A warm welcome to writelistening. If you would like to listen now rather than read click the audio button on the left and you can sit back and, if you like, rest and close your eyes.
About John Sweet
First, a little about me and my background. In my mid-thirties I was troubled by the question. Do I need to change my career? Should I go or should I stay? I tried things out and read a lot. There seemed no easy ways to explore life’s choices. I was attracted to the writings of Ira Progoff, but they were not an easy read. He recommended that we write about our experiences in 26 journal sections. I found it very difficult to read the instructions from the book and then start writing in my journal in the right section.
But by hanging-on and using the method my life changed, with reduced aggravation. I developed a clearer overall picture and a closer sense of life purpose and certainty, and a willingness to take calculated risks – like opportunities to take my family to the Caribbean for a few years to live and work abroad.
From 1989 I attended face-to-face workshops regularly in the USA, each over six days, and listening to a journal leader suggest modes of writing made the journal process much easier and productive. However, it was a continual large investment in time, travel and money, and you can feel journaled-out after so many days on-the-trot.
After 25 years, I completed a training programme to lead workshops, but finally parted company with the original organisation because like Ira Progoff himself I am continually adapting and improving systems based on the processes used by creative individuals, and could not be trapped in some historical lock-down position.
Leading the process to help others
Running the six-day face-to-face workshops was both a pleasure and privilege because it clearly helped all different types of people in all manner of different situations to make their situations or perspectives of things more favourable, some even dealing with specific problems: unblocked the song writer, calmed the writer who usually destroyed their writing the same day, new living strategies for those abused in youth or who had recently lost a partner. I am now launching online writelistening.com which is a more compact and rapid approach I developed whilst working with faculty members at Cardiff University as I led a Postgraduate Certificate in Education. On-line sessions may be more comfortably scheduled and a new ticket / boarding pass for the next session will help give continuity. The course materials give audio prompts on what to do next in following the best journal protocol.
The Goal of writelistening.com
So the goal of writelistening is to give us ways to feel for the best atmosphere for writing and living our lives. To be sensitive to the continuity of life experience and where our sense of purpose is leading us. To gain a sense of the width and range of life experience and a joyful quantum mandate to enable us to work at local, spiritual and universal levels without division for the benefit of ourselves, family, friends and world around us.
If you ever need a hand or have any questions, feel free to leave them below and I will be more than happy to help you out.
All the Best,
John Sweet creator of writelistening
writelistening.com