Back story –post 6 July 13

Now I won’t bore you with all the details of my early life but let’s just say we were way too young to be married and to become parents; two times over. I knew nothing about myself, life or what it meant to be in love and have a good marriage. We moved onto the mainland of the town which was part of the Island I grew up on. It is a large peninsula which is the official and actual town. The islands (one of which I grew up on) are owned by the town. (I found myself back where I started, in a small town trying to conform and fit in like a fish out of water. (no pun intended)


At a young age with two small children I decide I could no longer be married to a young guy who was not a bad guy; I just did not love him and could not see myself spending the rest of my life with him in this town and living this lifestyle. So I asked for a divorce, which was by itself a major issue, let alone the children and the fact that I announced I was moving to the city and going back to school at the university. I was told that I had gone mad and that it was impossible. I would fail. Now I am not one to be told “no”. No is just another word for, “oh yea, just watch me!” So I returned to school and reemerged three years later with a degree in Communication and a 3.8 GPA! I went to work, bought a house, raised my children, went to school at night and dreamed of leaving Maine.

While in school I took a course in health and fitness. It was an elective. I loved it and soon began to devour books and classes that had to do with fitness and health. I took a class that I was told was just a fad – it was called aerobic dance. I loved it. I took a yoga class. I loved it. And so I began to take classes and then decided that I too could teach a class. I drove to Boston and sat for a four hour exam to get American Council of Exercise certified. I started teaching classes part-time after work and have continued to teach exercise classes for twenty-years. Now along the way I acquired a PhD in health and a Doctorate of Naturopathy. Diet, exercise and the natural science became my background; however in the early days it was nearly impossible to support a family in this field of endeavor. So I worked at jobs that were tough and dreamed of a time when I could do what I wanted and express my creative self.

I remember vividly sitting at my kitchen drinking a cup of coffee and dreaming of leaving Maine, creating a product, writing a book and finding love. But here I was in Maine with no way out or so it appeared. And no great plan but I still held onto my desire.

I would read and reread Think and grow Rich by Napoleon Hill. It was my inspirations. I would read over and over – even if you don’t have a firm plan get started and hold onto your dreams. About ten years prior a guy I met asked me what I wanted to do with my life. I told him make a million dollars. He gave me the book and told me to read and reread it. I still have the book today, almost thirty years later and I did read it and reread it until the pages are nearly falling out of the book. It inspired me to seek my dreams. One day I mentioned to a woman I barely knew that I wanted to leave Maine and go to Los Angles. How I was going to do it, I did not know. Little did I know that she would …

Doctor Lynn

http://www.doctorlynn.com/

Back-story – 5 July 12th

My ex-husband turned himself in the US Navy and was immediately arrested and put into shackles. I will never forget seeing a young scared man being shackled and forced into the back of a paddy wagon. He was detained for about a week and then sent to Boston to the Naval Brigg to await trial. We were about to face together a Court Marshal. The military is very rigid and has its rules and procedures. A trial was set, our attorney coached us. I wrote a letter to our Senator and told her how we were two scared young adults just trying to rectify a mistake. She wrote me back a letter to give to the presiding judge. She asked him to be lenient because after all, we did return on our own volition.


I took a bus to Boston the day of the trial. We sat together with our attorney holding hands, pale and afraid. I had never been in a court room in my life and here I was in a military court room watching my husband go through a court marshal. And on top of it I would need to testify.

The judge came in the room, dressed in full military uniform. We presented our case. He sentenced my husband to six months hard labor in the Boston military brig. He would still receive his military pay and I would receive a wife’s benefit. If he behaved he would be released in six months from the military with an honorable discharge. We smiled, hugged and he was taken away.

Each week I would board a bus and make the trip to Boston to visit my husband. Hard labor consisted of a cell with a bathroom which he need to be locked into at night. In the morning he got up the door was unlocked, he went to work and then in his free time all the men in the brig had a center room with cable TV, games, music, books and good food. They could take classes. My husband spent his leisure time playing guitar with some other guys. Someone inside was capping mescaline and someone was dealing joints hidden in packages of cigarettes. I was allowed to visit, although I had to empty my purse and pockets (checking for drugs). After the first month when I came to visit my husband was allowed to leave the building and go about the grounds as long as he returned on time. We both played by all the rules. He was a model prisoner and I was the dutiful wife. He was released a month early on good behavior with an honorable discharge.

Doctor Lynn

www.doctorlynn.com

Back-story –post 4 July 9

Rochdale was a free college located in downtown Toronto. The classes were free to anyone who wanted to attend. You just wandered in, found a class and attended. Now that was the premise; however once inside it was a different story. At the entrance to the college gate stood two burly biker/bouncer looking guys. To get past these guys you had to know someone inside. We happened to get a name from a friend who got it from a friend and so on. Once inside you would wander the hallways stopping in certain rooms where you could buy any recreational drug you desired. Marijuana of course was the big “hit” as well as other harder drugs. In other words it was the place to buy drugs. You would sit down in the dorm room, try the pot and if you liked it buy it and leave. Nobody seemed to care what was happening within the gates of Rochdale. It was a peaceful self regulated place, where you could take classes and yes they had a cafeteria and a garden as well as a library and all the things that make up a University.


I had my first cup of yogurt in the Rochdale cafeteria. I had my first tastes of Indian food while living in Toronto. I learned the bus and subway system and could travel all over the city. It was clean and safe but a long ways from home. After two years we got homesick and realized that to make a difference one needs to become absorbed in the system. Rebelling and fighting the system has never worked. To work from within, get involved, and vote although seemingly to conform was better than living in exile and rebelling against something we could not change from far away.

The problem was my then boy-friend and now my ex-husband was a deserter from the US navy, wanted by the US government. We could not just go back. So we contacted our families. My ex-husbands father was a career man in the Navy and still active. Although he was extremely upset at what we had done, he arrange for a military lawyer to speak with us. The lawyer told my ex-husband that we should get married and then return to the US. He should turn himself in peacefully. Our defense would be that I had thought I was pregnant and we did not know what to do so we ran away to Toronto.

So on July 25th of that year we stood before a justice of the peace, with two witnesses in Toronto Canada and got hitched. The next morning we boarded a bus for Maine. When came to the boarder we had papers which allowed us to cross into the U.S. without any interference. I remember the border guards’ looking at everyone’s papers and being so afraid that they would catch us. You see it would be in our favor to come back and turn ourselves in rather than be arrested by the border guards. We passed the test, re-boarded the bus and continued the almost 12 hour journey home. Once home…

Doctor Lynn

www.doctorlynn.com
www.facebook.com/pages/doctor-lynn

Back story – post 3

Ever heard the phrase, “the black sheep of the family,”? That was me. I was different than the other children on the island. They all were happy to conform and wanted nothing more than to live the simple life. They would grow up, get married, stay and work in the community and many die without ever leaving the state of Maine. Not me…I wanted to travel, dance, be a writer, get an education and live as far away from that tiny island as possible. I was a dreamer, an artist and a rebellious child. You see my father left when I was very young. I look exactly like him and as far as I can figure out I am a lot like him. He was a dreamer and an artist and had a very hard time settling down to a small town life with a family. I wanted to see the world, experience life and create. I could not conform, which frustrated my family and labeled me the black sheep. I was not ostracized or banished to some far corner of the island but I did spend a lot of time by myself day dreaming about leaving the Island and seeing the world. This was frond upon. I was told I did not have options other than to stray and become part of the clan. When you take options away from a dreamer, you kill something in their soul. But I was determined and could not be bridled in. I was a spirited child.


The summer I turned fourteen. I fell in love for the first time, wrote a book of poetry and smoked my first joint. The summer kids arrived and along with them came my Uncle who was four years older than me ( my Grandmother was a school teacher and came to the island for summer vacation). My Uncle befriended the other summer kids and one of them was a young boy three years my senior. It was love at first sight. He was romantic, funny and from Philadelphia! He was my touchstone to the outside world. He really understood my romantic nature and truly cared for me, even though his father disapproved of him seeing an Island girl. This was the summer of Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. My uncle and the summer kids had discovered marijuana, music and hippiedom . My uncle got me high and so began my journey into becoming a rebellious hippie.

Two summer’s later I went to Woodstock and two years later I met my ex-husband and we ran off to Toronto to join the American Deserted Movement in protest of the Vietnam War. We lived in Toronto in a commune and worked for the underground, bringing draft dodgers and deserters across the border and helping them get landed immigrant papers. We did a lot of drugs, roamed the streets of Toronto and were fugitives from the law. My ex husband was a deserter and wanted by the US government. I was investigated by the FBI who went to my parent’s house and told them they were investigating me as a possible militant. We were neither. We were just two lonely kids in search of a dream. We both just wanted out of our family situations for different reasons but with a common cause.

Toronto was a very exciting city in those days. I remember the day I walked into my first Communist party meeting; a group of very radical people with very radical ideas. Now to me growing up, communism was bad and since these people seemed so radical I wasted no time moving on. There was some talk about linking up with the black panthers and storming the border with guns. This seemed a bit foolish to me and since I am not a violent person I never went near the communist party again.

We were very young and naïve. But almost two years in the city living amongst the anti-war movement groups certainly gave me perspective on life. And all the drugs…let me tell you about Rochdale the free college…

Doctor Lynn

http:/www.doctorlynn.com

Back-story

Although my book is on Natural Sexual Health it’s also about magic, love and the tenacity to make dreams come true. My first exposure to folk medicine was in my youth. Without a doctor or hospital close by there was always someone with something that could be used for fever, aches, colds, cuts, flues, infections and any other maladies that might be fixable with a little touch of caring hands. For example: I can remember being given a little elderberry wine from the root cellar where my grandmother kept her canned and bottled preserves. Elderberries grew wildly all over the island. The berries have been used since ancient times as a medicine. They are rich in vitamin c and a strong tonic for strengthening a weak system. This is where I got my basic recipe for my Pep Berry Rob Nectar which is an immune boosting nectar of elderberries, other herbs, berry flavoring and honey. We would help my mother pick wild rose hips form the wild roses that grew along the shoreline. She would make a rose hip jelly that was wonderful in the winter on toast and provided us with vitamin c through the long winter months when fruit was hard to come by. Another example would be using burdock as a poultice (bandage to cover a wound) to draw out infection from a wound. As children we ran wildly and played freely in the coves and on the ledges of the ocean; always barefoot. As we ran along the ledges near the shoreline, we would sometimes cut our feet on barnacles. The first thing you did was soak your feet in the salt water from the ocean. It would clean and heal like an antiseptic. We used hot tea bags full of warm herbs for eye infections and smoke from herbs blown into the ears for earaches. But mostly it was healthy local foods and lots of fresh air.


I never liked going to the Doctor or taking allopathic medicines. There have been times when I had to see a doctor and take medicine. My belief and my background teaches me that a balance between the two; allopathic and holistic medicine is best. It is good to stabilize and eradiate pain but then it is best to look at diet and other natural causative practices.

My childhood had many tough times, as well as being rich with folklore, the simple life and a feeling of community that seems so secure. Nobody locked their doors or took the keys out of their cars. If you needed a car and yours wasn’t available you just used your neighbors. If you need an egg or flour you just went across the street and helped yourself. We had barn raisings, community dinners, skating parties, sledding parties, made homemade ice cream, ran freely through the woods and shore line of the island. We all had little boats, places to swim and lots of time to play. But we also had to work.

We all had to help with the chores and everyone did something to contribute to the family. The boys would help their fathers on the fishing boats and the girls would help the mothers with canning, cooking and domestic chores. In the summertime the “summer people” would come to vacation. So e worked in the little motels, restaurants and curiosity shops that dotted the island. We always had money, boats, cars and fun. I grew up with a strong sense of the Protestant work ethic. And a Yankee thrift point of view. I learned to make a silk purse out of a sows ear.

My early childhood was easy even though to most people we probably lived a poor and difficult life. It was not easy to grow up in a very rural and isolate part of the world. But it was easy, safe and carefree. You didn’t have one mother and father; you had Aunts Uncles, Cousins, Grandparents, siblings and a host of neighbors all looking out for each other. It was truly a community. But I was an odd child and given to spending a lot of time by myself contemplating the world…

Doctor Lynn

http:/www.doctorlynn.com

The Back Story -July , 2010

You would have to know where I’m coming from to understand the nature of what I am doing. There is a back story to my book, my videos and my nectars. The pieces of a long held dream are materializing like some kind of portal that opened up in the universe and suddenly let me step through. It’s been a lifetime trying to get here; overcoming obstacles and disappointments.


My parents divorced when I was very young. My mother remarried and we moved onto a small Island off the coast of Maine. I’m going back fifty-three years. Maine by itself was very rural and isolated fifty plus years ago. The Island was even more isolated. The population was about 500. It was a small rural fishing village. We had two small general stores, a local crank phone at the post office for emergency use only, one barely paved road, a community hall and a volunteer fire department. That pretty much made up the town. It was like living in a fish bowl. Everyone knew everyone’s business.

Fishing and summer tourism were the only industries. Women sewed, knitted, cleaned, cooked, raised the children, canned and foraged for wild berries and native vegetables and fruits. The women also worked alongside the men repairing fishing gear and occasionally giving a helping hand as a deck hand on the fishing boats. Life was simple and at the same time very harsh. The winters were long and cold with little contact from or into the outside world.

I grew up eating organic before it even had a name. We ate fresh what was in season. The women would can and freeze the fresh fruits and vegetables, as well as fresh fish, for the long winter ahead. In the fall the men would hunt for game and this game would be frozen, again, for the long winter ahead. Often times this was the only meat we would eat throughout the winter. Everything was natural with no preservatives. Fast food and junk food did not exist accept for the penny candy and donuts that could be bought at Sidney Watson’s general store. The general store was the place to buy provisions such as bread, flour, baking goods, coffee and, yes donuts. The fisherman loved donuts. Donuts and coffee was a staple in the morning on the fishing boats. They came in a cardboard box with a plastic see through window. There were only two kinds. Chocolate or vanilla with white powdery sugar or chocolate and vanilla covered with shredded coconut. Otherwise any kind of treat came from your mother’s or grandmother’s kitchen.

As a young child the only thing that existed outside this tiny village was the town about an hour by car north of the island. The town had a few banks, a real grocery store and a small main street with a Woolworths, a hardware store, a pharmacy, a pizza parlous, a donut store and a couple of clothing stores. In the summer we would go to town once a week but in the winter because of weather and road conditions it might be only once a month.

My mother was a very good seamstress so she made most of my clothes. I have to say she dressed me well. She also gave me advantages that others did not get. She loved the ballet and the theater so she enrolled me in dance classes, theatre, music and ice skating. She made me little costumes and entered me in competitions. I was a natural and loved to dance and act. She also insisted I be a lady. She would put a book on my head and make me walk around the house balancing the book. This she assured me would give me good posture and teach me to walk like lady. Manners were strongly enforced and cleanliness was promoted as next to godliness.

I went to a two room school house. We walked to school. Everyone had a dog and so the dogs walked to school with us. There was no running water, indoor plumbing or central heat in the little school house. For water we used large ceramic jugs with a spout and paper cups that slid out of a neatly packed container. They weren’t cups but rather looked like small envelopes or small funnels that would fit over your fingers. Besides using them for drinking we would color faces on them and use them as hand puppets.

The outhouses were outside just around the corner from the school. There were the boys and the girl’s outhouses. Each had two stalls. However the boys had holes poked through the inside so they could peak into the girl’s outhouse. It would be reported, plugged up and new holes would appear. You had to put on your boots and coat and run like mad through the cold winter wind to the outhouse where you wasted no time doing what you had to do and then would run quickly back inside to warm yourself over the wood stove that warmed the tiny school house. The dogs would come inside on really cold days and lay beside the stove while we attended school. We each took turns feeding wood into the stove.

Life was simple and uncomplicated. It was a million miles away from what someday would become my home the city of Los Angeles.

When it came to ill health, folk medicine was employed. And this is the foundation of my roots which lay buried and hidden for many years under a shroud of embarrassment. You see by the town folk’s standards we were called “clam diggers” or a derogatory term for rural fisherman. I understand what it’s like to be poor and rural and at the same time proud and rich. The town folk’s saw us as pagans who often used folk medicine. There was and still is something odd and at the same time magical about paganism.

It’s part of my heritage. It’s the back story…

Doctor Lynn

http:/www.doctorlynn.com

And this too will pass

Today I won’t go to the gym. I won’t teach any classes but I will practice yoga. I am about to leave for my two year follow-up MRI from my cancer surgery. This is only a follow-up and part of the process of being placed in remission. However the thought of an MRI is filled with past memories. The MRI was how the cancer was finally detected. It’s a solitary experience as you are pushed into the tube, left alone with only your thoughts and the distant calling out of the operator to take a deep breath and hold. Every time I have had a MRI the operators have told me I am very good at holding still and holding my breath. Yoga is how I do it. I pull myself into a cocoon, silence the world and put my mind into a meditative state. It’s as if time stands still.


Am I a bit anxious? You bet I am! Last time the nurse mistakenly hit an artery and with blood spurting all over the place I passed out cold on the floor. When I woke up a nurse standing over me and ready to call the emergency service. These kinds of memories sure can make one anxious the next time you encounter the same situation.

So my doctor prescribed Ativan. Once in the machine and under the influence of ativan I was relaxed. A couple of times I almost fell asleep. Time drifted by slowly without a lot of thought. I just laid still encapsulated in a nonchalant time machine capturing images of my pelvis and abdominal area. It only took about one hour and then I was released back into the world. I walked out into the sunshine that to me was a haze that looked out upon a slow moving world. But I was moving slow too. It all seemed so real and so passive. Everything was gentle, soft and flowing. I smiled as I noticed how different my perspective had become. A small pill made my world seem placid and muted and I drifted away without any emotions or caring. I just existed in a state of passiveness with no pleasure and no pain. Everything became dull and muted with just the drop of a tiny pill. I am sitting quietly contemplating this state of being and now anxiously waiting a return to the vibrant perspective of a world not clouded with allopathic drugs. I appreciate the coming clarity to my brain. Observing without judgment.

Doctor Lynn

http://www.doctorlynn.com/

Measure of Success

We measure our success by the number of fans we have, the amount of money we make, where we live, what we do, what we drive and the money we have in the bank. But sometimes success is measured by our failures. About a year ago I had an idea for a new exercise class. I put the class together, found an open time slot to teach and  taught the class for 4 weeks. It bombed!  The idea was good and everyone liked the concept but it lacked structure. One month ago I taught a segment of the new and revised version  of this class and it was a success. My success came from my failure and because I taught the class to the same group of peole who took this class a year ago,  I knew I was getting good feedback. They loved it and asked for more.
The moral of the story is; had I of given up and went out in defeat I would not have developed my new class. Instead I realized that it was not a failure but simply something wrong with my plan. So I set about to restructure my idea into a new plan and this time it looks like it's going to work. There are no failures just plans that need to be restructured. Each time it appears you have failed just revise your plan and go at it again. Thinks about this: - how many times did it take Edison to get it right?
Doctor Lynn

Put it out There

It's Saturday and the end of my week. One more class to teach and I'm done for 36 hours. This week I shot a video, did a photo shoot, found commercial space for my new project, signed a contract, taught my classes, registered my trademark, paid the bills, created my playlist and still found time to chat with a good friend. One thing I know is that if you put the right enegy out into the universe things come to you in strange and exciting ways. That's what my book is really about - how to do it and succeed. But as they say - you should never teach anything you havn't already mastered. Stay tuned...
Doctor Lynn

Stay to Task

It’s interesting how my ability to make things happen is sharpening itself again. With a little projection and a lot of concentrated energy the pieces of my plan are falling into place. It’s a skill. It’s an ability to focus and then release my desires without attachment and wait for the right time and the right opportunity to arise. It’s about being unperturbed by rejection and disappointment with the full realization that the time and the situation is not right for me at this time.


This week I’m shooting my video for my new exercise class. I have the crew, the facility, the trademark, the concept and the program all organized and ready to go. Last minute details like clothes, food, storyboards, contracts, releases and hair, make-up and nails are all that are left to do. And then we spend the unglamorous and long full day of shooting over and over to get it right. It’s a lot of hard work but I will stay to task and get the job done.

Here’s how it works. I need to give up two yoga classes because the facility where I teach is rundown and the company does not care. I am losing students because the room is filthy. My students have asked me to open my own studio but I just could not find the right situation. I told a lot of people that I was looking and that I would open a studio when I found the right place. In my mind I formed the right time, place and situation. My step daughter in-law asked me about teaching yoga for her employees. I told her I was looking for studio space. She went to her husband’s high school reunion and sat next to a young woman who owned a Pilates studio, was looking for a cycle/yoga instructor and had studio space to sublet. I am looking for a new cycle/yoga class and studio space. She introduced us.

The space is not going to work for my purpose; however it made me think about another space and another way to solve my problem. Every path you follow whether successful or not always lead to another opportunity if you keep your eyes and your mind open.

Doctor Lynn

It’s coming together

Yesterday I did my new video exercise class for my yoga ball students. They loved it and encouraged me to make the video. These people are the best support. They inspire me to reach beyond myself and create. They give me energy. It’s funny how they all tell me that I motivate them. They tell me I say just the right words at the right time to make their day. I am calming, balancing and centered. But they give me so much more. Everyone I have met through my many years of teaching has been a source of inspiration that spurred me on even when I felt tired, sick, sad, lonely and discouraged. And yes I do feel these emotions and experience hard times. I’m just like everyone else. I cry, I laugh, I love and I get sick. When I was diagnosed with cancer, my students stood by me and sent me words and thoughts of good health. They even arranged a group prayer for me even though I am not religious. When I shared with them recently that I had hit the two year mark of post cancer surgery without incident, they cheered me on. Teachers and especially exercise teachers get paid very little for their time. We do it because we love doing it. Our reward is the smiles, the changes we make and the times when someone tells you that what you said or what you did made a difference in their life. Rewards in life are not always monetary. Some time they are subtle and come disguised in the good fortune of meeting and interacting with wonderful people. So as I continue onward, writing my book, producing my new exercise program and creating my nectars I thank all of you for inspiring me to take the leap. Stay tuned and follow me through this journey and I promise you the secret to inner balance will be revealed. Oh and the book is scheduled for publication in August with the video coming out in July. Sign up for my free newsletter at www.doctorlynn.com so I can stay in touch. Follow me on Face book at Doctor Lynn and on twitter.


Doctor Lynn

6/15-6/16-6/17

Tuesday I met with a photographer who was refereed by my marketing consultant who happens to be just right for me and really gets what I’m doing. It's amazing how when you get the energy moving things happen. These days I’m crazy busy running from one appointment or project to another. The next six weeks are crucial to bringing all the pieces together. Anne the photographer is doing a photo shoot for my website, book and exercise video. We connected immediately. One thing I’ve learned about filming is that the object and the artist must connect for there to be something beyond the ordinary. As an artist whatever your medium when the energy connects creativity moves to a higher level. Here is a flow of energy that takes over your body-mind and moves you into the moment. You experience that moment of complete connection in the here and now.




Yesterday I had lunch with a friend that I have not seen for over six months. She used to come to my yoga class until she got really busy with a new and exciting job. She is a business woman with a strong marketing sense. We laughed, cried and shared even though we are different. I am the artist and she is the strong business woman. Her life like mine has been one of struggle as a single mother raising two children. We both have such a strong sense of independence and self reliance. We both are in second marriages and struggle with the nuances of these marriages. She gets it when I roll my eyes and talk about the difficulties of ex’s, children, adjustment, money, careers, friends, family and how very different it is from the early days when you first get married, start a life and build a family. How naïve we are to think it will all be simple. I shared with her the essence of my book and as I knew she would, she supported my work. She understands that I am doing this from a labor of love and a need to create and express. Lunch was too short. We could have talked for hours. Women…we never run out of things to say!



Today I am going to test out my exercise routine. I’m shooting the video that goes with the book next Wednesday. Fortunately for me I have a great group of people who will let me rehearse my routine in my yoga classes. I connect with my classes. Why? Because I care and I give with passion. I love what I do and the people I meet. I meet the most interesting people in my 8 plus classes I teach each week. I learn so much from them. I motivate them and they inspire me. It’s early in the morning and I must go over my routine so that I have it locked into my head before I go to class. Practice makes perfect… so it has been said. Add a little focus, passion and belief, and you have the magic to make things happen.



Doctor Lynn

www.doctorlynn.com

Another Day at Work 6/15/10

My days are so full with writing my book, and now eight days away from filming the exercise video that compliments the book. I came up with the idea for the video about two months ago. Now I’ve done videos before and they cost a lot of money. This time my budget was almost zilch. So I posted an add on Craig’s list for student interns who wanted to do a filming project. The response was overwhelming. Not just students but professional camera people who were between jobs and wanted something fun and easy to add to their resume. I met with John, camera man /director who happened to have all the equipment we needed and then signed on two interns. Lucky for me I live in a building with a beautiful function room which will work great for the video and is mine to use for free. The cost to me is the food and extras for the shoot. I do intend to give each person some money as a show of appreciation. As well I will list John as the director and camera man on the credits and give him permission to show my video as part of his work. I’m also giving the interns credit on the video which will give them something tangible to put on their resumes. Now all I have to do is spend the next eight days getting my routine down, get an outfit to wear, buy lunch and snacks and make it a fun day for everyone. If I told you I used a little magic to make this all happen you might think me a bit mad. But when you read my book, which will be published in August 2010 you’ll understand what I mean.


Doctor Lynn

PS - where there's a will -  there's a way

The Brass Ring

Today I wrote 30 pages of my book in about ten minutes. How did I accomplish such a feat in such a short amount of time? Preparation and Technology. It all goes back to the simple philosophy of doing what you love to do even if you don’t have a viable plan to put into action. You see, about ten years ago I knew I wanted to write a book and get it published. I did get a few small books published; however I had one book in mind that I could not seem to get to a point of destination. However, I sat faithfully at my computer and wrote, tucking away different manuscripts in my computer files. The time was not right to publish but the time was right to create. There were loops, gaps and pieces missing from the mosaic of my life. I had to complete parts of the picture before I could get back to my original idea. I remember sitting alone in my small apartment not quite sure where life would take me. But rather than sit in depression and discouragement I wrote and I wrote and I wrote tucking away reams of written work. Today as I started a new chapter in the book I went through my files and found 113 pages that would become two new chapters in my new book. I simply did a cut and a paste and a new chapter was born. My time had not been wasted. This philosophy that I learned a long time ago served me well. Don’t wait for your master plan to be fully formed before you begin to create. Create and adjust as you go along. Start where you are with a focus to the future and the master plan will unfold in due time. Nothing comes together and nothing happens until the time is right but if you sit back ideally waiting for the time to be right, when the time is right you won’t be ready to strike. So whatever your dream, even if you can’t clearly see the big picture, start where you are to make your dreams come true and in time when all is ready, whatever you desire will manifest. It will not be as you originally thought it would be, for over time things change, however what is meant to be will come to pass and when the brass ring is thrown you’ll be there to catch it. Two thirds of my book is complete. Each chapter I write brings a deeper understanding of the nature of my subject. What is it? Stay tuned…
Visit my website http://www.doctorlynn.com/ and see me on facebook at doctor lynn

Doctor Lynn

Just do it

Over twenty-five years ago someone gave me a book which I still have in my possession. It is tattered and worn but extremely valuable to me. The title is Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill. The main premise of the book is that you can accomplish anything you set your mind to as long as you follow the thirteen basic principles outlined in the book. One of the basic principles is to start where you are no matter what and implement your plan even if it doesn’t make any sense or you really don’t know where you are going.


Twenty-five year ago I knew I had something to do but I wasn’t really sure what it was. So I took the first step and traversed a long and tough road but with each step I accumulated knowledge and experience which has served me well. It brought me to this place in my life. Looking back I can see how each goal that I accomplished was but a building block and although they did not always appear to be compatible, all the various journeys of my life led me here. The bits and pieces of my life all seem to be bound by a common thread…and in finding this common thread it all seems to make sense.

All dreams begin with a burning desire. Without desire nothing happens. It is the ability to hang onto that desire through all sorts of hard and discouraging times, which separate the winners from the losers. Dreams are not realized through laziness, indifference and lack of ambition.

As I spend the endless hours writing my book and developing my projects I do pass through those moments where I ask myself why I am working so hard. I don’t need to work. I could become the stereotypical Beverly Hills Housewife with nothing to do but shop and get my hair and nails done. I could kick back, travel and ideal away the time. But something in me is driven to accomplish my creative goals. It’s a burning desire.

I’ve been disappointed, rejected, abused, mocked, discouraged and broke. But deep inside there has always been a burning desire that no amount of failure could extinguish. I’ve always believed that the only failure is when you lose the desire and pack away your dreams.

My book may not make it to the best seller and it may get rejected by the publishers but I have a backup plan and fully intend to see my dream become a reality. Success I have found is not the end result but all the tiny steps along the way. It’s the little steps that are the essence of life.

If you are on your own creative path, whatever that may be, remember this story:

There was a miner who worked a mine for several years. He spent all his money and still nothing happened. One day he sold the mine to another person. The next person dug for one foot and struck gold. The first miner stopped just one foot from finding his fortune. In my journey through life I have learned one thing. When you have exhausted all your money and all your energy, just make one more call, take one more step, and move forward just one more foot. Never give up just one foot from the “goal”.

Doctor Lynn

If for Not

With full speed ahead I am continuing to write my book. Last week the proposal went off to two agents and today I registered the copyright. I have been working feverishly to stay on schedule dedicating hours each day to writing and organizing the book. Sometimes I get so lost in the project that time slips away and so do all the other things that exist in my life. Conversations and time spent with friends and family is selfishly guarded by me. I feel the crunch of time and the clock ticking away. I’m very good at setting goals and reaching them ahead of schedule. I learned this early in life as a young single mother putting myself through college. I always had to give myself room in case something happened at the last minute that needed my attention; like a sick child or a child’s school project. I’m happiest when I have a goal and am under the pressure to make a deadline. I’m selfish and greedy with my time. I can spend hours alone self absorbed. But what if all this work is for “not”? What if after it is all written and done nothing happens? This is the question I ask myself when I take the time to come up from the keyboard and breathe.


Then the phone rings and my daughter calls. I stop and take the time to listen. She asks me about the truth. What does it mean to be truthful? In a literal sense it means not to lie but the truth cannot be applied so easily as truth like everything else is relative. The one deciding factor is the truth should always be lived with two thoughts in mind; do no harm and always do what brings the greatest good for the many. Sometimes the sacrifice of one is best to preserve the whole.

I return to my writing. The truth looks me in the face. My book may not become a best seller but it will get published. The publishing arm is in place. It may or may not make any money but a few copies will be sold. When it is finished I will feel that sweet moment of accomplishment and then it will float away. Something new will take its place. May-be book number two? Whatever it is – the truth is- I love what I’m doing, I’m doing no harm and whatever the turnout when you’re happy you bring the greatest good to the many.

Doctor Lynn

No, No, Yes, Yes

Last week I felt the wrath of rejection. We’ve all felt that painful emotional low that comes from hearing the word, no. Rejection is so hard to take unless we can separate it from the personal and accept it as simply a step along the way to success.

Last week I receive two rejections. Not because my product and idea were not good but simply because it did not fit with the image, style or direction of the companies. One rejection came with an understanding and a bit of kindness and the other came with a harsh and cold, “no.” I did not take it to heart because I know that life is full of ups and downs. You just have to keep trying until you find the right fit. And if your first plan doesn’t work, make another plan until you find the one that fits.

Because of the rejections a doorway opened and in popped two acceptances! And then I met with a person who showed me another opportunity that I would never have seen had I been accepted by the first two and put my energy into fulfilling an obligation. A whole new opportunity and direction opened up to me because I got rejected!

Yoga teaches us that there are three basic fears in life. The fear of not being loved, the fear of death and the fear of being rejected or not accepted are the ultimate fears in life. Fear manifests itself in the body as an imbalance in the water element. In a state of fear a person sheds tears, sweats and loses control of the bladder. If fear creeps in, especially through rejection, sit on the floor with your legs crossed, lean forward and with your fists lightly pound the kidney area. Then sit up straight, close your eyes and visualize the sun inside your body behind your navel point. As you inhale the sun gets warmer and as you exhale the sun gets brighter.

So the moral of the story is; open yourself up to rejection and you might just find an opportunity!

Doctor Lynn

www.doctorlynn.com

Rejection

This week I worked so hard to get the first 50 pages of my book edited so I could submit a proposal to agents. After completing the editing process which took long hours and total discipline, I decide to go fishing and see if I could get some interest. Afterall I did have something tangible to submit to an agent even if the book is still in process. So I wrote a brief email and sent it to about a dozen agents. As I pushed the send button on each email I felt the pit of possible rejectoin in my belly but at the same time felt the exhileration of the possibility of acceptance in my heart.
Rejection is a very hard emotion to feel. Most of our lives we hold back because of the fear of failure and rejection. But now at this stage in my life I have felt enough rejection to let the slam of a door push me to open another. They say it takes 100 no-s to get a yes. It takes making one more call or sending one more email after you have exhausted your energy to make it happen. It reminds me of the miner who stopped one feet from the gold, sold his claim and the next person became rich. Never stop when you believe in something and never stop believing in yourself. It's only when we give up that we fail.
So I have now started to recieve my rejection letters. Two to be exact. However the rejections differ. The first rejection was from a woman who chastised me for using her first name in the greeting of my email. She went on ranting and raving about how I did not even know her. How dare I address her by her first name! Then she went on to let me know that my questions ( how would she like me to submit the proposal) were stupid. She wrote a whole page of half strung together sentences that did not make any sense at all. The email was the equivalent of an 8x11 page. I wanted to email back and tell her she did not know me well enough to send such a lengthy email, but I refrained. None of her sentences were complete or made any sense. And this woman promoted herself as a professional literary agent!
Then I received another rejection email.Everything was friendly and on first name basis. The agent thanked me for the query and said it was not for them but that I should not take this as a rejection of my work. It just did not fit with their need at this time. They ecouraged me to submit to other agents because," it only takes one yes to make it happen."
So I have received 2 rejections and if the statistics are right only 98 more and I'll get my yes. Remember in life there is a nice way to handle matters and a nasty way. Karma doesn't happen immeditely but it is true that life does become what life does. Stay tuned for the next chapter.

Takes Discipline

In my yoga class this month we are practicing the path of celibacy or more specifically the path of self discipline. When the senses are over stimulated and the mind is scattered and cravings springforth it is difficult to find peace and creativity. When we take the time to quiet the mind and slip into a quiet moment in time where body-mind surrender to the peace of the soul what emerges is a burst of creativity, insight and wisdom. But it takes discipline to get there. Writing a book takes discipline. One must block out time and committ to a solitary existance allowing creativity to spring forth onto the pages.  I've completed the first 60 pages of my book. The pages have been sent off to an editor. Once edited, I'll make the corrections page by page, line by line, word by word. Then it's off to the four agents and one publisher who have agreed to look at my proposal. They will either reject or accept...in either case I will keep writing. Then changes will need to be made. The rest of the book will need to be written, edited, changed, submitted, reviewed, changed and may-be published. It will take over a year from conception to finish...it is the creative process. It's all about discipline and the strength to endure rejection and then keep coming back to a place where the process of creativity out weighs the end result. Celibacy means when you write, you write and when you love, you love. It is the art of self discipline and focus.
My book is a natuoapthic look at sexual health with a hint of lust, lore and magic. And what is sexual health but creativity at it's best.... discipline...it take a quiet focused mind.

Every book begins with a blank page

The idea rumbled around in my head for a good six months. I knew I wanted to rewrite a book I had written many years ago. I wantd to update it and give it the maturity and professionalism that it lacked. I wanted it to be more than just another book on health. After all the subject matter is sexual health and sexual health is sure to get attention. Like it or not - sex sells! So for six months I thought about the project and stared blankly at a blank screen unable to get it started. The book dovetails my nectar, Damiana's Nectar - an herbal concoction mixed with chocolate, honey and a drop of magic. It was from the discovery of this nectar that I happened to find sexual health. Now if you think sexual health is only about the "deed" you'll miss the point of the book and the magic of charisma, sensuality, passion and love will slip through your fingers. Follow along with me as I soldier through the discipline it will take to get this book ready for the agent and then onto the publisher. I'll share with you my progress as well as the sory of  Damiana's Nectar.
Doctor Lynn