Drawing from more than 25 years of literary know-how and modeled after a 15-week college course, this manual provides guidance for seekers wishing to delve further into self-exploration through writing. Extending beyond the idea that memoir writing intends to put past events into a more understandable current perspective, the guide maintains that keeping a document of one’s life is actually the basis of a psychic process called “soul work,” which manifests as a desire to experience the state of being alive to the fullest. This unusual approach to memoir writing aims to generate more honest and genuine results that come from inner needs rather than outer expectations. Intended to clarify a writer’s developmental path, this resource emphasizes the importance of self-awareness and the need for dealing with difficult material that actually alters the writer in the process, resulting in significant growth of the soul.
I'm the author of eleven books, so far. The most recent is "Spiritual Hunger". It tackles the serious problem that afflicts so many of us - how do we find meaning in life? This hunger is a symptom of a sense of our inner emptiness, and if we aren't careful we can find ourselves filling that emptiness with compulsive, destructive habits. The book offers us a constructive ways forward, a sort of "Diet Book for the Soul" that will tell us how we can nourish ourselves by choosing helpful myths, rituals and stories -- ones that can center us firmly in the experience of being fully alive.
In 2011 I produced "The Path of Synchronicity; Align Yourself with Your Life's Flow". In it I ask what the phenomenon is Synchronicity might be; how do we identify it? How do we get more of it in our lives? What might it mean?
For if we look at some 3000 years of western literature we'll see that synchronicity of various sorts has always been at the basis of the plots of the finest works our culture has to offer. Clearly there's something being conveyed here. The book examines this, and as it does so it suggests why "The Secret" is so misleading, and why Deepak Chopra's "The Shadow Effect" is only starting the scratch the surface.
My previous book was "Princes, Frogs and Ugly Sisters; The Healing Power of the Grimm Brothers' Tales".
It asks us to look at the original tales the Grimm brothers collected, because there we'll find strong, bold explorations of everything we commonly think of as psychology. This is not at all the silly Disney commercialization that has led so many people astray. Think of "The Cinderella Syndrome" and you'll understand what I mean. This is not a world where sad young women wait around for their princes to come; Cinderella didn't do that. She went out to find him!
This is a very different series of tales compared to what Disney would have us believe. Here frogs never get kissed, fairy godmothers and pumpkin coaches are entirely missing, and Cinderella does not run away from the ball at midnight. The real, deep, wisdom of the tales is revealed to us.
My previous book is called: "Write Your Memoir: The Soul Work of Telling Your Story". It's based on nearly thirty years of working with writers, finding out ways they can access the true and vital stories they have lived. For it is only when we are able to tell these stories that we can liberate the deep wisdom that lies within us, waiting to be heard. There's no other book like this available, because no other book asks you, as a writer, to enlist your strongest ally - your Unconscious - in the process of writing.
You may also be interested in my other previous books, too, such as "The Six Archetypes of Love". The book traces the six major archetypes that have been in the canon of Western Literature for over 3000 years, and asks us to consider which archetype we might presently be living - and what that means for how we may be when we're in love. Are you the Innocent in love - too trusting? Or perhaps you're the Orphan, who will accept whatever comes along for fear of being alone? Or have you become a Pilgrim to find your way to being a Warrior-Lover? If so, how can you become a Monarch, one who fully understands what love involves? And what, finally, does it take to become a Magician? These may seem like odd questions, but if you want more, real, love in your life they may just be the ones to ask..... Read the book and find out much more.
I'd also recommend "Stories We Need to Know: Reading Your Life Path in Literature" (Findhorn Press, 2008). If you're interested in personal or spiritual growth and the six archetypes that can show us the way forward, and have done for centuries, you may want to take a look.
I've spent thirty years exploring the way literature has been vital in helping us to explain ourselves to ourselves, and has been central to our civilization for over 3000 years. I've used these tales in my counseling practice to help people see their ways forwards, to excellent effect. I also use literature and myth for the same purpose in my classes at Curry College, where I am a full professor of literature. Literature changes lives -- if we take the trouble to understand it. Wouldn't you like to have this resource available for you, too?
