Books & films to inspire inner work

When was the last time a book or film shook you to the core and reminded you - maybe even helped you dare to imagine, for the first time - what truly matters most to you?

How did you react?

And how did you feel in the days and weeks that followed?

While I'm not a believer in bibliotherapy or cinema therapy as a sole method of uncovering subconscious programming and false core beliefs, I have certainly experienced their emotion-opening and cathartic impacts. I'm the kind of reader who sometimes needs a few days - sometimes even a week or two - to fully digest and breathe after finishing one book and picking up another. This usually happens when a book has moved, disturbed, or otherwise deeply emotionally affected me, and I feel the need to process its messages and meaning, in particular why these provoked such emotion in me, usually leading me down the path of my own ongoing inner work.

Sometimes I'll read such a book, or watch a particularly powerful film, and rush straight onto the next one in an effort to deliberately sidestep the emotions provoked, or stamp them out by bingeing on something else that will distract me.

Of course, that only serves to make me feel uneasy, unsettled, and dissatisfied with myself... inevitably, again, leading me to look within as to the root cause, which was there long before I engaged with the work in question. This looking, and working with whatever I find there using the therapeutic tools of my calling, is ultimately what brings me back to a state of peace... and deep gratitude to the original oeuvre that opened yet another door on the spiral staircase of the healing journey.

It is in the spirit of this gratitude (and not least to gratify my inner child's very happy bookworm tendencies), that I would love to offer you some reflections on a selection of works which, to me, contain particularly prominent archetypes - that is, universal aspects of our selves as represented by particular personas or symbols. These symbols, in turn, carry potent messages pertaining to both our inner growth and impact in the wider world, which we can use for our personal healing if we feel resonant.

With that in mind, it's also my joy to offer subscribers free inner work exercises connected with each book and film explored, to support you in reaching both the vulnerable and the powerful aspects within you that resonated.

The series begins with Ceremony, by Leslie Marmon Silko... watch this space for many more to come soon. Happy reading!