{"id":1198,"date":"2013-11-14T01:04:55","date_gmt":"2013-11-14T09:04:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wayofstory.com\/?p=1198"},"modified":"2016-05-19T13:46:32","modified_gmt":"2016-05-19T21:46:32","slug":"foreword-reviews-heal-your-self-with-writing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/wayofstory.com\/?p=1198","title":{"rendered":"ForeWord Reviews “Heal Your Self with Writing”"},"content":{"rendered":"

During the month of November\u00a0Heal Your Self With Writing<\/i>\u00a0was selected as the lead title by ForeWord magazine for their \u201cWrite a Novel Month\u201d feature and is prominently displayed on here.<\/a><\/p>\n

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Heal Your Self with Writing<\/h1>\n<\/hgroup>\n<\/header>\n
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ForeWord Review \u2014 Fall 2013<\/p>\n
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This accomplished writer\u2019s \u201cfocused journaling\u201d exercises encourage self-discovery.<\/p>\n

Catherine Ann Jones\u2019 first book,\u00a0The Way of Story: The Craft and Soul of Writing<\/em>, inspired creative writers to complete short exercises in order to gain deeper personal insight.\u00a0Heal Your Self with Writing<\/em>\u00a0is a natural next step, using the same methodology to encourage anyone to follow \u201ca step-by-step journey of discovery\u201d through a process the author\/playwright calls \u201cfocused journaling.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jones combines large doses of psychology, philosophy, and spirituality (influenced by her stays in India) with numerous writing exercises ranging from simple: \u201cfocus on what about you has remained the same. Write a few lines about that\u201d to complex and involved: \u201cthe challenge is to transpose a negative situation or feeling into a positive one. \u2026 Take your time, contemplate then write down each response, allowing it to be as long as it needs to be.\u201d<\/p>\n

The exercises are sprinkled throughout each of eleven chapters structured around personal challenges, such as \u201cBalancing Thinking with Feeling\u201d and \u201cIntegrating the Opposites: Standing in the Light, Facing the Dark.\u201d The author also includes a chapter about focused journaling. Unlike ordinary journaling, which involves writing about anything, focused journaling, writes Jones, \u201cis looking directly at your Self and mirroring what you think and feel about how you view the world, specific subjects, events, and people.\u201d The exercises accompanying this chapter are particularly intriguing. One exercise, for example, asks the reader to identify three people they know. Then, writing as if the reader is each person, he or she is to identify that person\u2019s desire, what they did to achieve that desire, and the \u201cprice paid\u201d for following that dream or desire. Finally, the reader is asked to write down their own response to what this person says.<\/p>\n

Some readers, particularly those for whom writing does not come easily, may tire of so many writing exercises, but Jones believes strongly in focused journaling as a process that leads to discovery. On the whole, the exercises do seem to be geared toward the reader\u2019s own enlightenment, which could be just the motivation one needs to keep plugging along. Writes the author, \u201cRemember always that the solution to any challenge lies within and all that is needed rests dormant, waiting for you to tap into infinite wisdom.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the end,\u00a0Heal Your Self with Writing<\/em>\u00a0is a book that should be of considerable value, whether or not the reader actually completes all of the exercises. Catherine Ann Jones skillfully and adeptly weaves so many messages of positive reinforcement and eye-opening introspection into this manual that the text alone is sure to inspire reflection and instill reassurance. Still, the reader who is willing to work through the exercises will likely be rewarded by a whole different level of self-understanding.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Barry Silverstein<\/a>
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During the month of November\u00a0Heal Your Self With Writing\u00a0was selected as the lead title by ForeWord magazine for their \u201cWrite a Novel Month\u201d feature and is prominently displayed on here. Heal Your Self with Writing ForeWord Review \u2014 Fall 2013 This accomplished writer\u2019s \u201cfocused journaling\u201d exercises encourage self-discovery. Catherine Ann Jones\u2019 first book,\u00a0The Way of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1201,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1198","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-heal-your-self-with-writing-reviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/wayofstory.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1198","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/wayofstory.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/wayofstory.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wayofstory.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wayofstory.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1198"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/wayofstory.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1198\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2284,"href":"http:\/\/wayofstory.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1198\/revisions\/2284"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wayofstory.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1201"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/wayofstory.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1198"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wayofstory.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1198"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wayofstory.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1198"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}