Personal Mythology
Discovering the Guiding Stories of Your Past—
Creating a Vision for Your Future
Press Room
Why This Work is Relevant Today
1. The Major Problems in the World Today Trace Back to Dysfunctional and Conflicting Guiding Mythologies: From fundamentalism, materialistic values, and imperialistic policies to the widening gap between the rich and the poor, the response to global warming, and the controversy over stem cell research, it is the myths–the deep guiding beliefs–that shape the outcomes and the problems found in each area. This is a book that explores the culture’s evolving mythology by showing readers how to understand their personal guiding myths. In fact:
2. These Same Mythic Dilemmas We See Around Us Are at Play Within Each of Us. In our heart of hearts are conservative forces that want to retain what has worked in the past, preserve the best of our family and community values, and honor our ancestors and our traditions. At the same time, progressive internal forces are attempting to adjust to a world that is changing more rapidly than at any time in history, seeking new solutions that must transcend the traditions of the past if they are to be effective. At the meeting of these opposing forces are many of the difficulties we have in adjusting to our world, from confusion around child-rearing, career, and how to allocate our limited time, to the underlying anxiety and uncertainty that plagues so many of us. This book draws from the very best of the psychotherapy, personal growth, and spiritual development traditions of the past half century and brilliantly weaves them into a 12-week program for examining, assessing, and transforming the guiding myths that shape readers’ effectiveness in the world, satisfaction with their lives, and level of happiness.
3. Methods for Deep Personal Change Can Be Combined with Quick-Fix Therapies. Transforming your personal mythology is a profound act that can lead to enormous changes in your quality of life. Yet everyone wants the “quick-fix.” With pressure from HMOs, the psychotherapy field has had to innovate faster though more superficial methods. This book draws from both, laying out a program that takes readers deep into their psyches and their histories, while at the same time showing how to utilize new developments in the use of energy psychology (“acupressure for the mind”) to bring about deep change more rapidly and painlessly.