This April 28-29 I will be teaching a Big Five for Life Discovery Course in Quebec, Canada.

This will be the only time I teach it in North America in 2012.

If you are interested in becoming a Big Five for Life coach, I will be teaching one certification training in North America this year. It too will take place in Quebec. (Get More Details)

I look forward to seeing you at one of the events.

It’s available in gift edition hardcover ($19.95), paperback ($9.97) and e-book on Amazon ($9.97).

If you’ve enjoyed The Why Cafe, and/or my second book, Life Safari, you will love this one. From a writing perspective, I think it’s the best work I’ve done. It’s an inspiring story that will make you laugh, cry, and think about your life in a whole new way.

If you’re looking for inspiration, this is definitely a good way to kick off 2012.

Here’s the schedule. When you click on the specific event it will take you to the local website which has all the details. Feel free to contact me with any questions.

February 10-12 Netherlands

April (Dates to be announced) Quebec, Canada

I will personally be teaching the content during these two days. This is the last time I’ll be teaching it in the Netherlands for 2011.

All the course details are available on the Dutch Big Five for Life web site.

Join me November 5-7 in the Netherlands for the next Big Five for Life coaching certification training.

I’ll teach you the methodologies I use to teach the Big Five for Life. I will also help you figure out the specific types of people you most want to help, and the ways in which you most want to coach.

You can get more details about the course on the Dutch Big Five for Life website.

You can also contact me with any questions.

This course does have a pre-requisite. All attendees should take the Big Five for Life Discovery Course prior to this course. I am teaching the Discovery Course Nov. 3-4.

Join me December 6-8 in Hamburg, Germany for the next Big Five for Life Fulfillment workshop.

I will personally be teaching all three days of the course.

It’s an amazing experience that will enable you to take your Big Five for Life dreams and make them your realities.

You can get more details about the course on the German Big Five for Life website.

You can also contact me with any questions.

This course does have a pre-requisite. All attendees should be graduates of the Big Five for Life Discovery Course. The next two Discovery Courses will take place in Berlin Nov. 18-19, and Krefeld Nov. 25-26.

That was the subject line of the email a friend sent to me a number of years back.

It turns out that as a thank you to their fans, once per year Ben and Jerry’s gives away free ice cream. They’ve been doing it ever since their one year anniversary way back in 1979.

Yes you have to drive yourself to the ice cream store. Once there though, you get a free cone or cup of Ben and Jerry’s.

“Pretty darn cool,” I thought when my friend enlightened me with this. And I don’t even eat ice cream. I still think it’s cool. (April 12 was the day in 2011, by the way. No word yet on 2012′s date.)

Well, I just realized it’s almost the anniversary of The Why Cafe hitting #1 on the Bestseller list. So I thought, why not do a Ben and Jerry?

No I don’t make ice cream, but I could give away books. No other author has ever done that that I know of. So how cool would that be.

So today, Sept. 20th, from 12:01 a.m. to 11:59 p.m. you can get a free copy of The Why Cafe. It’s my attempt at saying thanks to all the fans who have been so incredible in their support of the cafe.

I realize you may already have a copy, so you may not want another one. I also realize you may have loaned yours out and now need another one. Or maybe you have the right person in mind who could really use a little time at The Why Cafe.

All that is up to you.

If you’d like to participate, here are two options.

#1. Single scoop serving of The Why Cafe (one copy for free – shipping charge is $3.95)

#2. Triple scoop serving of The Why Cafe (three free copies for you or to share – shipping charge is $5.95)

Sorry about the shipping charges. I guess it’s sort of like having to drive to the ice cream store. Not ideal, but necessary. Maybe next year we can partner with Starbucks or someone else so that you can pick your book up instead of the whole shipping thing.

Also, because of the very high cost of international shipping rates, this is just for fans in the U.S.A. I know that’s a bummer. We’ll try and figure out a solution for that for next year too.

Thanks, and enjoy!

John

Sometimes things come into existence in the most unusual of ways. That is certainly the case for this little book. Its story began with what at the time seemed like a very inglorious event. I was laid off from my job. After working a steady stream of 80 hour weeks for almost four years, the economic crash resulted in three rounds of furloughs at the company where I was employed.

I was one of the last to go in the third round. That was two weeks before my wedding.

After getting the call, I went home and my fiance and I talked about what we should do. We decided to do something that to most people seemed crazy.  We decided to follow our hearts and go see the world.

We backpacked around the world for almost a year, covering more than 70,000 miles. We did it all on a little less than $40 per day for the two of us combined. The whole experience was completely life changing, in so many ways.

When we came back I was asked to return to the type of work I’d done before. Since I was out of money, and had no specific plans for my future, I accepted. Those four months back were a good reminder of why I hadn’t missed that line of work.

On the plane flight back from my last day of the assignment, I was sitting in my seat and a single thought struck me. What would you tell someone right now is the meaning of life?

So I wrote out a speech, even though I wasn’t a speaker and had no one to give it to. I talked about the juxtaposition of feelings I had, having spent almost a year doing only things that made me feel truly alive, and then returning to what had almost killed me in the first place.

The next morning something told me to sit down at my computer and start typing. So I did. And the words just seemed to flow from somewhere else, through my head, through my hands, and on to the screen.

This went on for twenty-one days. During that stretch I never read what I was writing. I never planned what I was going to type next. I just typed. At the end of twenty-one days it felt like it was time to stop. So I printed out what I had written and put it on a shelf for a week. Then I read it.

And if you’ve read The Why Cafe, what was on those pages, is almost word for word what is in the book. It was, it still is, a very surreal experience.

Thanks to readers who felt a deep connection to the story, in its first year, the book spread by word of mouth across more than a dozen countries. It has now been translated into twenty-one languages and been a #1 Bestseller, sharing those lists with people such as Mitch Albom (Tuesday’s with Morrie) and Malcolm Gladwell (The Tipping Point), two of my own favorite authors.

Magazine editors have called The Why Cafe “a modern day version of The Alchemist,” and “a twenty-first century Jonathan Livingston Seagull”- two of my favorite books.

Did I mention it feels very surreal sometimes.

Without knowing exactly what else to say, let me just say thank you. Thank you for reading the book and sharing its message with others.

If you are one of the many people who has sent me your story about what your time at The Why Cafe meant to you, I am forever grateful. Through those stories I gain a sense of clarity about why this has all evolved as it has.

Each one is a further testament to the wonderful things that happen when we allow ourselves to be guided by our heart every once in a while, instead of feeling like we have to know all the steps along the path before we’ll start walking.

Thank you again. I look forward to seeing you at the cafe some night soon.

John

Included in his thoughts were, “If you are looking for a quick read with some questions to ponder, you can’t go wrong with The Why Cafe.”

Glad you enjoyed your time at the Cafe, Doug.