I’ve had a few sobering moments in the last few weeks.
Tess Day, remembered by some of you as Theresa Day, passed away from an aggressive cancer a month ago. Tess/Theresa was my first-ever Mastery Club Facilitator. She was a lively, bright, creative life coach who embraced The Mastery Club with great enthusiasm and taught the first international programs in Scotland back in 2012.
We both gave it our best but, if truth be told, my urge to write more novels got the better of my ‘build-an-international-business’ urge, and my side step into the writing resulted in the business part slowing down considerably…
Theresa (as she called herself then) also let it drift while she focused on her adult life-coaching business… We remained friends but, over the last ten years, we headed in separate directions. Theresa formally ‘changed her name’ to Tess and I undertook a whole other set of life changes.
I was shocked to the core when a Facebook announcement on her page showed up on my phone about six weeks ago. Theresa in a hospital bed surrounded by family, and the announcement that she was close to the end… Her smile was as bright and vibrant as ever in that picture, and it was a profound shock to learn that she was ‘terminal’. It’s taken me a while to write this blog.
I send heartfelt love and support to her children and the rest of the family and her close friends and clients. I know that their memories will be rich.
I suspect that one reason I was so affected was because I had sent Tess a message a few weeks prior wanting to reconnect, and hadn’t yet got to it… Goes to show that we should never delay an impulse to connect with someone.
This shock was all the more profound given Tess’s love of learning and growing, and her value on health. I don’t know any more details about what occurred in her world to have caused the cancer. (I wonder if she surrendered to the jab in order to travel to see her family in South Africa…? I don’t know. I had wondered the same about another young, inspiring and lively friend who died very unexpectedly during the covid era of a heart-related issue.)
Meanwhile, since then, I have learnt of a ‘natural-law colleague’ who has been told he has an inoperable cancer. Much love for him as he navigates this very confronting and painful time.
I am sure that you have your share of unsettling events like these. They reinforce my commitment to my musical about health, corruption and Nature (HIPPOCRyTIC OATH), and to the podcast I’m about to launch: ‘Remedy & Revelation – uncovering truth and healing, one story at a time’.
Our first five guests are Don Tolman (who inspired the musical), Dawn Lester(health researcher and co-author of What Really Makes You Ill), Eileen McKusick (BioField Tuning) with The Brothers Koren (Sing the Body Electric), Meliors Simms (the Holistic Tooth Fairy), and Amandha Vollmer ND (Naturopathic Terrain Doctor). LOTS more extraordinary guests are in the pipeline. Launching very soon! Stay tuned.
Meanwhile, I’ve been asked to explain the difference between self-help books and transformational fiction. (It’s kind of relevant.)
The term ‘self-help’ is a little ironic. To be sure, there is value in ‘using one’s own efforts and resources to achieve things without relying on others’ – it is well and truly time that we stopped outsourcing our power! – but on the other hand, it’s important to recognise that no one and nothing exists in isolation. We are part of a community, just as each cell and organ in our bodies are part of an ecosystem, and each plant and animal is part of an ecosystem, etc. etc.. We need each other for support and challenge on the journey, hence my creation of The Mastery Clubbook and programs.
‘Transformational fiction’ are stories that trigger personal transformation. Unlike most self-help books, which are non-fiction, transformational fiction inspires the reader through a story about a set of characters who are on some sort of growth journey, rather than the sort of ‘direct instruction’ that is common in self-help books.
With fiction, we relax into a story; we’re not focused on learning. Instead, we are ‘simply being entertained’. While reading about these ‘other people’ and ‘their’ growth journeys, we are in a light trance state that enables constructive ideas to bypass conscious resistance and be more readily absorbed. So when we read about someone who learns the power of forgiveness, or overcomes fears and limitations, we are receiving subtle messages of possibility for ourselves, also.
I hope that the subtle message you received from this blog is to always follow an impulse to connect with someone you care about. It might be your last chance. 🙏
The timing of Tess’s departure is significant because tomorrow, 16th July, is the 20th anniversary of The Mastery Club‘s publication… Consider celebrating with me, and honouring Tess’s memory, by buying a copy and giving it to a young person in your world.
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