In My Mind I'm Goin' to Carolina!

Wow! Last week in Chapel Hill, NC, hometown of singer James Taylor, I enjoyed a stroll across campus and a brunch catch-up with my favorite professor ever, Dr. Christopher M. Armitage, from whom I took EIGHT English literature, drama & poetry classes during my undergrad degree in Journalism/English there. (One of my faves was 17th Century British Lit, which we nicknamed "Sex & Death" since those were the two major topics of that era). Of course the "Study Theatre in London" program was BEYOND fantastic. One of my roommates on that program, Betsy Brantley, became an actress herself and starred with Sean Connery in "Five Days One Summer" a few eons ago!



Dr. Armitage (it feels too odd to call him Chris, despite his insistence) has always been a bit of a rebel--and always at the top of his game. Had to shoot a photo of his slogan, which loosely translates, "Don't let the bastards get you down." (One of my own father's faves, as well).

An Oxford graduate, he described his oral exams being quizzed by C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkein and others: "Miss Dickey,it was the most STIMULATING three hours of my LIFE!"
Can you imagine? Now even the non-English majors know who THEY are because of the Lord of the Rings and Chronicles of Narnia films!



Part of my trek in the land where "You Can't Go Home Again" (all Thomas Wolfe fans will get the insider joke here) was to walk up to the Kappa Kappa Gamma house--and The Little House where I lived with two other Kappa sisters --it was idyllic-- sitting on a big old couch on the front porch and whiling away the hours in a book or with friends.

Ironically, EVERYTHING about the main campus seemed so TINY. The two main quadrangles where I used to toss frisbee endlessly seem to have shrunk. And the Davie Poplar (planted in 1745 I believe) is wired up so it won't topple.

Hang in there, beautiful tree! I photographed my true love Robin Clark under that tree and he's now one of my angel guides, featured in my multi-award winning book, BACK TO THE GARDEN: Getting from Shadow to Joy.
http://www.artofchange.org/april08



The occasion of my visit was the memorial service for Mike Ellis, the WONDERFUL 90 year old stepfather of my college roommate Merrill Rose. What a big, rich life he led as a Broadway producer, magician and human being. I think all would agree that what made him stand out was his big heart. Merrill & her entire family live that way.



Take care, Mike, and God Bless. We're all lucky to have known you.

Get the Life You Love with Radical Manifestation!

At my live event last Sunday, I revealed that one of the key blocks to manifesting what we DO want is letting our energy be tied up in Victim or Perpetrator stories from the past (two sides of a coin, there)-- or obsessing with our "what if?" stories of doom about the future. These ideas come from Carolyn Myss' work "Why People Don't Heal and How They Can."

And, Colin Tipping has created a tool which creates an "energy interrupt" -- the Radical Forgiveness worksheet. The great thing is, you don't even have to believe in it for it to work. Just like you don't have to believe in the laws of physics for them to work--because his tool is based on the laws of physics and energy flow. When we interrupt the energy around the old stories and future worries, we're able to channel more of our energy (or perhaps even ALL of it) to creating what we DO want in the present. YES!



When learning all this heady material, a great way to integrate it into our cells and really "incorporate" it is through dancing. We kept our vibration high and sync'd in a mountain of important concepts throughout the day.



Another great friend who is also a yoga teacher like me, Kim Saunders, led us in Dahn yoga tapping to stimulate our lymphatic systems and really keep the mojo working. As a cancer survivor (who just staged a fundraiser for the Susan G. Komen Foundation) Kim is a MAJOR proponent of keeping the energy flowing.



One of the day's many surprises (just like LIFE!) was the presentation of BIG CHECKS that came to all of us, directly from the BANK OF THE UNIVERSE. One participant emailed me that a big (for real) check showed up in her mailbox the next day!

Bottom line: Operators are standing by. When we know what to ask for, and how to ask, they are ready to deliver our order. I LOVE teaching this information to my coaching clients and workshop attendees!

Author 101!

Keynote speaker at Author 101 and co-author of the "Chicken Soup for the Soul" series Mark Victor Hansen inspired all of the authors & wannabes in the room with these bits of wisdom.

Blockbuster novelist Nora Roberts was a bored housewife who said to herself, "I can do that!" and now writes longhand 55,000 words a week without editing. She creates major collaborations with products like Diet Coke to sell millions of books. (Did you know that Diet Coke drinkers read books, but Coke people don't?) Hmmmm.... maybe their brains are too sugared-up to think!

Hansen, whose father was illiterate in Danish, reminded us that we must be RELENTLESS MARKETERS -- and that Real Wealth = Ideas (Inspiration) + Energy. "Write the title and the information will show up," he said. "Success is the result of hard work over time." 144 publishers turned him and Jack Canfield down when they launched their Chicken Soup series, and yet they prevailed.

As authors & idea people, he encouraged everyone in the room to "Create new Thinkware" to get our nation & world out of its current fix. 89% of books are sold to women. We can make things happen with the right attitude, vision and focus!



Darling Rick Frishman, the wizard behind the Author 101 events, shared tips on Guerilla Marketing, Guerilla Publicity and Where's Your Wow? -- some of the numerous books he's co-authored in his 32 year career as a publicist. An important tip from Rick: Grab the URLs of any books you're even THINKING about writing.

The two days I spent in the room with all those experts were phenomenal. Now, onward to implementation! As Mark Victor Hansen reminds us, in an info-saturated world we need to be nearly monomaniacal in our quest to get our message out there.





Here's a success in "Getting the Life You Love!" My friend Rita MacCallon, who took my class at Evening at Emory a few years ago, experienced some major life transitions and then did private coaching with me, has launched her dream-- The Park Pet Care-- a deluxe doggy & small pet paradise on Lawrenceville Hwy just outside I-285 in Atlanta. Here she is with some of her staff and some of the happiest pooches I've ever seen. That place is posh!

And On a Patriotic Note
Election Day is just days away, and as you know, this election season is like no other. The stakes are extraordinarily high and EVERY VOTE COUNTS! That’s why my friend Kyle Young at Multi-TaskingWoman.com launched www.NeverTooBusyToVote.com, to ask everyone we know across the country to make time to GO VOTE!