If you long to teach – or to renew your passion for teaching, or to stoke the profitability of the way you teach, TeachNow is the best course ever.

Click to hear me read this piece now

Many of you know me as a ‘happily retired’ teacher and writer who feels called to share a unique Labyrinth Writing process with others. What’s been fascinating for me to realize is just how hesitant I am to jump in and ACT on that impulse after eleven years of retirement. Of course I have the skills and the knowledge. Methinks I’m more afraid of being overwhelmed by success than encountering failure and believe Marianne Williamson was right when she wrote the following:

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.

So … I relish the support, encouragement, information, and authentic ‘modeling’ of Jen & Michele as they teach this program again and again. It gets richer all the time and what they’ve created at Rizuku is a wonderful community of teachers that I’m delighted to be a part of. If you’re a teacher already and would like to enhance your skills … or if you’d LIKE to be more comfortable sharing what you know with others … this program is definitely worth checking out as soon as possible because you save $100 off until January 18th — the course is currently $298.

TeachNow is a digital, self-led program for anyone who longs to share their passions – whether you’re an established teacher or simply would love to teach one day. Michele and Jen expertly weave interviews with master teachers – Natalie Goldberg, Sharon Salzberg, Christina Baldwin, Elizabeth Lesser, Mark Nepo, Parker Palmer and many more – together with the nuts and bolts of teaching. More importantly, they address the heart and soul of teaching: the inner work that makes your teaching powerful and effective. I listen to, am inspired by, and learn from these amazing interviews over and over again.

Jen Louden wrote a bestseller when she was 29. Michele Lisenbury Christensen was a prodigy at 23. In the many years since then, they’ve taught and taught. Oh, and suffered. Now, to help you teach in less-expensive, more sustainable ways, they’ve created TeachNow, including interviewing more than three dozen revered teachers. I initially signed up for the interviews, but now I love the whole program so much I’ve registered as an alumni! I hope you’ll take a few minutes to read about it so you can see if the program is a ‘fit’ for you.

Click on the image to ‘embiggen’ it
and on ‘play’ to listen to me read this piece.

Brief Update:
It’s been a long time since I’ve posted anything here or at Giraffe Journal, but I’ve put my ‘virtual hiatus’ to effective use and am delighted to announce that my first journal Writing the Labyrinth with Virginia is published and available for sale on this site.

Click here for details.

I have continued to write the labyrinth daily so I’ve created lots of pieces and accumulated many stories to share in the days, weeks, and months ahead .   I’ll be publishing with more regularity on both sites from now on.

One of these days I’ll figure out how to use Aweber to add an Opt In Box to the site so I can better get acquainted with site visitors. In the meantime, you can stay connected by anonymously subscribing to my RSS feed, send me email at

labyrinthjournal@gmail.com

and ask to be added to my list, or watch for links at Facebook and Twitter when I publish something new.

I plan to schedule teleclasses teaching more about the Labyrinth Writing process in the very near future and hope you’ll want to participate.

I’d love to know your reactions to these pieces if you’d be willing to share in comments or email. For the curious I did publish two updates at Giraffe Journal:
Monday, June 6th What an AMAZING day!
Friday, June 9th Synchronicity abounds and the beat goes on …

]]> http://labyrinthjournal.com/2011/03/purpose-passion-practice-potential-and-possibility/feed/ 2 http://labyrinthjournal.com/2011/03/clearing-the-way-to-my-ideal-audience/ http://labyrinthjournal.com/2011/03/clearing-the-way-to-my-ideal-audience/#comments Sat, 04 Jun 2011 18:14:56 +0000 Virginia http://labyrinthjournal.com/?p=273 Continue reading →]]> What follows are six labyrinth pieces I wrote early this morning … one right after the other.

As is so often the case for me, I’m engaged in a variety of challenging activities to help me move forward, including but not limited to the following:

I’m working one-on-one with Isabel Parlett, the Soundbite Shaman. She’s helping me learn to think ‘strategically’ and ‘create criteria to help me make decisions’ more easily.
I’m participating in Samantha and Steve’s Get Your Work Out There ‘intensive’ program for the next two months.
I’ve listened to all but two of the calls and am planning to enter Christine Kloser’s Transformational Author Experience contest this summer.
I’m watching Danielle LaPorte’s video series that accompanies the SPARK Kit (formerly known as the Firestarter Program) I purchased recently.

The perfectionist in me really wants to revise the labyrinth pieces … especially the ones with mistakes and inconsistencies (especially shifting time frames and tenses between ‘she’ and ‘me’ … 22 years ago and today), but I’ve already spent more time than intended creating the audio files and the scans … so I’m publishing ‘as is’ even though it feels uncomfortable for me to do so.

That acknowledged … as I’ve indicated in previous posts, I’m looking for feedback and interaction so I’d appreciate your ideas, observations, reactions, and thoughts in comments below or in email (virginia at labyrinthjournal.com) if you prefer.

]]> http://labyrinthjournal.com/2011/03/clearing-the-way-to-my-ideal-audience/feed/ 1 http://labyrinthjournal.com/2011/03/clarifying-conversations/ http://labyrinthjournal.com/2011/03/clarifying-conversations/#comments Thu, 02 Jun 2011 12:42:46 +0000 Virginia http://labyrinthjournal.com/?p=264 What I wrote this morning at 3:54am …

Synergy and synchronicity abound in grace-filled ways, and for this I am grateful indeed!
If she hadn't been willing to ask me challenging questions, speak her truth and stay with the process, and if I hadn't been ready to listen and try to understand from her perspective ... the conversational 'dance' around issues important to each of us might not have occurred at all. This casual chat with my neighbor might easily have been a lost opportunity for me to understand and convey my own message with greater clarity. As it turned out, she helped me (in more ways than I have time or energy to convey at the moment), and also gave voice to her own desires more clearly in ways that I suspect enriched us both.

I believe that one way to begin proactively resolving difficult issues facing us (personally and collectively) is to take time to engage in authentic conversations about what matters to us and seek to understand the perspective of others when it seems to differ from our own, for clarity arises from this give and take. Once we're clear, we can act with intention based on 'certainty of purpose' ... changing ourselves to make our mark on the world.

Thought for Today

“When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.”
Victor Frankl

]]> http://labyrinthjournal.com/2011/03/clarifying-conversations/feed/ 3 http://labyrinthjournal.com/2011/03/what-ive-come-to-know-recently/ http://labyrinthjournal.com/2011/03/what-ive-come-to-know-recently/#comments Sun, 29 May 2011 13:27:34 +0000 Virginia http://labyrinthjournal.com/?p=227 Continue reading →]]> … through my daily journal writing and (more specifically) from listening to Christine Kloser’s Transformational Author Experience series of calls and responding to the ’3 Whys’ and a 4th question posed by Christine early on:

Why this book?
Why me?
Why now?
Who’s it for?

What follows are 4 labyrinth pieces I wrote two days ago with these questions in mind that capture the essence of my answers for now. FYI -  The black ink words wandering the page comes before the blue ‘aha’ revelations …

So … after writing the labyrinth I believe with certainly and clarity (at least for now):
My book is about having fun while finding your voice, rediscovering your inner connection with the Divine, and breaking free of limits to live your dreams joyfully for the good of all concerned!

I don’t have all the answers, but I’m more comfortable with the questions and I do know what’s next for me. This book is ready to be birthed and shared. Prayers are always answered, though not always in predictable or expected ways. Synchronicity abounds! Help shows up with consistent abundance when I ask clearly with an open heart and surrender to surprise! Then all I need do is say, thank you so much and get out of my own way … allowing others to assist as needed while trusting myself to decide my next steps. It’s cRaZiLy pErFeCt and iMpErFeCt all at the same time. Nothing’s ‘either-or’ for me any more, but rather ‘inclusively’ encompassing everything … and then some.

My intention is to share here (as regularly as possible) some of what emerges on my personal journal pages labyrinth style. In addition, at Giraffe Journal I plan to publish an on-going ‘narrative’ about my journey … writing about processes (in and out of the flow) and discoveries along the way as I’ve done for some time now and updated just yesterday in Living and Learning … rowing gently down the stream.

I invite your engagement and feedback in both places for I believe that together we know so much more than any of us knows alone and I need your help.

• Please respond to what I publish.
• Ask questions of your own and share them here!
• Tell me what you think … what you agree with and don’t!
• Write from your heart about your own experience and sense of truth!
• Let me get to know YOU as I risk letting you know me through what I write, for I don’t wish to write in a vacuum.

Let’s build a community here together where we each share our authentic voice with gratitude, compassion, and grace so that all might benefit.
Namaste

Addendum added 5-31-11
It took me a while, but I’ve expanded and clarified my focus and shared four labyrinth pieces in the next post in answer to four questions posed by Christine Kloser in the Transformational Authors Experience series. After working with the Soundbite Shaman, Isabel Parlett over the past couple of weeks. I’m learning to think ‘stragetically’ to balance my ‘expressive’ writing and will have new offerings here very soon … so check this link for more specifics, let me know what you think, and stay tuned for more here and at Giraffe Journal.

Suggested Practice:
Take a few moments to sit quietly focusing on the natural outflow and inflow of your breath until you feel relaxed. Draw a line randomly on the page in an amorphous squiggle of some sort or just start writing whatever comes to mind anywhere … and rotate the page whenever you feel the need. Keep your pencil moving without thinking about anything at all … repeat words if necessary until a new word shows up … and if you run out of line before you’re finished, use the empty space to continue wandering with words until the piece feels complete. If you need additional pages to finish feel free. Just write without worry. Give yourself permission to write without thought or judgment … trusting the process to see what happens.

If you’d like more information, you’ll find it here: Writing to Learn. If you’re willing to share after writing, please feel free to use the comment area for that purpose, send me email at labyrinthjournal@gmail.com … share with a friend or loved one, publish on your own blog (with a link back here perhaps) or keep your writing private. Whatever feels right to you is perfect, but I’d love to read whatever writing and/or feedback you’re willing to share.