Featured Blogger: Leslee Hare – All About Enlightenment…
“A chief event of life is the day in which we have encountered a mind that startled us.” Ralph Waldo Emerson
Featured Blogger: Mind's Eye illustration by Leslee Hare...
Featured Blogger: Leslee Hare
The DailyPost Challenge has brought many wonderful bloggers into my life and I was thinking of a way to honor each of them. The Get To Know: Featured Blogger idea felt like the way to share words and visions from the brilliant group of bloggers around me. I promise to bring more to you every week. Stay tuned.Ā This week, please welcome Leslee Hare, mom, blogger, illustrator, architect, student of enlightenment and more. Leslee is an intuitive artist with a generous heart and she has agreed to share part of her world with us. Thank you Leslee!
Where did you grow up and why do you blog?
I grew up in Birmingham, Alabama and have lived in the Atlanta, Georgia area for over 30 years (I started at Georgia Tech in 1980). I practiced architecture until early 2009, when the retail design market and the design/construction industry dried up. I designed shopping mall interiors for 15 years, and my skills were so specialized that I imagined it would take a while to find another position in that field. I always wanted to be an illustrator, so the lay-off was an opportunity to pursue that dream. The challenge invigorated my creativity, and I loved the flexible schedule (I’ve actually just been re-hired back into that world, in a most miraculous way!).
In the spring of 2010, I had some psychic/spiritual experiences that completely blew my mind and changed my path dramatically. I had been meditating and practicing Buddhism for years; suddenly, in April, I learned that I could use my intuition to tap directly into my highest spiritual guidance. It took me several months to adjust to these changes. I completely freaked out at first… I had always been very logical, methodical, and painfully conservative about some things. Suddenly, life became very intuitive and ambiguous. During the process of adjusting, I began writing.
The Mona Lisa via LesLee Hare
Much to my surprise, I began writing about Buddhism. But it wasn’t the Buddhism that I had known. I was re-writing Buddhism, and I resisted it forcefully! I felt I had no place writing about Buddhism because my personal view was pretty unconventional, and this new material appeared even more maverick. Within a month or two, I had a book that was about 150 pages long, so I began looking for a publisher and considering self-publishing. My goal was to get the book’s material to as many people as possible, and make it easily accessible. I realized it could take years to find a publisher, and that if I self-published, that might actually hinder distribution.
Then, one night, my intuition/Guides suggested I go to WordPress. I had only read a few blog posts in my life at that point (this was early January 2011), so I had no idea where to start. I spent about an hour looking at the self-hosted version, mildly freaking out, because it was already 10 pm and my Guides were saying “We want you to be online tonight.” No way!
Finally, I called my friend John, who had a good laugh and sent me to WordPress.com. Whew! Before midnight, I had my first post under my belt. Within a few days, I realized that blogging was a dream come true! I could post that whole book online, and anyone with internet access could read it for free! How incredible! All I needed was time…
“I think anytime you can affect people in general, in a positive way, then you’re a lucky individual.” Sam Elliott
Featured : Namkhyen ... via Leelee
Autism via Leslee Hare...
I realized pretty quickly that I needed two blogs. I dedicated one to the book contents: All About Enlightenment and the other, LesLeeHare blog, to more random, personal, posts. The LesleeHare blog offers a great opportunity for me to share my experiences as a single mom raising an autistic child (he’s 14 now), and my journey living “in the world” according to what I’ve learned spiritually. More on Interview & Twitter Hop below.
FRIENDLY FRIDAY TWITTER HOP!
I’m still a bit paranoid about my process, but I’m working through it and gaining a deeper acceptance of the inner guidance. I’ve begun a series of posts to share this method; anyone can develop access to what I’ve found. It’s not a “Buddhist” method; it’s simply a mechanism that might help anyone establish a more direct connection between themselves and their inner guides.
What is most important to you/about you?
My Guides tell me that the most important thing about me (and I say it’s the most important thing to me) is that I simply listen, and follow their intuitive advice without fighting. This makes life a lot easier, although it presents frequent challenges. I have learned that if I’m patient and trusting, I eventually come to understand why things happen, and that everything connects to bring about amazing results. Things go more smoothly when I don’t pretend to understand “the plan”…
Featured Blogger: UTM3 by Leslee Hare...
What motivates you to get out of bed?
I know that another lesson always comes, and I’m fascinated about learning and improving my experience of this amazing world!
How would you like to be remembered?
I hope to be remembered as a person who looks for light whenever she meets darkness, and who helps slay “darkness” and “evil.” š I say this quite playfully/tongue-in-cheek, because “darkness'” and “evil” lack inherent existence, and “death” and “light” are figurative terms. I would be delighted to be remembered for striving to find and create peace and happiness for myself and others.
You may connect with Leslee on her blogs at All About Enlightenment and LesleeHare blog, via YouTube at OneRiverConsulting and on Flickr at LeeleeHare
What are your thoughts? Please leave your feedback here for Leslee… If you would love to be our featured blogger, please leave me a way to contact you.
FRIENDLY FRIDAY TWITTER HOP!
Have you ever participated in a Blog Hop? If you don’t know what it is, read my post for Monday’s Hop. We are continuing our blog hop/link love with a Twitter Hop for Friday.Ā Add your Twitter handle and make new friends. Your twitter address reads/looks like this: http://twitter.com/elizobihfrankĀ Ā What topic would you like for next Monday’s Hop?Ā Share your thoughts/questions below. Thank you!
Positive Motivation Tip: Make a new connection by learning about another blogger. Keep an open mind and explore…Donāt give up!
Related Articles
- Which blog for me? (xemion.com)
- MeetUp Mondays Blog Hop: Add A Blog Post & Join in the Fun (eof737.wordpress.com)
- 14 Brilliant Bloggers Talk About Blogging Platforms (blogworld.com)
PHOTO CREDITS/ATTRIBUTIONS: All photos from Leslee Hare’s personal collection.
Until Next Timeā¦
Ask. Believe. Receive. Ā©
Elizabeth Obih-Frank
Mirth and Motivation
Positive Kismet
thanks for your project, to introduce some blogger personalities …
I like what Leslee Hare wrote at
HOW WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE REMEMBERED:
I would be delighted to be remembered for striving to find and create peace and happiness for myself and others.
+
frizztext: that’s a good reason to continue, writing daily š
Thank you too Frizz for the unswerving support. I look forward to doing yours and others in the coming weeks.
š
Eliz
I really enjoyed learning about Leslee Hare. Thanks for taking the time to let us “bloggers” get to know YOU. What a great idea to “feature” bloggers so that we can connect in a way that it better than “facebook” and other social networks….
Thank you Jackie,
Yes there are other ways for us to connect and I look forward to having you on board too. By the way, the Twitter Hop is on though it is at the end of Leslee’s post… Might have to move it up. š
Best,
Eliz
Thank you Elizabeth (and everyone else!)!!! This is exciting and wonderful! My new job starts today, so I need to run, but will be back online this evening/weekend, and look forward to catching up with everyone! Have a wonderful Friday!
Just to alert you that the All About Enlightenment photo vanished! I have no idea why… so until we find out, I will replace it with Mind’s Eye… now that is odd! :-p
Thanks!
Congratulations on your new job too!
As per MIA photo, did AAE object or something? I’m fascinated….
Thank you again for participating Leslee.
More coming soon. š
E
I am so looking forward to reading Leslee’s blogs. I could use some enlightenment at the moment. I admire her spirit ambition. This is such a nice idea Elizabeth. We are going to be doing something similar with The Blogstress Network, and I believe the more the merrier when it comes to uniting bloggers.
Thanks so much for this!
I agree Barbara that the more the merrier and TBN, your new acronym š , would be an ideal vehicle for lots of stuff that includes women. I was thinking about another idea that would be great for TBN as I was working on my post for Friday… when it is clearer, I’ll run it by you.
I was quite surprised to find this new side to Leslee. We all have great stories to tell and thanks for coming on-board. š
Thanks again,
Eliz
Loved this ~ the idea, the execution, the questions, the answers, the insights.
When we LISTEN . . . anything in life can be our guide.
Well done!!!
Thank you Nancy,
Listening is such an important skill and not enough people listen or listen well. With all the noise in our world, it takes effort and will to tune alot out and zero in on the important stuff. Good for Leslee and thanks for joining in.
š
Eliz
Thank you so much for sharing Leslee with us! Now I’m off to check out her blogs…
Thnak you Rosa for being such a trooper. Rosa rocks with her determination to say hello to everyone from Monday’s hop. … so do y’all! š
I am glad to have made new friends too… And we will need the support form each other as the months roll by and some of us take a minute here or break there. š
Gracias Rosa!
Elizabeth
Hi everyone,
I sent all an email this morning or perhaps last night. I tried very had to cull all of your emails from comments and such so if I missed anyone, please, please let me know. I plan to feature each and everyone of my blog friends, old and new, and the more of us, the merrier. š
Also check your spam box just to be sure.
Thank you!
Elizabeth
We have to mail you back , on ur inbox is it??
MAILED!!! š
What an engaging interview and a lovely idea too.
I love the description – student of enlightenment!
Looking forward to reading the others!
B
Hey Elizabeth,
I have your email with me and I am sitting on it wondering what to write. š
But did you notice that the links seems to be broken? You may want to fix that. Take care.
Hi Sunil,
Thanks for your followup! I’m sure you’ll share some wonderful stories and insights… Looking forward to it.
About links, which links are broken? I checked most of them and they seem fine. Let me know. š
Eliz
The links in the following sentence does appears to be broken.
Erm…I find this a little spooky. No offense!
Great idea to feature bloggers – it’s very interesting to see what’s behind a person motivation to blog…looking forward to reading about more featured bloggers :o)
This has been an incredible journey into the thoughts and feelings of my friend Leslee Hare. I have enjoyed getting to know her, and am always happy to see her thoughts portrayed visually. Leslee’s art is beautiful and inspiritational and her words have deep insight. Elizabeth you have hit the mark with this process of meeting bloggers and coming to know more of what motivates them.
Thanks
Walter
Hi Leslee!
Sorry Iām late. Another great interview Eliz. Where do you find such fabulous folks? Oh right! WP! That’s where…Thanks sharing! š