We are very pleased to have with us Karen Wright, a new Northwest writer. Welcome to Reader Views Karen.

Irene: Your book The Sequoia Seed was partly developed from responses you received in an on-line e-zine. Tell us what this book is about.

Karen: The Sequoia Seed is diary of the human journey. Regardless of where we live, how old we are, or what beliefs we have, we all share a common path to personal growth. On that path we battle with fear, unworthiness, and doubt as we strive to bring our most precious dreams to life.

The Sequoia Seed talks directly about our struggles while also challenging them. Most struggles are self-imposed and habitual. Becoming aware of our unconscious choices and our unlimited potential is what the Sequoia Seed is all about.

Irene: What inspired you to write this book?

Karen: My subscribers. Many of them have been with me for years and lamented that their computers were filled with saved Waking Up messages. They encouraged me to put my writings in a book.

And I suppose, in truth, I wrote The Sequoia Seed because I needed to read it. Its so ironic that we can intellectually, and even emotionally, understand spiritual truths, yet still fall victim to doubt and fear. So far, Ive found that whatever degree of enlightenment Ive achieved to be a sporadic experience! Im on the path too.

Irene: It certainly gives more meaning to the adage: when the student is ready, the teacher appears. It sounds like your subscribers are your teachers, as you are for them. When you say subscribers what do you exactly mean?

Karen: Youre absolutely right about my subscribers being my teachers either directly with their responses and experiences, or indirectly by allowing me the privilege of living my life under their watchful eyes.

My subscribers are individuals all over the world whove requested my online ezine Waking Up. Waking Up, our common human goal, is a bi-monthly essay about real human challenges and spiritual truths. Insights, for me, never come in explosions of enlightenmentthey show up in unexpected moments of simple experiences. One day I was walking on a nature trail near my home. It was early fall and leaves were turning color. I was in a particularly deep funk that morning fear had me by the throat. As I walked I barely noticed my surroundings. Worry, confusion, and panic blinded me to all by my anxious emotions.

I rounded a bend in the trail and stopped dead in my tracks. Before me was the most beautiful field I had ever seen. The dried grasses were backlit from the setting sun and they shone like radiant gold. It was truly stunning. Im not even sure I was breathing.

Then it struck me. I was no longer in the grip of panic. All my woeful thoughts had vanished in the face of such magnificent beauty. One of lifes truths showed itself to me that day. Fear and beauty cannot co-exist. I wrote about that experience in Waking Up that week. I knew others would resonate. We all succumb to the dreadful paralysis of fear at times. And sometimes it seems like we have no clue how to get out of it. With that glowing field of golden grasses, I was given a ticket out of hell. I remember that when I start to slide into that fear pit. I get up and go outside and sink my bare feet in cool grass or smell a flower or stare at the setting sun. It never fails to calm my run-away mind and remind me that Im safe.

These are the moments my subscribers sign up for. Moments of remembrance; moments of unity. Theyve written so often that the message was timed perfect for them. I think we share a common path and they feel connected to me, and I to them, in a way thats hard to describe. And, I supposed, doesnt need description.

Irene: How did you come up with the name for your book?

Karen: After eighteen months of testing out titles and asking for input from subscribers, I hadnt found the title. A books title is incredibly important and Id hoped inspiration would strike. One day it did. I was talking to a friend about my wonderful experiences camping and hiking in the Sequoia National Park in California. One my first visit there I spent some time with a park ranger and he told me all about sequoia trees. They are the most massive living thing on the planet and can grow taller than the Statue of Liberty (305 feet), can live for centuries, and the species dates back 157 million years.

A mature sequoias bark is three feet thick and has a natural fire-retardant, as does the cone. Cones are incredibly small, about the size of a small chicken egg, and can lie on the forest floor for decades before sprouting. Ironically, what destroys most of the rest of the forest helps the sequoia flourish. Heat from forest fires dont damage the cone, but allow it to open and release its seeds.

The metaphor is remarkable. Like the incredible potential in a small sequoia seed, we have amazing potential within us. And that potential can lie dormant for years before it takes root. Often the catalyst for our own personal growth comes from our own fires: tragedies and personal crises. Its at moment of challenges like these when we loosen our grip on what we believe to be true of the world and ourselves and allow a new truth to take root. In these moments of heartbreak, a window opens and we see new possibilities.

Irene: You have inferred that mid-lifers, who suddenly face changes, would benefit from reading this book. What information is particularly targeted toward them?

Karen: Im not so sure mid-lifer is the best description anymore. Im finding that, regardless of age, people are earnestly seeking more meaning and truth in their lives. I think this state is due more to the state of humanity than the age of a person. But, there are certainly lots of baby boomers searching. Perhaps we need a certain number of years under out belts to discover that the worlds infatuation with material success doesnt bring much happiness.

Being a baby boomer myself, The Sequoia Seed naturally speaks to those trying to find a new reality. I think Marcel Proust said it best, The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes. Most of us have spent years trying to change our circumstances and environment, only to find that our efforts have been pretty futile. Frustration often leads us to seek a new tactic. And eventually we realize that our worlds are merely a reflection of ourselves. How we believe the world is, is the experience we have.

The Sequoia Seed shines a light on our common misperceptions and challenges habitual beliefs and behaviors. If someones calling is a new way that they could exist, they will certainly see it.

Irene: You claim that fear gets in the way of our possibilities. Why do you believe that fear is so powerful?

Karen: Thats an ancient question that Im not sure I have the answer to. And perhaps the answer is irrelevant. Whether we understand why fear is powerful or not may not help us overcome it. And this is because fear is an illusion. Fear is our minds response to the unknown. Its a very basic response emanating from our instinctual fight-or-flight limbic brain. Fear is a self-preservation impulse. Its meant to get our attention, not paralyze us. Yet, weve given fear so much power that we feel controlled by it. Ironic, when you realize that we create fear.

Irene: How do you suggest we face that fear?

Karen: I align with many spiritual gurus: dont fight fear. Fighting it merely gives it more power. Fear should be used as an early warning system, to give us a heads-up for something that needs our attention. After becoming aware of the fear, simply ask if what your mind is telling you is rational. You will most likely see that fear exaggerates and fabricates. Take any fear to the ultimate conclusion and it will tell you that youre going to die. Even if the fear starts small, it feeds on itself and ends up looking enormous.

For anyone whos faced a fear, not let it stop them, and did what they were afraid of, they will undoubtedly tell you that once they took action the fear vanished. Fears only power is in paralyzing you hence, the clich frozen with fear. If you refuse to stop, fear will loosen its grip. In hindsight, youll laugh at how afraid you were of nothing. You are much stronger than fear never forget.

Irene: Negative self-talk and fear go hand-in-hand. We may quit the negative self-talk, give ourselves positive self-talk, put on a happy smile, and yet, the fear hangs on. Why is it so difficult to release the fear?

Karen: Because we believe its stronger than we are. And we think that if we just pretend that were okay, it will leave. However, fear only resides in our minds and we cant run away from that. Positive self-talk that isnt believed is useless. Saying, Im whole and complete just the way I am while you truly feel panicked is a fools ploy. Words arent stronger than beliefs. And intellect (the source of language) cannot dispel a feeling (fear). You must shift fear where it lives, in your emotions. You must see that it is your mind run amok.

Irene: Many of us have goals and aspirations. Sometimes we get discouraged because we just cant attain those goals for some reason or another. Yet, we hang on to the vision in hopes that something will change. Why is it so hard to let go of the vision and alter the course?

Karen: As unconscious humans we believe that our aspirations and visions for our life are immutable. We invest our very worthiness in these goals and if we cannot achieve them, we believe we are failures. So, we hang on. Dreams and visions and goals are choices we make. They are not who we are, they are what we do.

A gentleman asked me just today whether I believed that we each were born with a specific purpose one that determined who we became. I said I did believe that, but not in the way he spoke of it. He felt that his life purpose centered around a specific role he played and specific things he felt compelled to do. He was a born athlete. And he felt great satisfaction in performing in sports. Satisfaction he didnt feel in other endeavors.

I asked him how playing sports made him feel. Strong, purposeful, happy, triumphant were his words. I asked him if, in a world of endless other endeavors, if he felt it was possible for him to feel those same feelings doing something else. He figured it was possible. My point was that we invest ourselves to much in what we DO, when if we ask why we do what we do, well recognize that we do it to feel a certain way. Its the feeling were really after. What we do is just the vehicle that delivers that feelings.

When we lock a vision of our life into place without allowing that there may be several ways for us to contribute and find peace and satisfaction, we give up that most precious of all gifts: consciousness and choice. Yes, follow your passion, but realize that it can take many paths.

Irene: We impose limitations on ourselves. Tell us how we can break through the self-sabotage and create a limitless life?

Karen: Limitations are a result of believing in our fear; but not a fear of failure. Marianne Williamson says, Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.

We hope we are fabulous, yet we fear that we arent. So, we play it safe and live small and hope no one will notice how unworthy we are. We see brave souls reaching high and imagine that they possess talents we dont have or are meant to succeed. By comparison, we feel undeserving.

Its so much easier to not try to invent endless barriers that stand between us and our dreams. If I dont try I cant fail, we think. Yet, in the end, not trying will be our biggest failure. We will have paid homage to our imagined fear and let life go untasted.

The question we must all answer is this: Who do I want to be and what do I want my life to be about? The choice is ours; it always has been. Its not too late and its never too soon to choose what gives us joy. We can observe or we can live. But, in the end we will die regardless of our choice. Knowing our destination, as morbid as it seems, is actually a ticket to freedom. The riskiest thing we can do is nothing. Its what we will most regret.

Were here for such a brief time. And our experience of that time is totally up to us. Dont let doubt and fear make your decisions. You wont like the choices they make. You are a miracle of life with no limits. Its not only your privilege to live fully, its your responsibility to the life youve been gifted.

Irene: Thank you so much Karen on taking the time to speak with us. Is there anything else that you would like our readers to know about you and your book?

Karen: Its been a pleasure. One of my greatest joys is connecting with other spiritual pathfinders. Id welcome hearing from anyone who feels an urge to contact me. They can find out more about my journey and services on my website: www.wrightminded.com. My services encompass keynote speaking for conferences, facilitating personal development workshops and retreats, and consulting to businesses.

I am particularly drawn to helping women step into leadership roles; whether within their own family or for a nation. The world badly needs us to play at a higher level of contribution and guidance to achieve critical balance. Women, unfortunately, too often question their dreams and second-guess their talents. Its my focus to help dissolve our fear of showing up more visibly and more powerfully. My workshop, The Choice, is specifically designed to fulfill that need.