Monday, April 16, 2007

What Can Happen When You Follow Your Heart ...

I have always believed in following my heart as a wise and valid way to further the cause of good in my life and the lives of others. The result of doing so, however, sometimes took so long to become apparent that it was no longer possible to identify or even recall what thoughts or actions of mine had led to the positive results.

In a recent experience, I had an opportunity to be fully aware of the process and the outcome.

After the death of my dear friend, the internationally known author and lecturer Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, I wrote a tribute for her memorial service titled “Tea With Elisabeth.” A week later during meditation, the fully formed concept for a book of that same name came to me.

The idea was to create a more complete picture of Elisabeth, the iconic figure who brought death and dying out of the dark ages and into the light of reason and compassion. It was also to share the personal side of this woman who followed her heart and made great sacrifices in order to fulfill her commitment to humanity.

The concept that came to me was to request essays from her prestigious colleagues, bestselling authors who knew her, her associates, family members and friends that would be published as a book.

I never questioned my ability to take on a project of such magnitude, or the possibility of “Tea With Elisabeth” not being successful. I had such a heart connection with Elisabeth that it seemed the most natural thing in the world to follow it through.

Natural, yes, but not easy, so I asked Rose Winters, another one of Elisabeth’s friends, to join with me, as well as Elisabeth’s son, Kenneth Ross, and without hesitation they both agreed.

As a writer I work from my home, which at the time was undergoing an extensive remodeling job and it was like living in a construction zone. In addition to that, a recent back injury made any movement extremely painful, and this continued for a number of months. I remember the pain I experienced when I had to crawl to the computer and turn on the CPU with my big toe in order to fulfill my responsibility as executive editor and keep the project going and to meet deadlines. I was definitely motivated by following my heart.

I rejoiced as the impressive roster of contributors grew to more than fifty individuals, including: Muhammad Ali; Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York; bestselling authors Raymond Moody, Stephen Levine, Caroline Myss, Barbara Marx Hubbard, Doreen Virtue, Marianne Williamson, Drs. Bernie Siegel, Gerald Jampolsky, Gladys McGarey and C. Norman Shealy.

Their intimate, powerful, humorous, inspirational and sometimes life-changing descriptions of their encounters with Elisabeth confirmed the value in this endeavor and reaffirmed my commitment to follow my heart.

A German edition of “Tea with Elisabeth” has been published, a Japanese edition is in production, and it is being shopped in the U.S. and elsewhere. This is wonderful, as it means Elisabeth will be widely recognized as the great heroic soul she was through the memories of those who shared her life experiences.

In following my heart, I fully lived my gifts and abilities to honor a fellow human being. The feelings just don’t get any better than that.
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Copyright 2007 by Fern Stewart Welch

The author’s book THE HEART KNOWS THE WAY—How to Follow Your Heart to a Conscious Connection with the Divine Spirit Within is available from Amazon.com, other online booksellers, and through major bookstores such as Barnes& Noble and Borders.

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