I'M 'IN' & 'ON' THE EDGE!

This month, I'm featured IN the EDGE magazine, a wonderful publication that speaks to the interests of people who are passionate about personal growth and planetary transformation. The invitation to the Mpls. /St. Paul community from the EDGE's longtime editor, Tim Miejan, was to write about how we, as individuals create community.

For me, as a writer, who often works behind the scenes in relative isolation, I knew that I had to contribute my voice to this issue of the magazine, since the community that I typically work with, exists in non- human form. Sound far out? It's not, if you believe that angels and Mother Earth have a voice!

The title of my article is: This 'Extroverted Introvert' Finds Community and Comfort in the Company of Mother Earth and Angels. It can be seen here, by clicking on this link:

http://www.edgemagazine.net/2017/07/this-extroverted-introvert-finds-comfort-in-the-company-of-mother-earth-angels/

OR, you can read my adapted version of the article below...

THIS ‘EXTROVERTED-INTROVERT’ FINDS COMMUNITY AND COMFORT IN THE COMPANY OF MOTHER EARTH & ANGELS By Candia Lea Cole When I participated in the Meyer’s Briggs personality test many years ago, it indicated that I was an “extroverted-introvert.” What this means is that, I’m socially adept, as well as quiet and reclusive. When I attend a gathering or a party, I'm able and willing to talk, laugh, sing, and dance, just as any extrovert might. But like most introverts, I don’t especially favor small talk. I’d rather seek out a quiet nook of the room and sit down with the one person that I feel I can have a deep and meaningful conversation with. Even that kind of engagement can sometimes demand more of my energy than what I’m comfortable putting out. It’s not un-natural for me to want to leave a social event early, so I can recharge my batteries and enter back into a place I’m more comfortable being in, --a place of solitude. In Solitude, the “Introvert-Part” of Me, Creates

In a place of solitude, I can do what I do best. I can create. I can use my time and energy to think, dream, imagine, and write. For as long as I can remember, I have loved to write. Whether it was Xmas letters, poems, tributes, business brochures, articles, or what have you, I was always in my comfort zone when putting my pen to paper. The first books I ever wrote and published included three whole foods cookbooks, each of which featured eco-friendly recipes, as well as inspiration for living in harmony and balance with nature. After becoming a cookbook author, my publisher suggested that I seek opportunities to share my wisdom about food, health, nutrition, and ecological disease prevention, as a freelance health writer. I did, and that offered the “introvert-part” of me, a satisfying way to CONNECT WITH with a national audience, even though I was working behind the scenes to do it.

How the “Extrovert-Part” of Me Got Abandoned in My Creative Process Since the publication of my first books and articles, I’ve worked on many other writing and publishing projects. One of my biggest creative writing projects (an Eco-Mentor Leadership Training curriculum, which involved the creation of eight companion books) led me to completely abandon the “extrovert-part” of me for many years. It wasn’t intentional on my part, but as I discovered, I needed to dive deep into the heart’s core of my being, in order to get in touch with what wanted (and needed) to be birthed within me. My birthing process was both exhilarating and exhausting. It required me to live in a world with few, if any distractions, so that I would become highly attuned to my inner-voice, as well as the unseen dimensions of reality. It required me to listen attentively to the voice of Mother Earth, and "channel" the messages that I was hearing and seeing, into my body of work.

Finding My Community, within the Higher Angelic Realms Even though I was a “shut–in” during my process of “writer’s immersion”, I never felt alone. The reason I say this, is because, in addition to feeling that I was being guided by the voice of 'Mother Earth', I also felt I was being nurtured by an enlightened and caring community of angels, living “on the other side.” Like Mother Earth herself, these angels served as my constant companions for many years. They loved me, calmed my fears and doubts, smiled on my creative writing efforts, encouraged the evolution of my consciousness, downloaded amazing ideas into my thinking brain, and gave me meticulous instructions for how to put my eight books together in the form of a unified whole (aka; an "educational meal.") The 'meal' , I should tell you, includes my memoir (Born to Live Green), my Eco-Mentor Guidebook (Bring Back the Earth-Nourishing the Eco-Intelligence that Invites Whole Living) and my six (rainbow-colored) workbook journals, each one highlighting one of the six ingredients of eco-intelligent living that I unearthed on my own life-long healing journey,-- a journey to understand and heal the symptoms of environmental illness in my body and the Earth.

I'm Now On the EDGE! Now, with this timely opportunity to share my “introvert-extrovert” experience with the EDGE community, I hope others will join me in “healing themselves, to heal Mother Earth!” Both introverts and extroverts (as well as "extroverted introverts") are needed to heal ourselves and the Earth! If you would like to explore how you can use my educational materials to become a certified Eco-Mentor Apprentice or Eco-Mentor Activist, I invite you to connect with me at: 651 429-4686. Or, write to me at: candia@eco-mentor.com My curriculum training (offered in an online format) is suitable for ages 18-45, and will be available in the Fall of 2017.

Here's a video that introduces my journey to Eco-mentoring: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8oN2ImJd4o&feature=youtu.be Candia Lea Cole Eco-Learning Legacies

www.ecointelligenteating.com www.eco-mentor.com