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Graphic of my Sales Funnel

Hello to my New BEST Friends!

Are you looking to make THIRTEEN FIGURES this year??? 

How much IS that?  1,000,000,000,000!!!!!!!!!!

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You can earn it working part-time while you lounge by the pool and drink Margaritas!!  With your new and expanded income, you can build your own pool, hire the staff to clean it AND have them serve you on a silver platter.

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You know you want it!!!!!

You know you need it!!!!!

And I have THE offer for you!!!!!

It’s best thing since beer in a can!!!!!

It’s the best thing since sliced bread!!!!!

It’s all that and a bag of chips!!!

And, you’ll lose weight too!!!!!

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They said, “Build it and they will come.”

I built it and here you are! I opened my arms wide and created one big sales funnel.

Sign up now and I GUARANTEE your dreams will come true.  You will generate income streams in your sleep.  It’s so easy a baby could do it.  Money will pour in while you watch cat videos on Facebook!

BUY NOW!!!!

So what is it and how does it work?

IN 90 DAYS YOU WILL BECOME A BILLIONAIRE!!

Sign up here for my new video series:  1,000,000,000 in TEN WEEKS.

Lesson One:  Connect with Elves, Fairies and Pixes while avoiding Gnomes

Just pay me $25,000 first.

Lesson Two:  Finding Your One True Unicorn

Pay me another $25,000 before watching and learn how I found mine.

Lesson Three:  Dancing Under the Rainbow Tree

You guessed it!  $25,000 and you can watch this incredible five minute video.

Lesson Four:  Taking it to the Bank

Final payment of $25,000 so I can take it to the bank too  – because we are sharing the

LOVE!

Of course, you’ll want to STAY CONNECTED to your spirit so I

GUARANTEE that you will feel 50% more connected to

Your Favorite Source of Divine Energy!

After each video, you will have a chance to TALK TO ME LIVE!

Ask questions about my no-fail method of getting rich and gaining enlightenment without landing in hot water with the IRS.

Fortune tellers will also be on hand to answer your questions.

Sign up soon because this special offer WON’T LAST LONG!!!!

YOU BETTER BUY NOW!!!!!

Guaranteed or your money back (penalties and interest, fees and surcharges apply with restrictions).

Testimonial from Satisfied Customer:

OMG!  Loran is my new BFF!

My life hasn’t been the same since I took Loran’s new ecourse 1,000,000,000 in TEN WEEKS. It literally changed my life!! Before, I used to work 75 hrs a week earning barely enough to make ends meet – I despaired that I would ever make anything of my life. I felt so disconnected from my true calling, like my soul was being slowly sucked out of me. But then I found Loran. Now I ride my unicorn to work, buy designer shoes and fly first class around the world. I only work 2 hrs a day and spend the rest of of my time working on my tan.

And I owe it all to Loran’s ecourse. I love you Loran!!

OK, so you know I’m kidding, right? 

Writing a sales page is a challenge, especially taking what “everybody” says into account.  I just had to vent a little.  I’m tired of reading sales pages like this that make it sound so easy to get what you want by paying some guru to give it to you.  The truth is it’s time-consuming and hard work.

If you’d like to see my real sales page, then skip on over to The Seeker’s Journey!

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Assisi, Italy
Canon EOS REBEL T2i

A leaf fluttered in through the window this morning, as if supported by the rays of the sun, a bird settled on the fire escape, joy in the task of coffee, joy accompanied me as I walked. Anais Nin

 
 
Over the past month, I’ve been putting together interviews with fascinating women as a part of the launch for my new e-course, The Seeker’s Journey.  Although I ask similar questions of each person, the answers are as varied as the stars in the universe.

It has been a joy for me to become acquainted with Cigdem Kobu.  We met in her joint venture e-course, Reset. Revive. Restart., in December 2012.  What  a great way to start the new year!

Here is a written version of our live interview:

Loran:  Do you consider yourself to be a seeker and what have you searched for?

Cigdem:  Yes, I do consider myself a seeker.  I think we all are, whether we are aware of it or not.  Like so many people, what I search for mainly is meaning and joy.  In the end, we all search for meaning and joy in different ways.  My search for meaning has absolutely been through creativity, through meaningful creativity for myself and for others, to bring others joy.

Loran:  How have you grown spiritually over the years?  Did you start in one spiritual tradition and then move into another?

Cigdem:  I don’t follow any religion.  I was born in Istanbul, Turkey and I grew up in a culture where people were Muslims, but I never felt an inclination towards the more “organized religions.”  I believe we all have that spark that we call the One, God, or Goddess, or the Creator.  We all have the same spark.  If we just look deeper into ourselves, when we have some profound quiet and tranquility, we can look and find that spark.

Today I also feel drawn to the Buddhist message and wisdom.  If I would one day decide to say that I’m following a more traditional religion, I would say it would be Zen Buddhism.

Loran:  I like to call it Source these days and that name has changed a lot over the years.  I think we have a source of strength within us that is sometimes difficult to get in touch with but it’s very important to be able to stay calm and find that place within.

Tell me a little bit about one of your most challenging times and what you did to cope.

Cigdem:  One of the most challenging times in my life was the sudden death of my dad.  I still can’t say that I have totally been able to deal with it.  I don’t even allow myself to remember the exact date.  A part of me keeps pushing it away.  I think the suddenness of his death was the thing that affected me the most.

He was away for the weekend with my mom and with my son.  We were in Istanbul at the time.  We lived in the city and they had gone to the summer place.  On the way back, they were going to drop by my place.  I had prepared some afternoon tea and some muffins while I was waiting for them.  My mom called me from the hospital and said he was gone.

While he was driving, he had had a heart attack.  Somehow he was able to pull the car to the side of the road; they were on the Golden Horn Bridge but he pulled to the side of the road, took one last breath and passed away suddenly.  If he hadn’t been able to do that I could have lost them all.  And, also there was the shock, the fact that I wasn’t able to say goodbye, sorry or thank you.  All those things you want to say to a person.

Loran:  It’s always good to say that when you have the chance.  The first time I said, “I love you” to my dad, there was a long silence and then he said, “Thank you.”  It was difficult at first but now we are more comfortable saying it to each other.

Cigdem:  It’s such a simple thing to say thank you, I love you and yet it’s so difficult for us.  It’s a practice.  I hope people do not have those sad reminders like I have.

For a while, there was a cloud over me, making me think, “You are going to lose everyone and everything someday, then why the struggle?  What does it matter? “ There was a time that my heart was heavy and I lost me.

Loran:  What did you do to cope then?  What have you learned since then?

Cigdem:  I learned to go deeper into myself and start questioning.   I had this quote from Shakespeare in my wallet. It’s part of a sonnet:

This thought is as a death which cannot choose
But weep to have that which it fears to lose.

What I did was meditate more in those days, I looked deeper into myself and took long walks.  I looked more into creativity and art.  Creativity and art have a healing power.  The more you give birth to new ideas, new things, the more you kind of realize that life is not just about loss and death.  By giving birth to your creativity, you, in a way, defy death and loss.

So I can say that what helped me in those days was first doing more meditation and then doing more creativity, putting my creative self into action.

Loran:  That’s good that you were able to transform your grief into something that was much more positive, something that helped you through a difficult time.

CIgdem:  One other thing, I think you would agree to it, was journaling!

Loran: It does help.  It does heal. It helps to write it out.

So, on the flip side, what do you like to do for fun?

Cigdem:  The one thing I like to do is spend a lot of time with my husband.  That’s the thing I love the most.  I am having my second marriage.  We used to know each other when we were very young, I was 20 and he was 23.  We lost contact for a very long time, 18, 19 years.  Then, in 2007, we found each other again, in 2009 we got married, then in 2010 I moved to the states.   We are trying to make up for all those years.  The best and most fun thing I love doing. We take long walks, there’s a nearby trail, nature trail near us, we love to discover new districts, especially new districts, and new Japanese restaurants.

And one thing I love to do is play with fabric and yarn.  One thing that will always cheer me up is playing with colorful pieces of fabric and putting them together for quilting ideas.  It always brings joy.

Loran:  Thank you so much for taking time to talk with me.  I’m looking forward to continuing our new friendship.

CIGDEM KOBU is an idea hatcher, business strategist, and connection catalyst. She teaches in plain English how to build a sustainable business online and works with introverted women solopreneurs who want to create and thrive without overwhelm. Cigdem is also the founder of The Progress Lounge, a peaceful business sisterhood for women who want to grow their online businesses in a no-hype environment where they find everything they need in one place. Visit Cigdem at the Creative Solopreneur and say hello!

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Gate at Versailles
Canon EOS REBEL T2i

From across a crowded Twitter room, somehow, I discovered Susan Alexander.  Lawyer turned blogger, and app4mind creator, Susan posted something that caught my attention and we’ve had an ongoing dialogue ever since.  Whenever Susan writes, I’m challenged to think.  She’s “come to excel at taking huge amounts of information, extracting what’s useful, and distilling it to its essence so it’s graspable and actionable.”

Susan and I are both fascinated by how people change.  After analyzing her About app4mind page, I discovered that we use and understand the same change cycle  The only difference is that we begin in different places within the cycle.  She starts with thoughts and I start with feelings but we both know how to implement change with action and tracking. We also enjoy our ongoing dialogue as geeky neuroscience nerds!

Ever intrigued with both reason and spirituality, I’ve begun a series of interviews asking people questions about how their spiritual practices have evolved over time, what they do to cope during challenging times and what they like to do for fun. If you are interested in the interviews and my upcoming e-course, The Seeker’s Journey, use the opt-in form in the sidebar to subscribe to the newsletter.  You’ll stay updated and gain access to exclusive information.

Susan graciously agreed to take time out from her busy schedule to answer my questions about how she incorporates spirituality into her life.

1.  How have you changed spiritually over the years?  Did you grow up in a traditional religion and move away from it over time?  How did you evolve?

I was raised Episcopalian.  My family went to church most Sundays, we celebrated Christian holidays, and my brothers and I were confirmed.  Even as a very young child, I remember being in church and wondering how anyone really knew the stuff of what was being taught.  That’s just it, I think – they felt and believed that they knew.  I didn’t feel or believe this knowledge.  But I continued on into adulthood considering myself as Christian.  Until I stumbled across this summary of the Agnostic belief, which is this: “Nothing can be known about God.”  Reading those words very closely, I realized they stand for exactly what I believe – that nothing can be known about God as far as I’m concerned.  As for other people, it’s for them to find their own beliefs.  As I see it, many of the problems in history (and in the world today), including some of the greatest cruelties and travesties, are grounded in people believing that others should believe what they believe. Peace, then, comes from finding ways for people, groups, societies, and nations to coexist, notwithstanding varied beliefs.

2.  Do you have a favorite spiritual practice and what is it?

The most powerful thing I’ve ever come across is mindlessness, as taught by Eckhart Tolle.  I wrote about it here: http://app4mind.com/level-2-thinking/  In a nutshell, Tolle tells us to observe our own thoughts without judging them. In between our thoughts, there’s a gap of no thought.  Through practice, we can get our minds into those gaps and extend them, so we’re in a place of no thought (mindlessness).  It’s in those gaps that we can find a sense of peace, as well as what Tolle calls “the real you.”  In other words, the thoughts that run through our minds are not “the real you.”  They’re mere mind chatter, which, left unchecked, can lead to unhappiness and inner torment.  Learning to “mind the gap” – so to speak, is the way out of that.

3.  What is your favorite coping technique when you are experiencing a challenging life event?

Mindlessness, as explained above.  I think of it as “minding the gap.”  I just went through a very challenging life event (the death of my father, and spending a lot of time with stressed, distraught family members).  I worked really hard on minding the gap through the whole thing.  It kept me from experiencing things as others were experiencing them.  It also kept me from getting mired in thoughts of the past and the troubling thoughts relating to the present.  I just stayed in the gap the whole time.  It took some effort.  A real conscious effort.  Some might see it as repression.  Some might think it’s all going to come back to me someday, because I essentially ignored it then.  The point is, no one really knows what’s going to happen.  As far as I can tell, a lot has come from managing myself the way I did. I’m functioning really well now, and I feel peaceful.

4.  What do you like to do for fun?

My favorite thing is spending time with my daughter, who is 14.  We love to hang out together at home and around town, in New York, where we live. We also love traveling together.  A favorite place of ours is Martha’s Vineyard, where we go in August when she’s back from sleep away camp.  I also love road cycling.  I started about 6 years ago.  Much has come of it, including traveling with my bike to some places I’ve never been before – like the French Pyrenees.  I blogged about it here: http://app4mind.com/madame-its-just-not-that-complicated/

As you can see, Susan is a fascinating woman.  It’s been my pleasure to have met her online and I look forward to continuing our geeky discussions about the way our minds work.

Susan Alexander is a mother, New Yorker, lawyer, blogger, and the creator of app4Mind, a “mind app” you can use to enable personal change in your life.

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Winged Victory of Samothrace, Louvre
Canon EOS REBEL T2i

Oh soul, you worry too much.

You have seen your own strength.

You have seen your own beauty.

You have seen your golden wings.

Of anything less, why do you worry?

You are in truth the soul, of the soul, of the soul.

~Rumi

I worry.  I research.  I write like a grad student.  I read my writing with dismay.  I rewrite.

I wonder, what is it you want to know?  How old is the statue?  Where she was found?

Or, do you want to know how I feel about Winged Victory?

I’ve loved her always.

My heart leapt when I saw her at the top of the stairs in the Louvre.

I sat with her, soaking in her majesty, her power, her strength and golden wings.

I wonder, why is it so hard to recognize my own beauty?  I see it but I don’t feel it.

I know I am the soul, of the soul, of the soul, but I forget.  I know you forget too.

We are the cosmos, the earth, the sky, deep blue and clear.

Winged Victory.

Spirit soaring.

Triumphant.

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Assisi at sunset, February 2013
Canon EOS REBEL T2i

I am in the Land of Agonizing Almost.

I launched my last two products over a year ago to the sound of chirping crickets. I stepped back and started to study more about online business. I signed up for classes, read blog posts, participated in projects and socialized in media.

Then it was the holidays.

Then there was a European adventure.

Louvre reflected
Canon EOS REBEL T2i

I came home ready to roll with an idea that had been percolating for months.  I started creating my first e-course.  I made the commitment to do it.  I contacted people to help me and they did.

I am IN it now – knee deep and freaking out.

• I don’t have the tech skills.
• There’s not enough time to finish.
  
• I don’t have the numbers.
• Nobody will buy it.

Scared and unsure, these voices were my Younger Selves speaking.   My Adult Self had a talk with them the other night; “You might be small, but your efforts are BIG.”

Repeatedly I hear,  “Think big, dream big, follow your heart and you’ll make six figures!”  Really?

I have been following my heart but the adoring crowds and mega-bucks haven’t arrived yet.  I’m not saying that I haven’t met wonderful people, because I have.  Making friends on the Internet is the best part about all of this. I love that my new friends live around the world and we can connect in real time.  But, we are like-minded entrepreneurs and likely to produce similar things but not necessarily buy them.

Castle Cove
Canon EOS REBEL T2i

So, plunging in and plugging along in my far-away mountain home, I’m spending a lot of time working on stuff and trying to figure it all out. I made the commitment and I can’t give up now.  I’m almost done but not yet.

Giving up or quitting is not an option right now.  I couldn’t live with myself if I did.  What I do know is that most people who are successful right now started in this place of uncertainty, confusion and frustration.

Where’s my Voice?

My Voice is deep inside me.  It’s been slowly emerging over time since I was a child and could not speak my Truth.  There was a time I raged about my Truth but that was not from a state of clarity.  I am actually old enough now to voice the Truth that I could not speak then.

I have learned from all of my experiences – all 60 years of my experience!

Who am I trying to reach?

The ones who are where I used to be, who need to hear, “It will be ok.  You’ll figure it out.  It will get easier.  You can do it.”  Those were the things I wish someone had told me when I was struggling.  It’s what I say to myself when I struggle.

What am I transmitting?

That which is difficult to name ~ the heart of the matter, the winged spirit, the deep waves of the ocean, the song of the meadowlark.  I connect to Nature, I ground in the earth, and hear the moon’s song. It’s the sacred realm and oh so very nebulous.  Even though I can’t carry a tune in a bucket…..

 I sing in Harmony with it all.

Would you like to sing along?

*Thanks to Larah Leigh Ritchie for her guidance to the Land of the Agonizing Almost.

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Ventura, California
Canon EOS DIGITAL REBEL XTi

When you’ve seen beyond yourself then you may find

Peace of mind is waiting there

And the time will come

When you see

We’re all one and

Life flows on within you and without you

~George Harrison

Since writing my post last week on the portals of aging, I’ve been in a quantum physics state of mind.

I am fascinated by light.  Light is a particle.  Light is a wave.  This incredible aspect of light is referred to as wave-particle duality.  The behavior of light depends on the observer. The observer changes reality.

We filter our own reality through our senses and mental perceptions.  We can change our reality through observation.

Even more astonishing is the notion of quantum nonlocality, the idea that the same particle can exist in two locations at once. If this is true, it allows for faster-than-light communication!

Each of us is a drop of water in the vast ocean.

We are the drop.

We are the ocean.

Evaluating Memories and Moving Forward

Memories are portals, gates or doors that lead towards understanding.  Each stage of development teaches us something if we pay attention to the lessons; but, our memories are affected by who we are and who we have become.

A maiden is (hopefully) innocent about the world.  What do you recall about being a child?  What stories do you cherish from your maidenhood? Were you innocent or robbed of your innocence?  What aspects of your childhood do you carry with you?

Mother does not necessarily imply that you bear children.  We are capable of creating all kinds of projects.  What projects have you created as an adult that you love?  Is there anyone you have “mothered?”

The Queen stands in her own power when she cares less about what other people think.  Her wings unfurl.  She feels increasing communion with Spirit.  If you have reached this stage of life, do you feel your strength emerging?  If you haven’t reached this stage, how do you see yourself growing into it?  What do you imagine for yourself as you age?

I have great role models for aging. My grandmother told me she loved being 80. She could say or do whatever she wanted and nobody said a word about it because she was 80.

My mother created and published her own book, The Art of Joyful Aging.  It is filled with her paintings and quotes from friends and family about getting older.  She started painting when she was in her 50’s after my sister and I left home.  She said that she felt like she had so much less time to waste than the younger students and was, therefore, much more motivated to paint.

I feel the constraint of time too.  How will I spend the time that remains?  It’s a question many baby boomers are asking themselves.

Acceptance leads to Presence

At any stage of growth, acceptance is the key.  Learning to accept the present as it is, ourselves as we are and the people around us as they are gives us a great freedom.  It increases our emotional health and spiritual progress.  If we are not fighting with ourselves internally, criticizing others, or wishing for something else, we remain in the present.

Presence in the moment creates a feeling of expansiveness.  That expansive feeling can also generate fear.  Do you know that love and fear cannot occupy the same space?  Do you love yourself as you are?  Do you treat yourself with compassion? I know how difficult it is to do.

Perhaps using quantum mechanics to explain the portals of aging is ridiculous.  Maybe not, but what I do know is that what used to seem impossible isn’t any more.  When I was a kid, I loved watching the Jetsons.  They could see each other on the telephone! It didn’t seem possible then but now we have Skype!

We are all in this together.  I need guides to help me with my wounds and scars and I am a guide too.  I can remember being young and confused and simultaneously I am older.  Am I a wave or a particle?  Sometimes I go with the flow.  Sometimes I get stuck.

I am sitting at my desk.  I appear on your screen.  When I write, I feel the ink flow on to the paper.  When I type, I feel the keyboard under my fingertips.  When you read my post, my thoughts appear in your mind.  It’s all incredible and miraculous!

I seek to understand the truth and the nature of reality.

What are you seeking?

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My first self-portrait, January 2011

Recently I was asked to write both about my experience of being in my fifties and my menopausal experiences.  It’s difficult for me to write in my authentic voice about this.  My first reaction is to start doing research and then educate you, my dear reader.  If I approach the question academically, then it removes me one step from my feelings.  If I think about it, I don’t feel it; however, most of these experiences are visceral, not cerebral.

Looking back two years at my first self-portrait, you can see how shy I was then, how inhibited I was about sharing myself, how uncomfortable I was in front of the camera.  I’m different now.

I am standing on the boundary of a new territory. Turning 60 in April feels like a threshold event.  I used to think that 60 was REALLY old but I don’t feel as old as I thought I would.  I feel like me only wiser, more purposeful, less angst-ridden.  I know who I am.

I’ve experienced many Steppingstones* on the spiral journey of my life.

First portal:  Maiden

The feelings I’ve had throughout my journey as a woman are as complex and varied as the stars.  I didn’t get my period until I was nearly 15.  I was so worried that something was wrong with me.  I wanted to be like the other girls.  I wanted to know what they were talking about.

As a Maiden, I had romantic and foolish notions about becoming a W-O-M-A-N!  Once I started my period, I was repulsed by the mess and the (omg) thick, uncomfortable pads and (OMG!) belts and buckles.  I was worried about the smell and the “accidents” and bleeding all over my sheets at night.

When I turned 30, I started getting terrible pre-menstrual symptoms.  I went to see my doctor because I didn’t know why I was having extreme mood swings with such terrible irritability.  HE informed me that PMS “is a disease we have been treating for 10 years.”  I never went back to see him.  I was offended that he referred to being born female as a disease.

I was at my physical peak in my early 30′s.  I trained in martial arts for five years, could run an 8 minute mile and lifted weights in the gym with the college football players.  I feel sad to remember that I still thought I was fat when I was at my most lean and fit, but body dysmorphia is a topic for another day.

Second portal:  Mother

I am in awe of the sacred blood of women, the life-affirming blood we possess.  We bleed without dying.  We can create new life and become a Mother.  I’m happy that mothers are beginning to teach teach their daughters to celebrate their menses and are creating special rituals for them. **

In deference to all the women who struggle with fertility issues, I hope this passage is not too painful to read.  I almost want to apologize for the ease with which I was able to get pregnant.  For years I tried not to get pregnant but when I felt ready to have children, it didn’t take long. I was 35 when I had my first daughter and 38 when I had my second.  At that time I didn’t know I was tempting the gods by waiting for so long.  I was fortunate that conception wasn’t a problem and for that, I am truly grateful.

I loved breastfeeding.  I was amazed that my body could nourish my child.  What a miracle.  And yet, It’s nothing less, and  nothing more than planting a seed, growing a tree and harvesting its fruit.  The essence of life as we know it is in the nature of our existence.

I loved my 40’s.  I was a mother of young children who worked, exercised and maintained a garden.  I had so much energy.  When my children were 4 and 6, I quit working and stayed home.  Motherhood was all-consuming.  I took them to dance classes and piano lessons, and became their Girl Scout leader.  We did a lot of fun things together as a family, too.

Third portal:  Crone?  Not yet!

My daughters began going through puberty about the same time I began having menopausal symptoms.  My first hot flash occurred on my oldest daughter’s 15^th birthday.  The girls experienced puberty going forward, confused by their changing bodies.  I felt like I was going through puberty backwards and was equally confused by my changing body.

These physical changes are life altering.  The body is in charge.  No amount of wishing makes it any other way.

Oh, the mood swings worsened as I lurched through my cycles and became irregular.  Night sweats caused insomnia.  I woke up at 2 a.m. nightly for months. And then, the weird stuff I never heard about began – sensitivity to smells, motion sickness when never before, and lactose intolerance.  Simultaneously, weird stuff I had heard of before appeared – the loss of libido, dry and wrinkling skin, chin hairs, and age spots.

After a year of not sleeping, I caved and tried Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT).  It turned out to be heavenly.  Suddenly I had a life without hormonal mood swings.  My depression dissipated.  I stopped taking the pills after five years because of the health risks, but it sure was a sweet ride while it lasted.

There was a pivotal moment one night in my early 50’s.  My husband and my oldest daughter were working and my youngest was away on a cross-country team trip.  I was Home Alone in the evening for the first time in eons.  I realized that soon both girls would be driving, branching out and moving away as children will do.  For over thirteen years I stayed at home with them.  My life revolved around them.  I thought, “If I don’t do something before they are gone from the house, I will go nuts with an empty nest.”

I kept my eye on the want ads and one day I applied for a part-time job.  Next thing I knew, I was working again.  With dismay, I realized that both girls were still at home and I had twice as much to do.  They still needed me. I had forgotten what it was like to try and juggle everything.

On the job, being older was a perk.  I had experience that I could share with my younger co-workers.  I didn’t “sweat” my peculiar boss because I was old enough to be his mother.  He just didn’t intimidate me.  I had skills and education that helped me build an awesome program from scratch.

A lot of friends told me it was “all downhill after 50,” but my physical downhill hit at 55 in Kathmandu, Nepal. I was in a hotel bathroom, looking down at my thighs and appalled that they had turned into cottage cheese.  I thought rather innocently that, “I must be retaining water from the airplane trip.”  Not.  We went from Nepal to Bhutan where there is no flat land anywhere, except for the airport runway in Paro.  My knees were killing me by the end of the trip.  My knees and legs will never be the same.

I worked in that position for four years before I stopped wanting to work for someone else.  I discovered that when the ovaries quit producing estrogen so does the overwhelming urge to take care of other people, animals and plants.  I had no clue until I read The Wisdom of Menopause by Christiane Northrup.   She explained that when the hormones disappear, so does the desire to meet everyone else’s needs.  I found this rather shocking and I believe it’s been an unpleasant shift for my family as well.

The new third portal:  Queen

Thanks to Donna Henes***, I know now that I’ve entered into the stage between Mother and Crone.   Because of improved nutrition and medical care, women are living longer. This is a significant time of transition for many women.  I, too, am becoming the Queen of Myself.  I’m not yet a grandmother nor am I elderly.

Eighteen months ago, I quit my job and I started my own business. I brought all of my skills and experiences together when I finally figured out what I wanted to be when I grew up!

“Ridiculous is the new remarkable.” ~Seth Godin

Photo by Kylie Bellard

To be continued……

*Steppingstones are defined by Ira Progroff, in At a Journal Workshop, as a process for working in the Life/Time Dimension.  “The Steppinstones are the significant points of movement along the road of an individual’s life.”

**Mindful Menstruation  and Moon Mothers -  Jo MacDonald

***The Queen of Myself by Donna Henes

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iPhone image, edited with HDR

“Heroes take journeys, confront dragons, and discover the treasure of their true selves.”

 ~Carol Lynn Pearson

In many fairy tales, there is a hero who quests to find hidden treasure.  The treasure is secret or buried.  There are riddles to be solved.  Glittering gemstones wait to be discovered.  Along the way challenges appear in the form of demons, monsters, tricksters, dark swamps or enchanted forests.  In the end, the hero finds the treasure and lives happily ever after.

Are you aware that you are in the middle of your own personal fairy tale or myth?  What kind of story are you writing today?

Are you on a quest?  Are you searching for material wealth or political power?  (If you’ve read this far, probably not.)

Or, are you seeking happiness, satisfaction, and inner peace?  Happiness is a skill you can develop.  If you cultivate gratitude, compassion and love, you will improve the quality of your life.  Is that not a treasure worth seeking?

Treasure is sometimes lost or forgotten.  Spiritual treasures are ephemeral and a little bit hard to find.  You will have to do some digging.

On my new coaching page, I offer Treasure Map sessions.  The idea of creating a Treasure Map arose from my own quest to find my inner gems.  I’ve been lost in dark forests, mired in dank swamps, and battled demons but I’ve never given up the ever-gleaming notion that I could become more content.

Sadly, the motivation to quest usually arises out of great pain.  If everything is all sunshine and roses, there isn’t the need to work on personal issues.  When clouds darken the sky, lightening flashes, thunder explodes and we are cowering in fear or dismay, then the motivation to change increases.

I’d like to share a nugget of wisdom with you.  A question arose in my private Illuminating Spiritual Practice Facebook group.  (Message me if you’d like to join in the discussion!)

“How does a journaling practice move you forward, instead of reading things written a year ago only to find that much hasn’t changed?”

First of all, it’s wonderful to have written material that is now available to analyze!  Are you sure not that much has changed?  Write a list of things you know have changed – even if it’s only your age, your weight or the weather.  What have you learned?  What have you created?  Is there someone new and significant in your life?  Is there a relationship that no longer exists?

Then, write down what seems to be the same.  What, specifically, hasn’t changed?  A behavior?  A relationship?  Analyze it.  What kind of changes do you want to make?  What would you do differently? What would be different if you had made changes?   Can you imagine an alternative behavior or response? What prevents you from changing – fear?  Habit?  Lack of awareness?

“A miracle is a shift in perspective.” ~ from A Course In Miracles

Write about your life in the third person.  Instead of “I haven’t changed in the past year,” try beginning with, “It’s been a year and she hasn’t changed.”  What did she do or not do in the last year?

A change in perspective will help you to see things in a new light.  Be sure to view yourself with compassion and understanding for where you are in your life right now.  “She wondered what it would be like to treasure herself, her story, her life.”  Would you tell a friend who was struggling, “Suck it up and get your act together?”  Why would you speak to yourself that way?

The jewels of inner wisdom appear when you begin the search.  The quest for spiritual meaning is vital to developing happiness and peace of mind.  Are you ready and willing to seek the treasure?

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Park Bench in Spokane, Washington
Canon EOS REBEL T2i

It’s been my great pleasure to meet and work with Tanja Gardner.  She lives in one of my favorite countries, New Zealand, spells like she’s British and has spectacular editing skills.  She helped turn my Transformation Journey from an incoherent mess into something that not only made sense, but actually had value!  For this I will always be indebted to her.  (I was her first paying customer and have Invoice #1 to prove it!)

I became curious about how she managed to hone her skills and asked her these questions.  I hope you enjoy our interview.

First of all, I can’t help asking how you learned to be such a great copywriter?  Did you learn it in school or through experience in a job? 

*Blush* – thank you!  What a lovely question to start the interview off with!

The answer is probably “A little of both.”  Because I’ve always loved writing, I’ve looked for opportunities to practise it on-the-job.  So when I had had office jobs, I’d constantly offer to help co-workers out with their writing tasks: reports, business letters,  policies, etc.  That meant my writing gradually improved with all the practice.

Then I snagged a job as a staff copywriter, and my writing improved even faster!

But my biggest leap forward happened when I took a semester-long course in Writing for the Web.  Up until that point, I could spot the difference between clear, writing and… well, waffle.  But I couldn’t have told you why one paragraph was easy to read and another wasn’t.

That course taught me that there were specific techniques I could use to create crystal clear copy.  And it’s those techniques I’ve based my writing business – Crystal Clarity Copywriting – upon.

Have you always loved writing?  What about editing? 

Always!  And in some ways, I actually like editing better than writing.

You see, writing requires me to be in a writing mindstate. I need think creatively and expansively: and like most people,  I have good days and bad days for that.  Some days I feel wildly inspired, while on others, my muse seems to go completely MIA.

That’s part of why I created my free (at least, free until January) Create Your Own Writing Ritual e-course.  I needed it myself for the days I where I have to write but I just can’t get myself into that writing mindstate.

Editing though? That uses a different part of my brain.  I find I can edit regardless of the frame of mind I’m in. And of course, it’s often easier to edit and polish something that already exists, rather than try to create something out of nothing.

Still, it’s probably not an either-or situation.  I love writing and editing both – they just feed different parts of my soul.

What do you love most about writing? 

My brain is incredibly language-based.  I actually have difficulty remembering what someone looks like when I first meet them unless they have distinctive features I can “trap in language.”

So for me, the biggest thrill of writing is being able to come up with exactly the right language to get a message or a concept across.  English is such a rich, varied language that swapping out a single word or changing the punctuation can alter the entire flavour of a sentence.

So I love finding exactly the right way to say something,  and just knowing that I’ve nailed it – either for myself or for a client.  It’s not quite “better than sex” – but it’s not far off either!

What’s the most challenging aspect of writing for you? 

Hmmm…  it would probably be developing the organisational skills and self-discipline to actually do it, day-in-day-out.

I can manage it with no difficulty for my client work, but I find it much harder when it comes to blogging or developing products.  I mean, yes, I have my ritual… but I still have to remember to use it!

How is writing a key part of product development for you?

Writing is essential for developing my products at both a content and a meta level.  Because I’m a copywriter, my products all revolve around writing in some way.   At the moment, I have:

• A free guide and checklist to writing crystal clear, scannable web pages
• A free (until January 1st) e-course about creating your own unique writing ritual to get you into a writing mindstate
• A comprehensive, low-cost guide to the writing and blogging process called “Write the Damn Blog Post”

And I have a whole follow-up “Write the Damn xxxx” series planned.  There’ll be one about writing opt-in freebies, another on writing newsletters, and yet another on writing sales emails.

Plus, at a meta level, all my products (at least at the moment) are in written form.  So for me, the process of gathering ideas, organising them, and then writing and editing the content is the biggest part of developing each product.

Do you write creatively?  Or do you have other activities that you do to be creative? 

Outside of my business, I don’t do nearly as much creative writing as I’d like.  I do journal on an irregular basis, and I write poetry in fits and starts as my muse inspires me.

But I’m also trying to expand myself by playing with a few more visually creative arts.  I’ve had some fun over the past couple of weeks with decorating my 2013 planners – playing with doodles and mini-sketches, plus stickers, glitter, stick-on crystals and anything else I could find.

High art it’s not, but I enjoy it! And I strongly suspect it helps to take the pressure off the language pathways in my brain.

What’s the most important thing readers should know about writing well? 

Personally? I think the single most important thing to know is that writing well isn’t a talent you have to be born with.

Yes, some people are naturally more gifted than others.  But, as I mentioned above, there are specific techniques that lead to clear, easy-to-read writing. And those techniques are easy to learn and implement if people want to.

HOWEVER,  I also want your readers to know that they don’t have to spend the time and effort learning those techniques unless they want to.  Their strengths may be in other areas – and that’s totally OK.  There are plenty of people like me who love writing and are happy to help them out.

I’d just hate them to believe that they can’t write well if they really want to!

Tanja Gardner is a professional copywriter, word weaver and story sculptor at Crystal Clarity Copywriting Ltd.   She helps difference-makers like you write with concise, creative clarity that your readers intuitively “get.”  That means they understand EXACTLY what you offer – so you can make more of a difference in their lives.

To connect with Tanja, say hello on Twitter or Facebook, or follow her blog.

Or, discover how write a scannable web page people that actually read with her Make Your Web Page Crystal Clear guide. It’s completely FREE when you sign up for her short-‘n’-sweet weekly writing tips.

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“The months of darkness are the time when nature incubates its seeds and prepares for an explosion of growth in the spring. This is also a natural time for us to conceive new dreams. When we are less preoccupied with going out and keeping busy, we can take the time to reflect on what is most important to us.”  ~Denise Linn

In the space between waking and dreaming, this post came to me.

Remembering Christmas at Grandma’s house.

Oh, those magical holidays spent with my family, the bounty of incredible presents.

She taught me about the importance of giving.

Every year she cooked a delicious meal with love.  Her table was covered with linen and freshly polished silver.

Now her beautiful china is stored in my dining room hutch.

Time moves forward.  Memories remain.  There are questions I want to ask her now.

I think I know the answers.  Her faith kept her going through the hard times.

*******

 
Light is given to us by the sun, diminishing slowly now and then returning at solstice.

The earth is slumbering, tender, patiently waiting.

This blue planet gives us what we need to stay alive and asks little in return.

How do we receive these gifts?

What do we give back?