Video: Stories From the Heart of the Cosmos
August 30, 2010
This is a wonderful video short of my body of work called, “Stories from the Heart of the Cosmos” done for me by friend, filmmaker Tim Kelly. It gives you a sense of the characters and stories that make up my world. I am publishing this again because I’m going to use some of the stories for my forthcoming book. Hope you enjoy a trip through the cosmos!
Featured Video: Brian Talks About Retreat 42
May 5, 2010
Brian was one of our 24 adventurers who did our pilot program for the Retreat 42. Everyone had a very different outcome of the retreat, Brian’s was to deepen his faith and spiritual life. Beautiful! Thanks Brian and all the adventurers. We will be launching in the fall. Stay tuned!
Video: As If By Magic
April 12, 2010
Retreat 42 – We’ve Launched the Ship!!
April 11, 2010
Wow, who knew that out of the confusion of my life, I would create something as amazing as Retreat 42, my brand new program for retreat in daily life.
Back in December, I was feeling stuck about getting bigger projects off the ground. I had several bodies of work that I never finished and it was really bugging me.
This coincided with meeting my now business partner, the fabulous Ian Waddelow who lives in France, although he’s a Brit by birth. Ian contacted me last fall and we hit it off immediately and began to collaborate.
Ian has amazing creative energy and wisdom in spades. He is a senior consultant to CEO’s and boards dealing with strategy and brand marketing. He’s also an educator at several major business schools in England and a well-known speaker at conferences and events.
Let me tell you, Ian is a wizard at what he does. He transforms businesses in a way that I’m pretty sure, they don’t even know what hit them!
After meeting Ian I was asking myself - What does it take to get bigger projects off the ground?? And I decided to put myself on a retreat in daily life to figure this out.
My premise was this – every great idea came from somewhere. We have this idea that when we need inspiration, that we need to ‘wait on the muses’, but I decided that waiting on the muses wasn’t good enough. Mine are too fickle, they’re always off shopping in Paris!
Waiting on the muses is a phrase we use to infer that inspiration is fickle or out of our control. But is it? If inspiration comes from somewhere else, where is that somewhere else and how can we tap it whenever and wherever we need it?
If you think about it, every great idea, every artistic masterpiece, Eureka moment, life changing work or project comes from a realm that the mystics call the 99%. This is the place of ‘divine inspiration.’ All creative ideas come from a place beyond the ordinary five senses.
That’s why it feels like we can’t tap inspiration when we need to. But I decided that there must be some way to tap it reliably and regularly. This was my quest to find out exactly how.
I took time every day to listen to music that would take my brain to another state. No, not New Jersey, but another brain state that’s called the theta wave. I tried not to work or think too hard, but just let ideas and inspiration come easily.
Each day when I woke up, I spent time writing, journalling and jotting. During the day, I would just allow inspiration to come and I would jot that down as well.
At first I didn’t even know exactly what I was going or how I was going to figure any of this out and it was pretty scary to commit to something that you don’t know exactly what it is! I decided that it needed to be 42 days.
Why 42?
- the mystics went into the desert for 40 days. I figured in our modern life, we need a day to get in and a day to get out = 42!
- it takes ’6 weeks to get a change into the bones’ – 6 weeks equals 42 days.
- the first lines of creation in the ancient Aramaic equal exactly 42 letters.
This all seemed to line up perfectly and so 42 days was set in my mind. I gave myself a few guidelines upfront. I agreed that I had to finish the retreat no matter what. I told myself that even if up with absolutely nothing, it would be ok and I committed to giving it my all and trusting the power of inspiration to guide me.
I did the same thing for 42 days and by the end of it, believe it or not, I had created an entire body of work – I had written a whole book and created an entire process that I didn’t even know I was creating.
How’s that for pure magic!
Once I was finished, I decided to take a risk and invite my new partner Ian onboard as a collaborator.
I’m sure Ian won’t mind me saying that he was pretty skeptical at first. I’m sure he thought my idea was pretty wacky, but he trusts me so he agreed to go on the Retreat 42 himself.
At first I was a little worried. Ian’s results seemed mixed. I wasn’t sure it was working and being British, he didn’t tell me much :>)
But then somewhere near the middle of the retreat, things started to happen – the ground started to quake and something new started pouring forth. After he finished, he suggested we try it out with a group and so we launched a Pilot program of 24 brave adventurer’s who agreed to try out our program for free.
I’m happy and proud to say that they did it! Their last day is today and they made it through the desert and have come out with gifts. I’ll let some of them share their stories in upcoming blog posts.
It was amazing to watch an entire group go through this process. They are extraordinary people from all over the world – England, Germany, Spain, Belgium and the US. They helped us to see that Retreat 42 really works, anytime, anywhere. 
Thanks to them, Ian and I are proud and delighted to announce:
Retreat 42 is officially launched!
We will be starting our first programs in the Fall, with an amazing line-up of goodies – from self-guided retreats, to themed programs and even (get this) wonderful in-person retreats in amazing locations around the world.
We have made the package and the pricing incredibly attractive. You just won’t be able to resist trying this out for yourself!
And I guarantee 100% that it is the most life changing thing you can do.
It was for me. I wrote a whole book and created an entire body of work in only 42 days – something that I never thought possible. If you’d like to know more about Retreat 42 or join one of our upcoming programs, please email me or Ian. We’d be happy to chat to you.
You can connect with us at annie@anniehart.com and ian@ianwaddelow.com. I encourage you to get to know Ian. He’s someone really worth knowing.
POP! Here comes the champagne – Retreat 42 is officially launched.
Video: Change Your Altitude
February 22, 2010
The Storyteller Tells Her Stories
February 20, 2010
It’s time to take a leap. Every now and then in your life, more often then I’d like, it’s time to take a deeper plunge, a bigger risk and really go for the gold. So I am going to be writing and telling my own very personal and sometimes painful stories for the very first time.
Whew! Breathe.
It’s not easy! I make it look and seem easy for other people, that’s my gift. But damn it is really hard to do for myself. Luckily I have found just the right team as it honestly takes a team to pull these stories out of me. They don’t want to come out on their own.
These stories are like little long-fingered underwater creatures who are gripping onto the rocks so they don’t have to let go. Eeeeeek!
Why is it so scary to tell personal stories? Very personal stories.
Gosh, I could give you a long list of the reasons that it’s so scary. It seems silly to say but it actually feels life threatening to a part of us. Telling our stories is a way out of the box that we have lived in. We are bound by the emotions, the memories and the meanings of our past stories and thus like the famous Pandora’s box, we must liberate them.
Fortunately as I said, I have just the right team – I have my wonderful reliable weekly writing buddy whom I meet weekly at the local Barnes and Noble coffee shop so we can write together. We’ve been doing this for some months now.
In case you’d want to know my reason for meeting there – it’s because they have sunshine streaming in the windows (I need to feel warm), great Earl Grey tea (I need to have good tea) and a bag of delicious potato chips doesn’t hurt.
Basically it’s a good way to bribe myself to keep on going doing something that is hard!
Then I have my fabulous listening buddy who is helping me tell the stories orally. Written stories and orally told stories are two very different animals and so I know from my own story guiding of others, that the deeper, more painful and often more powerful stories need to be ‘listened out of you.’
My story Maestro listens to me very carefully. He is impeccable in his listening, which is what I really need. He does not trod on my heart nor make those kinds of comments afterwards that make you wish you’d never told your story. He wears a white velvet glove of purity that makes the telling easy.
To be impeccable in your listening you have to be out of your out of your own way – be really silent and really present.
But here is the best part of all. He also makes me laugh while I’m crying! Yesterday was a perfect example.
Yesterday as I was telling a difficult story (and blowing my nose through the telling), I suddenly heard an indescribable noise, a kind of ‘crkkkkrrrrrr‘ sound. Hmm, what was that???
He didn’t say anything about it and I heard him make an ‘uh huh‘ sound like he was listening, so I just carried on.
A minute later I couldn’t hear him, so I asked, “Are you there Chief?” (that’s one of my nicknames for him). Then there was the sound of scramble, scramble, scramble and then he says, “Yes I’m here. I just kicked the microphone over.” Perfect timing!
It was perfect timing. I started laughing so loudly that my crying and snorting turned into guffawing. It was a priceless moment.
Perfect for the storyteller to be paused mid-sob for a moment of sheer humor. My impeccable listener, who was working so hard to be there for me knocked over his microphone and was trying to retrieve it without interrupting.
I am still laughing just picturing him trying to rebound without disrupting my story. What a riot!
These are the precious moments of storytelling. In that moment I realized that it’s not just the telling of the story that is important, but every thing beautiful that surrounds it – the bonding that happens between two humans as they listen and share and the moments of pure delight when real life magic happens and humor appears out of nowhere.
This is the true magic of storytelling.
I am pr
oud, honored, scared and delighted to be telling my own raw and real stories. The deep ones, the raw ones, the ones that matter. If I can’t lead the way on then I’m not worth my metal.
Gotta leap, gotta take a dive.
Thanks to all my partners for supporting me. It takes a community to tell a story. I’d still be on the ledge without you. Thanks as well to all of my blog readers for caring about stories and storytelling. You make all the difference.
Stay tuned for more of the raw and real, the places we dive deep together and make life more fulfilling from taking risks.
Yours in diving into the heart of the matter and laughing about it all the way,
Annie
The Transformative Power of Stories for Children
February 17, 2010
Annie: This is a beautiful story sent to me by Mike Blackstone a friend, colleague and blog reader of mine. He told some stories to his children with truly magical results. This really invites us to realize the transformative power of story. Thanks for sharing Mike. It really opened my heart.
Mike: A month ago I was invited to a lecture that was to take place last Sunday afternoon. I had completely forgotten about this lecture until it popped back into my mind 25 minutes before it was to begin. Interestingly, I had spent some quality time with my two little boys that morning, had all my “chores” done, so I told my wife Maureen I was going.
When I got to the lecture, I found out the speaker was an “ageless wisdom” guy which I don’t know much about. His theme was “Unfolding the Soul’s Purpose,” and among many things, he talked a little about reincarnation and astrology. I enjoyed it.
When I got home, I did a little research on the internet about him and about some of his subjects. I came across one little tidbit in an online astrology chart about focusing on “raising one’s children well,” and that struck a little heart chord. Hmm, could be a bit of a life purpose in there?
A couple of hours later I had this impulse and decided to tell my 6 year-old a story, and base it on the concept that we had lived other lives together. I completely improvised it. Here is the gist:
We were young brothers (Native Americans) in the 1800s. Out on an exploratory adventure, we were attacked by a mountain lion. It took all of our wits (mostly his) to both come out of it alive. Later we were attacked by a she-bear when we accidentally stumbled upon her cubs. Again our wits, mostly his, saved the day.
Several times during the story he said, with his head cocked to one side and his eyes narrowed, “Dad, you’re making this up, aren’t you?” Of course I denied it saying that that’s what I “remember.” But each time he asked me to keep telling the story.
About an hour later, my 9 year-old, Elliot, comes into my office and asks, very intently, “What did you tell Euan?” I said, “Why are you asking?” He replied, “Well, Euan said you TOLD him something!” “Do you want me to tell you something, too?” “Yes.” So I told Elliot a story, completely improvised, that went like this.
We were neighbor kids in the tenements of New York City in the late 1920s—best buddies who lived about a block apart. One day we were hanging out in the neighborhood, but I was about a block away around the corner with a couple of the guys. I heard loud voices and we came around the corner to see what was going on.
“I saw you (Elliot) surrounded by four rough guys from another neighborhood, and one started threatening you that they were going to beat you up. That kid turned, looked at his buddies to smile, and as he turned his head back, your fist lashed out, caught him square in the nose and knocked him clean onto his back.
There was blood everywhere. The other three were about to set on you but saw me and the other guys, grabbed their fallen comrade and beat a hasty retreat. They never came back.”
When I was done, Elliot floored me by saying, “Thanks, Dad, for telling me that story. And you know the part I liked the best? I didn’t need you to save me.”
I was dumbfounded in some wonderful way. The next morning, as I was taking them to school, Elliot said, “Thanks again for telling me that story, Dad, I really liked it.” And I wondered again what that was all about. He had never thanked me before for telling a story.
A few nights later I was tucking the boys in bed, I told Euan another story where we were both bridge builders, but he was a bridge designer. Right at that moment he nodded his head deeply in some sort of agreement, and he saved my life on a bridge-building site during an earthquake. Remember, he was the skeptic.
This time HE thanked me for telling him that story.
When he nodded his head it was pretty funny because he’s lately been into wearing a blindfold to bed—the kind you get on an airplane. So, I’m right by his face, softly telling him the story, he’s wearing his blindfold, and he starts to nod in agreement when I get to the “bridge designer” part. It melted my heart.
There have been a few more stories since, and, with how much they seem to love them, there WILL be many more.
I am still digesting all this, but I find it amazing. A couple of clues I’m looking at—Euan (6yrs) loves to build things and is a Lego maniac. Elliot (9 yrs) loves everything about the WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment) and is determined to make his living as a pro wrestler.
Annie: Don’t you love this story? Sweet, simple ways to make a difference in the minds of children. Thanks Mike for sharing the transformative power of story.
Yours in always sharing the stories that matter,
Annie
Video: You Want To Do Bigger Things
February 15, 2010
Stories From the Next World: Swimming Against the Tide
February 15, 2010
I must be doing it all wrong. Everyone else is doing it one way and I am doing it the total opposite. I must be a total failure. That’s what I told myself for many years in the area of marketing my business.
Recently I had a conversation with a colleague who is great at marketing, in fact he has a background in corporate sales. He and I have similar training in NLP and Hypnosis and some years ago he went out on his own and created his own business. He’s doing fine but he’s not really thriving. His struggle is to get repeated clients.
But if you ask me (and no one did!), that’s not the real issue. The real issue is that in all he’s doing he is missing a certain level of fulfillment. We all get into the ‘people business’ because we want to help people. Then we are given the dreaded mandate that we need to market ourselves. Eeek! Every creative caring person hates this part.
We didn’t get into business to be in business, we just happened to pick something which required it.
The irony is that even though he is the one with the marketing background and knows all the right ways to do things, I am in fact the one that is thriving. Better than that though is that I am very fulfilled in what I do. The money that keeps me afloat is wonderful but more vital than that is the happiness that I have.
I have nearly total fulfillment in my work. That is the biggest value that my business provides me. I love my clients, love what I do and am working with amazing people from all over the world. How the hell did that happen? Me who didn’t have a clue about marketing myself and never wanted to do it either.
I have been swimming against the tide.
When the experts told me to:
- Have a clear marketing and business plan - I couldn’t.
- Create an exact target market of who I am selling my services to - Uh no, couldn’t do that either. Isn’t it the whole world?
- Get out and network myself with schmaltzy print materials and business cards – Nope, hated that. I went to Starbucks instead.
- Create a one line description of what I do that would totally grab people’s attention in under 10 seconds – Call me old-fashioned but I stuck with regular old human conversation.
- Package my work in a formulaic way that I could sell to businesses – I’d rather have Chinese water torture than do this.
- yada
- yada
- yada
- yada
- yada
Anyway you get the idea. I did it all wrong. I did absolutely everything backwards from what the experts said I should do and much to my surprise - it worked!
Who are these experts anyway? Hmm, good question! Well they are might be people who have tried to find a kind of generic formula so that everyone can win the game. Not a bad idea by any means, many people do succeed this way.
But are they happy? The big question is – can we make money and have personal fulfillment too? The answer is – we must. This is just one of the values of the future - a “we can have it all” paradigm.
In the series that I am writing called, Stories From the Next World, I will be talking about the values of the next world – those values, traits and characteristics of greatness and bravery, that if we embody them now, we will be ahead of our time.
So trait number one is this – swim, swim, swim against the tide little fishes. If the experts tell you to X, Y, Z but you feel in your gut to Q, S and LL then you must. You need to have the courage to swim against the current of the world that says that there is a right way and a wrong way to do things.
Swimming upstream is definitely hazardous. You have to be able to tolerate feeling alone, thinking you’re a failure, have people point out what you’re certainly doing wrong and feeling utterly confused.
But for me I just did it from instinct because I could never tolerate having business ‘success’ at the expense of my personal freedom or fulfillment. No go Joe! At the end of the day, I want to be happy AND peaceful.
The world of the future will not be a world of either or – either I am rich or I am happy. The value of the next world is that it has to be both!
Stay tuned for more in the series of Stories From the Next World and please tune in to my weekly Radio 42 Show where I’ll be sharing more of these stories and secrets of the Universe as well. You wouldn’t want to miss those!
Yours in swimming against the tide that was going in the wrong direction anyway,
Annie
Koyaanisqatsi – Life Out of Balance
February 12, 2010
Koyaanisqatsi, Hopi word
“Crazy life, life in turmoil, life out of balance, life disintegrating, a state of life that calls for another way of living.”
Over twenty years ago I was privy to hearing the prophecies of Indigenous peoples first hand. I heard them through the mouths of the elders and their stories of the future. But honestly I was naive back then and I wrote them off as ‘doom and gloom.’ I told myself that it wasn’t really true what they were predicting. I was in my twenties and carefree. What the hell did I know about the world to come?
It wasn’t until the year 2000 that I suddenly woke up one day and said, “Oh my God, they were right.” The things that they had predicted were coming true – earth changes, political upheavals, very specific disasters that had been foreseen thousands of years ago.
How did they do that? How did the Hopi and every other indigenous culture around the globe know what was in store for our future? They just did. That’s the best I can say. They predicted it precisely and exactly.
But here’s where a confusion comes in. They never said that it was going to be the end of the world. They said it was going to be the end of A world.
Now what’s the difference? The end of the world vs. the end of a world? There is a huge difference. You see to the native people their frame of time was always told like a story. They hold time as a series of successive worlds, similar to how we have ages, epochs and eras, but their worldview is even more comprehensive than that.
Each ‘world’ had a theme an inevitable evolution. When you can see it that way, it’s easier to understand how they could predict the future. They could see in the span of evolution of the ‘worlds’ what was going to come next.
What they actually said was that it’s up to us to create the next world. This is the part that is always left out when people talk about the end of the world. The world is not ending folks. That would be the easy way out! We’re not getting off the planet that quickly.
It’s much harder to realize that a world is ending and that we need to do something about creating the next one. We can’t just stay asleep. What they said was that it would be the end of an age of darkness and the possible beginning of an era of light and that it is up to us to make the necessary changes in lifestyle and consciousness to usher in another world.
We can no longer go on as we have been – driven by greed and avarice, with complete disregard for human life and our planet. That world needs to end. It is up to each of us to make those small and steady changes every single day day after day, day in and day out.
There is no rest for the bringers of the next world. But that doesn’t mean that we have to be hopeless and cheerless about it. In fact just the opposite. We need to be as filled with light as we can be.
Our hope for the next world lives in us. Each day, day in and day out – not reacting to the craziness of the world around us but quietly and confidently making the necessary changes in ourselves and helping those around us.
Every change you make in yourself contributes to the balance and healing of the world. Today let’s reverse the tide and make our mantra, “Life in balance begins with me.”
You are welcome to listen to my Radio 42 Show on this topic. They can be downloaded any time.
Yours in always making the effort to contribute to a happy and sane world,
Annie
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