| We are very pleased to have with us Karen Wright, | | | | powerful? |
| a new Northwest writer. Welcome to Reader Views | | | | Karen: That's an ancient question that I'm not sure I |
| Karen. | | | | have the answer to. And perhaps the answer is |
| Irene: Your book "The Sequoia Seed" was partly | | | | irrelevant. Whether we understand why fear is |
| developed from responses you received in an on-line | | | | powerful or not may not help us overcome it. And |
| e-zine. Tell us what this book is about. | | | | this is because fear is an illusion. Fear is our mind's |
| Karen: The Sequoia Seed is diary of the human | | | | response to the unknown. It's a very basic response |
| journey. Regardless of where we live, how old we | | | | emanating from our instinctual fight-or-flight limbic |
| are, or what beliefs we have, we all share a common | | | | brain. Fear is a self-preservation impulse. It's meant to |
| path to personal growth. On that path we battle with | | | | get our attention, not paralyze us. Yet, we've given |
| fear, unworthiness, and doubt as we strive to bring | | | | fear so much power that we feel controlled by it. |
| our most precious dreams to life. | | | | Ironic, when you realize that we create fear. |
| The Sequoia Seed talks directly about our struggles | | | | Irene: How do you suggest we face that fear? |
| while also challenging them. Most struggles are | | | | Karen: I align with many spiritual gurus: don't fight |
| self-imposed and habitual. Becoming aware of our | | | | fear. Fighting it merely gives it more power. Fear |
| unconscious choices and our unlimited potential is | | | | should be used as an early warning system, to give |
| what the Sequoia Seed is all about. | | | | us a heads-up for something that needs our |
| Irene: What inspired you to write this book? | | | | attention. After becoming aware of the fear, simply |
| Karen: My subscribers. Many of them have been with | | | | ask if what your mind is telling you is rational. You will |
| me for years and lamented that their computers | | | | most likely see that fear exaggerates and fabricates. |
| were filled with saved Waking Up messages. They | | | | Take any fear to the ultimate conclusion and it will tell |
| encouraged me to put my writings in a book. | | | | you that you're going to die. Even if the fear starts |
| And I suppose, in truth, I wrote The Sequoia Seed | | | | small, it feeds on itself and ends up looking enormous. |
| because I needed to read it. It's so ironic that we | | | | For anyone who's faced a fear, not let it stop them, |
| can intellectually, and even emotionally, understand | | | | and did what they were afraid of, they will |
| spiritual truths, yet still fall victim to doubt and fear. | | | | undoubtedly tell you that once they took action the |
| So far, I've found that whatever degree of | | | | fear vanished. Fear's only power is in paralyzing you - |
| enlightenment I've achieved to be a sporadic | | | | hence, the cliché frozen with fear. If you |
| experience! I'm on the path too. | | | | refuse to stop, fear will loosen its grip. In hindsight, |
| Irene: It certainly gives more meaning to the adage: | | | | you'll laugh at how afraid you were of nothing. You |
| when the student is ready, the teacher appears. It | | | | are much stronger than fear - never forget. |
| sounds like your subscribers are your teachers, as | | | | Irene: Negative self-talk and fear go hand-in-hand. We |
| you are for them. When you say "subscribers" what | | | | may quit the negative self-talk, give ourselves |
| do you exactly mean? | | | | positive self-talk, put on a happy smile, and yet, the |
| Karen: You're absolutely right about my subscribers | | | | fear hangs on. Why is it so difficult to release the |
| being my teachers - either directly with their | | | | fear? |
| responses and experiences, or indirectly by allowing | | | | Karen: Because we believe it's stronger than we are. |
| me the privilege of living my life under their watchful | | | | And we think that if we just pretend that we're |
| eyes. | | | | okay, it will leave. However, fear only resides in our |
| My subscribers are individuals all over the world | | | | minds and we can't run away from that. Positive |
| who've requested my online ezine Waking Up. | | | | self-talk that isn't believed is useless. Saying, "I'm |
| Waking Up, our common human goal, is a bi-monthly | | | | whole and complete just the way I am" while you |
| essay about real human challenges and spiritual truths. | | | | truly feel panicked is a fool's ploy. Words aren't |
| Insights, for me, never come in explosions of | | | | stronger than beliefs. And intellect (the source of |
| enlightenment...they show up in unexpected moments | | | | language) cannot dispel a feeling (fear). You must |
| of simple experiences. One day I was walking on a | | | | shift fear where it lives, in your emotions. You must |
| nature trail near my home. It was early fall and | | | | see that it is your mind run amok. |
| leaves were turning color. I was in a particularly deep | | | | Irene: Many of us have goals and aspirations. |
| funk that morning - fear had me by the throat. As I | | | | Sometimes we get discouraged because we just |
| walked I barely noticed my surroundings. Worry, | | | | can't attain those goals for some reason or another. |
| confusion, and panic blinded me to all by my anxious | | | | Yet, we hang on to the vision in hopes that |
| emotions. | | | | something will change. Why is it so hard to let go of |
| I rounded a bend in the trail and stopped dead in my | | | | the vision and alter the course? |
| tracks. Before me was the most beautiful field I had | | | | Karen: As unconscious humans we believe that our |
| ever seen. The dried grasses were backlit from the | | | | aspirations and visions for our life are immutable. We |
| setting sun and they shone like radiant gold. It was | | | | invest our very worthiness in these goals and if we |
| truly stunning. I'm not even sure I was breathing. | | | | cannot achieve them, we believe we are failures. So, |
| Then it struck me. I was no longer in the grip of | | | | we hang on. Dreams and visions and goals are |
| panic. All my woeful thoughts had vanished in the | | | | choices we make. They are not who we are, they |
| face of such magnificent beauty. One of life's truths | | | | are what we do. |
| showed itself to me that day. Fear and beauty | | | | A gentleman asked me just today whether I |
| cannot co-exist. I wrote about that experience in | | | | believed that we each were born with a specific |
| Waking Up that week. I knew others would | | | | purpose - one that determined who we became. I |
| resonate. We all succumb to the dreadful paralysis of | | | | said I did believe that, but not in the way he spoke |
| fear at times. And sometimes it seems like we have | | | | of it. He felt that his life purpose centered around a |
| no clue how to get out of it. With that glowing field | | | | specific role he played and specific things he felt |
| of golden grasses, I was given a ticket out of hell. I | | | | compelled to do. He was a born athlete. And he felt |
| remember that when I start to slide into that fear | | | | great satisfaction in performing in sports. Satisfaction |
| pit. I get up and go outside and sink my bare feet in | | | | he didn't feel in other endeavors. |
| cool grass or smell a flower or stare at the setting | | | | I asked him how playing sports made him feel. |
| sun. It never fails to calm my run-away mind and | | | | Strong, purposeful, happy, triumphant were his |
| remind me that I'm safe. | | | | words. I asked him if, in a world of endless other |
| These are the moments my subscribers sign up for. | | | | endeavors, if he felt it was possible for him to feel |
| Moments of remembrance; moments of unity. | | | | those same feelings doing something else. He figured |
| They've written so often that the message was | | | | it was possible. My point was that we invest |
| timed perfect for them. I think we share a common | | | | ourselves to much in what we DO, when if we ask |
| path and they feel connected to me, and I to them, | | | | why we do what we do, we'll recognize that we do |
| in a way that's hard to describe. And, I supposed, | | | | it to feel a certain way. It's the feeling we're really |
| doesn't need description. | | | | after. What we do is just the vehicle that delivers |
| Irene: How did you come up with the name for your | | | | that feelings. |
| book? | | | | When we lock a vision of our life into place without |
| Karen: After eighteen months of testing out titles | | | | allowing that there may be several ways for us to |
| and asking for input from subscribers, I hadn't found | | | | contribute and find peace and satisfaction, we give |
| the title. A book's title is incredibly important and I'd | | | | up that most precious of all gifts: consciousness and |
| hoped inspiration would strike. One day it did. I was | | | | choice. Yes, follow your passion, but realize that it |
| talking to a friend about my wonderful experiences | | | | can take many paths. |
| camping and hiking in the Sequoia National Park in | | | | Irene: We impose limitations on ourselves. Tell us how |
| California. One my first visit there I spent some time | | | | we can break through the self-sabotage and create |
| with a park ranger and he told me all about sequoia | | | | a limitless life? |
| trees. They are the most massive living thing on the | | | | Karen: Limitations are a result of believing in our fear; |
| planet and can grow taller than the Statue of Liberty | | | | but not a fear of failure. Marianne Williamson says, |
| (305 feet), can live for centuries, and the species | | | | "Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our |
| dates back 157 million years. | | | | deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond |
| A mature sequoia's bark is three feet thick and has a | | | | measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most |
| natural fire-retardant, as does the cone. Cones are | | | | frightens us." |
| incredibly small, about the size of a small chicken egg, | | | | We hope we are fabulous, yet we fear that we |
| and can lie on the forest floor for decades before | | | | aren't. So, we play it safe and live small and hope no |
| sprouting. Ironically, what destroys most of the rest | | | | one will notice how unworthy we are. We see brave |
| of the forest helps the sequoia flourish. Heat from | | | | souls reaching high and imagine that they possess |
| forest fires don't damage the cone, but allow it to | | | | talents we don't have or are meant to succeed. By |
| open and release its seeds. | | | | comparison, we feel undeserving. |
| The metaphor is remarkable. Like the incredible | | | | It's so much easier to not try - to invent endless |
| potential in a small sequoia seed, we have amazing | | | | barriers that stand between us and our dreams. If I |
| potential within us. And that potential can lie dormant | | | | don't try I can't fail, we think. Yet, in the end, not |
| for years before it takes root. Often the catalyst for | | | | trying will be our biggest failure. We will have paid |
| our own personal growth comes from our own fires: | | | | homage to our imagined fear and let life go untasted. |
| tragedies and personal crises. It's at moment of | | | | The question we must all answer is this: Who do I |
| challenges like these when we loosen our grip on | | | | want to be and what do I want my life to be about? |
| what we believe to be true of the world and | | | | The choice is ours; it always has been. It's not too |
| ourselves and allow a new truth to take root. In | | | | late and it's never too soon to choose what gives us |
| these moments of heartbreak, a window opens and | | | | joy. We can observe or we can live. But, in the end |
| we see new possibilities. | | | | we will die regardless of our choice. Knowing our |
| Irene: You have inferred that mid-lifers, who suddenly | | | | destination, as morbid as it seems, is actually a ticket |
| face changes, would benefit from reading this book. | | | | to freedom. The riskiest thing we can do is nothing. |
| What information is particularly targeted toward | | | | It's what we will most regret. |
| them? | | | | We're here for such a brief time. And our experience |
| Karen: I'm not so sure "mid-lifer" is the best | | | | of that time is totally up to us. Don't let doubt and |
| description anymore. I'm finding that, regardless of | | | | fear make your decisions. You won't like the choices |
| age, people are earnestly seeking more meaning and | | | | they make. You are a miracle of life with no limits. It's |
| truth in their lives. I think this state is due more to | | | | not only your privilege to live fully, it's your |
| the state of humanity than the age of a person. But, | | | | responsibility to the life you've been gifted. |
| there are certainly lots of baby boomers searching. | | | | Irene: Thank you so much Karen on taking the time |
| Perhaps we need a certain number of years under | | | | to speak with us. Is there anything else that you |
| out belts to discover that the world's infatuation with | | | | would like our readers to know about you and your |
| material success doesn't bring much happiness. | | | | book? |
| Being a baby boomer myself, The Sequoia Seed | | | | Karen: It's been a pleasure. One of my greatest joys |
| naturally speaks to those trying to find a new reality. | | | | is connecting with other spiritual pathfinders. I'd |
| I think Marcel Proust said it best, "The real voyage of | | | | welcome hearing from anyone who feels an urge to |
| discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but | | | | contact me. They can find out more about my |
| in having new eyes." Most of us have spent years | | | | journey and services on my website: My services |
| trying to change our circumstances and environment, | | | | encompass keynote speaking for conferences, |
| only to find that our efforts have been pretty futile. | | | | facilitating personal development workshops and |
| Frustration often leads us to seek a new tactic. And | | | | retreats, and consulting to businesses. |
| eventually we realize that our worlds are merely a | | | | I am particularly drawn to helping women step into |
| reflection of ourselves. How we believe the world is, | | | | leadership roles; whether within their own family or |
| is the experience we have. | | | | for a nation. The world badly needs us to play at a |
| The Sequoia Seed shines a light on our common | | | | higher level of contribution and guidance to achieve |
| misperceptions and challenges habitual beliefs and | | | | critical balance. Women, unfortunately, too often |
| behaviors. If someone's calling is a new way that | | | | question their dreams and second-guess their talents. |
| they could exist, they will certainly see it. | | | | It's my focus to help dissolve our fear of showing up |
| Irene: You claim that fear gets in the way of our | | | | more visibly and more powerfully. My workshop, The |
| possibilities. Why do you believe that fear is so | | | | Choice, is specifically designed to fulfill that need. |