--By Kirsten Weiss
Are you running into the same patterns, stumbling over the same old problems over and over again? Are you finding it impossible to reach your goals while the people around you seem to easily achieve theirs?
What if reading a novel could help you stop doing all that? What if reading the next chapter could help you start a new chapter?
Years ago, I was reading a novel by a favorite author. Adventures were had, lessons were learned, mysteries solved. And at the end, two of the main characters decided to reject everything they'd learned and go back to their old lives overseas.
I was so upset I couldn't read any more of her books. And yes, I knew my reaction was over-the-top. I also knew I was reacting this way because at the time I was trying to reintegrate into American life after years living abroad. I saw myself in those two characters and was terrified by the idea that I couldn't "make it" back in the States.
They say "let the trigger be your guide," and I was being triggered by this book big-time. But what I didn't realize was that my reaction pointed to something deeper. I needed to change -- not just change my living circumstances or job, but change myself.
I'm a writer, so I think about things--including personal development--in terms of writing. And novels are written to certain structures.
In a good novel, the adventure, the external actions, are only the surface level of the story. Beneath the surface, the heroine is forced to confront internal challenges.
The heroine will get in her own way. Her misbeliefs and bad habits will trip her up.
Unless she is able to overcome her own internal challenges, she won't be able to succeed. Only when she finally addresses her own character flaws or misbeliefs can she solve the crime, find the treasure, win the guy...
You get the picture.
Real life is like this too, because a good novel reflects real human behavior. This is where we can learn and change.
I started to have similar won't-read-this-author again reactions to other books where the heroes refused to change. I told myself those heroes were stupid and boring, so why read on?
Friends reminded me that change was hard, and most people never change. Maybe these books were realistic? That irritated me even more.
The heroines in the mystery novels I wrote went through journeys of transformation. If they could do it, why not me? After all, I'd already gone through many external transformations in my life--switching countries, switching jobs, losing parents.
The problem was, through all those external changes, I was still me. Life changed on the surface, but I kept bouncing against the same problems and running into the same frustrations. There was a conflict between my external goals and my internal self.
It was only in my early fifties, when I began the process of internal transformation, that my life really began to change. Since therapy didn't appeal, I turned to what I knew--the esoteric practices I wrote about in my books.
And they worked.
I discovered a sense of deep peace and joy. I figured out my values. I even found a wonderful romantic relationship. Like a heroine in one of my mystery novels, when I faced my own character flaws and misbeliefs, I began to succeed at what I cared about most.
I have not transformed into a being of shimmering light. My journey isn't over. I don't think it ever will be. I've learned that like a character in a mystery series, with each breakthrough, in the next book another internal challenge rises to the surface.
The process of transformation isn't a straight line. It's a spiral to the center, and the center is the true self.
My Mystery School series is my attempt to present the process of transformation that worked for me. I'm a mystery writer, so there's a mystery. And since my process used esoteric practices, there's magic.
I hope you'll enjoy Legacy of the Witch and the future books in the series, including the one I'm editing now, Shadow of the Witch. You can find more about them here.
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