Synopsis
This revised and expanded edition of the classic At a Journal Workshop, a self-published bestseller, offers the reader access to the most widely praised method of diary writing. This rich, insightful work is a treasure for all those involved in self-inquiry, artistic creation and spiritual renewal.

Excerpted from At a Journal Workshop by Ira Progoff (as appears in The WomanSource Catalog & Review). Copyright(c) 1992. Reprinted by permission, all rights reserved
A major role of the exercises in Dialogue with Events is to enable us to experience the movement of life in so broad a vista that we are not enclosed by the emotions of the moment. We perceive the ambiguity that is inherent in events. They may have not one or two but several levels of meaning, and these disclose themselves not at the time of the happening but only at later points in the course of our experience. It becomes essential, then, that we keep ourselves free from fixed conclusions and have a means of holding ourselves open for the further recognitions of meaning that will come to us with the passage of time.

As it brings an inner self-guidance for life's problems, the Intensive Journal approach has also produced an interesting, if unexpected, extra. In the course of its work it deepens the level of experience, and this draws an individual into contact with the profound sources of inner wisdom. Many persons have found that as they involved themselves in the Intensive Journal process to resolve the immediate problems of personal life, they have inadvertently opened awarenesses that are transpersonal in scope. Without intending it, they find that they are drawn beyond themselves in wisdom to levels of experience that have the qualities of poetry and spirit.

Annotation
This revised and expanded edition of the classic At a Journal Workshop, a self-published bestseller, offers the reader access to the most widely praised method of diary writing. This rich, insightful work is a treasure for all those involved in self-inquiry, artistic creation and spiritual renewal.

Reviews
From Library Journal 
Progoff, a psychotherapist and pioneer in the therapeutic use of journal writing, has conducted workshops on the Intensive Journal Process since 1966. His program offers more than a chronological diary; the Intensive Journal Process is a complex and systematic method for gaining self-insight by recording thoughts, dreams, and significant events, which are then used as focal points for meditation and written reflection in separate sections. This book, a condensed version of two previous works, At a Journal Workshop ( LJ 11/1/75) and The Practice of Process Meditation ( LJ 12/1/80), follows the sequence of an introductory workshop, with the reader as an active participant. The casual reader looking for a summary or overview of the process will find this approach disappointing, while those familiar with the previous works will find little new other than a rearrangement of text. Nonetheless, this is a fascinating guidebook for those seriously committed to exploring journal writing as a means of self-discovery. Recommended for academic and large public libraries that don't own copies of the earlier works.-- Lucille Boone, San Jose P.L., Cal.
 

Table of Contents

	Introduction
Pt. 1	Preparing for Your Journal Work	1
1	The Scope of Personal Renewal	2
2	Seeking the Elan of Life: The Dimensions of Private Journal Work	19
3	The Atmosphere of a Journal Workshop	33
Pt. 2	First Stages of Your Journal Work	45
4	Positioning Yourself in the Present: The Period Log	46
5	Twilight Imagery and Life Correlation	57
6	The Daily Log	65
Pt. 3	The Life/Time Dimension	73
	Introduction to the Life/Time Dimension	74
7	The Steppingstones	76
8	The Steppingstone Periods in the Life History Log	90
9	Intersections: Roads Taken and Not Taken	102
10	Time-Stretching: Backward and Forward	108
Pt. 4	The Dialogue Dimension	123
	Introduction to the Dialogue Dimension	124
11	Dialogue with Persons	127
12	Dialogue with Works	141
13	Dialogue with the Body	154
14	Dialogue with Events, Situations, and Circumstances	167
15	Dialogue with Society	182
Pt. 5	The Depth Dimension	195
	Introduction to the Depth Dimension	196
16	The Dream Log: Beginning to Work with Our Dreams	198
17	Twilight Dreaming: Using Dream Enlargements and Imagery Extensions	209
Pt. 6	The Meaning Dimension	222
	Introduction to the Meaning Dimension	223
18	Meditation Log I: Entrance Meditations	225
19	Meditation Log II: Spiritual Positioning	232
20	Meditation Log III: Inner Process Entries	241
21	Connections I: The Cycles of Connective Experience	247
22	Connections II: Gatherings	257
23	Connections III: Spiritual Steppingstones and Inner Wisdom Dialogue	267
24	Connections IV: Re-Openings of Spiritual Roads Not Taken	286
25	PDE: Peaks, Depths, and Explorations	300
26	Modalities for Next Experience	312
27	Mantra/Crystal Experiences	328
28	Testament	350
29	Now: The Open Moment	359
Pt. 7	Continuing Your Journal Work	364
30	Resource and Continuity	365
	Appendix A: Entrance Meditations	383
	Appendix B: Mantra Crystals from the Workshop Floor	392
	Appendix C: Spiritual Steppingstones	397
	Appendix D: The Registered Intensive Journal Workbook	402
	Other Books by Ira Progoff	411
	Index	412
	About the Author and The Intensive Journal Program	421