CONNECTION + COMMUNICATION Page 5 of 21

Remembering the Tsunami and rebuilding Thailand

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This is a guest post from Claire Le Hur who is cycling to China with her fiancé Stuart Block. The couple started their journey in East Africa and followed new ‘silk roads’ charting the journey of key natural resources as part of an exciting new education project. Claire is riding a bamboo bike, built by an African social enterprise and Stuart is riding a tandem, keeping the back seat free for those they meet en route. They will also be raising money and awareness for two great educational charities. Find out more about Claire’s big adventure here.

Claire Le Hur

Kind Buddhist monks, stunning temples, beautiful art, nice drivers (except in Bangkok), picture-perfect beaches, rice, dogs, cock fighting, funerals, inspiring stories and finally, some cycle tourists. Our month in Thailand was eventful, colourful and bursting with creativity manifesting in different ways.

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Knee deep in books and ideas…

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I hope this finds you basking in the same kind of glorious sunshine we are enjoying here in the south of England. I am just back from a few days at the Hay Festival (of books), and How The Light Gets In, a festival of ideas and philosophy, both held in the sweet Welsh town of Hay-on-Wye.

Hay on Wye Festival

My mind was left buzzing so much from the events that I have hardly slept since I got back. Today I’m going to share a few pictures and thoughts from Hay, and next week I’ll share some insight into the fascinating ideas festival.

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The Hay Festival is one of the most famous literary festivals in the UK. It pulls in big name authors and crowds of 1000+ people to hear them talk, but it also has smaller intimate events where you can ask your favourite authors anything you like. I went to a wide range of events, from a Q&A with Sarah Bakewell, author of ‘At The Existentialist Café: Freedom, Being and Apricot Cocktails‘, to a session with Anthony Lester QC, author of ‘Five ideas to fight for: How our freedom is under threat and why it matters’ and the barrister at the heart of the thirty year campaign that resulted in the Human Rights Act.

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As you can see there is a bit of a theme going on here… no surprise that I was interested in talks on the theme of freedom with my own book deadline just around the corner, and freedom on my mind…

All the talks were interesting but the one which really blew me away was Ruby Wax on mindfulness. She was hilarious, powerful, knowledgeable, down-to-earth and very real. If I can ever hold a room the way she did, I’ll be proud! I’m looking forward to reading her book, ‘Frazzled‘.

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The main thing I learnt was that it takes all sorts to be an author. The most important thing is to write a really good book, but after that it helps if you can talk about it in a compelling way, with a touch of humour and a bucketload of humanity.

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Depending on your view of books, spending several days at a literary festival may seem like a luxury or a trial, but to me it was a fantastic opportunity to think deeply about certain ideas, to interact with authors and have a lot of fun people watching! It was refreshment for the brain.

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This week I challenge you to take yourself to some kind of event which takes you out of your comfort zone and pushes you to think differently about something you are interested in.

Have a good one!

Beth

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PS: We have another ‘Mastermind Week’ coming up next week in ‘Reach. Teach. Profit. The E-Course Creation Masterclass’ so if you want the opportunity to pick my brain about anything e-course related, make sure you are signed up to class by Monday June 13! You can register here.

Tea with a Lord and other Sunday stories

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It’s not every Sunday afternoon that I take tea with a real life Lord, but that’s what happened yesterday. Oscar-winning film producer Lord David Puttnam was the President of UNICEF UK when I worked there a decade or so ago, and he became a great mentor and a friend. He’s one of those people who makes you think anything is possible, every time you talk to him.

David is an impressive man on so many levels – before his work in education and international development, he spent thirty years as an independent producer of award-winning films including The Mission, The Killing Fields, Chariots of Fire, Bugsy Malone and Memphis Belle. His films have won ten Oscars, 25 Baftas and the Palme D’Or at Cannes. He also has more honorary degrees than I can keep track of.

But the thing that made him such a shining light for me wasn’t actually any of that. It was his deep-rooted commitment to furthering human potential. We worked together on one huge project which brought sporting opportunities to over 12 million children across the world. Together with David Bull, the inspirational Chief Executive of UNICEF UK, we pitched it to the government and a host of sporting bigwigs. We then spent several years building a complex partnership to make it happen, and its legacy lives on. Time and again in the process we came up against brick walls, but instead of banging his head against them, Lord Puttnam always kept the end in mind, and found a way round or over, or reconstructed the wall completely.

What I have learned from him: Keep your eye on the prize. Fight for what you believe in. Don’t let bureaucracy stand in the way of big, brilliant ideas.

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Why getting older means getting better

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Is the best really yet to come? Definitely! We love these articles in The Huffington Post about why life gets better with age…

Conscious Living and Sustainability: The Capacity to Endure

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This is a guest post from Claire Le Hur who is cycling to China with her fiancé Stuart Block. The couple will start their journey in East Africa where they will follow new ‘silk roads’ charting the journey of key natural resources as part of an exciting new education project. Claire will be riding a bamboo bike, built by an African social enterprise and Stuart will ride a tandem, keeping the back seat free for those they meet en route. They will also be raising money and awareness for two great educational charities. Find out more about Claire’s big adventure here.

Claire Le Hur

Our endurance challenge has opened our eyes to the ubiquitous issues of drought and deforestation and the importance of doing our bit to help protect the Earth’s natural ecosystems and contribute to sustainability.

Here are a few of some of the small sustainable enterprises that we have encountered on this trip…

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Why it’s worth caring about fragments of handwritten memory

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I have been spending a lot of time up in the attic lately, going through old journals and letters, finding snippets of memories caught in real time, in crinkled pages, on blue airmail paper, via postcards with exotic postmarks.

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A couple of the letters were from an old friend from university, who was editor of the uni newspaper and has gone on to produce ‘Today’, the BBC’s flagship news and current affairs programme. I used my very modern iphone to send him photos of the handwritten letters he sent to me when I was a student in Kyoto, Japan, aged 19, half a lifetime ago. It was a fascinating snapshot of student life – the things we cared about, the things we spent our time on, the people we fancied, the embarrassing and often hilarious capers we got up to. True to the career he would follow, he had sent detailed dispatches from Durham, letting me know the goings on of college life in full colour.

I remember when those student days, when I spent a year abroad in a very foreign land. The anticipation of coming home to my homestay family’s house after school, and looking on the bottom step of their winding wooden staircase to see if there was a letter for me from home. And often there was – I received and sent over 100 letters and postcards that year, in the days before email.

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Mastermind Week is here – your online teaching questions answered!

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All this week I’m answering ANY and ALL questions you might have about building your own e-course and teaching online, in our first ‘Mastermind Week’ within ‘Reach. Teach. Profit. The E-course Creation Masterclass‘.

This opportunity is available exclusively to participants of the course, so if you want to get involved get yourself registered!

Don’t underestimate the value of being able to pick the brains of someone who has produced more than 15 online courses, with students in 100+ countries worldwide and who has probably made every mistake in the book along the way, so you don’t have to… You can join us here!

I look forward to being of service to you as you get your e-course out into the world.
Beth

Are you trapped? Are you a freedom seeker? I need your story for my book!

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I am deep into the writing of my book, which is due out with Hay House in Spring 2017. It will be called ‘Freedom Seeker: Live more. Worry less. Do what you love.” This writing process is tough, tough, tough, but it is also one of the most spirit-lifting, intellectually-stimulating, and thrilling things I have ever done. I absolutely love it. But there is still a long way to go until I hand my manuscript in in the summer.

And this is where you come in. The book is packed with tools and personal stories to help readers escape whatever is holding them back, and learn to soar, so they can live a life doing what they love.  But I also want to include a host of stories of other people at various stages of life, with a variety of experiences, who have felt stuck, trapped or held back from living their fullest life.

It could be that you are in it right now, feeling like you have lost control, or that your circumstances are dictating what is possible for you. Perhaps you have dreams of what you want things to be like, but you never seem to get off the starting block, or you get part of the way along and then the dark clouds come in – the fear, the negativity, the worry about money or what others will think. Or maybe your responsibilities always seem to take over and you can’t find the time to take the steps you need to take.

Or perhaps you have been there, but are now living a freer, happier life. Perhaps something happened and you were inspired (or forced) to make major changes in your life which have resulted in you feeling more free, doing something you love and being happier?

If so, I want to hear your story! If you would be willing to share it, please sign up here to join my Freedom Seeker Research Group by Wednesday 30 March, and I will be in touch later this week with an initial questionnaire.

Even if you aren’t able to share your story, I hope you will cheer me along over the coming months as I birth this book and put myself out there in a way which right now feels terrifying! Some things just have to be done…

Thank you so much!

Beth

**A HUGE THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO SHARED THEIR INSPIRING STORY WITH ME AND HELPED TO BRING MY BOOK TO LIFE. FREEDOM SEEKER: LIVE MORE. WORRY LESS. DO WHAT YOU LOVE IS NOW OUT.**

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Huge news! On becoming a Hay House author (somebody pinch me!)

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Huge news! On becoming a Hay House author (somebody pinch me!) dwylhq1

Some days are really big days, and I just had one of them. It was the day I signed a deal with Hay House, for them to publish my first book! It is a book about freedom, written for anyone who feels trapped, stuck, hemmed in—not in control of their own time, money, or destiny. It is for people who are afraid that life is passing them by, but feel powerless to do anything about it. It is a timely self-empowerment manifesto: an inspiring and practical manual that will enable people to recognise that freedom is a choice. I am busy writing it now and cannot wait for it to be released worldwide in Spring 2017!

Hang on a minute. Let’s just rewind. Did someone just say I’m going to be a Hay House author? Am I dreaming? It certainly feels that way right now, because this is not just something on my ‘Do Before I’m 40 Bucket List’, but something I have been dreaming of for many years.

In case you’re curious about how it came about, I’ll share the story here. I warn you, this is going to be a long post, because I want to share all the pieces of how this particular dream has unfolded. So get yourself a nice cup of tea and we’ll begin… (Note: I would love for you to help me bring this book to life. Right at the end of this post there’s some info on how to get involved!)

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What’s it like to work with us?

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We are thrilled at the response to our brand new class ‘Reach. Teach. Profit. The E-Course Creation Masterclass’, and are excited to help such a variety of new e-courses come to life! If you are on the fence about taking this course, take a look at the videos below to find out what it’s like to work with us, and to see that we really do know what we are talking about.

Lots of you have been asking whether you get access to me as part of this course. The answer is yes! Although it is a self-paced course, several times a year I will be hosting Mastermind Weeks in the private class community space, when you can ask me anything. The first of these will run from March 28 – April 1, and there will be more later in the year. These are free of charge for anyone registered for the course, and you can participate as many times as you like when the Mastermind Weeks are offered. If you register today and get started on the course, you’ll be ready with your questions when the first Mastermind Week begins on March 28!

So what’s it like to work with us?

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