We're not that different ...

In fact, we are actually all pretty similar in so many ways. Once we dust off all the layers of conditioning and programming we've been taught to believe is true, at the core of ourselves, we are really kind of same'y.

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And that isn't the bad thing you think it might be, BUT ... it also often means we have to take away the 'us' V 'them' mentality we've got going on and look at each other for who we are NOT who we're trying to be, pretending to be, or 'becoming'. #buzzwords #donotfakeittilyoumakeit #beittilyouseeit #JFDI #JFBI

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I would love to share a story with you about a book I recently wrote with a friend of mine. Sandra Dee Robinson . I was given a challenge at an event, by my awesome friend and mentor Lee Tunney-Ware , where he asked me to write a book in 30 days. I said no problem, because it wasn't ... a problem! I had written a 27,000 word book in 24 hours. 30 days was grand. The writing is never the problem when you don't have any of the nonsense floating around your head that other people say you should have, when you're a writer. Now, as well as that, I have been part of an epic community for awhile, called ECI, and inside that community - collaboration is key. So, no sooner had the challenge been issued, I then asked Sandra Dee would she like to write the book with me. She said yes.

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Lee then asked 3 people in the audience for topics I should write about. So not only was I being given a time challenge, but I also was not going to be able to choose what I would write about. WHAT???? Ok ... LET'S GO! The topics were thrown out and I wrote them down, nodding as I went because some were easy ... but ... some were one-eyebrow-raising! And, I instantly had an idea of what the book was going to be like, and that it hadn't been done before ( to my knowledge ). And as that idea was solidifying, so too was the name of the book.

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The Difference of Opinion, The Sameness of Truth was born, alongside my excitement at getting this done, and doing it with someone as cool as S.D.

But let me share a little something with you here ...

Previous to this challenge I had to put our dog to sleep, and the grief was almost all consuming. When people say 'its just a dog', I can't fathom it because ... our Jack Dawg was NOT just a dog, he was family. I liked him and loved him more than I do most of my own family. #Iswear I was knee deep in some of the deepest grief I have ever felt, and it was bringing up so much with it that some days, I didn't know if I could manage. My son had decided to go back to school after 8 years of home-schooling, I had just launched a magazine, I was creating a program, and I was writing 3 books as well as being part of and editing a massive book collab ( more about that soon ), AND bringing another book collab together. So ... it's not like I was just sitting around twiddling my thumbs waiting for something to happen. It was ALL happening! And the reason I'm telling you this is not for sympathy ( such a useless emotion ), but because we can do a lot all at once whilst still processing and dealing with tough sh*t.

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So, I took on the challenge, wrote the book, Sandra Dee wrote her half, and we put them together. One of the things Sandra Dee messaged me was ... 'I hope that's ok and that they aren't too different'! Little did she know I have some magical mystical powers of intuitive trust and everything always goes the way its meant to BUT ... this went even better.

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See ... we've never met, apart from on zoom. We've known each other for only about 16 months, we never conferred on what we were doing, we barely spoke apart from some Whatsapp messages, because she too was going through a tonne of things all at once. One of which, was the death of one of her beloved horses. And to be totally transparent, she isn't a 'natural' writer. As in, its not her life or career. But ... my idea for this book transcended all the rules and regulations, and what happened was so perfect. See, you don't have to be a 'natural' writer to write a great story, or a great book! You just have to write from the heart ... and she did that 100%. I personally think she's a great writer which really just hammers home my point. #writethebloodybook

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The entire point of the title of the book was because I have seen how often things that are not contrived actually end up being very similar. How often 'your tribe attracts your vibe' without much effort. I have witnessed how ... at our #opportunitiesafterbrexit event, where there are usually 8 speakers doing their thing, who never confer before the event, always end up with very similar overarching messages. It's fascinating and also so obvious as to why. Or, as I have brought some other book collabs together, and the women involved never had any contact with each other, yet ... their chapters were so profoundly overarchingly similar. And I knew this one would be no different, which made me smile, and the mischievous side of me light up like a Christmas tree! We can be two different people with two seemingly different opinions but ... at the end of the day, our truth is often the same.

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This book shows that in spades. As I read Sandra Dee's half, I just kept grinning, half at my own awesome idea, and half at the fact that my awesome idea came to life exactly like I assumed it should! And you know what happens when we assume ... well ... not this time! There were no asses claimed in the making of this book! ;)

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So, what has this to do with you and writing your book I hear you ask?

Great question!

You have been sitting on your book idea for far too long and giving yourself all the reasons not to do it. Those reasons have become the excuses you are using to excuse yourself from shining your brilliance all over the place, and I am calling a halt to that nonsense today! It's time to stop being besties with your not-right-now's, and its time to become firm friends with your lets-go's. Its also worth noting that writing can be one of the most cathartic things you can do, so when you're going through all the experiences life throws at you, write about them. Write when you're at the beginning of them, someone will read your story and feel more seen than they ever have before. Write about the messy middle of them, someone will read it and feel like you are speaking directly to their soul. Write about coming out the other side, someone will read that and feel like they too can come out the other side. And write about your story in hindsight because your memories of how things went down could be the way someone else climbs up.

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Next week we are going to be diving into one of my favourite things to do before I write a book, and I do it upside down! ;)

Here's a link for mine and Sandra Dee's book. We hope you love reading it as much as we loved writing it.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0DG8J1T2T that is the UK Amazon link, if you just want to go onto Amazon and find it yourself in your own country, type in: The Difference of Opinion, The Sameness of Truth and hey presto ... you'll find it. Do leave us a review. We love them.

XOXO

Ciara M Heneghan