I am beginning to feature heroes and heroines on my blog—everyday people who have undergone heartbreaking, soul-crushing challenges, and are now on the other side of them.
Even though they weren’t sure how they were going to get there, they did. They found that they have more strength and resilience than they ever thought possible and now wish to share their experiences so that others in similar circumstances can learn and grow from the lessons they have learned along the way.
Are you ready to share your hero or heroine story? If so, just tell me what your story is about and I’ll be in touch for sure!
Today I am proud to feature Brand New Author, LAWRENCE JW COOPER!
Lawrence is one of my most recent book coaching clients and his beautiful book, Bi: A Bisexual Man’s Transformational Journey from Agony to Ecstasy has now been published! He is a master of prose and poetry, a man called to enlightenment, born from the utmost depths of despair as a wise man, shaman of the heart.
Here Lawrence gives you a glimpse into the transformation that led to the writing of his book:
Bi: From Agony to Ecstasy
by Lawrence JW Cooper
My life was in ruins. My gender issues that I had tried so hard to conceal had blown up in my face. My wife of 33 years divorced me, I was forced to take an early retirement from my career as a psychologist, and I went into a deep dark depression. I was admitted into an eighteen-week program for depression, anxiety disorder, and a personality disorder with gender identification issues. I was placed on heavy medication, and developed some coping skills. But drugs and therapy of the mind were useless; I needed to heal my soul.
Personality Disorder
Black clouds have appeared on the horizon again,
Blocking out the warm rays of the morning sun.
There is no clarity again today,
Just the knowledge that there can never be a reason
That can be believed.
There can never be hope
That can be realized.
There can never be faith
In anything without a foundation.
There can never be peace;
There can never be love.
There is only myself,
With no sense of who I am,
And no idea of where to go.
After therapy, I sold or gave away everything I had, settled into a small mountain village in Costa Rica, and started a ten-year process of deep inner healing. I gradually peeled away the layers of the onion of pain. With the help of my reborn spirit, I was able to toss out all the medication and enter into a peaceful state within my own soul. This eventually led to a series of spiritual strategies and insights that have carried me here, to this contended place, where I am at peace with myself and my gender. I have experienced a spiritual awakening that has given me a deep heart based peace, and a spiritual joy that is now at the core of my being. I learned to love myself which, in turn, set me free to experience true love for the first time. I now live a life of bliss with an amazing woman who accepts my gender issues and loves me just the way I am. When we have issues we resolve them and use these moments to learn and grow as a couple and as individuals.
Throughout this healing process, I journaled my path from agony to ecstasy in poetry. At the urging of my wife I compiled this book of feelings through poetry, added personal stories from my journey in prose, and tossed in psychological and spiritual insights in essays from my present views as a conscious psychologist.
But I was still not sure I wanted to share these deeply intimate feelings; that’s when I decided to engage in a one to one coaching program with Junie. That is when I found my voice and realized that I have a message that needs to be told. We explored the area of the target audience. The original hope was that it may be of help to other bisexual men and their families. But the view and the work itself have evolved into much more than that.
This is above all a one-man journey, not only to peace, but to ecstasy. This is about my discovery of the divine nature of my inner soul and the great capacity of my heart to love my Self and the people around me. This is a book of spiritual conquest of the shadows of my human experience. I share this collection of feelings and insights with you in the hope that together we may transcend the shadows of this world and be the creatures of light that we are truly meant to be.
The Voice of Love
There is a new voice,
The voice of a Spirit Divine,
Telling me I need to throw off these chains,
And run wild before the wind.
It implores me to open my Self up
To everything I have feared,
To explore the depths of the forbidden,
And to learn to desire the undesirable,
So that I may experience the excitement of the unknown,
And stir my consciousness with arousal and yearning,
Until my soul is empowered to melt opposites into oneness,
And my heart has been set free to teach chaos how to dance.
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Writing Prompt
Write about a time that you were stronger than you thought. Begin with: I never thought I could do it, never thought I would see the light of day again until…
Author Support Group
Are You Ready to Write Your Book? Sure? Not Sure? Let’s Talk! I’ll be offering an Author Support Group this spring, on Wednesday evenings for eight weeks beginning April 13th. Your dream begins here. And you won’t have to do it alone! It will be my joy and privilege to guide you right to the finish line, either one-on-one or as part of the group. Read all the details here.
As always, please leave a comment below or join us at Junie’s Writing Sanctuary to join the conversation.
All blessings,
Junie
