Guest Blogger: Patty Shaw, Author of The Healer's Almanac

 

I am thrilled to be a Blog Buddy on Day 2 of the Blog Tour of author Patricia Shaw whose book Healers Almanac, Journey into Health with Wisdom from the 21^st Century Goddesses!  Launches on Amazon on Thursday January 5^th 2012.

Patty Shaw is an UCM minister, Reiki Master, Spiritual Counselor and teacher and has been interested in the way we heal for most of her life.  When she became a mother she took her own mom's strategy for health care for the family and added to it by exploring many alternative healing modalities and medicine.  Over the last twenty years Patty has been helping others create happiness through creating health in our body, mind and spirit.  Patty is passionate about helping people whether it's in her private practice, at her Reiki Clinic or at her School of Akashic Healing where she teaches others how to be spiritual healers. 

Patty is also co-owner of Coventry Creations with her sister Jacki Smith. Coventry Creations is known for its candles incense and oils that inspire us to make magic the Coventry way.  No matter what's getting in the way of your success, Coventry Creations has a candle for that.

Yesterday, Patty visited Kimberly Coots http://kimberlyanncoots.com/healing-2/healers-almanac-interview-with-patty-shaw where they talked about being a spiritual healer.

Here’s what Patty and I chatted about the other day when I got to ask her some questions about her own healing journey.   I hope you enjoy it.

Andrea:  In your book, The Healer’s Almanac, you begin with the reflection; “Throughout our lives, we all desire to be happy and healthy. When something stops us from being in that place, we feel unwell in part of our body, mind, or soul.”

What were the circumstances in your life that led you to reflect on that? Were you feeling unhappy and unhealthy? Were you witnessing it in others?

 Patty:  Well Andrea, I would love nothing more than to tell you that I was the picture of health and happy as a lark, but I was struggling in more than one area of my life.  What great motivation!  Right?  I was pretending to be ok with my decision to divorce my husband and becoming a single parent of two toddlers and dealing with going back to work full time.  Those were the most difficult years of my life and they took a toll on me.  I was constantly ill and exhausted.  My children were suffering too and I was not in the best shape emotionally either to meet their needs the way I always imagined a good mother should. 

Slowly, I started making changes, some were small, and some were quite radical for me.  It started with cussing myself out for sinking so low then I got a psychic reading and read a book by Edgar Cayce. That sparked a slow burn in me and I felt like I was waking up to a whole different world.  Next, I checked out the local health food store and consulted with the Naturopath who worked there.  I really felt hopeful and on my way. But, guess what?  You may be able to drive up to the window and McDonalds and get a full meal in 3 minutes, but you can’t pop into the health food store and order up a new life.  I was hopeful, but I was at the beginning of a long journey back to health, for myself and my children.  I had a lot to learn.

When it became clear to me there was a connection between my emotional state and my rather sick body, I felt I had gleaned the meaning of life.  Seriously, I was excited to find out that my unhealthy body will heal as I heal my heart and my mind. Part of that would come spontaneously and part of that would come from making better choices and nurturing myself.  All the success I have experienced since then became the background material for the Healers Almanac.  I am living proof that this woo woo stuff really works.

Andrea:  As an the author of The Healer’s Almanac and having studied so many different ways to be happy and healthy, What is your current, personal daily practice?

Patty:  My daily practice has to include grounding and being here now. I tend to wander in my life an let it just happen, and if I want to be a co-creator and stay the course, I have to get my head out of the clouds and watch where I’m walking. This means being present in my mind and body as much as possible with everything I do.  Even the boring stuff!  It’s a discipline that strengthens my ability to focus. And focus is very important when the situation calls for sorting through the distractions to find the truth. Finding and knowing truth is a very basic need in me.

The other part of my daily practice is to love and appreciate the beauty all around me every day, even if I have to look through or around things that I don’t particularly find beautiful. Gratitude is a very profound and deep experience for me.  It pulls me out of self pity, doubt and worry and helps me reconnect to god and my spirit.  Being out of touch with those two things leaves me feeling flat and like a boat without a rudder.   I also do things like meditate to manage my stress, get spiritual healings that clear and balance my chakras and bring more light into me.  I also see a chiropractor once a month who does amazing energy work for my body.  I take my supplements and vitamins, get exercise and eat my veggies.   You see, my daily practice has to include taking care of both my body, and my spirit.  This is how I promote wholeness within me.

Andrea:  Every month in The Healer’s Almanac there is a Goddess. How did you choose the Goddess for each month?

Patty:  The first thing I had to do was determine what areas of life we really need help in, and came up with a list of twelve qualities; Responsibility, Balance, Passion, Hope, Career, Gardening, Stewardship, Sisterhood, Evolution, Shadow and Light, Empowerment, and Individuality.  You’ll notice that I don’t have a goddess of money or prosperity or abundance.  I was of the mind that if you knew who you were and overcame whatever blocked you from expressing that, money would not be an issue.  It was kind of like that story, if you give a man a fish, he’ll eat for a day, but if you teach him to fish, he’ll be set for life.  Then I developed a little system for placement of the goddesses in the cycle of the year and it was very much like divination.  I wrote the quality of each goddess on a piece paper – Responsibility, Hope, Gardening etc. and put them all face down on the floor in front of me.  Then I asked who’s going to be the goddess for January, February, and March etc? and I slowly moved my hand over the papers.  When I got a tingle, I turned the paper over and wrote it down.  I continued until all the months had a goddess.  I decided to totally trust this process and not mess with it and I think it turned out quite well. 

Of course I needed a name for each goddess and I got the inspiration to name them all after my daughter and nieces.  I had enough to keep the goddesses all in the family.  Finally, I worked with each goddess individually.  We meditated together, wrote together and created their images together.  It was amazing and I was so in the zone, I often felt like I was taking dictation.  My husband thought I was possessed or maybe obsessed.  Hours would go by before I’d look up to see what’s going on in the world.  That was basically it. 

Andrea:  How did writing the book help with your own personal healing?

Patty:  Now there is a loaded question Andrea.  I was turned inside out because I chose to follow the “suggestion” that I write a book.  I could not stay the same person as this book became a reality.  Just being exposed to all those healing modalities alone had me looking at life, me, energy, and the universe through a fresh new perspective. I surprised myself and how readily I suspended my beliefs as I experienced the “alternatives” for physical healing, and spirituality.   Which as I mentioned before, go hand in hand.  Then there was working with the goddesses.  They had me crying, laughing, going Uh Huh every time we wrote together.  I could not hide, lie or con my way out of any soul bearing I was experiencing.  I had to be truthful to myself, about myself or I wasn’t going to be able to be authentic.  That process took much longer than it did to actually write the book. 

I also had to learn new skills, overcome my fear of computers, writing, asking for help and spending a lot of money.  I had to come to terms with rejection, fear of failure and fear of success.  It was one big schizophrenic party!  Frankly the messages from the goddesses helped me through a lot of that. They are not called goddesses of empowerment for nothing. I also leaned on my favorite healers of all kinds. When they say it takes a village… believe them.

Once the book was done, printed, boxed and on the shelf I was beaming, like a new mom.  If you go to www.healersalmanc.com or my FB page you can see the pictures of the day the books arrived. It was awesome.  Then post partum depression hit and it hit hard.  Marketing The Healers Almanac was a lot harder than creating it.  I now had to go out and sell this book; I had to sell myself as the expert.  I totally freaked out. The next phase of my healing was up for review.  Was I going to be able to do it?  I wasn’t sure because I had to heal my self-worth.  We all know how painful low self-worth is.  It’s very hard to be authentic when the most complimentary thing you can say about yourself is that you suck.  There was more soul searching and healing to do before I could get over that barrier to my success.  The most important thing I have learned in this process is that I wrote this book to heal myself first.  Whatever anyone gets out of it is icing on the cake.  This doesn’t take away the value of the book for anyone else, but it does give it more value to me as my life preserver/wake-up call.  I can’t say for sure that I’d never heal without writing this book. I believe there would be something else that would pull me out of myself. I am glad I chose to heal this way.  The book is beautiful, powerful and will help a lot of people too. 

I hope you enjoyed this interview with Patricia Shaw and that you’ll check out her book Healers Almanac, Journey into Health with Wisdom from the 21^st Century Goddesses at http://healingwithpattyshaw.com/launch-bonuses
Here’s why you’ll want to do that:
When you visit the page at the link above and request a “launch reminder”, you will automatically receive a FREE gift from Patty. The audios from her Get Healthy Stay Healthy Seminar.
These recordings are completely free
“no purchase necessary” gifts from Patty
FREE GIFTS
When you buy Patty’s book on Thursday January 5, 2012, you can ALSO receive many inspiring and uplifting gifts from authors, speakers, coaches and other enlightened professionals from the four corners of the world.
To claim your GHSH seminar (5 audios in all) and read about the free gifts, go to: http://healingwithpattyshaw.com/launch-bonuses
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 Patty tomorrow when the next stop on the Blog Tour is Callie Carling, who will be discussing with Patty how the 21^st Century Goddesses can help us. To visit that “stop” on the tour, go to http://www.positivitybubbles.com/2011/12/healers-almanac/

Guest Blogger: Lynn Serafinn, Author of The 7 Graces of Marketing: how to heal humanity and the planet by changing the way we sell

Today I have the great pleasure of being the host on Day 24 of the Virtual Blog Tour of author Lynn Serafinn whose book The 7 Graces of Marketing: how to heal humanity and the planet by changing the way we sell launched on Amazon Tuesday December 13, 2011.

Lynn Serafinn, MAED, CPCC is a certified, award-winning coach and teacher, marketer, social media expert, radio host, speaker and bestselling author. Her eclectic approach to marketing incorporates her vast professional experience in the music industry and the educational sector along with more than two decades of study and practice of the spirituality of India. In her work as a promotional manager she has produced a long list of bestselling mind-body-spirit authors. Passionate about re-establishing our connection with the Earth, she supports the work of the Transition Town network in her hometown of Bedford, England.

Yesterday, Lynn visited Geoff Laughton at www.spiritedmusings.com , where she shared her recent interview with Lynn around the subject of How do you avoid Invasion in marketing?

Today, I'd like to share with you a recent interview I had with Lynn when I got to ask her some questions around the purpose/inspiration of writing 7 Graces of Marketing. I hope you enjoy it.

-------

Andrea Hylen: How did you come up with the idea for the 7 Graces of Marketing?

Lynn Serafinn: Well, Andrea, like any good idea, I didn’t ‘come up with it’; it came to me.

One day in August 2010, I was scheduled to deliver a 90-minute workshop on ‘Spiritual Marketing’ at the One World Festival in Gloucestershire, here in the UK. At that time, I had been writing the book for about six months. I written and re-written the outline many times, and had drafted a handful of fledgling chapters, but I knew I still hadn’t really ‘landed’ the over-arching model for what I was trying to express. I sort of knew what I wanted to say intuitively, but hadn’t really managed to put it into words in such a way it was easily understandable to others, or that had much depth.

So about 20 minutes before I was due to give my talk, I sat down at my desk with pile of scribbled notes, and a blank piece of paper. I shut my eyes, and called out to the Universe, saying, ‘This is no good. What IS it?! What is the model?’

Almost immediately, I saw the number 7 and two columns. I picked up my pen, and without any conscious thought whatsoever, I drew two columns, labelled them ‘The 7 Deadly Sins’ and the ‘7 Graces’ of marketing. I numbered 1-7, and wrote down the ‘sins’ and ‘graces’ just like that. And with one exception, where I changed a word to fit the meaning more accurately, that list is exactly is it appeared on that afternoon.

When I delivered my workshop that day, it made a big impact, and several of the participants are still following my work and have bought my book. But what is more important is the fact that once I ‘received’ this paradigm, it made the structure and the message of my book much clearer not just for the audience, but for me as well. It enabled me to conduct my research, and bring depth to the topic, in such a way that I couldn’t have otherwise. The 7 Graces (and 7 Deadly Sins) proved not only to be a great way to communicate the message I wanted to convey, but a deep wellspring of reflection and a springboard for discussion. They were truly a gift from Universe.   

Andrea Hylen: Why did you start the book out by saying, "This is a book of questions, not a manual of answers?"

Lynn Serafinn: That’s a great question, Andrea, and thanks for asking it because I believe it is what changed the entire intention and feel of the book.

It took me two years to complete this book from concept to launch. During that time, I must have spent at least 18 months in sheer terror at the thought of how it would be received. I was worried people would not take my ideas seriously, because I was not a ‘trained’ marketer. My professional background is in the music industry, the educational sector, coaching and writing. My degrees are in music and adult education, and my professional certifications are in teaching and coaching. Although I have done marketing for years as a small business owner, and am now also a marketer for authors and other small business owners, I don’t have a corporate background, nor do I have a degree in business or marketing.

One day, I realised that this fear was getting in the way of my making progress with the book. I sat down and had a long chat with myself to find out where this fear was coming from. I realised it was because I had made up the story in my head that I would need to prove I had all the answers to society’s problems in this book, which of course I certainly didn’t! That belief was what was holding me back. Once I released myself from the need to know the answers, the book became about asking questions. It became about opening the dialogue with people, and co-creating solutions together. It was no longer about ‘me’ but about ‘us’ and how all of us could collaborate to make a better future.

When I finally sat down to write the introduction, I was about 80% finished with the first draft of the book. As I wrote it, it brought tears to my eyes. When that happens, I know I’ve penned something powerful—something that has the ability to reach into people’s hearts so they will feel engaged and desirous to dive more deeply into the book. And based upon the feedback I am receiving, I believe these opening words are indeed engaging my readers, making them a vital part of the journey towards the 7 Graces. Had I posed as ‘the expert’ who had all the answers, this book would not have been able to create the intention I had hoped it would.

Andrea Hylen: How do you set a deadline when you are teaching a class with a start date without triggering feelings of scarcity?

Lynn Serafinn: It’s really all in how you communicate this to your audience, Andrea. We all need starts and ends of projects. If we leave them open-ended, we won’t get any work done, and we’ll never know if we’ve succeeded in doing what we set out to do.

However, some marketers will use deadlines to induce feelings of anxiety and panic: ‘Hurry before supplies run out!’ etc. Yesterday on Amazon, on the page for my own book they wrote, ‘Only 1 left in stock. Buy now!’ This is utterly ridiculous (and a lie) because my book is print-on-demand. That means there is not such thing as ‘only 1 more in stock’ because the books are printed only when an order is placed! I’m making a point of telling my readers that Amazon’s ‘scarcity’ message is simply not true.

When we set deadlines or limits for the sake of managing our business or marketing campaign, the first key is to be truthful, factual and consistent about it. The second key is to communicate it in a simple, direct and transparent way so as not to give a false impression as to your intentions. For example, if you simply cannot take enrolments on your course past a specific date because you have to book a room or other preparation, just say so. Explain the practical reasons why in a few words. And the third thing is to give your customers lots of space in which to make their decision. If you have a deadline, don’t spring it on them all at once. They might not take action right away (it seems so many people tend to leave things to the last minute!) but at least YOU should not be rushing them. They should have heard about the deadline well in advance, so they are not in anxiety, and you are not manipulating their anxieties.

We live in a busy world. Give your customers time, space, respect, clarity and truthfulness, and you won’t be creating scarcity when you set deadlines.

Andrea Hylen: What is a simple step a business owner could do to stop competing and start collaborating?

Lynn Serafinn: Competition comes into play when we feel disconnected from Self and others. When we are in good relationship with Self, we do not feel the need to compete; we only seek to increase our personal integrity. Hence, the very first step to shift away from competition (which is the seventh of the ‘Deadly Sins’ of marketing in the book) is to work on our relationship with Self.

Once we have a good relationship with Self, we will stop comparing ourselves to others, and stop feeling protective and vulnerable when we share our ideas. Our next step will be to work on our relationship with others. When we cease seeing others as a ‘threat’ because we are full within our Selves, we can start to build co-creative relationships with them, not only in business, but in life in general.

When we have the ability to forge these kinds of relationships with people, we are laying the groundwork for true Collaboration (the seventh of the ‘7 Graces’ of marketing in the book). True Collaboration is born when collaborators have two things: 1) a common ‘stake’ (a greater purpose, vision) and 2) the firm belief that what they can create together will always be greater than the sum of its parts. If you lack either of these two elements, you are unlikely to yield the fruits of genuine Collaboration.

Thanks for these questions today, Andrea. I hope people check out the radio interview you and I did on your show ‘Heal My Voice’, where we talked about all these things in much greater detail. And if this topic sparks their interest, I also hope they check out The 7 Graces of Marketing. It’s a subject very near and dear to my heart, and my entire focus in life is in helping plant the seeds of change in business and marketing, so children in my grandson’s generation will inherit a healthier, happier, more peaceful, prosperous and sustainable world.

----------

I hope you enjoyed this interview with Lynn Serafinn and that you’ll check out her book The 7 Graces of Marketing: how to heal humanity and the planet by changing the way we sell at http://the7gracesofmarketing.com/book-launch/pages/launch.html

Here's why:

FREE GIFTS

When you purchase the book this week, you will also receive 7 free MP3s (over 10 hours of audio) from The 7 Graces of Marketing Telesummit, a dynamic online event with 24 bestselling authors and world-renowned speakers and media experts, including Dr. Joe Vitale (from The Secret) and Dr. Eric Pearl (author of The Reconnection) on society, business and marketing who came together to discuss how we can bring ethics and values back our business and marketing practices, and restore balance to our health, our economy and our natural environment.

AND

When you buy Lynn's book this week, you can ALSO receive a complete library of beautiful personal development gifts from authors, speakers, coaches and other enlightened professionals from around the globe.

To claim your FREE pass to the 7 Graces of Marketing Telesummit

and read about the free gifts, go to:

http://the7gracesofmarketing.com/book-launch/pages/launch.html

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

Thanks for following the 7 Graces of Marketing Blog Tour.  If you joined mid-way you can visit Lynn where she first stopped with Linda Joy Myers at http://www.bookbuzzr.com/blog/author-interviews/lynn-serafinn-talks-about-the-7-graces-of-marketing-for-authors/ , where they talked about 7 graces/sins and collaboration.  

Grief Transformation With Music

Grief Transformation With Music:

The Gift of a Tape Player That Led to a Health Recovery

Music has always been a powerful healer for me. Songs are linked and woven into the memories of joy, sadness, and change woven into the memories. Music and sound opens my heart to bring forth the tears or anger or other emotions of loss.

Many years ago, I was diagnosed with an automimmune condition called polymiositis. My immune system began to attack my muscles. I became weaker and weaker. I was so physically weak that walking down the street and tripping on a crack in the sidewalk would send me hurtling forward. Several times my face landed with a  smack onto the pavement. I am amazed I didn't shatter the facial bones. I also took 3 hour naps every day just to function. My daily goal was to keep my one year old daughter safe during my nap and to cook dinner.

After two years of holistic and traditional medicine, I was lying in a hospital bed suddenly unable to walk at all. I was in an isolation room because the doctors thought I had a bacterial infection and if they didn't find the source I might die. I knew in my heart and soul that I was having a reaction to a new medication that I had started taking three weeks earlier. I just had to wait for them to figure that out and for the drug to leave my body. For a week, I was allowed to have visitors but was isolated from the other patients.

One day, a friend of mine named Lucky Sweeny brought a portable tape player, headphones and a tape of Kenny Loggins singing songs from "Return to Pooh Corner" to the hospital. If you have never heard of the CD it is listed under CDs for children and adult contemporary. Some of the song titles are Rainbow Connection, Return to Pooh Corner, and a Neverland Medley.

I had never heard the music before, but as I played the tape I began to sob. Huge tears fell from my eyes and I sobbed on and off for two days. All of the layers of pain and frustration broke open in my heart. I grieved the loss of my health, the 60 lbs I had gained on prednisone, the loss of control of my life, the quality of time with my children, and the failure to heal. Through the tears, I released the gunk that was surrounding my heart I was so frustrated and discouraged. In the sobbing, I wondered what was wrong with me. Why couldn't I heal? No matter what I did, it seemed like I was getting sicker. I had fallen to my knees over and over again for two years. I thought I had surrendered and released. In my gut wrenching sobbing, I asked, "God, what else do you want me to do? What do I need to learn from this?"

I took the prescription medication and listened to the advice from the doctors. I tried a wide variety of vitamins. I had weekly acupuncture that included therapy focusing on the emotions and clues from my body. I prayed, and ate healthy food. I wrote about my emotions in a journal. I had daily rituals of affirmations and a positive focus.

People were praying for me.

It seemed like nothing was working. As I look back now, this is what I believe happened. I had been actively doing and being the inner work. I was doing exactly what I needed to do to fully experience a health crisis. And the last huge piece was to end up in the hospital and grieve. I had to let go of a picture of my life and release the vision I was trying to control. It took time to do that. It took time... The wounds were deeper and required a journey deep into my core center.

In the hospital, the music and the words of the songs on the tape pierced my heart. I opened to more love. I connected with my heart and completely surrendered. I released through tears. There were elements of forgiveness, gratitude, self-love and letting go and the willingness to let go completely.

 

At the end of two days, I experienced a light bulb flashing moment. I knew that I was going to get well and I was going to start home schooling my kids. I stopped feeling like a victim and I woke up to the power that is within me. I had taken a deep dive into the pain and had emerged with a new vision for my life.

It was one of the most powerful moments of my life. With the help of the music, I had shined a light into the core of my being. I discovered something new and I emerged to heal and live a fuller, richer, deeper life.

Day 8: No Stopping (Photography and Doodle Inspirations)

I was asking for guidance, "What is the next step with Heal My Voice?"

Here was the answer ...

Here was my inspired doodle:

Day 7: Giraffe Energy (My summer: Photography and Doodle Inspirations)

This sculpture is in someone's front yard in Toluca Lake, CA.

Giraffe Energy: Balancing speech with silence, open to the bigger picture, stay connected to the earth, open your 3rd eye for wisdom, increase your perspective by looking in all directions.

A closer picture...

The inspired Doodle:

Day 6: Dragon Energy (Photography and Doodle Inspiration)

Day 6 of a Photography and Doodle exercise to explore creativity and self-expression.

On Riverside Drive, there is a magnificent dragon scultpture in a courtyard surrounded by offices. The dragon totem is described as a powerful guardian and guide and supports the Power of Change and Transformation

Here is a closer picture...

Doodling the dragon and water and fire...

Day 5: Roots...(Photography and Doodle-Inspired Self-Expression)

I love the trees on Riverside Drive in Toluca Lake, CA. I am fascinated by the depth and twisting and turning of the roots. They remind me to connect to the Earth and stay grounded.

The Doodle and the words I feel in the roots of this magnificent tree.:

Day 4: Clouds (An August Break with Photography and Doodling)

When I walk the mile to Priscilla's coffee shop once or twice a day, I have developed a meditative practice.

I walk along the street opening and closing my eyes. Eyes closed for 5-10 steps connecting to my heart and breathing and feeling the impact of my feet on the pavement. 

When I open my eyes, I listen to my heart and I look to a place where I feel guided to look. I observe nature, the sidewalk, the skyline. I might stop and touch the leaves of a tree or stop to observe bees and butterflies pollinating a group of flowers. I notice a red flower growing in the midst of yellow and white petunias.

I notice things. I look into the eyes of the people I pass on the street. Words pop off a sign. U Love. The world has an aliveness that could have been missed by swiftly walking and thinking about what I will do when I get to the coffeeshop or when I get home.

A view of the skyline:

Doodling late last night. The words Freedom and Rich came to me. Combining all of the parts of life as I open to the inspiration on my walk.

Day 3: Butterflies (Inspired by Photography and Doodling)

Butterflies...seems to be the theme of the last 24 hours. From Jason Mraz singing the song Butterfly to finding a butterfly on this bush of flowers to a Virtual Tour of Oregon with the Yellow Swallowtail on Facebook Page Live a Life Worth Celebrating.

Below are two photographs and the doodle.

Here's the bush:

The Butterfly:

The Doodle: Freedom to Fly and Transform

Day 2: Photography and Doodle: There's a Wishbone in my Tree

Outside the window of my apartment, there is a wishbone shape in the tree. The first time I saw it was a month after I moved in. This was a year ago. I was talking on the phone with my friend, Sherryl Frauenglass. All of a sudden I stopped and I said, "There is a wishbone in my tree!"


Look at the picture...do you see the wishbone?

How about now? Do you see it?

 Look closer...Now...make a wish!

 My Doodle: Make a Wish!

Day 1 Photography and Doodle-Trader Joe's is an Event

Two or three times per week, I walk about a mile to Trader Joe's. I purchase whatever I can carry in two cloth bags or I swing by for samples. The samples make this an event.

On the way into the store, select a shopping basket, not a cart.

Make a beeline to the far corner in the back and get a free sample of coffee.

Check out the sample.

Walk around the store, shopping and drinking coffee.

Find a new food and read the label for possible future.

Grocery shopping is an Event!

Trader Joe's is an Event!

Doodled the Adventure of Trader Joe's

Heal My Voice: Inspired by Photography and Doodling

Heal My Voice launched the first official project at a women gathering in Baltimore/DC in May 2011.

In June, twenty-one women said, yes, to a nine month project of writing, speaking and leadership growth. We spent the first month listening for the story that wants to emerge.

Doodle from your heart.

 In July, we added Doodling, inspired by the colorful, creative, Melissa McClain. (We were focused on Discovering the story.) You can find Melissa on Facebook to learn more about the Doodling Challenge every month.  http://www.facebook.com/melissaAnneColors .

In August, I am going to combine the Doodling with Photography. This month in Heal My Voice we are Exploring the story. The other night, I was weaving around Facebook and found something called the August Break 2011 on Amy Miyamoto's page. (http://www.facebook.com/AmyMiyamotoPage)

Amy wrote a blog about how she was joining a "No rules. No pressure. August Break from regular blogging."  The idea was created by Susannah Conway. (Link to her blog: http://www.susannahconway.com/the-august-break-2011/)

Words from Susannah's blog:

"Okay, here’s the plan for the August Break: you simply share one photo (or more!) per day on your blog – Monday to Friday, or every day. Or whenever you feel moved to share. Using any camera – DSLR, compact, Polaroid, Holga, iPhone (my choice), Instax, film or digital – with or without words – anything goes! – for the whole of August. No pressure – just looking at August through your camera lens as a way to be more present this summer. And to have a little break from the pressures and expectations of regular blogging.

There are NO RULES, people! Just sunshine (hopefully) and a bit of fun. And lots of lovely photos to look at."

So, I am totally inspired by the combination of the two. As I walk around Toluca Lake, CA every day, I am always inspired by words, nature, people and more. I am thinking about Doodling the Photograph of the Day.

Join me for some creative expansion during the month of August. Or anytime... Post your doodles on Facebook: Heal My Voice Page or Jonas Watch Page.

Heal My Voice: The birth of a non-profit organization

Heal My Voice emerged out of a book project with Evolutionary Women in 2008. The book, "Conscious Choices: An Evolutionary Woman's Guide to Life" was a compilation of the voices of 44 women who wrote a personal story about their lives.

 

 

Creating the non-profit organization, Heal My Voice was the next step. It was created as a way to collaborate with women in organizations to heal a story in their lives while building a strong community around the project. Heal My Voice is the space holder for collaborative containers  of creativity, support, healing, and sharing leadership.

"A woman’s voice is the seat of her power and her compassion. A woman’s word can heal or destroy; it can be a balm and a ballast, or it can be a source of divisiveness and destruction. A woman’s voice is the seat of her power not only to choose her own destiny but also to manifest it. A woman’s voice is a woman’s choice." -Yogi Bhajan...

As each woman heals a story in her life, she can take the next step into leadership in her family, community and the world. We are committed to creating tribes of leaders who can all fully express who they are and their unique gifts.

Our mission is to: Empower women and girls to heal grief, loss, and trauma, and reclaim their inner authority, so they can develop and use their leadership skills in their homes, communities, and the world, by developing collaborative projects that encourage leadership, community building, and the reclaiming of each woman's voice.

 

 

Join us in our mission to help each woman discover her voice.

For more information, go to http://www.healmyvoice.org/