The Way of StoryThe Importance of Storytelling
Our culture doesn’t think storytelling is sacred; we don’t set aside a time of year for it. We don’t hold anything sacred except what organized religion declares to be so. Artists pursue a sacred call, although some would buck and rear at having their work labeled like this. Artists are lucky to have a form […]
From the Fires of Ojai, CA
OJAI Sometimes writing must be set aside for survival. And what a lively learning survival is! Last month my home flooded and I have had to vacate for two months while the interior of my home is being re-constructed. It takes a village to re-build a home. First came the flood then came fire […]
Film History is also Our History
The Ojai International Film Festival Nov 2-12, 2017 This is my seventeenth year as a final judge for the Ojai Film Festival. Due to accessibility and cost- effective technology, more and more independent films – both narrative and documentary- are being made today. Also, more film submissions from all over the world are seen, demonstrating […]
Transformational Writing for Personal and Global Healing
Transformational Writing for Personal and Global Healing Listen. Make a way for yourself inside yourself. Rumi Today, in modern life, a fragmentation separates most of us from our central core or soul. With all our outer progress, perhaps something has been lost which earlier cultures knew to value: the soul connection. Accessing and […]
Online Courses are Here to Stay!
Heal Yourself with Writing by Catherine Ann Jones Our lives may be determined less by past events than by the way we remember them. You are invited to come aboard this inner adventure that offers a step by step journey of discovery and re-visioning through focused journaling. Throughout the eight sessions, you will be engaged […]
Writing Changes Everything
Writing Changes Everything The hardest part is sitting down. Catherine Ann Jones There are many necessary shifts as we get older, and this can often be quite confusing. For instance, if one’s mind is active and feels no older than twenty-eight, it comes as something of a shock when the body does not follow […]
Looking Back, Growing Forward
New York, 1970s Looking Back, Growing Forward by Catherine Ann Jones We learn from all those mentors who go before. The debt is large and the only way to re-pay this debt is to pay it forward in our work and teaching. While researching through my papers for a book I’m currently writing, a […]
Stories Come from Unexpected Places
Stories Come from Unexpected Places “It is a still stranger thing that there is nothing so delightful in the world as telling stories.” Virginia Woolf A therapist friend challenged me to write children’s stories taken from my own childhood memories. He further asked me to come every so often and share these stories […]
A Clarion Call for Creativity
A Clarion Call for Creativity The privilege of a lifetime is being who you are. Joseph Campbell In response to the political turmoil of 2016, which left so many of us dispirited, arose a clarion call for democracy. Democratic freedom was threatened and America responded with group-centered response and courageous resilience. This movement is […]
A Time of Uncertainty
John Keats A Time of Uncertainty by Catherine Ann Jones “Awakening: self-giving in the hope of honest self-realization.” In a debate with the English Poet and philosopher, Coleridge, poet John Keats defended a willingness to embrace uncertainty, live with mystery, and make peace with ambiguity. He called this willingness to embrace […]