Perspective!

Hi,

I have arrived at my beautiful home in Deia, Mallorca where I have been getting ready for my women's creative leadership retreat starting at the weekend. I haven't been here for a couple of months or more and June Bloom is truly upon us. The flowers are in full colour, everything is so green and my village has started the fiesta season. My heart is opening by the second to the beauty of the mountains and the sea surrounding me - even while I'm still working intensely with my projects back in the UK - the wonders of technology!

Those readers of Saturday's Guardian will have read the article written by my beloved friend Eve Ensler, founder of V-Day and author of The Vagina Monologues, on her recent experience with cancer. Eve has done more than any one person in the world to draw attention to the horror of sexual violence to women and girls, particularly in the Democratic Republic of Congo,where thousands are raped and abused regularly as a weapon to control the local villages and ownership of the mines.

She has just gone through a particularly nasty and rapid bout of uterine cancer. She is now, thank heavens, on the mend and is, as always, using her own experiences to bring attention to the horrors she has been helping to heal in the DRC. I am proud to call her my friend and that I have been able to support and promote her work in the UK. Check out the Guardian on-line for her feature and support her work by joining www.v-day.org.

As I rush around here getting my home ready for the weekend I appreciate that the problems - or challenges - that come up are merely there to help my growth - and I feel so humble when I see how Eve has taken her own pain to create gain for others.

See you in the Garden,

Lynne