Simply Be More
by Clare Antonia Langan / www.o-books.com
What makes a professional flautist put down her flute and pick up a pencil and how did the decision to embark on a 100-day challenge change her entire life and outlook? Read on to find out more.
In 2020, during the pandemic, Clare Langan embarked on a life coaching course with Chad E Cooper. If you looked at Clare’s bookshelf it would out-do the self-help and mind/body/spirit section of any of the best bookshops in the world, but there was still a belief in Clare that she could…simply be more.
A challenge was set by Chad to spend 100 consecutive days doing something you had not done since a child and to share it on social media.
Racking her brains, she pulled out from the depths of her memory the words her art teacher had written in her yearbook just before she left school for university…
“I will always say you should have never given up art.”
The decision was made; to do a sketch a day for 100 days accompanied by some inspiring words.
“Covid was a giant reset button. A chance to re-evaluate, to reflect and reset. I made the decision to come out of the pandemic a) alive and b) a better person!”
Day after day sketches were completed inspired by Clare’s runs in the beautiful Suffolk countryside. “The ideas seemed to come from thin air, from meditation, from something I read or something I remembered in my soul…something I uncovered by being open to the magic of a beginners mind.”
“After about 10 days we had a life coaching class and I shared what I had been doing. One of the attendees was literary agent Devra Jacobs who already had the book I had just completed – ‘Living each day the fortune cookie way’, which is a rather quirky experiment of literally living a year according to a fortune cookie motto. Devra piped up and said ‘Clare send this to Collective Ink – there is something in this I am certain.’…My initial thoughts were all the reasons why I shouldn’t send the book and then I thought what is the book about….simply being more so why not ‘simply be more brave.’ The rest as they say is history – by the 18th sketch, the publishers, to my amazement had sent a contract.”
“Where’s the catch” a voice inside me said…”simply have more faith” came the answer…”You can’t do 100 sketches”…”simply have more trust” came the answer.”
“What has been so remarkable about the Simply Be More journey is how it has transformed my life and this is what I want it to do for anyone who invests in it and allows it to work its magic.
I believed that I was only a flute player. I believed that this was the only thing I was any good at but Simply Be More taught me that I have so many gifts inside me that are just waiting to be discovered.
In the Summer of 2021, I was asked to take over running a charity that provides interactive music sessions for people living with dementia. I have worked as a flautist for this incredible non-profit for two decades but how could I possibly run it? What skills do I have? Once again, I was called to “Simply Be More”. It has been such a challenge and I have thought about quitting more times than I care to mention, but every time a voice whispers in my heart ‘you’ve come this far…how can you now simply be less? You must simply be more”.
Clare combines her role as CEO of the charity Lost Chord UK with being a headline flautist performing her one woman show all around the world.
“It has been amazing to share the story of Simply Be More with people all around the world. It is remarkable how many therapists have come up to me and said that this will be perfect for their clients and how brilliant it would be to have framed prints in their waiting room as every picture is a book in itself, but the best comment came from a lady who was 78 years young who said “Clare I have always known I wasn’t ready to give up…I know I am 78 but I know I can still Simply Be More. I have decided that I am going to take up the ukulele and I am going to start yoga. I can simply be more I just know I can in the time I have left.”
Simply Be More is a collection of beautiful, inspiring and soothing sketches using animals and nature to illustrate time-preserved wisdom.
Life isn’t determined by where we have come from; it is where we are going that is important. Clare Langan has lived it - and rather than talked about it, has written it and now drawn it, too.
Simply Be More by Clare Antonia Langan is available from www.o-books.com and from wherever books are sold.
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O-Books is a leading publisher of Body, Mind, Spirit books.
We publish spirituality, personal development and self-help titles, working in partnership with authors to produce authoritative and innovative books. Our authors offer wisdom from ancient teachings, with new perspectives and interpretations. O-Books aim to enlighten and inspire our readers.
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