The Reluctant Author ~ Voyage of Purpose
I never had any intentions of writing a book. Oh yea, I did some writing for technical procedure manuals and I taught nephrology technical seminars, but I was no writer. That all started to change in 1994 after my second near-death experience long before my lung and spine cancer. Spirit began to inform me in many ways that one of my main purposes was “Communication.”
Not knowing the details I brushed it off like I had with so many of Spirit’s messages. Yet, many of the people I considered mentors also instructed me to write down my experiences. Eventually I followed their guidance, thinking it was to keep my experiences pure and uninfluenced by all the other experiences I was hearing. After all, I only shared my experiences with people I could trust, usually one at a time. Spirit was insistent though and wouldn’t let ‘Communication” go. So to appease Spirit I eventually started a website named DharmaTalks. That way, no one would know it was mine and I could maintain some anonymity. I felt I could easily communicate this way to a broad group satisfying Spirit. I did post my experiences and didn’t have to get up in front of a group. I was happy, Spirit was quiet. This worked for a little while.
After the cancer in 2001 Spirit again pushed me toward being more public. By this time Spirit and I had developed a relationship were I listened most of the time. The rest of the time I would try to get out of what Spirit wanted me to do. This was one of those times. I devised what I thought was a clever way to cave into Spirit. I sincerely agreed to accept any invitations to speak about my experiences when someone ask. In my mind I thought I pulled a fast one, because I didn’t think anyone would really ask.
Within a few weeks I was invited to speak to a group in Columbus, Ohio. I should have known better. Spirit always knows me better than I know myself. Well, the gates were open and I was soon speaking to groups across the US. People would come up after the talk and ask for my book. “Book!” I would laugh “Every experiencer I know is writing a book.” I had no plans of writing, so I would send them to my website. Was that Spirit quietly nudging again?
Cindy and I became radio hosts on the Seventh Wave Network with a show we created called Spiritual Simplicity.” We reached thousands of listener and our numbers were very good. We also connected with many well known authors and researchers. Now thats communicating.. Right! Putting the show together was not smooth and easy like the speaking engagements. It was difficult, so we eventually dropped the show. It proved to us that when you push something against the universe’s rhythm it is never going to work.
In Spring 2005, Tom Sawyer and friends planned a trip to Acadia National Park with evening get togethers and daily hikes. Cindy had always been attracted to the park so it was a forgone conclusion we were going. Some of the folks were going to drive up in a van, but with my reconstructed titanium spine we felt it would be best to drive our car. Besides maybe we could put some ideas down for that book people keep asking for. I drove and Cindy with the laptop in her lap started to ask me questions about my experiences in ways I had never thought about. It made me look at the experiences from a different direction or through a new window. Soon I was reliving and touching the Light as Spirit and I related it to Cindy. We still are not sure who was driving the car but we arrived in Maine in no time.
Acadia is an inspirational place to express yourself, writing and sharing stories. Spirit was flowing in and out of my consciousness with a new freedom I hadn’t experienced in some time. During the spair time in Acadia we continued the explorations of my experiences. We gathered a large amount of information and even the scattered beginnings of an outline for our book Voyage of Purpose. OK, that’s it, we were now officially writing a book.
Cindy had a friend Pam who was a publisher and a conception editor, she helped us put together a proposal to sent to agents. We were told if you want to get published you need an agent so we felt this was a logical path to take. Spirit was quiet during this period not encouraging or dissuading. Pam even hand delivered the proposal to a well known NYC agent. We spent more than nine months speaking to agents and getting the warmest rejections, telling us near-death experiences had been done and there was no market for them. We were also getting some wonderful constructive criticism on how to make our manuscript better.
We took a little time off but Spirit would occasionally prod me to get busy and complete one part or another of the book. There was no deadline and I had yet to develop any discipline in writing. That would come much later. Not long after Tom Sawer passed away he started showing up with Spirit to give me some harsher (like a kick in the butt) encouragements to get going again. The message of the book was needed. Shocked, I listened and finally finished the manuscript. Next Cindy and I started the process of editing it.
After the seventh edit we felt we had a pretty good manuscript. Spirit was very active and loved the time we spent on the book. Out of the blue, Pam recommended this copy editor who just happened to work a lot with memoirs. After speaking with Erin, we contracted her to edit the manuscript. The first indication we had from her was, it shouldn’t take to much time as the manuscript was in good shape. When we received the manuscript back, miraculously it had doubled in size from all the red edits and comments. Erin was amazing in keeping an eye on the flow, suggesting we cut this and expand that, move this here or there. She let us know when we were not clear about some spiritual concepts and had us rework them. A month later the manuscript read so much better.
I had new energy and started researching in bookstores and online for medium to small publishers that worked in spiritual and new age genres. I developed a list of thirty that felt right to Spirit and me. I was about to submit our proposals when I got an email that told me about “The Next Top Spiritual Author Contest.” I was about to discard it because I wasn’t interested in any “contest” when Spirit started pushing me to enter. So again I reluctantly signed up, all the time hoping it wasn’t a scam.
The contest was the most amazing event I ever participated in. There were close to three thousand people who signed up and immediately we all started helping each other to meet the requirements of the contest. Making introductory videos and developing our proposals, we instantly became a community that cared for each other. The sponsors instructed and mentored us with top authors, publishers and editors, all the while showing us how the spiritual industry works. Voyage of Purpose did well. We made it to the top 250. When the contest was over we had a new understanding on how to approach publishers and a new targeted proposal and query letter.
This time we listened to Spirit who felt it was finally time. Cindy checked the astrology to find a good time to send the proposals. Off they went via email and snail mail. Then we waited, and waited, some publishers indicated it could take as much as six months to hear back. The rejections slowly started coming in. I wasn’t wasting my time, I started putting a list together of the self publishers I liked. Spirit wasn’t interested, so no help from that quarter. Then a strange thing happened. One, then two publishers asked for the whole manuscript. I could feel Spirit smiling, but I wasn’t going to get my hopes up. Then I received an email from Findhorn Press questioning if we would consider reviewing a contract. Holy S#!t, are you kidding me. Of course!! We spent some time reviewing it and eventually signed the contract. We have not regretted one minute working with Findhorn. They believe in the message and have been wonderful to work with. After six and a half years Voyage of Purpose is coming out this October and we hope all our friends and public will come out to our book release party.
More than seventeen years since starting to log my experiences I now consider myself a writer. Yes, I was a reluctant author but when I did listen to Spirit, things worked out perfectly. It was a long purpose filled journey. Spirit patiently supported me even when I was being hard headed, giving me the pushes I needed at the most beneficial time. I have developed a routine for writing daily and share my reflections on my facebook and twitter page @Dharmatalks. Please consider joining us there.
David Bennett
Coauthor of Voyage of Purpose
Available in book stores and Amazon.com
The Blessings of Each New Moment
“The sun never rises the same way twice. The color of the sky, the angle of the light, even the heat are all unique. And yet the whole earth is renewed. That never changes. To have the image of waking up at dawn like the sun recharges our entire being with the fresh smell of the morning earth.” Gurumayi Chidvilasananda
For the last two days as the sun again showed itself in the morning where I live, the realization of new dawns and beginnings was clear.
Imagine if you would the warmth of that glowing orange light filling you with creative energy and vibrant life, burning away the dross of the past. Indeed, this is a time of new beginnings. But first, it’s a time of recognizing celebration! Look deep within and see what you truly are grateful for. Make every breath you take a ceremony. It can happen so simply. Perhaps start the morning with the sunrise or sit for an extra fifteen minutes in the morning with a warm cup of your favorite brew, or promise yourself to notice each smile that falls upon your lips. All of life is worth celebrating, not only in December, but it is in December that we so often appreciate that more people are doing so. Hop on the bandwagon of joy, of sharing and caring, of giving and receiving.
Let your imagination soar in the ways in which you can embrace this season of love. Checkpoint your beliefs, releasing fear and conflicts and opening up to recreating the perfect vision of what you would like this season to be. Allow it to carry you into 2011.
2011 will be a year of foundational strengths, fundamental self-recognition, a time of the feminine and the goddess, and of the beauty of the creative, intuitive, nurturing forces that lie within all human beings. It is for you, this tapping into the resources of fullness/wholeness. Look a little deeper and see what that vibration looks like. Is it a child laughing? A lover holding? A mother nurturing? A father leading? It is a time of family, chosen, as well as blood-given. Create your foundational strengths by looking into the mirror and reflecting back that which you choose to be your reality, which is of course your perception of your beliefs. End limitations and allow change, for that is your key to opening the door of eternal blessings.
Happy Holidays and Blessings With Each New Moment!
Namaste,
Barbara
Integrative Homeopathy – An Interview with Dr. Seema Khaneja
Dr. Seema Khaneja, one of the upcoming New Moon Expo’s special guests, is a board-certified local pediatrician and homeopathic doctor with a diverse healing background that includes western training, as well as complementary approaches to health and healing.
I recently had the pleasure of asking Dr. Khaneja some questions to learn more about the work she does, and her views on well-being.
1. Having seen both sides of the healing profession – from a western, as well as an eastern, viewpoint – what would you say is the most misunderstood aspect of human health in this country?
We feel that health is something we can buy in a bottle of herbs, supplements or drugs, or that a surgery can fix us. While all of these have a part to play in our healthcare, the true heart of health lies in our own self-care. We need to take responsibility for the lives we have created, and not expect any external source to create a healthy, productive and prosperous life for us.
Many do not understand that health is an active choice that we make at each moment and each day of our lives. Are we truly caring for our mind-body-spirit on a daily basis? Do we have a passion for the work we do and the people in our lives? Do we find a way to connect to a source of wisdom and inspiration that replenishes and renews us on a daily basis? Do we care for our emotional, physical, mental, sexual, and spiritual needs in a way that empowers us and those around us? Do we find a way to balance work and play? Do we truly love ourselves so that we eat, think, move and interact with others in a way that is nourishing and nurturing?
2. If you could give a patient your three most important health tips in order to help them live a more balanced life, “well” life, what would those three tips be?
Connect with your Higher Self daily. Find a way daily to go inside and connect with your Higher Self – that which truly knows all of you and what is best for you. Find as many ways as possible that you can connect with your Source – or that which we may refer to as God, the Universal Life Force that exists within all of us, and is available 24/7 to each of us, to guide, renew and replenish.
Self-acceptance and making peace with wherever you are. Meditate deeply on the fact that you cannot control any event or person outside of yourself, but you can make an active choice to find good wherever you are. Practice ways to fully accept your life just as it is in this moment, and you will be amazed at the possibilities that exist before you.
Become a child again. Find ways to connect to your inner child, the children and/or grandchildren in your lives, and deeply observe them. Watch them as they play, move, and eat, not for the sake of doing these things so much, as for the sheer exhilaration they are able to feel as they allow the innate life energy to flow through them unimpeded and unobstructed. Support them in their display of sweet innocence as well as their tantrums, for they are being honest and genuine with their emotions and asking you to do the same. Learn from them how to feel, express and then let go!
3. Are there any healers you admire – either present or past – and if so, what makes them stand out to you?
There are so many wonderful healers on the planet Earth today, and the names that come up for me include folks like Louise Hay, Deepak Chopra, MD, Christine Northrup, MD, Wayne Dyer, Jerry and Esther Hicks, and James Gordon, MD. They are all doing amazing work in assisting so many to find ways to believe in the body’s resilience and how we can truly heal our lives in amazing ways.
I believe we are all healers, and no one can really heal anyone. The most gifted and talented healer is one who has experienced some sort of trauma or crisis situation that forced her to go to the deep, true place of healing that lies deep within each of us. The healer then emerges and is able to guide her client through their unique path of healing. A true healer is of course a master of whichever healing modality she has chosen. But most importantly, she has a deep belief that wellness on all levels is our birthright, and an unshakeable faith in the body’s ability to allow innate wellness to flow forth.
Dr. Khaneja, thank you for your time and the wonderful work you are doing. I was so moved by your answer to my first question, and will be re-reading this entire interview in the days and weeks to come.
To learn more about Dr. Seema Khaneja and the work she does, please visit her booth at the New Moon Expo, listen to her speak Saturday or Sunday, or visit her web site: www.integrative-homeopathy.org
