A WORD OF EXPLANATION…..

Your vision will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes. –  Carl Jung

After my last post, I had several people who care about me ask if I were all right?  I think they were taking my post literally.  No, it is/was metaphorical.  So, a word of explanation: 

I have been writing in a Journal since 1969.  I have been working under the guidance of philosophers from time to time who studied and/or followed the teachings of Carl Jung.  As a result, I cannot expect people to know what I am doing when I write a post like the last one.  And, I put all of this in one of my books – which only a few people have read – “Janet Tallulah”.  It is for sale on amazon.com and on Smashwords.com.   I consider it my “masterpiece”.  Until, I write the next one.  Haha.  

Here in Paris, I am still working on a new edition of it.  It is currently too long, and I am condensing it and making it better (I think).  I want it to outlive me.  And, there is a good chance of that happening!   Haha.  I must admit that I don’t tell everything in it.  I have kept some family secrets “secret”.  Steve tried to get me to tell all, but I would not do it.  I still cannot do it.  But, I have a lot in this book.  Let me explain the Journal:

     Now, a word about “The Journal”.  I began writing in a journal in 1969.  A friend of mine, John Prince, told me about a weekend retreat in San Jacinto, California, that was conducted by a man named Ira Progoff.  I discovered that Ira Progoff was an American psychologist who had studied under Carl Jung.  That didn’t mean a lot to me, but I didn’t care.  I was unhappy and trying to change my life, confused as hell. I discovered that Ira was best known for his development of the Intensive Journal Method.  His main interest was in depth psychology and particularly the humanistic adaptation of Jungian ideas to the lives of ordinary people like me.   He founded Dialogue House in New York City to help promote this method.   So, I started attending his weekend retreats in 1969, with John Prince. 

     The first weekend was a confused mess. I didn’t understand much of what I was hearing.  First of all, Ira said the main idea of journal-writing was to provide a total program for the inner life to discover what is taking place inside of a person. Well, I did not know that I had an “inner life”, much less need to discover what was taking place inside of me. Ira said that The Journal was the hub of a wheel – a person must use it not only in privacy but also in a group because a group and group contact opens one up. In a workshop, each person was like a well in a circle of wells. If that person went down into his own well, there was a great benefit in hearing himself say something he wanted to say. The Journal was structured to prevent the self from going in a circle.

     In the Journal, one wants to dialog with all the important things in his life. The aim is to get seriously involved with the dialogue. Plus, one wants to keep enough daily entries for a week to give a sense of what is happening and do dreams and dream extensions. It is important to get started without waiting in order to get started. There is a process that works within the depth of a person – it must be given the opportunity to work for that person. Basic dialog is the dialog that works between one and one’s inner self that will keep one in the “eye of the hurricane.” Forgive me for not explaining everything to you. I am still learning myself.  And, as I said before, I am now in my 80s.

This is the book

If you are interested, take a look.  Just know that it is still a “work in progress” and won’t be over until I am dead.  This process is what makes me “tick”.  AND, the book is only how I was able to work with the concept of “change”.   I did not come to Paris on a whim.  There is a reason I am here.  And, I now have a following on Jayspeak.  I have had 7,300 visitors and 34,400 views since I began after Steve died in August 2016.  So, I will keep working on this life, this “work in progress “, and how I see the world, through my eyes and through my writing and looking at the world as long as I can think. 

FYI – This is not and will never be a political forum. 

Again, ABOVE is the current published edition.  Take a look if you are interested. 

Best, Jay