A bit of inspiration - A flower is born by 4 Hero:
John Hunt publishing have just confirmed GO! Smell the flowers will be on the shelves, e-books and all on June 1st 2013 – worth the wait and just in time for summer. The 4 Hero tune sums up the challenges overcome as tempting as it was to throw the towel in at times.
More updates as and when and may your respective gardens be prosperous folks.
Ever pushed it to the limits flower smellers?
I did recently thanks to Dubai based Gargash enterprises, Mercedes-Benz for hosting the SUV Driving event in Oman recently. The test drive event was over 70 hours covering 700km and an exhilarating journey across a variety of terrain of Majestic Muscat from road to gravel tracks, rocky plateaus to running wadis and through various grades of both slope and sand.
Mercedes M Class
Performance meets specification
Starting from the Al Mouj golf club at the luxurious Wave development managed by Dubai Golf we meandered off in a 12 strong convoy to the Wahiba Sands. Think again when you think ‘empty desert’ with an area of 12,500 square kilometers!
The venue was like Mercedes – Far more than meets the eye
The desert has been of scientific interest since a 1986 expedition by the Royal Geographical Society documented the diversity of the terrain, the flora and fauna, noting 16,000 invertebrates as well as 200 species of other wildlife, including avifauna. They also documented 150 species of native flora so plenty of time to GO! Smell the flowers.
Evening was spent relaxing at the luxury Bedouin desert experience 1,000 night camp which was:
Our 12 strong ‘SUVenture’ convoy included the Middle East launch of the flagship new seven-seater GL, the highly dynamic all-purpose compact GLK, launch of the iconic new G 500, and first off-road driving experience for the spearhead of the Mercedes-Benz regional SUV strategy – the M-Class.
Taking centre stage was the media launch of the flagship new Mercedes-Benz GL. The award winning large size SUV occupies the top position amongst luxury off-road vehicles with its seven seats, best in class engines, powerful performance, space, refinement and cutting edge technologies.
Through Wahiba Sands we meandered sometimes gliding effortlessly and at other times through gritted teeth that pushed both driver and car to the limits! Then onto Yiti and checking in at the impressive Sifawy Boutique Hotel.
We all got the chance to experience each model as both driver and passenger to gain a first-hand understanding of what ‘The Best or Nothing’ really means when it comes to Mercedes-Benz SUVs. I didn’t appreciate they had an off-road heritage of over 100 years, and now boasts an unrivalled SUV family offering the widest range in the market, delivering peerless performance, fascinating technology, space and refinement across any terrain.
Having swapped our stories from the day we rested well before the final leg of the journey taking in coffee, croissants and of course the stunning views overlooking the capital, before concluding at the Almouj Golf Club. It was a road trip of a lifetime and one I was very privileged to attend.
That’s another tick off the bucket list as the flower smelling continues!
Comments welcomed and I wonder what’s next as the ethos of ’One journey, Many discoveries’ lives on.
Ever had one of those days when you’re just meant to be connected with someone at the right time? Well that happened during the Dubai tweet up, where fellow twitterers get together in the flesh and chew the proverbial fat. Indian cuisine on this occasion with Dubai passionate blogger, lover of life, food reveiwer and tweeter, THE REAL Geordie Armani
We’ve faced similar challenges and overcome them with a determination that passion brings. In July 2009 having lost my job I nearly lost 2 years of working on GO! Smell the flowers with over 50,000 comments and 2,400 blog posts contributed by 20 writers. Even 3 years back, pre widespread use of facebook and twitter this youtube video posted on the site hit over 5,000 views:
GO! Smell the flowers was then stolen and I was flatteringly held to a $60,000 ransom to get the website and all the content back having naively given all my domain information to a so called ‘ business partner’. However, it happened for a reason and led to the formation of GO! Smell the coffee and this post on July 6th 2009 in a bid to get the site back.
Barely 1 week later on 14th July 2009 during a particularly difficult time on life I was fortunate enough to be a guest on John Deykin’s Saturday extra’s team . It covered the story so far, flowers through to coffee and discussing the pro’s and con’s of a community website.
Just click on this link: grab a coffee and listen in – it’s 45 minutes long!
All content copyright ARN : The Saturday Extra show with John Deykin.
It was recorded live, with no idea of the questions that came in the middle of the flowers / coffee debacle and featured on GO! Smell the coffee which was set up in a bid to get my website and intellectual property back!
It worked, eventually, thanks to a copyright an dtrademark precaution I’d taken out in 2006 to protect the book and the ISBN number! What I’d spent 2 years building was indeed returned but it came at the cost of the community and pretty much my sanity. Baaa Baa black sheep. It took the wind out of my online sails but now, 3 years on with the book out early 2013 and GO! Smell the coffee currently being written I’m glad I dug in and stuck at it:
It inspires me to remember what the brand was becoming and what the brand could become. With both sweet flowers and bitter coffee in our journey of life we take it as it comes. Feel free to share your tales here to help others avoid going through similar! Comments welcomed, (Group hugs) optional!
Another endorsement for GO! Smell the flowers in from Lee Sharpe an English former professional footballer, sports television pundit and reality television personality, who as a player was predominantly a left winger for Manchester United winning a total of eight caps for England.
Here he is in action, on the football field against Barcelona with a sublime back heel:
‘Life is to short not to GO! Smell the flowers and this book is a great place to inspire change and to start living the life you want’ – Lee Sharpe
The editorial team at John Hunt publishing have added the endorsement onto the final edit ready for publication at the end of this year. Lee hopes to be dropping into Dubai this side of Christmas after a spell here as a T.V pundit. Come back Lee, the place misses you! He is currently smelling his flowers on the after dinner circuit back in the U.K.
Comments welcomed!
A big thanks to rugby legend Steve Thompson, M.B.E, former Rugby Union player for London Wasps, England and the British & Irish Lions for taking the time out to smell the flowers recently.
For those who haven’t seen Steve in action here you GO! with a clever try:
He kindly took time out recently to read GO! Smell the Flowers and has endorsed the
book with:
‘A great his n her book – 2 perspectives on the same experience makes for an interesting read with a real twist at the end. Me and the wife raced to pick it up 1st each day when we were reading the manuscript.’
Thanks for your support Steve, a inspiration in your own right. More endorsements to follow over the coming weeks.
Comments welcomed!
A big thanks to cricket legend, fundraiser and T.V pundit Sir Ian Botham for taking the time to GO! Smell the flowers and endorse the book that will be out round about Christmas time.
One of the finest all rounders of all time, Ian Botham was the fastest to the double of 1000 runs and 100 wickets. An English icon, full of endless self-belief, he could change the course of a game in an afternoon. With him, England were a side to reckon with; without him they were abysmal. Some highlights of him in action:-
And his endorsement, that in his typical style sums it up nicely:-
‘The Jimbo I know from Dubai is probably not going to be the flower smeller that I know but someone else I do not know – I hope! Enjoy the book that details this journey of change, flower smellers’ – Sir Ian Botham.
In a round about way Sir Ian nails the fact it’s a book encouraging change! I can’t argue with that and it’s really bowled me over that he took the time to not only read but get the whole point of the book.
Times do change but Beefy has always endorsed Wheat, as in Shredded back in 1980:
Priceless!
With a few more endorsements due in over the next couple of weeks as final design and layout is approved I’ll post them as and when they land.
Comments welcomed and who would you have endorse something that you wrote? Do tell…
Well just signed off the final copy approval for GO! Smell the flowers the book which has been in line to get published since 2007!
The major twist in the tale at the end of the first draft put the book publishing deal on ice so it just wasn’t meant to be at that time. Five years later working with the editorial, publishing and marketing team at U.S based John Hunt publishing and O-Books who are now busy getting the final book ready to hit the shelves / Kindles for pre xmas 2012!
Alot has changed since then and alot can happen if you have the right intention as demonstrated by Dr. Masaru Emoto with the power of will and the law of attraction:
So never give up, even when circumstances change and demand a complete change although you might not know it at the time! If your intention or message is right it will come out at exactly when it is meant to:
U turn
At the moment celebrity endorsements on GO! Smell the flowers are coming in which will be posted in due course. What would you like to materialise in your life and why?Do tell….
Living your life to the fullest, means living like the next day will be your last. And there are so many things to do before you leave the world.
Visit one of the seven wonders of the world
Okay so admittedly there are a lot of monuments, so go and see the ones that inspire you the most. They are dotted around the world, so it would take some planning and dedication. If you want to see The Great Wall of China, Stone Henge, the Colosseum, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, Hagia Sophia, the Taj Mahal etc, do it. You only live once.
Eat at one of the world’s best restaurants.
The best restaurants in the world are difficult to come by. People book reservations months and even years in advance. So you’ll have a lot of foxy bingo games to play before you get to go. That shouldn’t put you off going to at least one though. For the experience.
Do something that absolutely terrifies you
We all have enormous fears. Far from letting them rule us though, we should go out of our way to face that fear. You could jump out of a plane, hold a small snake, spend a day in the dark, volunteer in a hospital – whatever scares you the most in the world. It’ll make you feel like you conquered that fear, and lived life to the fullest. Even if only for a moment.
Learn another language fluently
The older you get the harder it is to learn a new language. And yet it’s as we get older we start to wish we could. It’s never too late. Take the most common language you could learn, or perhaps one of the less common, so you feel unique in your ability. Italian perhaps?
Watch a sunset and sunrise
We get so busy with our everyday lives, that we forget to stop and appreciate the little things in life. For example, the setting and rising of the sun every morning and evening. It doesn’t matter where you are in the world, you could be on a beach in Greece, or sitting on a hill down the road from your house, take a loved one with you, and simply observe.
Where did the last couple of years GO? Alot has happened as the journey continues…
Well, having resisted the temptation to self publish it looks like a publishing home has been found for GO! Smell the flowers – the details are just being finalised with an American & U.K self help publisher.
It seems odd posting after all this time – with it being a daily obessession petering to nothing as life sort of got in the way with its trials and tribulations, highs n lows not wnating it any other way, honest!
Having nearly lost this site with all 2,690 posts and over 50,000 comments it was migrated to GO! Smell the coffee where I’m considering bringing the online keeping it real community back to life. It certainly had its ups and downs but did it have its day?
Are blogs really all that now what with Facebook and twitter?
I’ll email previous flower smellers and it’ll be great to find out what you’re all up to thesedays!
So, what have you been up to in the last couple of years?
Do tell, share and play nicely!
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