Inspiration through Memoir and Self Help
Most of us carry stories from our past; some carry weeping wounds. Our tales can lift us up or anchor us in the depths of grief or rage. They can inspire or defeat us—and influence readers around the world.
The story I carried, my dream since age fifteen, was to find an elusive waterfall I once saw in National Geographic. I no longer recall if the journal’s picture was from a French Polynesian valley where the artist, Gauguin, painted, or a nearby island; still, it lodged in my youthful brain as Eden. Gauguin’s alluring art, and the waterfall I discovered at fifteen, directed my fate.
I set out from a cold Maine dock on my thirty-nine foot sloop to embark on what was to become a 12,000-nautical-mile sail, searching for a place I wasn’t sure existed, a waterfall that had once left me breathless. It took four decades of self-discovery and a treacherous five-year sail for me to find my way. A tribe of courageous women guided my sailing odyssey, including a therapist who had climbed near the “death zone” of Mount Everest, a sailboat captain who had completed two world-circumnavigations, and a “third-gender” leader in the matrilineal archipelago of Guna Yala, Panama. It was in pursuit of my childhood dream—sailing a small boat to the Polynesian Bay of Virgins and writing about it—where I found truth’s power and grace.
It was to become a transformative journey. The start for me was to break the silence I had kept for decades and to begin to reveal the fullness of the silenced story I carried. Throughout my journey I wondered, might there be individual and collective ways to transcend our heavy stories and use them to strengthen and power us ahead. I found myself responding to questions, requests for trauma support, and cries for help. I shared the wisdom I received from seekers of courage on my own journey to support others. Putting my memoir on hold for a year I birthed and published a self-help workbook endorsed by Harvard Medical School psychiatrist, Dr. Anne Hallward. Setting aside my memoir to publish this customizable workbook not only enhanced my memoir and helped me develop a platform, but more importantly I found it inspired others.
Many of the nonfiction writers I’ve met, as well as some fiction writers, write to inspire. There is collective wisdom we share that can lift us all. As we write memoirs, self help books, or books of fiction, or as we receive rejections or reviews it may be helpful to remember that singular acts of compassion can have profound impacts on generations. By sharing our stories we never know whom we might inspire or where they might lead.
I would love to hear more from WWWB and any insight you might be willing to share.
“Words mean more than what is set down on paper. It takes the human voice to infuse them with shades of deeper meaning.”
― Maya Angelou, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
Heidi Love is the author of the soon-to-be-published memoir Laughing at the Sky. She co-founded the $8 million dollar marketing and social media agencies Ethos and Vontweb and founded the online community LaughingAtTheSky.com, with interviews and inspiration for seekers of courage (including a personal interview with poet laureate Amanda Gorman). Her recently published self-help workbook Knowing Acts—Engage is Healing is endorsed by Harvard Psychiatrist and Safe Space Radio’s Executive Director, Anne Hallward MD.
“This inspiring book is a touchstone, a safe harbor to return to again and again as we navigate the courageous journey towards healing.”
Anne Hallward, MD, Harvard University Medical School Tufts University Medical School, Executive Director Safe Space Radio
Websites HeidiLoveAuthor.com
LaughingAtTheSky.com
Twitter @Laugh_AtTheSky
Facebook @LaughingAtTheSky1
Instagram @HeidiLoveAuthor
KNOWING ACTS: ENGAGE IN HEALING
Knowing Acts-Engage in Healing is a customizable workbook and calming practice for emotional balance. It includes 100 pages of full-color beautiful illustration and over 30 easy, pleasant-to-do exercises with music, art, mindfulness, poetry, haiku, and more. There are selections of brave books, websites, podcasts, personal anecdotes, and free resources. Rich with original healing art by Maine watercolorist Linden O’Ryan, Knowing Acts presents a positive new approach for personal healing journeys. Created by trauma survivor Heidi Love on her own healing journey, and thoroughly reviewed, endorsed, and enhanced by numerous trauma experts, Knowing Acts combines art, psychology, and personal experience to support rising above trauma and living life to it’s fullest.
“This inspiring book is a touchstone, a safe harbor to return to again and again as we navigate the courageous journey toward healing.” Anne Hallward, MD, Founder and Executive Director, Safe Space Radio, Former Faculty Harvard Medical School, Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, Tufts University Medical School, Exemplary Psychiatrist Award Recipient by the National Alliance of Mental Health.
Knowing Acts offers engaging ways to create a calming practice for those suffering from overwhelming emotions and encourages readers to ACT before spiraling down in unhealthy ways. It helps to defuse deep sadness, grief, shame, rage, anger, and feelings of numbness and loss, through an automatic response. It uses a stopgap measure to help trauma, sexual assault, and domestic violence survivors, and those experiencing hardship and loss, move from PTSD, suicidal ideation, or debilitating emotions to places where they can feel calm and restored, and seek professional help. Created by trauma survivors for survivors it includes a customizable workbook to create a plan of ACTS to use during the sudden onset of intrusive thoughts and overwhelming feelings.
Thoroughly reviewed and endorsed by trauma and counseling experts, including Dr. Anne Hallward, Harvard-trained psychiatrist and Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry Tufts University Medical School, and Dr. Susan Newman Manfull Social Psychologist, it is hailed as a lifesaving resource. If you or someone you know is seeking a healthier approach to overwhelming sadness, grief, anger, rage, or numbness, or recovering from PTSD, suicidal thoughts, trauma, sexual assault, domestic violence, or other hardships, Knowing Acts offers a calming approach to emotional balance and healing.
“Thoughtful, sensitive, and practical with spot-on personal solutions, this workbook is an exceptionally valuable resource.” Dr. Susan Newman Manfull, Social Psychologist
“In Knowing Acts Heidi Love has really given survivors of trauma a simple, grounding tool. I absolutely believe the this workbook will be a helpful and perhaps life saving resource for those in crisis.” Wendy Hoge LCSW, Therapist
“While Heidi’s words and understanding create a safety net for a healing journey, the beautiful artwork by Linden O’Ryan adds vibrational energy to truly nurture my soul. As a sexual assault survivor, I am grateful for this workbook and wish that this resource had been available to me when I was in the deep dark recesses of my healing journey. I know that these two women have created an incredible supplement to use in tandem with traditional therapy.” Sexual Assault Survivor in Maine
“My personal experience as a survivor of violence, and working with hundreds of women over the years, all provided me with a true understanding of how long and hard the road to recovery can be for some. I can see how incorporating Knowing Acts in one’s recovery process would be a valuable tool, and of great benefit.” Denise D’Amboise, Former Outward Bound Women of Courage Program Manager and Instructor, and former Domestic Violence Advocate
Order links:
Amazon.com: https://amzn.to/3KcMnJ3
Amazon.co.uk: https://amzn.to/327RuJy
Barnes and Noble: https://bit.ly/3rmyLCr
IndiesBound: https://bit.ly/3tslPxC
Category: Contemporary Women Writers, How To and Tips
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