Big Red Couch

I'm a traveller at heart! My mom calls me "My Adventurer". It's true. Now---even my blog presence is on a journey! Lately my words and postings have migrated...to my professional site... lynnsbigredcouch.squarespace.com.  So---those who love red, come! Those who love lips, come! Those intrigued by adventuring boots, come! I'll meet you there!

Come follow me...

Take a summer's adventure (or winter's if you're in the southern hemisphere!).

Travel to a new blogland.

See what happens along the way!

And let me know that you've arrived to play in this new space.

I'll meet you there!

Will my word travels take me back to this site? I really have no idea. We'll see which way the compass points and the winds lead! 

lynnsbigredcouch.squarespace.com

Smiling in DC

Last month, in Washington DC visiting my daughter---I had a glorious day to myself while she was at work. On the National Mall---spring fullblooming. Sun shining brightly and just warm enough. I came upon a bandshell---with a middle school jazz band playing the Cherry Blossom Festival. Seriously----life was sooooooo good! Everyone's toes tapped and strangers looked each other in the eye as the music floated over us like syrup on pancakes. Made for each other. Surprise gift. As I strolled along towards the Tidal Basin I was in that blissed-out state. You know the one. How good is this? How lucky am I? 

Just then, a boy ran up to his mother near me. He was about 7, were I to guess.  He exclaimed, "Mommy---do some people have a problem they just can't stop smiling? Because I just SAW one!" Already beaming, my smile widened even more. And I wondered...was it me that he saw? And secretly hoped that was true! Any way you slice it---I knew I was a contender. I've been called many things---but here was a new one. A problem smiler! No problem---I'll take that one any day! 

To the little boy and his mother. Thank you. Thank you for my smile that grew even bigger and felt even more wonderful that day---because of your reflection!

Goat Cheese Adventure

Adventures are so good for the soul! 

Here are the new things I (the city girl) experienced in four delicious hours this brisk winter morning ---within 20 minutes of where I live!

1. Milking a goat. Yup, me. "Abby" (alpine) and "Dottie" (nubian). Squirt. Squirt---yea, there I go. Then----are you ready----two hands! Warm and surprisingly satisfying (for me AND the goats, I think!)

2. Reaching under a chicken---and voila, pulling out a freshly lain egg. Warm and smooth. Wow.

3. Tasting warm (there's the warm again!), fresh goat's milk...delicious! 

3. Making Soft Goat Cheese. I whooped as we wrapped in flourcloth, tied it off, hung it cleverly on the cupboard hook, dripping whey into the bowl beneath it.  Ahhhhh.

4. Making Goat Mozzarella. Cooking, straining, pressing, til smooth and glisteny. Slicing. Snowballing. Admiring!

5. And then there was the Goat Ricotta---yup, made with my two hands! Warm...drizzled with chocolate balsamic vinegar. So much goodness!!! 

6. Making 4 new grown-up friends (with connections and networking flowing as naturally as water)---and 2 little ones. 

My soul knew to love all of this. My soul grinned. My soul ate it up. My soul said thank you. My soul said---that was fun, let's have another adventure soon! I promised my soul the answer would be yes! 

p.s. If you'd like your own adventure---visit "The Goat Cheese Lady" online and find out how! 

Mistress of Unlocking

Today, I got an unplanned reflection of me.  There it was, in these three words at the close of an email..."Mistress of Unlocking." It was said in gratitude. Wow. I realize I LOVE these words! And I love the fact that as a life coach, I get to do what I love----help unlock people's brilliance! (It's of course, already there---in every single one of us.) And---as the key slides into the lock...and the tumbler starts to click and roll...there is such incredible anticipation and glee! For both of us! The one who is getting closer to who they really are (without all the stuffy baggage that might have accumulated over a lifetime covering up this gorgeous being)----and for me. Oh yes, really fun for me! To have the privilege to be with another as they light up, discover, glow, come alive in front of my eyes?? Seriously joyous work!

And then...out came the words. Giving me a new name, "Mistress of Unlocking." I love that too. Most of you know that I really believe that sexuality is a gift. That there's huge, juicy, blessed energy there. Spirituality, too---bunches of energy and life force there! (Coming soon---my next book on this!) Well---the mistressy energy in all of it is right, isn't it. It's not about demands. It's about invitation. About all of us...shining brighter...inviting others closer...to us...into vulnerability...and seeing...and discovering...and into the ever-so-juicy space of curiosity! Wow. This is my work. And with a wink and a nod, out flashes a new reflection of me...one that makes me smile broadly and freely. The smile I was born to wear on this beautiful body in this wonderful thing called life!

And so I'm curious?? What are the reflections that YOU are getting---the ones that help you see and understand yourself more fully?? That surprise you, make you sit up and say, "You know---that's exactly right!" 

Pleasure Activist

You know when you have a really satisfying conversation?? One where you connect and connect some more and say, "Oh yes...and...!" Recently, I met a new friend through synchronous means. 

Let me pause for a moment---and say that synchronicity sounds random. It's not. It's actually something very cool that we can all ride. Here's what it takes: It starts with noticing the little curiousity in you. Noticing when something in you says, "Oooooh, look at that!" Or, "Ohhhhhhh, wouldn't it be cool if....!!" This is a little like a dog, sniffing. First one good scent...then oooooooh, what's that over there on the hydrant! Then a passing dog pulls sway. You get the picture. (Another more poetic friend of mine calls this, "Following the fragrance of your desire." Love that, too! Choose the metaphor that best fits you. Dog or flower! Now----that's fun, but not enough. After the noticing comes something that makes all the difference, ----it's action. And here's where we humans often get stuck. We think, "Oh, that would look funny!" Or----NO ONE does that. Or, "Seriously, get a grip! Do you think they would like to talk to a stranger with an urge?" The answer is...you'll never know til you try! So----the next step requires something we're all born with, but may be rusty at using. Courage. That's it,----the courage to take a risk! So----let's review. You've got the noticing...followed by the urge...and you take a dash of courage. Now---do something! That's it. Just do something. Give yourself permission to experiment a little---and see what happens! Maybe they will think you're crazy. Maybe they won't respond. Maybe they will be your new best friend. Maybe they are the missing link to your business. You'll never know until you try! (Thanks mom---I hear your voice here!) Oh---and one more thing. Notice NOW how FUN this is! Really! Notice the energy and the juice and the OMG kind of adrenaline. Because now you're really LIVING your life!

Well...recently I did that. (Actually, I do it a lot these days and wow, is it a blast!) It went like this---I have a supervisor in my coaching certification program, assigned to me. I went to his website--and discovered lots of connections between us (always wonderful to find, isn't it?) And...as I looked at his website links I found the name of another person with whom I shared a bunch of connections...and there it was, the urge to connect. To a stranger. And so I did----sending him an email, sharing my curiosity. Within minutes, there was his response...and so much more we shared, including Our Whole Lives~Sexuality and Our Faith---the fabulous sexuality/spirituality movement I'm a part of, and write for and truly passionate about! He suggested we connect by phone. Which takes me back to where I began.

As we talked on the phone, in that fun new discovery way, sharing our passions and what we are up to in the world he exclaimed, "You are a Pleasure Activist!" At first I was taken aback. Wow. Whoa! Seriously?! And yet---I knew that this naming of me was spot-on! Stated more clearly and strongly than I ever had known/seen. I do believe that our senses are divine. Gateways to All That Is. I do celebrate pleasure! That moment, at my kitchen table, thousands of miles away from this new friend---I received a new understanding of me. Which of course, would never have happened...had I not gotten curious, noticed, followed my urge with a dash of courage!

So I invite you!

Sniff.

Notice.

Follow.

See.

Experiment.

And let me know what happens!

p.s. There's more to the story. It's about my next book, "Juicy Prayers". To be continued!

Planting

I've been planting. Don't know when I started to plant, actually. Ten years ago with my first coaching course? Almost two years ago when I answered the "call" (yes, it really felt like this---divine and mystical as a new friend leaned over her suitcase in the front hallway of an Alabama Bed and Breakfast and said, "Lynn, I'm in a program I think you'd love") to leap into the Coaches Training Institute's  (CTI) Leadership Program? The day I realized I wanted the whole enchilada---CTI's juicy, spicy Life Coach Training, too? The day I did something about it, signed up and began flying hither an yon (all beautiful locations---all succulent opportunity for this red lipped red booted adventurer!) to experience full immersion coach training courses? The day I hit the pause button because my partner was sick...and needed me near? The day that post-healing, I "began again", with a new wave of passion? The day I "graduated" from all the training last September? The grateful day near Thanksgiving when I committed boldly to one more step, the icing (and of course, I wanted the icing!)...and I officially enrolled in CTI's rigorous six month Certification Program. Or this Tuesday, when I officially began that journey?

Yes...dreams...seeds...being watered and fed.

This site has likely appeared dormant.  That's what happens after planting. It's all underground, and frankly, looks like nothing. Worse still, looks dead. Ahhhhhh, but we all know better! We know that it is in the spring that the shoot bursts forth. One day, flat earth. The next---kabam!! Thrusting that is unmistakably bold and beautiful.  I'm very close now. I can feel all the energy in me lining up as I embrace all my clients. I can feel the nourishment coursing through my veins, my heart, my mind, my spirit. I can feel me growing in huge leaps and bounds. It's exciting and exhausting. And...it's exactly where I need to be...living my life...on purpose.

My coaching doors are flung open...and the weather is good!! (They actually aren't doors---they are phonelines. Open and available for you or those you know might feel this "call" to engage me as their coach. And answer it! )

Here's to us all---planting and soon blooming, bearing fruit and harvesting in no time!

With deep gratitude to all planters who have gone before. I stand on your shoulders, indebted to you always. Grateful for your compassion, interest, love, care and steadfast encouragement.

Tabula Rasa

A brand spanking new year. A blank slate. I remember in college first hearing the fancy phrase, "tabula rasa"----and the idea of a blank slate got a real name. Oh yeah, baby. Immediately, I loved it. I loved it and knew it was the way I preferred to live. How I like to see a movie (knowing nothing...awash in real time.) How I read a book. (I know some prefer a glance at the last page---I'm simply not one of them!) To me, blank slates are alive with delight, possibility. I think there's a little edge of excitement/danger there too, that I like. Truly not knowing creates a wild adventure. Again, my preferred way to live.

Juicy opportunity exists in this blank slate. Yet I/we forget. I fall into rutted living. Routine roteness. It happens to all of us. The slate, oh-so-laden and oh-so-familiar. Yet, as humans I know we're wired for something else. We're wired for breakthroughs that return us to Blank Slate Being. We respond to events. To calendars. To tragedies. To pain. To ritual. To grace. We open. We pause. We Begin Again. A New Year. Poised on a precipice of time----we are anything but rutted. Not yet.

I glance up. A wren camouflaged in the white aspen bark flits. I see it. My seeing is the gift. I feel myself attune, boldly present for more against the brilliant blue sky. There's another. Oh my---there go two, no three more. Now I can't take my eyes off them.

We twenty first century humans greet each other in the new year...wired for connection. We step, just a little, out of what we see as "ordinary" time. There's a sincerity. A true desire here. We "get" that something is possible---and we speak of it and for it on behalf of all beings. With fireworks, toasts, rituals---we kiss the possibility of our collective blank slate. We bless it. We name it. Sounds primitive, yet it may be some of our highest functioning. What if we really believed it. That this year---2012, holds all that can be. Jubilee. Hope. Love. Connection. A New Way.

Here's to your blank slate. Today. This hour. This moment in which your heart beats, your fingers feel, your skin warms, your ears catch a faint wound. Your eyes see flitting...moments ago unseen. This gift of life---yours and mine---pulses. And pulses some more. Whether we notice it or not. Flowing blood and air, nerves and chemicals, water and life, streams and consciousness. To be here to witness and participate on this blank slate day at 10:57 in the morning of January 2, 2012 makes me grin. It's a fresh book. And you are in it too. Let's turn the page...and...