Beautifully told, and expertly narrated. I have always thought your extensive autoethnography is very powerful. There’s something remarkable about seeing your own words quoted as evidence of growth and transformation. That element adds a unique kind of credibility that I really appreciate and respect. Thank you for sharing this sensitive and personal work with us!
Thank you so much, Eric. I’m really glad we’ve reconnected here on Substack. It feels like a good space for this kind of work.
I can’t wait to see what’s next for you after retirement next month. I’m hoping it means more writing, because your voice and perspective are so needed. ❤️
So beautiful, informative, vulnerable, and supportive of others. I don't know that I've read anything similar to this before.
While I didn't create a parallel world for myself as you did, it makes so much sense -- and I think it's echoed in countless ways by each individual who finds their own path to survival, healing, sense-making, and connecting with IRL reality.
My preferred daily escape for years was into the varied worlds of novels and films, where I did a ton of reflective work and learning with/from characters (as evidenced not only in my memories, but in my journals, which I'm eager to take a closer look at and write about.)
To that end, I also created an entire "meta-reality" for myself through my journaling, which (as you know) I'm now pulling together as a narrative of my inner (vis-a-vis) outer life over the decades.
I look forward to learning more about your personal world in future essays, whatever feels right to share.
Thank you so much, Sylvia. I love that you are also working with autoethnography and your own personal data. There’s something so powerful about witnessing how each of us has crafted different inner terrains to survive, learn, and make meaning. Your “meta-reality” through journaling resonates so much with me, and I’m so excited about the ways our paths with this work are now converging. I can’t wait for our upcoming collaborations and the conversations they will spark. ❤️
Wow. This made me tear up bit. If you remember my splitting post you’ll probably know why. The podcast you previously shared about your inner world was one that previously stayed with me too. So this one no doubt will even more. Thank you for sharing all of this and yourself here. It feels like you’ve shown a potential path ahead.
Thank you so much for this, Sam. Your piece still was on my mind when I hit publish. Sharing about dissociation and inner worlds is not easy. It takes real courage, and I saw that in what you wrote.
I’m glad my words can reflect something back to you, just as yours did for me. It feels powerful to walk these paths alongside each other, even if our experiences are different. I truly believe that naming and honoring these inner realities helps clear the way forward: for ourselves and for others who might recognize themselves in our stories.
I’m grateful we can share and support each other here. 🌱
Oh, what a beautiful post, Chris. Such a vivid testament to the healing power of compassionate witnessing (love, really) that, through attunement, calms and reorganizes our inner experience, and opens the path to our True Self. And Michael just may be uniquely equipped, through his gifts and experiences, to facilitate this process, and not just for you -- although your connection is clearly serendipitous.
Thank you for writing this moving post and sharing it with us.
This is yet again another beautiful, expressive, vulnerable essay, Chris. I listened to it and much of it has stayed with me the next day, particularly your experience of Michael as a mentor. I've probably shared with you how a mentor, in my late thirties, profoundly changed my life. I don't know where I'd be now if I hadn't had that intense, multifaceted input for five amazing years. This mentor morphed into a deeply important friend who is now approaching eighty years of age. We keep in contact and see each other as much as possible. You've highlighted how crucial such rare relationships can be and given insights into the nuances that are so relatable. Thank you!
Thank you so much, Lil. I love that you’ve had such a transformative mentorship experience in your own life, and that it grew into a lasting friendship. That kind of bond leaves an imprint that carries forward in ways that are hard to describe. I’m grateful for your words and for the reminder of how precious and rare these relationships are. 🙏💖
Your willingness to be honest about your inner life, even knowing the perils of the imaginal being pathologized, and the way Michael Piechowski responded, are inspiring. What may be seen as defenses and trauma responses that need to be "healed" are often the very gifts of trauma that are themselves doing the healing and expanding the psyche in ways perhaps otherwise not possible. Thank you for sharing this.
Thank you for this generous reflection. 🙏 I appreciate how you named both the risks and the gifts in sharing openly about the imaginal.
What you said about defenses and trauma responses carrying the seeds of their own healing feels so true to my experience. The very things that once felt like liabilities have also been sources of growth and creativity. I’m grateful to be able to share and to know it connects with others.
Thank you for sharing this, Desmond. I wasn’t familiar with Émile Coué before, but I see how his work on autosuggestion connects with what I wrote about how inner experience can reshape outer reality.
Beautifully told, and expertly narrated. I have always thought your extensive autoethnography is very powerful. There’s something remarkable about seeing your own words quoted as evidence of growth and transformation. That element adds a unique kind of credibility that I really appreciate and respect. Thank you for sharing this sensitive and personal work with us!
Thank you so much, Eric. I’m really glad we’ve reconnected here on Substack. It feels like a good space for this kind of work.
I can’t wait to see what’s next for you after retirement next month. I’m hoping it means more writing, because your voice and perspective are so needed. ❤️
So beautiful, informative, vulnerable, and supportive of others. I don't know that I've read anything similar to this before.
While I didn't create a parallel world for myself as you did, it makes so much sense -- and I think it's echoed in countless ways by each individual who finds their own path to survival, healing, sense-making, and connecting with IRL reality.
My preferred daily escape for years was into the varied worlds of novels and films, where I did a ton of reflective work and learning with/from characters (as evidenced not only in my memories, but in my journals, which I'm eager to take a closer look at and write about.)
To that end, I also created an entire "meta-reality" for myself through my journaling, which (as you know) I'm now pulling together as a narrative of my inner (vis-a-vis) outer life over the decades.
I look forward to learning more about your personal world in future essays, whatever feels right to share.
Thank you so much, Sylvia. I love that you are also working with autoethnography and your own personal data. There’s something so powerful about witnessing how each of us has crafted different inner terrains to survive, learn, and make meaning. Your “meta-reality” through journaling resonates so much with me, and I’m so excited about the ways our paths with this work are now converging. I can’t wait for our upcoming collaborations and the conversations they will spark. ❤️
Wow. This made me tear up bit. If you remember my splitting post you’ll probably know why. The podcast you previously shared about your inner world was one that previously stayed with me too. So this one no doubt will even more. Thank you for sharing all of this and yourself here. It feels like you’ve shown a potential path ahead.
Thank you so much for this, Sam. Your piece still was on my mind when I hit publish. Sharing about dissociation and inner worlds is not easy. It takes real courage, and I saw that in what you wrote.
I’m glad my words can reflect something back to you, just as yours did for me. It feels powerful to walk these paths alongside each other, even if our experiences are different. I truly believe that naming and honoring these inner realities helps clear the way forward: for ourselves and for others who might recognize themselves in our stories.
I’m grateful we can share and support each other here. 🌱
Oh, what a beautiful post, Chris. Such a vivid testament to the healing power of compassionate witnessing (love, really) that, through attunement, calms and reorganizes our inner experience, and opens the path to our True Self. And Michael just may be uniquely equipped, through his gifts and experiences, to facilitate this process, and not just for you -- although your connection is clearly serendipitous.
Thank you for writing this moving post and sharing it with us.
Thank you, Elizabeth. 🙏
You put it so beautifully. Compassionate witnessing really does reorganize the inner landscape and make space for a truer self to emerge.
I agree with you about Michael’s unique gifts, and I feel incredibly fortunate that our paths crossed in the way they did. ✨
This is yet again another beautiful, expressive, vulnerable essay, Chris. I listened to it and much of it has stayed with me the next day, particularly your experience of Michael as a mentor. I've probably shared with you how a mentor, in my late thirties, profoundly changed my life. I don't know where I'd be now if I hadn't had that intense, multifaceted input for five amazing years. This mentor morphed into a deeply important friend who is now approaching eighty years of age. We keep in contact and see each other as much as possible. You've highlighted how crucial such rare relationships can be and given insights into the nuances that are so relatable. Thank you!
Thank you so much, Lil. I love that you’ve had such a transformative mentorship experience in your own life, and that it grew into a lasting friendship. That kind of bond leaves an imprint that carries forward in ways that are hard to describe. I’m grateful for your words and for the reminder of how precious and rare these relationships are. 🙏💖
Beautiful ❤️
Thank you, Jen! ❤️
Your willingness to be honest about your inner life, even knowing the perils of the imaginal being pathologized, and the way Michael Piechowski responded, are inspiring. What may be seen as defenses and trauma responses that need to be "healed" are often the very gifts of trauma that are themselves doing the healing and expanding the psyche in ways perhaps otherwise not possible. Thank you for sharing this.
Thank you for this generous reflection. 🙏 I appreciate how you named both the risks and the gifts in sharing openly about the imaginal.
What you said about defenses and trauma responses carrying the seeds of their own healing feels so true to my experience. The very things that once felt like liabilities have also been sources of growth and creativity. I’m grateful to be able to share and to know it connects with others.
I think Coué deserves a mention here. I hadn't smoked for three days without realising it after following a Coué-inspired programme in 1965.
Thank you for sharing this, Desmond. I wasn’t familiar with Émile Coué before, but I see how his work on autosuggestion connects with what I wrote about how inner experience can reshape outer reality.