Blog Hop

I want to thank Elyn Aviva for introducing me to the notion of a blog hop. The purpose of a blog hop is for one blogger to introduce his or her audience to another blogger whose work we highly appreciate. And also, as part of the blog hop I’ve been asked to answer a few questions about my own writing process.

Elyn Aviva

Elyn Aviva

First, I want to start by introducing you to Elyn Aviva’s blog: www.powerfulplaces.com/blog. I have known Elyn for many years and one of the things that I respect the most about her is that she doesn’t just study things, she integrates into her life whatever it is that she studies. And this carries over into her writing.

Elyn doesn’t just write about visiting places, she uses her multiple personalities (Ph.D. in cultural anthropology, Masters in Divinity, and a variety of esoteric spiritual paths that she has walked) to share with her readers a unique and mind opening perspective. In addition to her blog, which she writes with her husband Gary, I recommend her book: Walking Through Cancer, A Pilgrimage of Gratitude on the Way of St. James.

As to the questions about my writing process:

1)  What am I working on/writing?

In addition to writing for our own Live Conscious blog, I am now writing occasionally for elephant journal, and Hannah and I write a weekly blog for Psych Central: Healthy Romantic Relationships. This is a chance for us to introduce our work to a larger audience, which is part of our life purpose.

I am also starting a new series of articles/blog posts about dealing gracefully with the death of loved one. I am convinced that as a culture, for the most part, we don’t handle death and the dying  process very well—me included. Since my mother is presently facing a life-threatening situation I have decided to share aspects of my own process in developing a healthy approach to death and dying.

2) How does my work/writing differ from others of its genre?

As most people who read our blog know, we teach a new way of using language, which we call Perception Language. The purpose of Perception Language is to bring myself into the present, connect more deeply with myself so that I can own myself, which leads to greater clarity and certainty in my life because I no longer live in reaction to other people.

To a large extent I model the use of Perception Language in my writing. This makes what I’m writing extremely unusual, if not for the content, then for the way in which I write. Over the years I have hesitated to fully express myself in Perception Language when writing blog posts, but you will see me doing so more and more in the months to come. I think this is the best way I can model/share this work with other people.

3) Why do I write what I do?

I write about things that are significant in my life. What makes something significant is usually one of two things. The first has to do with struggles I have, usually emotional struggles, that when explored add richness and depth to my life. The second isn’t necessarily about struggles, but rather the ways that I have found to increase beauty, ease and simplicity in my own life and relationships.

And, one other thing, I motivate myself to write about solutions to the ways I see people treat one another that seem so unnecessarily harsh or unkind.

4) How does my writing process work?

My writing process arises from experiences in my life—with Hannah, my clients, my family, and the interactions I have with people in the world—that strike me as both profound and universal. When something captures my attention, and I think it is applicable to other people—not just me—I do one of two things. Sometimes I start making notes on scraps of paper here and there. Those scraps either evolve into something robust or I find them a month or two later and wonder what I was trying to capture.

Or, I just write—stream of consciousness—and twenty minutes later I have the first draft of an article or blog post. These are usually my preferred pieces, but they don’t happen as often as the ones that I “work” at creating. The key for me to write in this preferred way is to make the time to write when I feel inspired. If I wait, I lose something that I don’t find easy to recapture later.

Okay . . . I want to thank Elyn Aviva for introducing me to this notion of a blog hop.

And now . . . I want to pay forward and introduce you to Mike Bundrant—a colleague, friend, blogger and original thinker.

mikeMike Bundrant is co-founder of the iNLP Center, which offers online training in Neurolinguistic Progamming. He is also author of the book, Your Achilles Eel: Discover and Overcome the Effects of Negative Emotions, Bad Decisions and Self-Sabotage. The unique perspective in Your Achilles Eel offers a new and challenging paradigm for learning an uncomfortable truth about what really causes people to act outside their own best interests.

Mike and I started working together, teaching NLP (Neurolinguistic Programming) over fifteen years ago. We were two of the first people to introduce NLP in Japan where we established a wonderful community of friends and followers.

NLP, especially the way Mike teaches it, is another powerful linguistic model that helps people better understand and manage themselves.

Both of the people I mentioned in this blog, Elyn Aviva and Mike Bundrant, are examples of people who have committed to living healthy lives and creating respectful romantic partnerships. This is why I am proud to share them with you.

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One Response to Blog Hop

  1. magdala April 7, 2014 at 11:59 am #

    Hah! Never realized I had multiple personalities! Love it. Thank you, Jake, for participating in the blog hop. I intrigue myself with your writing process. I admire the work you and Hannah are doing–it’s made a huge difference in my life and relationships.

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