July Review: Writing as a Path to Awakening

In Writing as a Path to Awakening, the renowned poet, writer, and teacher, Albet Flynn DeSilver shows how to use meditation to cultivate true depth in your own writing – so your words reveal layers of profound emotional insight and revelation that inspire and move your readers.

Writing as a Path to Awakening

Writing calls on us to fully engage our mind’s cognitive powers, while meditation often asks us to let go of thinking and storytelling. Though these two practices may seem incompatible, Albert teaches that they can be powerfully complementary. With a mixture of engaging storytelling and practical exercises, Writing as a Path to Awakening invites you on a journey of growth and discovery–to enhance your writing through the practice of meditation while using the creative process to accelerate your spiritual evolution.

The author

Albert Flynn DeSilver is an internationally published poet, memoirist, novelist, speaker, and workshop leader. He served as Marin County’s very first Poet Laureate from 2008-2010. His work has appeared in more than 100 literary journals worldwide including ZYZZYVA, New American Writing, Hanging Loose, Jubilat, Exquisite Corpse, Jacket (Australia), Poetry Kanto (Japan), Van Gogh’s Ear (France), and many others. He is the author, most recently of Beamish Boy: A Memoir, Spring 2012, Letters to Early Street, Spring 2007 from La Alameda/University of New Mexico Press, and Walking Tooth & Cloud, January 2007 from French Connection Press in Paris.

He has read and performed with many of America’s literary legends including Cheryl Strayed, Maxine Hong Kingston, Michael McCluer, Anne Waldman, Quincy Troupe, Kay Ryan, and many others. 

He has taught writing and meditation workshops for twenty years––from the University of California-Davis to AWP in New York City to the British Institute in Paris. 

Review

4/ 5

Being a fan of Julia Cameron, I’m a great believer that writing is spiritual work. I’ve experienced that in my life. This is why this book’s premise appealed to me enormously.

This is one of those books that is meant to be read, and worked on through the course of one year. So there are themes and exercises for each month of the year. I admit I didn’t follow the book through the year, but I selected some exercises and reflections to undertake to experience the book better.

The book encourages you to move out of your comfort zone as a writer and explore the soul of your writing.

The best writers say their work seems to come from a source beyond the thinking mind. But how do we access that source? -We must first look inside ourselves and be willing to touch that raw emotional core at the heart of a deeper creativity, – writes Albert Flynn DeSilver.

Albert Flynn DeSilver

By looking deep within ourselves, we are able to express our emotions in a more real way and connect much better with our readers.

If you are committed to your own development as a human being and a writer, I’d recommend this book.

I received an ARC of the book via NetGalley in exchange for an I hope to get myself a hard copy of the book and follow it the way it’s meant to be read.

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