Another piece of the book “Happy: poems and reflections for writing and healing the self” which will be out this fall… You are not who you think you are Research on writing and healing and family systems therapy reveals that secrets clog up our working memory. They can even make us sick. What is inherent …
Today I didn’t think I would have time to work on my poetry book “Happy”. I had surrendered to that fact. I had breakfast with colleagues and went home to teach the online academic writing course I’m responsible for this semester. A student had posted a reflective summary on Carol Dweck’s work on the growth …
Our latest work endeavours took us to the University of Eastern Finland in Joensuu and to Helsinki. In Joensuu, Frans and I met with a career-research team and gave workshops on career writing and why career dialogues are not as easy as they seem. We also gave two lectures. Our colleagues said they got more …
Happy by Reinekke Lengelle I almost forgot I was happy today, while I was wiping the stove an old thought pulled at my sleeve it almost seemed convincing trying to protect me like the way remembered pain sticks and tries to make you right about something, While you know that ‘right’ is the block between …
What is career writing? by D.B. Stewart Mere weeks before he died, Dr. Oliver Sacks (2015) wrote a short memoir entitled Gratitude. Sacks reflected on working with the chronic care patients who inspired his book Awakenings (and the award-winning film): “I was fascinated by my patients there, cared for them deeply, and felt something of a mission …
A narrative that cannot be reconciled on a personal level is per definition a story that cannot contribute to reconciliation. Our book chapter “Writing the self for reconciliation and global citizenship: The inner dialogue and creative voices for cultural healing” by Reinekke Lengelle, Charity Jardine, and Charlene Bonnar was accepted by Springer this week. I …
Is writing the self speaking our vulnerability in order to become empowered? In reflecting on the book “A vulnerable teacher” (1974) by composition teacher Ken Macrorie (1918-2009), I realized I perceive and sense vulnerability to be something different than he does. After explaining that vulnerable comes from “vuln” the Latin word for “wound”, he writes that “To become …
Join us at “The Beaney House of Art and Knowledge” March 18th, 2017 – 10:00 am – 1:00 pm Expressive Career Writing is writing for personal development aimed at the development of a career identity to meet the challenges of the 21st century labour market. Career identity is another way of saying, ‘the story …
Career self-portrait, inspired by Agatha Christie a writing exercise to try “The name of Lucy Eyelesbarrow had already made itself felt in certain circles…” (A. Christie, 1957) In fiction we sometimes come across a character who is wildly interesting, confident, and in full possession of themselves. Something in us gets excited because secretly …
We ran day 1 of our career writing workshop last Saturday and the participants worked steadily from 10 to 5:30. They were very focused and all took active part in responding to each other’s work. They wrote to Baroque music, made collages and talked about them, and they listed 20 careers they could imagine doing …