by llenore | May 16, 2013 | Uncategorized
“A Beautiful Center of Light!” That’s who we are as humans! That’s my corporation’s name. There’s a story behind it. There’s deep meaning within it. I strive to create environments embodying “light” qualities and are a “center” of love.
It started as an idea, then a name, followed by a business perspective that grew into a publishing company and now a spiritual group. It turns heads and makes people smile when they see it on their credit card statements. The tellers at the bank ask what I do. I’m often asked how the name originated. They smile and remember me. I’m known as the “Center of Light Lady” with the Disney checks.
A center of sun lights up the evening sky in the vineyards of Healdsburg.
It’s fascinating to me how the process evolved. Someone mentioned how our names have meaning and started to explore the meaning of my name. In many cultures the name “Linda” means “pretty” or “beautiful.” The name “Lenore” stems from Eleanor with a variant of Helen. It’s Greek origin means “sun ray or shining light.” (I loved Mythology – both Roman and Greek – in grade school.)
I wondered how I might bring the “meaning” of my name into my business. After all, a business is an extension of who we are at our core or center. The Biblical references around “light” seemed to jump out at me when I read them. Hearing we are “light” beings, stirred something inside me.
When I worked at a floral shop in 1985, I learned it’s better to have a company name with an “A” at the beginning in order to be first in the alphabetical listing of the Yellow Pages. These days Yellow Pages are rarely used, yet in 1993 when I formed the business, it was a valid tool.
I love acronyms. I play with them whenever I develop a speech. I thought “What about ABC Light”? The “B” would be “Beautiful.” For what would the “C” stand? “Center” came to mind. Ultimately it was “A Beautiful Center of Light.”
Light and colors radiating from the center of a beautiful stained glass window.
We are a “center of light” shining brightly for all to see. Our spirit is a light emanating from the Temple that is our body. Our homes are a Haven for our body Temple. Honoring our body, mind, spirit and environment, it all seemed to fit – A Beautiful Center of Light was birthed!
“For Roman women, the most beloved goddess was Vesta,” Sarah Ban Breathnach shares in her best-selling book, Simple Abundance. “Vesta urges women to be quiet, to sit, to gaze, to listen, to prepare delicious meals, to bring beauty into our daily round, to live through our six senses, to create a sacred haven of security and serenity set apart from the world in order to protect all we cherish…. (She) calls on us to focus our creative energies on the Real.”
A Sacred Circle of Women gather to share, build community and renew themselves as the energy of the goddess Vesta brings focus to the Real in our lives.
The evening of May 21, 2013 in Palo Alto, “ABC LIGHT” will inaugurate as a women’s spiritual networking group – a community of like-minded women – embodying many of the qualities of the goddess Vesta. It will be a place to be quiet, to sit, to gaze… to create a sacred haven of security and serenity set apart from the world in order to protect all we cherish… to focus our creative energies on the Real.
ABC LIGHT has evolved into Always Be Centered in Love, Intuition, Gratitude, Health and Truth.
Please join us for an evening meeting from 6:30 pm to 9 pm.
Location: Unity – Palo Alto Church, 3391 Middlefield Road, Palo Alto, 94306. (650) 494-7222.
Cost: $20 (cash or check) at the door.
Future meetings will be on the second Tuesday of each month (June 11, July 9, etc.)
May you Always Be Centered in LIGHT!
Blessings,
Linda Lenore
by llenore | Apr 2, 2013 | Uncategorized
Today is a very special day for me; it is an anniversary; a special anniversary; an Anniversary of the Heart! What is the difference between an anniversary and an “Anniversary of the Heart” you might ask?
Well, there are anniversaries we tell others about and many people in our lives know of them. And then there are those dates we hold in our hearts that we never share, or rarely share, with others. If they are shared, it is only with special friends who will understand.
They are the day we signed the divorce papers; the day we decided to quit the JOB to start our own business; the day we were diagnosed with the “C” word; the day we discovered we were pregnant; the day a loved one died. These are the days, especially as a woman, we remember and no one else has a clue what we are feeling. They haven’t a clue because they don’t know to what extent our lives changed that day.
The Gift of the Red Envelope: A Guide to Designing Balance, Order & Beauty in Your Home – An “Anniversary of the Heart” was finished on this date in 1998. It also was the last day of radiation treatment my husband, Hilory, underwent for base-of-tongue cancer.
April 2 is an “Anniversary of the Heart” day for me. In 1998 the love of my life, Hilory Brown, ended his last day of radiation treatment for base-of-tongue cancer. He had undergone 42 days of treatment.
It started with a diagnosis in the summer of 1996 when a doctor stated Hilory had “less than 2 months to live.” During an exploratory surgery, the doctor saw a tumor in Hilory’s throat. The next 18 months were a rollercoaster of appointments and emotions for all of us. It is a story far too long to write about here.
Hilory started the radiation in mid-February, right after Valentine’s Day. A week later he had to have a stomach tube inserted to allow him to receive food and water in order to stay alive.
About the same time I attended a National Speakers Association Winter Workshop in San Francisco where one of the topics was “You Can Write a Book in 30 Days!” I had thought of writing a book for some time. In fact, I even had the title: “The Gift of the Red Envelope.”
Six months prior to us as a family undergoing this horrendous experience of life, I had committed to teach a 6-week class on interior design for the Foster City Parks & Recreation Department. It was to start at the end of March. Too much had been going on and I hadn’t addressed any of the preparation work. I finally sat down to create the text and handouts for it on March 11.
Celebrating an Anniversary of the Heart – a “surprise” celebration of a fresh crab candlelight dinner for two. We are celebrating 15 years of health, love and happiness.
How do I remember it was March 11? Because I wrote for the next 22 days straight, except for Easter Day, which I decided to take off. It was a day to renew myself. I wrote between the hours of 7 p.m. and 4 a.m. for each of those 22 days.
I don’t recommend this practice for anyone planning to write a book under most circumstances. But sometimes there is a Higher Power at work. That was the case for me. It became obvious to me about halfway through creating the “handouts” they were not handouts, they comprised a book.
It was the Red Envelope book. Yet it wasn’t just a book, it was a spirit-guided expression of my feelings about “home” and the importance of home. It was a blending of interior design, Feng Shui and Spirituality. It was what kept me alive when all else in my life was crumbling – my foundation of belief that Hilory would be all right, that we would live a long and happy life together.
About a week before Hilory’s last appointment something in me made a declaration, “The last day of Hilory’s radiation will be the last day I write on this book!”
What are your “Anniversaries of the Heart?” Are you honoring them? Would you like to share them? If so, please add them to the comments in this post. I hold a place of love and honoring energy to acknowledge you and your “Anniversaries of the Heart!”
by llenore | Apr 1, 2013 | Uncategorized
Click here to download a copy of Linda’s speaker sheet.
by llenore | Mar 23, 2013 | Uncategorized
“Gardens as Gateways to the Soul”
Here are some of the many areas you’ll find at the San Francisco Flower & Garden Show
is the presentation I will be giving at the 2013 San Francisco Flower & Garden Show. The show is located at the San Mateo Expo Center close to highways 92 & 101 in San Mateo. Presentation time is 4 pm on the DIY Stage located in the Redwood Hall.
I’ve long enjoyed working in the garden – although I don’t know why we say “working.” For me, the garden is a place to rejuvenate body, mind and spirit. Yes, sometimes it is hard labor – and I always feel so much better after working with the soil and talking to my plants.
A World of Succulent Growth is an award-winning display at the 2013 San Francisco Flower & Garden Show.
It is a beautiful day here in the San Francisco Bay Area and I’d love to be outside communing with my plants. I’ve let them know I will be with them tomorrow cleaning up some of the dead leaves, pulling weeds and a little more pruning.
Today I will be connecting with some of their kindred spirits who are the stars of the Flower and Garden Show. I attended the media event they had on Wednesday and saw many of the garden displays. I’ve included a few of them for your enjoyment right now. Hopefully you can see them for yourself.
Feng Shui suggests the correct location of plants and statues within the landscape design. Come learn if this lion is in the right location at my “Gardens as Gateways to the Soul” presentation.
In “Gardens as Gateways to the Soul” I’ll be sharing key elements in the creation of gardens – whether a large acreage or a small balcony – that will support us. Spending time in the garden may not be your “thing” to do, yet the design qualities of the land around us set the energetic stage for our success.
Come join me for this soul-satisfying speech as we explore the essence of the elements of landscape design to stimulate our success, support our dreams and soothe our souls.
by llenore | Mar 15, 2013 | Uncategorized
Earlier today I was discussing the Year of the Snake when the topic of St. Patrick’s Day came up. I remembered the story about St. Patrick supposedly getting rid of the snakes in Ireland. Since I’m an Irish lass doing Feng Shui, I thought there might be an interesting tie-in. Sure enough there is.
Sometimes in Feng Shui we are trying to get rid of “bad Feng Shui or old energy.” In literature, snakes represent evil. St. Patrick drives the snakes out of Ireland which symbolically means he drove out the old and evil ways, thus bringing in the new age. With Feng Shui we are bringing in new, fresh energy into an environment.
Snake years portend transformation – some of which can be brought about through what seems to be evil forces or bad luck.
The snake also sheds its skin, symbolic of shedding our old ways which leads to transformation. While doing transformative work, we are often very vulnerable. The snake is very vulnerable when it sheds its skin. During this snake year it behooves us to be gentle on ourselves, and others, during these transitional times.
Communication is challenging for many of us in the best of times. During the snake’s shedding of its skin, which is pulled over its head, it can’t open its mouth. Plus it has a “forked tongue” – a symbol of not speaking truthfully.
In order for the snake not to starve during this shedding, it must eat a whole mouse or prey. On the good side of snake years, we associate the plentifulness of food in the house during these years.
Back to the eyes: Now add the term “snake eyes” – a term used when the outcome of rolling the dice in a game and only getting one pip on each die. “The pair of pips resembles a pair of eyes, which is appended to the term ‘snake’ because of the long-standing association of this word with treachery and betrayal.” (Wikipedia)
The term snake eyes also refers to looking one way and passing the ball the other way in some games. We now have blindness, deceit, treachery and betrayal energy for the year of the snake – often thought of as bad luck years.
But wait, there is hope!
Here comes the Irish with their myths of good triumphing over evil. There’s the four-leaf clover for good luck and the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Want more good luck? Add a little “blarney” along with a three-leafed shamrock representing the Holy Trinity (Father, Son & Holy Ghost), which were probably spread by well-meaning monks centuries after St. Patrick’s death on 17 March 461.
To find how you can overcome the negative energies occurring during this Year of the Snake and bring “the Luck O’ the Irish” into your life, you can spend a little “green” ($36) for my Year of the Snake MP3 to find your “golden” opportunities within your home and buildings.
And I leave you with an Irish proverb as we approach St. Patrick’s Day:
May your pockets be heavy and your heart be light,
May good luck pursue you each morning and night.
Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
