick, and some water (slightly warm if you want warmer soup).
This is awesome with a couple of slices of toasted no-yeast rye bread with humus. What a TASTE!
Ok… so why am I REALLY talking about soup?
Environment: Earlier this year, I took a “10/10″ pledge in which I vowed to cut my fossil-fuel consumption down by 10% in the year 2010. You might think reaching this goal is a diffcult thing to acheive, but something as simple as making raw organic asparagus soup can help you get started. How?
If you buy your organic produce from a local farm, like I did, you are saving on “food miles” as they are not being flown to you from the other side of the planet. It’s even BETTER if it comes from your OWN garden.
Coming from the local farm, and not the local supermarket, there is NO packaging or waste at all. Even the little bits of veggies that I didn’t throw into the smoothie maker I put into my compost bin, and it will be helping to grow vegetables in my back garden later this summer.
Running a little 200 watt blender for 40 seconds takes a LOT less energy (and costs a lot less money) than cooking a pot of homemade soup on the hob for 20-30 minutes, so it’s very economical, too.
Health: Eating veggies that are local means they are fresher, and packed with nutrients. The longer the gap between when your fruit/veg has been picked and when you consume it, the more nutrients are lost. Also, eating with the seasons (as organic farms provide you only season produce) will also improve your health, as it puts your body “in synch” with your environment, giving your greater immunity.
Spirituality: There is something very spiritual about getting closer to Source by eating organic, local, fresh and uncooked. I don’t think I will ever go 100% raw, but I have to tell you, when you eat something like this, you feel like you are tasting the Sun and the Earth, and that’s pretty special. It helps you feel connected, and lets you know that you are safe in this big, vast Universe.
Fun and Creativity: It’s actually pretty cool to make up new concoctions. I make up something new every day. I had a delicious melon and plum smoothie before. Sheer nectar!In fact, what’s so neat is that just about ANYTHING you toss into the smoothie maker can be turned into something really tasty and interesting. Experiment and set yourself free!
Closing thoughts Today, I found out another close friend of mine has breast cancer. Mind you, this particular woman is one of the most health conscious people I know, so if it can happen to her, it can happen to anyone. I do believe the high incidence of cancer in today’s world is due to us being just so disconnected from the Source of life, both in our food, and our state of being in general. Our failing health is a symptom that we human beings are craving a return to a more natural state of living in harmony with the Earth. And the good news is, I firmly believe it is “do-able.”
I took the 10/10 pledge because I love our Planet, and I also believe our dependency upon petroleum is simply a recipe for disaster, for so many reasons.
Let’s not consume THAT recipe. Instead, let’s start (un)cooking up our own recipes. I’ve done many things this year to make good on my 10/10 promise. If you do only one thing this year and nothing else, start off by making a pledge to buy local produce. Or better yet, how about starting a vegetable garden in your backyard? I’ve just done this with the help of a neighbourhood woman, as part of the new “garden share” project we at Transition Bedford are hoping to get going this year. But more on that another day.
Lynn Serafinn is a transformation coach, book promotion coach, radio host and author of the mind-body-spirit bestseller, The Garden of the Soul: lessons from four flowers that unearth the Self.She is the recipient of the Bedfordshire Businesswomen Award for working with a community group for her work with Transition Bedford, part of the Transition Network, a grassroots initiative to build a sustainable future. She is also the founder of Spirit Authors Virtual Coaching and Learning Experience, which offers training, community and support for aspiring and established mind-body-spirit authors. She also works as a campaign manager for book launches, and has produced two number-1 selling authors in 2010 so far. Coaching, training and campaign enquiries may be submitted at http://spiritauthors.com/contact.
“Imagine a life through which you managed to rise above the fears and concerns that always linger faithfully in the background, haunting us with their song of intended safety, always with the purpose of keeping the status quo. Imagine a life without those messages you tell your Self about what you can’t do, or those messages that diminish the brilliance of who you are in any way. You know the voice I mean.
“Imagine that you integrated those voices in such a way that they no longer gripped you but rather informed you about interesting and relevant conditions to pay attention to.
“And now, as you are no longer held in false constraints, you are free. Free to listen and respond to the wisdom of the moment. Free to wonder what is possible in creating more beauty and dreams. Free to respond to the yearning of your heart that knows that more is possible…”
These are the opening words of a most inspiring new book by Patrick Ryan called Awakened Wisdom – A Guide To Reclaiming Your Brilliance. The first chapter is called “A Life Well-Lived”, and as we read it, we cannot help but think to ourselves, “Yes! I want to know how to have that!”
In his book, Awakened Wisdom, Patrick Ryan says a life well-lived is an awakened life, in which we shift away from our “distorted self” and connect with our “Divine Essence”, and allow that wisdom to guide us.
But how precisely do we DO that?
Fortunately, Patrick Ryan gives us a formula: the Eight States of an Awakened Life”.
Patrick explains the “Eight States of an Awakened Life” in great detail in his book Awakened Wisdom. He says, for our awakening to unfold, we must come into a “good state” of relationship with our understanding, our intention, our words, our being, our purpose, our effort, our practice and our doing. And when we are in a “good state” with all these things, we are able to see life clearly, and our decisions and actions in life become purposeful, powerful and meaningful.
It sounds very inspiring, doesn’t it? It is. But what I really like about Patrick’s book is that it is also a practical manual. There are dozens of affirmations and practical exercises to help you learn and master each of the Eight States, to help you begin to create your own well-lived life. It’s great to see such a spiritual book come down-to-earth so we can actually apply the teachings within our daily lives.
Awakened Wisdom – A Guide To Reclaiming Your Brilliancecomes out on Amazon on April 20th, 2010. To expand the giving and receiving of this wisdom I am giving away FOUR free audio mediations from my Garden of the Soul Workshop to everyone who buys Patrick’s wonderful book with the first 24 hours of its release. I’ve never offered these meditations before, as they have only ever been available to those who have attended my live Transformation workshops.
AND… In addition to my gift, there are over 40 other wonderful gifts being offered by mind-body-spirit teachers, authors, coaches and healers from around the planet when you purchase Awakened Wisdom – A Guide to Reclaiming Your Brilliance on April 20th.
AND… Patrick is giving away an EXTRA special gift of his own: An AWAKENED WISDOM VIRTUAL EXPERIENCE, a 2-day global event where you can learn the Eight States of an Awakened Life directly from Patrick himself after you have bought the book. I’m really lucky because I’ll be hosting that event!
To find out how you can buy this book on April 20th, claim your free admission to the Awakened Wisdom Virtual Experience, and receive over 40 other gifts, just click HERE
Holiday Blues Number 5: Feelings of Isolation (coming Thursday 31 December)
TIP: If you want to receive all 5 articles, be sure to subscribe to this blog in the box on the right hand side of your screen.
Surviving Family Dramas during the Holiday Season
For many people, visiting with relatives during the holidays is a wonderful experience, because it allows them to reconnect with loved ones they might not ordinarily see during the rest of the year. But for many others, visiting with parents, siblings and extended family can bring out the worst in us. It’s as if we’ve travelled back in time. We might be the most powerful and respected person in our professional life, but somehow when we are around our childhood families, we change into blithering idiots. By dint of some inexplicable time-warp, we get caught up in the age-old “family dramas” that drive us absolutely batty and leave such a horrible aftertaste when we go back home to our “adult” world. Within minutes, we manage to regress into a juvenile version of ourselves that never shows up under any other circumstances. But what is worse is that we find it nearly impossible to get out of the age-old scripts we have played out since our youth.
Small wonder why I chose to speak about this in a Holiday Survival Guide!
Getting “hooked” into a role
When we get stuck into a family drama, I call it being “hooked.” The reason why we get hooked into our family dramas lies in the term “drama” itself. Think of what a drama is. It’s not merely a judgemental word; it’s actually a very accurate description of what is taking place. A drama is a complex story with complex characters. And our family dramas are no different. When we are hooked, it means we have taken on the role of one of these characters. And, yes, there are cliché roles in which people tend to be cast. Continue Reading…
VIDEO: The Known Universe by American Museum of Natural History
This is simply awesome. And I mean that in the literal sense. It fills me with complete awe and really puts existence in perspective. What an amazing Universe we live in! Felt it had to go on my site. I call this my “cosmic universe” after all! Hope you enjoy it.
Please let your comments below and share with others.
5 Easy Ways to Beat the Blues and Feel Joyous this Holiday Season
by Lynn Serafinn, MAED, CPCC
Author Patrick Dennis somewhat sarcastically referred to the winter holidays as “The Joyous Season” in his 1960s book of the same name. Most of us inwardly believe that Christmas and the winter holidays are indeed meant to be joyous. But in actuality, many people have a rough time during the holiday season, for many reasons.
Because the holidays seem to be such challenging and sometimes transitional periods in our lives, this month I decided to have a look at what I think are the “Top 5 Blues” that affect so many people during the holidays, along with why we get them, and how to turn them around into Joy. Here are the top 5 that came to mind:
Holiday Blues Number 1: Seasonal Affective Disorder (“SAD”) in today’s issue
Holiday Blues Number 5: Feelings of Isolation (coming Thus 31December
Over the next 12 days, I’ll be examining each of these “blue areas”, give you some tips from other great thinkers, and offer a few of my own suggestions for turning the winter “blues” into cheery multi-coloured mind-body-spirit holiday sparkles. Today, I’ll be talking about SAD– Seasonal Affective Disorder. The findings might surprise you!
Beating Holiday Blues Number 1: Seasonal Affective Disorder (“SAD”).
SAD is a condition that affects some people during the winter months causing them to feel a bit blue, low in energy, or basically “down in the dumps.” But what causes it? Continue Reading…
As a child growing up in the 50s and 60s in the US, I loved Halloween. Apart from the fun of dressing up and going out for trick-or-treat, it was also my father’s birthday (he would have been 90 years old today if he were still alive), so my mother always bought a really fancy bakery cake every Halloween in honour of Dad’s birthday. After many years of having the same type of cake year in and year out—orange and chocolate layer cakes smothered with sugar jack-o-lanterns, black cats and witches—he finally rebelled and asked to have a “normal” birthday cake instead. But as far as I was concerned, I loved the fun of my father’s Halloween birthday cakes every year.
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. Continue Reading…
Posted 10 months, 1 week ago at 15:12. Add a comment
Many thanks to Simon Ireland-Davies of ID Coaching, Liverpool, who selected the number 65 for this week’s meditation. If you would like to help me write my upcoming book “The Companion Guide to the Garden of the Soul” and possibly have your name listed in the acknowledgements of the book, and announced on my weekly radio broadcast, just select a number from 1-80 and post it in the comment thread below.
Meditation 65: Wisdom
from “Lessons from the Lily: the Principle of Being”
Wisdom is the natural energy that flows through us when we surrender our ego so we may establish our connection with the Divine. Wisdom does not come to us as the result of learning. It is not something can be increased by any type of effort. Wisdom is Eternal, Infinite and Absolute. It belongs to no one and to everyone, simultaneously and equally. When we imagine that we can capture Wisdom via our own efforts, we are operating from the platform of ego, wherein we imagine that there is a limited amount of Wisdom to be gained in the Universe, and that it can be controlled and conquered by our own efforts. If this were the case, then the Universe would be a merciless and poverty-stricken place, as only the strongest or most intellectually gifted would ever have access to Wisdom. But the Truth is the Universe is infinitely opulent and full of mercy. Wisdom is the birthright of all living entities, and no effort is required to manifest Wisdom other than to allow it to enter us, without ego blocking its way. Continue Reading…
…a completely random blog post that has nothing whatsoever to do with work, business or anything serious…
Well, Mercury is back to his old tricks again.
Do any of you remember back in February when there were so many problems on the Internet? Those of you who are on Twitter might remember when it went crazy for a few days. Well, as it turns out, the planet Mercury was in retrograde back then (retrograde meaning the time when it appears to be moving backwards from our vantage point on Earth). It seems to be a widely accepted explanation that when things like this happen in cyberspace, poor Mercury frequently gets the blame, especially if it is retrograde. In fact, every time I hear someone going through some sort of communication breakdown, I also hear people asking, “Is Mercury in retrograde again?”
So is there anything to this Mercury stuff, or is it all a story we use to explain away our own frustrations with technology? Continue Reading…
Below is your Garden of the Soul Meditation/Practice for the week. This week’s number was selected intuitively by my great Twitter friend Lisa Lauffer (aka @deepwaterscoach) of Colorado. Lisa is a Co-Active coach and she always sends me fabulous cheesy disco on Fridays on Twitter.
Lisa selected number 19, which is the number for the attribute of “Life Purpose”. In my book The Garden of the Soul: lessons from four flowers that unearth the Self, Life Purpose is part of the section called “Lessons from the Rose”. The Rose teaches us “The Principle of Giving” which everything that emanates from within you, out into the world.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Day 19: Life Purpose Life purpose is the active process of embracing, expressing and living our reason to exist. Many people imagine Life Purpose to be something that they discover by asking the age-old questions of “Who am I?” and “Why am I here?” And while to some extent this is true, the term “Life Purpose” is meaningless until we consciously integrate our thoughts and feelings, and set them into action in our lives. If Life Purpose were merely a matter of receiving a message from some Divine source, it would mean we had a passive role to play with it, and it would not be an active process. We would probably fight against it, as we would perceive it as something that had come from outside of ourselves, and against which we were the powerless victims of fate. This is why it is important to remember that Life Purpose is an attribute of the Principle of Giving. It originates within the Self, and it can only manifest when we ourselves choose to send it into the world in an outward direction. At this moment we begin to live our lives “on purpose.”
Knowing this, we can finally cease our endless battle in life. We battle first against our true nature when we believe the answers to our own meaning lie outside ourselves and that we must struggle to find them. We do this because Continue Reading…
Title: One World Festival Location: Monkton Coombe, Bath Link out: Click here Description: Join Lynn and dozens of other workshop presenters at the fabulous 14th annual One World Festival, a week-long holistic community experience. Fantastic macrobiotic food and over 200 diverse workshops to choose from, for kids, teens and adults. Mention Lynn\’s name when you book and get 10% off the price of admission. Start Date: 2009-08-11 End Date: 2009-08-17