Allan G. Hunter's Blog, page 94

Memoir and Soul Work

My latest book is due out at the end of December. Write Your Memoir: The Soul Work of Telling Your Story is a book that is not like the other how-to books on the market, since it uses the concept of archetypes and shows the reader (and budding memoirist) how to enlist the help of that strongest of all allies - our own unconscious.

Most people think they can just write about their lives, relate the amazing things they've survived, and then publishers will flock to offer them contracts.  This...

Youtube

As my typing fingers (both of them) seem to be becoming less and less agile I've decided to put some of the blogs on video.  If you want to take a look there is a whole series on Youtube.com.  Just go to the site and type in Drallanhunter in the search box.  This will take you to my Youtube Channel.  The most recent videos are on the newer equipment and the quality is far better.

Take a look.  You may enjoy them.

Dreadful Parenting

Recently, on a delayed trans-atlantic flight that had me cornered at the back of the plane with no less than three families of young children, I had a chance to observe differing parenting skills.  The very young children in my immediate seating vicinity were all approximately the same ages (each family had two, about 14 months and about 3 years).  Two sets of kids were wonderful.  One set was not.  What was the difference?

I had ample time to think about this as the 3 year old boy sang show tune

Let's Get Real, part III

I've just gone to my mailbox and deleted 113 items of spam.  At first I was a tad annoyed.  Some of this spam is designed to take up dozens of pages per item, clearly hoping to annoy me.  What can they possibly gain from this?  I have no idea.  Other items are attempting to sell me something, usually viagra. What makes them think I need it?

But then, you see, I am attempting to sell something, also.  I'm hoping to 'sell' my ideas, so others can be tempted to think a bit more creatively.  I'd like

Let's be real, part II

Since I wrote the first of these posts I've had some lovely responses (quite a few of them coming through Intent.com) with sensitive insights into how easy it can be to slip into an on-line persona, or indeed any kind of persona. I am immensely grateful for the honesty and wisdom so many of you have expressed and for the vulnerability that allowed me to feel what you meant. One woman wrote movingly about how she had tried to be amusing and witty on-line in order to keep the attention of a romant

Let's be real

One thing I've noticed, again and again, is that the internet allows us to adopt a persona - a mask that conveys an impression we wish to convey - and that such a persona wouldn't last very long in a face to face conversation with someone who truly knows us.

I've seen it all too often. People I know as honest, sensitive, and questioning, people who are taking the time to be authentic - - these same people feel they have to produce facebook comments that are witty and sassy and altogether less ful

Computers and people are the same - really

Computers get viruses, slow down, and become less than they could be.  This much we know.  And, in case you haven't noticed, people are exactly the same way.

In our travels and our interactions with people we pick up attitudes, we mirror what people tell us, and we take on the flavor of wherever and who ever we're with.  Sometimes that energy is negative, fearful, even neurotic. In just the same way as computers, we internalize these feelings and they knock us off our authentic stride.  We do thi

Something for nothing

We've been attempting to grow organic tomatoes again this year, and it hasn't been successful because of the weather. So I was eyeing the five tomatoes we actually have when I noticed one was missing and then I saw….

Which let me know several things. First, the tomatoes were ripe. Second, I'm not the only one who has an interest in them. Third, nature was here long before me, and I'd do well to remember that.

What a gift, though, to have that handed to me in one image.

Horizons new

Every so often I get the urge to move house.  What this means, I now know, is that I don't actually want to move my place of residence, but that I wish to move myself personally to a new, more invigorating space. The mind uses metaphors.

Nevertheless, I act on this impulse to the extent that I do a thorough overhaul of a lot of my life.  I throw things away.  I recycle other things.  I make donations.  In fact I clear the decks physically so that I can open up space mentally.  The Unconscious get

Do You Love Yourself?

The relationship we have with ourselves is mirrored in the relationships we have with others.

If you're wondering why your outer relationships are a bit scrambled, look inward first; similarly, if you're confused about your relationship with yourself, take a look at what's occuring with your interactions with others.  It'll give you useful clues. For instance: if you have trouble finding love in your life, ask yourself how much you love yourself.  You may find you don't even like yourself as much