Amazon Wright Minded Category:  Inspirational Publisher: Bibliocast, imprint of Word Keepers, Inc ISBN-10:  9780964967939 Type: Non-Fiction Pages: 161 Copyright: 2006 Forged in fire – transformed by tragedy – cleansed by choice. Life is not for the timid or faint of heart. It requires much, but never more than we plentifully have. Somewhere between birth and now, many have forgotten that their source of strength is never weary or depleted. Weakness is merely a forgetting. The Sequoia Seed is a book for “Remembering the Truth of Who You Are.” If you’re stuck, in transition, ready for the next level of life – get ready. The Sequoia Seed is your roadmap for living deeper, rising higher, and finally realizing the destiny you’ve been longing for. It can grow taller than the Statue of Liberty and live nearly forty centuries. Ancient fossil remains show that its ancestors date back for 175 million years. The giant of its species is the most massive of all living forms on the planet. It would take twenty adults, holding hands with outstretched arms, to encircle its base. Yet, paradoxically, it begins as a tiny seed smaller than a flake of oatmeal. This is the mighty Sequoia tree. Its egg-sized cone can lie undisturbed on the forest floor for fifty years before surrendering its seeds. Ironically, the forest fires that destroy other =trees are friends to the Sequoia. Its four-foot thick bark chemically repels the flames, and the fire’s heat opens the cone, to at last, release its seeds to take root. Like the dormant Sequoia Seed, our destinies are often set in motion by our own personal fires. A health crisis, the loss of a loved one, and the acceptance of a truth not before seen – these are the infernos that reduce our ideologies to ashes and give birth to new sight. These are the precious moments when we can release our grip on old realities and open ourselves up to the budding possibilities or a bountiful life. This is the purpose of The Sequoia Seed: to cast seeds and embrace the fires – or they shall surely come, these struggles that transform our lives. The question is, will we bud or will we burn? Will we trust that life’s abundance is our ever-present inheritance, or will we cling to the life of unworthiness? Will we give this world our sacred gifts of contribution and passion, or will we die with our music still inside us? Problems, difficult people, tragedies – these are our fires; these are our teachers. When the heat approaches we can choose to release or retreat. And that choice becomes our experience and fashions the fat of our lives. Each day we may choose again – to see with new eyes; to look beyond the illusion of limitation to the magnificence that we are! The Sequoia Seed contains a series of three acts or parts that parallel our process of growth. Act One: The Cone Awaits, contains chapters that ask you to notice the self-identity you’ve created and how you are demonstrating that identify to the world. Act One is the beginning of growth toward wholeness. In Act Two: The First Come, you dig into how you navigate the journey of your life. Act Two will sharpen your spiritual skills and simplify your daily challenges. With the spiritual sills of Act Two in place, you’ll now determine how to follow you heart and resolve your will. This is also a time of celebration and to remember what’s most valued in this journey to wholeness. Act Three: The Mighty Sequoia Grows, our final section, glimpses destiny and explores the ripening of your purpose and path.    Excerpt From Chapter 11: Surrender? Can we learn to see our own blindness? To open our eyes to a new reality? A reality that may contradict everything we believe to be true? Is it possible that the actions we take to achieve what we want are the very actions that defeat us? What if what you believe to be true isn’t true? It’s hard to imagine that something we believe to be so right can be so wrong. Can giving up control really allow things to function more smoothly and naturally? What if holding on leaves us empty-handed? What if wielding power makes us impotent? What if surrendering isn’t losing, but opening to receive what we most want? I have found this to be true for me. The more I pursed happiness, the faster it ran from me. The more I wanted success, the less likely it became. I fought with every fiber of my being for what I wanted…and found myself empty-handed. Buddhism professes that all pain comes from struggle and resistance. I had believed that struggle was required to achieve what I wanted. However, my plan wasn’t working. So I began to ask a different question. I stopped asking, “How can I make this work?” and began to ask, “How does this work?” Consider a river as it flows along its banks. It doesn’t complain about the boulders lying midstream, it simply flows around them. It doesn’t resist gravity’s pull down the mountainside; it simply cooperates with the natural law guiding its progress. It surrenders; it lets go. Because it cooperates with the nature of the system in which it lives, it is one of the most powerful forces on earth. When we feel compelled to control things, it’s usually not because we know how things should be. It’s often because we are afraid that we’ll get lost in the chaos of the unknown. So we define the path and strictly adhere to that definition. We become rigid and unable to access the ideas and resources that the path naturally attracts. We close off all other contributions, fearing it will loosen our grip. Little do we realize it’s our grip that’s strangling our chance for success. When we let go, we are able to access the abundant resources that show up to play. Where have you been needlessly struggling? What are you failing to control? Where are you reaping the exact opposite of what you truly want? Are you open to a different possibility? If the choices you’ve been making

Reader Views Online
This book presents a selection of essays that were developed, at least in part, out of readers’ responses to messages on “Waking Up’, an on- line e-zine. The author characterizes those messages as challenges “to give more, love deeper, and engage wholeheartedly with life”. She truly believes that each of us can grow purposefully into richer, fuller lives.

The book promises much and, indeed, it has many strengths. The gems of philosophical insight that preface each chapter have been thoughtfully chosen, and are stand-alone inspirational reading.
Readers will be able to identify with the book’s subject matter of human experience that serves as a springboard for lessons learned. The sidebars and stories, which have been drawn from contributions by readers of the e-zine, are engaging. They capture elements of struggle and insight in a conversational style that is more palatable than straight lectures would have been. The thoughtful reader who is open to spiritual growth will find here both challenges and inspiration.

The content of the chapters sometimes can be aptly described as magnificent and inspirational. At times Ms Wright’s thoughts and writing soar. There are enough of those moments to make the book worthwhile... absolutely.

Whether a reader is inspired by all or only by some of this book, they are well advised to savor it in small bites. It is not a page-turner in the sense that a novel might be. Read and reflect. Then return and read again. It will be worth your while.

The author generally writes in a lively, engaging style and she is able to communicate compassion and caring. Most of the essays will leave readers encouraged, perhaps energized, even inspired. I recommend the book for spiritual seekers of either gender and for mature readers of any age.



Spokane/Coeur d'Alene Magazine
Who am I and why am I here? The quality of the questions we ask determine the richness of the answers we’re capable of hearing, says the author of Sequoia Seed, a powerful new motivational book. Although most people will do just about anything to avoid the discomfort of the unknown, Wright urges you to put off the quick answer in favor of the right answer, which is not always immediate nor tidy.

The book’s tone is friendly and compassionate, yet tough and straightforward, at times taking you by the hand, and other times booting you in the butt. Rather than asking, “why is this happening to me,” Wright says we should ask, “why is this happing for me,” a subtle shift from resistance to examination.

One example of the ideas that make this book great is its emphasis on making simple, easy changes, like planting small abundant seeds, which can become tremendous trees. In this way, readers can avoid the common mistake of tackling too much change at once, which leads to becoming paralyzed and overwhelmed.

Filled with thought-provoking quotes such as Proust’s, “The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes,” metaphors like the chapter heading “Driving with the Brake on,” real stories from real people, and funny, rueful advice for imaginary diseases such as “Decidophobia,” this is a perfect book with which to start off your new year(s) – remembering of course, that you can start over as soon as you choose to begin. Published by Bibliocast, $14.95


National Association of Baby Boomer Women
Author Karen Wright, has compiled a meaningful collection of true stories written by her faithful followers at www.wrightminded.com. She combined the accounts of lives touched by hardship with words of wisdom to shed light on troubling circumstances in our own lives.

Written from the premise that even the smallest of changes breathes wonder, power and strength into the lives we seek to create for ourselves, Sequoia Seeds moves to instill hope in our hearts. Who better to teach than those who have "been there?" Wright presents this compilation of touching stories with brevity, clarity and compassion.

The Table of Contents lists an array of topics the reader can visually scroll through and possibly choose for insight into a particular concern, issue or trying situation. It is her hope that you will glean the courage you need to face the day with an open heart and a fresh perspective.