Category: education

Kary Oberbrunner, Exposed! Behind the scenes at the Igniting Souls Conference 2017

by Karen, posted in author, Being BRAVE, books, Brave books, Catching women being brave, Clarity, education, friends, no fear, Travel, writing

Ever wonder about this Kary Oberbrunner guy?

I first met him online in a chatroom…No–wait! Kidding! I first met him online at one of the free webinars he hosted:

How to Turn a Book into a 6-Figure Business

My expectations were low.  Full disclosure: I watch a lot of free webinars. I am never motivated to buy anything at the end of them.  Anyway, the information that I got was so interesting and so in alignment with what I already knew and was currently doing (or trying to do), that I had to find out more about what this guy was teaching.  Also, I had to find out more about this guy in general.

So I did what women everywhere have been doing since the beginning of time when they needed to find out more about a guy:

I googled him.

Not one bad thing. Not one. On the entire internet.

This led to me becoming part of the Igniting Souls Tribe, which led to me going to the Igniting Souls Conference this year.

This was a much bigger deal for me.

I was taking big risks to go to this conference! 

  • I hadn’t flown alone since 1990 and had never changed planes before to get anywhere. If changing planes was required, it was a deal-breaker.
  • I would be leaving my daughter alone for a few days, and she didn’t want that.
  • Who would feed the chickens while I was away?
  • How would I get to the hotel from the airport?
  • What if I got stranded there? (I did, actually)

Yep; I was feeling the fear (nod to Susan Jeffers)

In the end, though, I did the thing I thought I could not do! (Nod to Eleanor Roosevelt)

I packed up all my fears and I went to Ohio. Alone. On the plane–two planes. No, four, counting the fights home!

In the morning before the first session of the conference started, I heard a song playing over the speakers. I could feel it inside me. This wasn’t just any song.

This was one of my favorite songs in the world:

Con Te Partiro by Andrea Bocelli.

Translation: Time to Say Goodbye. And I realized that I had done exactly that. By making this trip, I said ‘Goodbye’ to my fears and ‘Hello’ to my faith and confidence in myself. When I heard this song playing, I knew I was exactly where I was supposed to be, doing exactly what I was supposed to do.

So, who is this Kary guy? He’s the guy who you can’t find anyone to say anything bad about. And at the Igniting Souls Conference, there were hundreds of people saying only good things. About him. About each other. It was one of the best gatherings that I have ever been part of. Ever.
Thank you, Kary, and thank you to all the amazing members of this tribe, in which I am blessed to be included.

I am leaving you with this, my favorite version of Con Te Partiro, which Andrea Bocelli sings with Sarah Brightman. I hope you feel it, too.

Here is a slideshow of some moments from my trip and #IgnitingSoulsConference17

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NaNoWriMo is coming and announcing a new course

by Karen, posted in author, Clarity, education, NaNoWriMo, NaNoWriMo, online courses, writing

October 1st! You know what that means? That there’s only 1 more month before National Novel Writing Month begins!

Are you planning to participate this year? I will be. This will be NaNo number 8 for me. I have completed the 50,000 words to win every year since 2010, and I expect this year to be no different.

Maybe you would like to win NaNo, too!

My online course just launched, How to Win NaNoWriMo. These are my strategies that I use to make sure I fit my 50,000 words into 30 days. I do things differently now than I did when I was a NaNo fledgling back in 2010.

Maybe these tips will help you, too!

I wanted to be an author for years and years. I wrote drafts and partial drafts and outlines and overviews but never turned anything into a completed draft of a book.

And then I found National Novel Writing Month.

It turned out that structure is my friend! The NaNo structure helped me get it done. The first drafts of both of my novels came from National Novel Writing Month.

All the details are here: How to Win NaNoWriMo.

Whether you want to take the course or not, I would still love to know if you are a NaNoWriMo-er. Comment below if you are! What year(s) did  you win?

Cooking class at Stonewall Kitchen: A Sensational Supper with Jane St Pierre

by Karen, posted in (it's all about the) food, education, family, local fun, teens

My daughter and I went to a cooking class at Stonewall Kitchen Cooking School.  We’ve been there before, and it’s always a treat. This was the first class taught by Jane St Pierre that we’ve been to, but hopefully not the last. She is a wonderful teacher, warm and funny, but most importantly, she knows what she’s talking about. In addition to treating us to her delicious original recipes, she shares lots of cooking tips and tricks, and also welcomes them from the audience.

How do I know? Because I offered one! I got a little jam for my trouble.

The only challenging aspect of attending classes here is the seating. The seats are high aluminum (I think) chairs that are hard to pull up to the tables and very cold on bare legs. Leave the flip-flops at home; it’s work to keep them on when sitting on the tall chair.  You can request handicapped seating, which will get you regular size chairs that are lower to the floor, hence easier to get in and out of  (but still that cold aluminum).  Also, the front row fills up early. We got there almost an hour ahead of time and the front row was already taken.

Coffee, tea, and water were free. Wine and beer were available by the glass, but cost extra.

Our class cost $60, and was three courses, and the recipes for all were given to us in a handout.

I loved everything she made.

Bottom line: Go, at least once. They are so much fun!

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Book Review: Pieces that Fit

by Karen, posted in author, books, Brave books, education, family, Life's too short to read bad books, writing

Pieces That Fit: A Mother’s Journey Through Her Son’s Puzzling Diagnosis of Asperger’s Syndrome by Karen Pieces That Fit coverMacNeill is an important book for anyone to read that has, or wonders what it is like to have, a child with different needs in the school system. I found it to be immediately relatable. There are so many passages that could be a page out of my own life, from sitting at the IEP table (p 25. ‘…the process is exhausting…’) to putting undeserved trust in educators who ultimately proved unworthy of that trust. I also love that Chandler and his family found their way with the help of some wonderful teachers and other professionals who were committed to his growth and well-being, both at school and long-term.

This book also reveals how important it is for parents to take nothing for granted and to be strong advocates for their children. The hope is that as the child gets older and witnesses his or her parents modeling this behavior at IEP meetings and elsewhere, they will learn to advocate for themselves, which Chandler has clearly done well. Yay, Karen and Jim! Writing honestly about your real life experience is a difficult and brave thing to do. Bottom line: Read this book!

After you read this book, read my book! One Brave Thing

Wherever I go, there they are

by Karen, posted in Crystals, education, friends, He and me, health, Metaphysical healing, Travel

image

For a long time now, every time I go to the beach, a particular kind of blue stone calls to me: Karen!! Yoohoo! Here I am! “Pick me! Choose me! Love me!” (borrowed this quote from a movie but at the moment it escapes me which one). For over a year this has been happening. I have all different shapes (even heart-shaped!) and sizes of these beautiful blue rocks, so many that before last winter I brought some of them outside and scattered them in my yard.

A few weeks ago, I heard them calling to me again and I retrieved a few and brought them back inside (was that wrong??).

Over the past several months, I have been wanting to know exactly what these stones are. I have tortured my friends with questions about them (But what do you really think it is?). I have scoured books and the internet for pictures resembling my stones with no success. I have asked the stones themselves to tell me what they are (they told me they were quartz). I thought, “BUT YOU ARE BLUE!” Is there such a thing as blue quartz?

So, I packed up my stones and  my husband and I went to Bethel and met Maggie (I hope I spelled her name correctly!) at the Maine Mineral and Gem Museum. I showed her my rocks. She knew right away what they were.

Smoky Quartz!

So, I said, “But why are they BLUE? Smoky quartz is not blue!” Without missing a beat, she asked, “Did you find these near a river or the ocean?”

🙂

I did.

It turns out that being in the ocean, over time, turns smoky quartz blue. When I told her these rocks are following me everywhere, she said, “Maybe you need some grounding…”

Who, me?

 

Following the clues

by Karen, posted in Angels, education, Metaphysical healing

1991I had a dream two nights ago, the night of the full moon, come to think of it.

I dreamed about numbers.

So, have you ever dreamed about numbers? This is a new phenomenon for me. The sequence I dreamed came through loud and clear:

1991

I didn’t see or hear the numbers so much as I just thought them. Loudly. In the dream.

I know, right?

Of course, once I awoke I realized that 1991 is the year my son was born, but this didn’t seem to resonate as to what the message of the dream might be.

After puzzling over it, it dawned on me to do what every red-blooded American teenager does when faced with a question they don’t know the answer to.

I googled it.

Google showed me this:

Angel Numbers-Joanne Sacred Scribes

Sacred Scribes? Hel-lo? Has a writer ever coined a more beautiful title? I want to be a Sacred Scribe! I was smitten before I even started reading the article!

Anyway, it turns out that 1991 is actually a meaningful sequence in general, and very meaningful to me in particular.

I am learning so much by just following the clues to where they lead!!

Simplify: Who, me?

by Karen, posted in education, local fun, the beach, writing

IMG_4542I went to a class at the Wells Public Library this week. Lisa Luken of Simple Joy Living, LLC spoke to us about simplifying our lives by streamlining (as well as getting rid of) our stuff. Her tagline is “Simple. Joyful. Organized. Intentional. Living.”

Great, right? Who wouldn’t want that?

I had a ton of ideas fill my monkey-mind within the first fifteen minutes of Lisa’s talk. Some were related to organizing my clutter and some were about…other things. Still, they were GOOD IDEAS! There’s something about the energy of a group that can stimulate thought processes that lie dormant when one is home. You know. Sitting on the couch. Eating ice cream. Watching The Good Wife.

I returned home with renewed enthusiasm to rid my home of clutter. I bagged stuff up. In this case, it was mostly books. And then, some escaped! Two of them went back to their original places on the bookshelf when I wasn’t paying attention!

Not good. I have to do better. Because, as Lisa pointed out, if I am not home dusting, rearranging, storing, and otherwise picking-up-and-putting-down my clutter, I could be doing something that I really love to do. Like going to the ocean. Or walking the labyrinth at The LoveLight Center. Or revising my second novel (working title: How to Stay Married in Midlife).

Or, you know. Sitting on the couch. Eating ice cream. Watching The Good Wife.

🙂

Go with the flow

by Karen, posted in education, Functional Health, health, Metaphysical healing, the beach

ocean clouds 3I attended a chakra class at the Portsmouth Regional Hospital this weekend. Chakras, as you may know, are energy centers in the body that energy flows through, often described as spinning discs of different colors. Find out more about chakras here: Anodea Judith’s Wheels of Life

One thing that came up in the class was that taking a walk on the beach is one of the best ways to ground oneself, because all of one sense’s are engaged in this process.

GREAT IDEA!

As soon as the class ended, I headed to my favorite beach. So what if it was only in the 60’s? I arrived and was dismayed to see that the water was almost to the wall; there wasn’t enough remaining beach to support my intention to walk on it.

I have recently been told that I should consider working on my ability to ‘go with the flow’. Apparently, I am not great at this (what? what?). I decided to seize the opportunity to practice. So what if I couldn’t go walk on the beach? I could stand on it until the tide came all the way in.

So I did. I stood in the water. I stood on a rock. I stood in the sand. I literally went with the flow.

I highly recommend it.

🙂

 

Boo hoo, it’s the flu

by Karen, posted in education, health

boo hoo fluYou may have heard that there’s a little something call the flu going around. Actually, there are many flu-like viruses going around, but the doomsday people (and the CDC) refer to them all as ‘the flu’ so they can try to scare you into ‘getting your flu shot’ (like that might help at all).

Anyway, there are a couple of ways to try to prevent flu-like viruses from ruining your life:

  1. Consider Oscillococcinum. I’m not endorsing it, but it’s a homeopathic remedy out there that is not invasive (for those of us who detest shots of any kind) that might help.
  2. Wash your hands, already. Also, get some bleach wipes. Use them (on the non-human surfaces).

Failing prevention, you can try to make it as easy on yourself as possible:

  1. Keep the Kleenex close at hand.
  2. DayQuil, NyQuil (generic equivalents will save you some bucks).
  3. Hydrate! If you’re vomiting, you might consider keeping a jug of Gatorade/Powerade close at hand, otherwise Kool-Aid (tropical punch–the red one) is awesome.
  4. Cough drops. Here again, store brands work just fine.
  5. If you don’t feel like eating, don’t. If you don’t feel like drinking, too bad. Drink anyway, especially if you’re sporting a fever, which you (most likely) will be with a flu-like virus.

You should start feeling like you’ve turned a corner (for the better) in about 2-3 days, but if you don’t, then consider giving your doctor a call for a chat. After all, that’s what you’re paying him/her for.

Writer’s lull

by Karen, posted in education, family, Midlife Crisis, writing

For weeks and weeks, I was the whirling dervish of writing:

  1. I had a few blogs going for which I posted several times a week.
  2. I was writing 2000 words a day for my book.
  3. I was writing book reviews for several websites.
  4. I was writing restaurant reviews and food articles for an online magazine.
  5. I was writing millions of words in emails to my friends and coworkers daily.

…and so on; you get the idea. I was wily and whimsical in my writing.

Then, an issue came up in relation to the education of one of my children and suddenly I found that much of my writing time was taken up with writing emails, letters, and synopses of events and phone conversations for many different involved parties, almost every day, including weekends, almost to the exclusion of all else. I was diligent and dutiful in my writing.

Now there is a lull in the education issue. I have reluctantly come to realize that there is now a lull in my writing activities as well. I have learned this: the more I write, the more I write. Unfortunately, the converse is also true: the less I write, the less I write. This writer’s lull is different from writer’s block. It’s not that I have no ideas about what to write. I have plenty of ideas;  I just can’t seem to get them out of my head and onto the page.

I was distressed. When I told a friend about this, she suggested that this is actually a period of renewal, a time to foster new ideas and thoughts that will fuel my next writing phase. She further suggested that this period of writing not-so-much is part of the process, and therefore is necessary and beneficial.

I’ve decided to go with it, on the chance that it might be true.

It feels true.