How the ‘Ripple of Awakening’ came to being by Ann-Marie Marchant

How the ‘Ripple of Awakening’ came to being by Ann-Marie Marchant

The Ripple of Awakening was the book I craved when my life was being dismantled from all that I knew and perceived as ‘normal’. I was facing a divorce, which was excruciatingly painful, on the threshold of my spiritual awakening (SA) and to top it all, I was also going through the menopause at the age of just 44. I was on my knees, living life on a knife-edge and my body was in full survival mode. The gentle, quiet and submissive Ann-Marie was now acting like a crazy woman, I raging with hostility at the seeming unfairness of everything and feeling so very alone and unable to express the pain that I was going through.

Although I had been told, that I was going through a SA, this really wasn’t helpful, as I had no clue what that meant and I certainly did not see myself as spiritual, or religious. If I had known the bigger picture then, understanding that I wasn’t crazy, but that what was happening to me would, in fact, lead me to a place of deep peace, self-acceptance and a love for life that I had never known before, I may have surrendered a little earlier and trusted what was happening. As it was, it took me many years to eventually come to know the truth, undo my ego identity and wholeheartedly embrace my divinity.  

Eventually, after a lot of deep soul searching, healing and opening up to a relationship with the God of my own understanding, I came to a much calmer place. The connection that I developed with Spirit along the way, opened up my creativity and I started to live more of a guided life and feel a new direction based on trust. As a result, I became a channel for poetry and inspired writing, which although was new to me, felt good and brought me a lot of comfort. 

I then felt a strong prompt to share my writing, and so tentatively began a monthly newsletter and received great feedback and gratitude from many people, some of whom encouraged me to think about writing a book. Part of me also felt this calling too, my ego, however, presented me with many reasons why not to, and I had many doubts about my ability to write a full-blown book, as I certainly didn’t have an education in English that was of A-star performance.

But what spurred me on was the importance of sharing my message and after talking to many people about their own SA, I saw that there were many commonalities, stages and phases, showing me that this was not just a phenomenon, but a real-life experience that needed to be understood and shared. This was important to me, because if I was going to write a book, I wanted it to have value and a genuine purpose. Then, one January morning in 2019, I was awoken from my slumber, with a strong voice telling me it was time to write the book and just as importantly, share my message of hope with the world.

I said yes, but had no idea where to begin, so I asked Spirit for help, as I knew ‘Ann-Marie’ was not the one who would write the book, but that I would merely be the conduit through which the message would come. Little by little, the process of writing started, accompanied by a strong knowing that I didn’t want to put pressure on myself in anyway, as this would have been the total opposite of what I had learnt, which was to be kind, gentle and loving to myself.

There were many times when I felt overwhelmed, frustrated and doubted myself. But this in itself was part of my continued healing of self-forgiveness and self-love. I chose to practise what I was teaching, and so every time the ego downer would raise its head, I would share my doubts and fears with Spirit or with a trusted friend, and then come back to my alignment and begin again, with a clearer mind and open heart.

Trusting what message was to be shared was one thing, but the practical side, such as spelling, grammar and the order in which the content should take, was another thing. Many, many times, I had to take long breaks from the process to realign and feel the inspiration again. The Universe supported me on my quest, and delivered a new friend, who just so happened to be a proofreader. She was a great ally, and I saw the power of ‘ask and it is given’, which was also the case when it was time to get the book published. I was recommended to buy a book by a trusted spiritual teacher, and I felt a strong intuition to look up the details of the publishers – O Books.

Once I had finished writing my book, I duly contacted them and submitted the manuscript. To my delight, I was offered a contract, but I still had a long way to go to bring all the details together at a level that the publishers required. Yet again this took more surrender and trust, but I learnt so many new things during that process, which expanded my mind and heart. I am grateful for the whole experience and feel very humbled by it all.

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Ann-Marie’s passions are all things spiritual, metaphysical and mystical, but it wasn’t always that way. She came from a background of believing that life was black or white, with a need to ‘see it before she would believe it’ mentality, but she eventually discovered that neither were true. Ann-Marie has embraced the simplicity of a guided spiritual life and now trusts in a loving presence, which she knows is available to everyone. Her heart’s desire is to help those who are ready and willing to ‘wake up’, too. This has resulted in the creation of her first book The Ripple of Awakening – A Mighty Companion of the Spiritual Awakening Journey, which was initiated by ‘another voice’ prompting her to write it. Ann-Marie lives in Sussex, in the UK and facilitates spiritual workshops, retreats, meditation groups, as well as offering one-to-one mentoring for those who find themselves on the awakening journey.

Find out more about Ann-Marie on her website https://ann-mariemarchant.co.uk/

About THE RIPPLE OF AWAKENING

The book is about a spiritual awakening, what that means and looks like from the human perspective. It explores the highs, the lows, the commonalities, the phases and the stages and ways in which the reader can support themselves. It is real, raw, authentic, at times funny, certainly inspiring and full of hope.

Ann-Marie takes the reader’s hand and walks them step-by-step through the stages of their own healing journey and offers ways that can inspire them, with practical suggestions and practices such as prayer, meditation, self-enquiry, self-care, self-expression, forgiveness and inner-child healing. At the heart of the book is a flushing out of the reader’s relationship, or lack of relationship, with God. Ann-Marie reveals how she went from a complete non-believer and came to eventually work for the big guy upstairs, being guided to become a multi-faith minister. She endeavours to de-funk the ego’s construct of God and inspire the reader to wake up to the love, peace, guidance and joy that is waiting for them through their connection with the God of their own understanding.

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Tags: featured, women writers

Category: On Writing