Have you been unable to release? Some of your darkest corners will be healed. Shame, pain, or grief? Are these areas holding you back from living life to its fullest?

Your wounds can become the source of your greatest gifts. It is possible to become wellsprings of strength, resilience and wisdom in places where you have been broken or faced trauma.

Through a unique writing process designed by leading author and teacher Mark Matousek, you can find the blessings in your pain and access the power trapped inside your most defended parts.

The writing process becomes a curriculum.

It opens the door to spiritual awakening, making you a conduit for grace, healing and transformation.

Leonard Cohen said, Forget your perfect offering. Everything has a crack. It is where the light enters.

It can feel unsafe to air the full messiness of our emotions because most of us have areas of unresolved wounding or closely guarded secrets. To awaken and discover the blessings within our wounds requires this.

We can poison the rest of our lives if we stuff our feelings and truths down deep. According to the recovery community, you are only as sick as your secrets. Bringing your secrets to the surface is important. The key to wellbeing is reaching our full potential. .

If you have not been wounded in a dramatic way from loss or pain, you may think that there are other people who have been wounded. The truth is. We all have wounds. . They are part of the human condition. . Issues with anxiety and depression can manifest in many ways.

We all have wounds, but we also have aspects of our identities that are hidden. Our true nature is contained in these forbidden parts. They hold wisdom, energy, creativity and power, and need to be brought into the light so we can be. It’s free. And. whole . There is more juice, aliveness and liberation when an actor plays a dark, complex or tortured character.

How do you keep your secrets safe? How do you get out of old stories and loops?

One of the most powerful ways to release is through writing. Your past will be transformed. And. Find the blessings. You used to see it as burdens.

When people write about the loss of a job, they are more likely to be rehired. Divorces, deaths, and many other areas of wounding are the same.

The practice of writing. It’s very safe. . Sharing with a trusted friend is even safer. It makes it possible to express yourself in voices that are otherwise taboo. You can speak. You can be angry. You can feel sad. In a space of total confidentiality, you can allow yourself the full spectrum.

You will start to feel freer after you see the naked truth on the page or screen. Lighter. More complete. The treasure was held in the tragedies. More aware of it. There are deeper insights. There is a higher point in your life.

This journey is not easy to take. Defenses and fears come up. Distractions and resistance get in the way. Your identity is designed to protect you from the broken and hurt places. It is important to enter into a transformational practice of writing that is guided and supported by a teacher and a community of fellow explorers who can give permission for you to do the same.

In. Writing to heal. You can enter into a 9-month journey to birth a more healed and whole version of yourself, one in which you already have. Your dark places were transformed into gold. .

What You’ll Discover in These 9 Months

Mark will guide you through the fundamental spiritual skills and competencies that you will need to successfully navigate your past experiences and mine them for your journey of healing through writing, which will transform the quality of your life.

You’ll develop a complete,holistic understanding of the practices, tools and principles you’ll need to sustain your writing throughout the course and beyond with each weekly, LIVE contemplation and training session.

The course sessions are on Thursdays.

Module 1: Touching the Wound
(July 7, 14 & 21)

In this module, you’ll look at the questions: Where do feel the most pain in your life? What is the center of your wound? We’ll begin by creating a safe container and you’ll learn to locate your most vulnerable parts — becoming acquainted with the landscape of your losses, fears and limitations.

You will learn how to in this module.

• Tell the truth about your pain
• Isolate the source of suffering and its effects on your life
• Free the voice of emotion
• Tend to your particular pain
• Understand the value of limitations

Module 2: Exposing the Shadow
(August 4, 11 & 18)

The wounds are nestled in shadow. Hiding the truth in the darkness, the wound wants exposure to the light. This month, you will illuminate your vulnerable parts, bringing more awareness, understanding and acceptance to them. In turn, this releases fresh energy throughout your life.

You will learn how to in this module.

• Overcome shame towards your shadow
• Reflect on parts of yourself you deny
• Stop hiding behind your pain
• Become intimate with your own damage
• Cull the shadow’s hidden treasures

Module 3: Realizing the Gift
(September 1, 8 & 15)

Your wounds are not burdens, but actual engines of awakening. You may not yet see it, but often your gifts hide in plain sight. In this module, you will be guided to explore and connect with the hidden power latent in your “broken parts” and emerge with the gift that is yours.

You will learn how to in this module.

• Use the gift as a tool for self-healing
• Enter the “fruitful darkness”
• Turn the gift toward self-realization
• Grasp the power of paradox
• Change your wounding story

Module 4: Facing Resistance
(October 6, 13 & 20)

As you’ll discover, your greatest gift is guarded by adversaries. As you move forward on your path, fear, anger and doubt rise up alongside awakening. This is the paradoxical truth that this module will help you hold. Knowing it is the source of healing.

You will learn how to in this module.

• Confront your adversaries as difficult friends, not strangers
• Tap the inverted power of anger
• Weaken fear through open awareness
• Stop resisting adversity
• Practice comfort in moments of discomfort

Module 5: Piercing the Myth
(November 3, 10 & 17)

Moving out of the last module, your internal (and external) adversaries force you to face your story. This month we look at: What is the nature of your life myth? Your memory is unreliable; as research shows, we “remember” things that never happened. And those that did happen are clothed in fiction.

You will learn how to in this module.

• See where your story diverges from reality
• Discern in what ways you are blind to yourself
• Step outside of the fiction you’re telling
• Reinvent this fiction over time
• Gain authenticity and wellbeing

Module 6: Transforming Pain
(December 1, 8 & 15)

When you tell the truth, your story changes. As your story changes, pain is transformed — and your life is transformed. This month, we look at the metamorphic, protean nature of personal reality.

You will learn how to in this module.

• Become comfortable with life’s messes
• Connect vulnerability with strength
• Transform pain from suffering to wisdom
• Be tender with your wounded parts
• Accept the trauma of everyday life

Module 7: Seeing With New Eyes
(January 5, 12 & 19)

As survivors, we see with new eyes. Having passed through darkness, we’re wide awake. This month we will focus on how our lives are always beginning — that untended wounds freeze us in place, and that awakened wounds enlighten us.

You will learn how to in this module.

• Harvest the gifts of survivorship
• Use limitation as a strength
• Establish a beginner’s mind practice
• Savor the ever expanding view of what is possible
• Dwell in gratitude each day

Module 8: Stabilizing the View
(February 2, 9 & 16)

The powers of habit are deeply conditioned. In order to balance this new way of seeing, mindfulness is necessary. This month, we investigate mindfulness as a tuning fork that harmonizes with the awakened self.

You will learn how to in this module.

• Stabilize emotion using mindfulness
• Practice mindfulness off the meditation cushion
• Catch yourself when old patterns appear
• Use the body as a self-tuning instrument
• Practice openness to the view

Module 9: Expanding the Circle
(March 2, 9 & 16)

The awakened self wants to pay its gifts forward. The wounded healer wants to share. Every wound yields its own medicine, its own particular kickback of power. This month, we look at the ways that you can use this power to improve your life and the welfare of others.

You will learn how to in this module.

• Use the wound as medicine
• Put that medicine to the service of love
• Bless the gift of the wound
• Use pain as a bridge for connecting to others
• Know yourself, finally, as unharmed