A Thirteen Moon Journal: A Psychiatrist's Journey Toward Inner Peace

Thirteen Moon Journal is a fantastic book. It is a how-to for your own "portrait journal", a journal of self-seeking. The author describes how to keep your own journal for a set period or time, he suggests one year. Unlike other journal and writing books he does NOT tell you what to write. This is good. He wants you to explore YOURSELF, your own thoughts, your own daily activities. After the period of time of writing is up, you are let it sit for a period of months then return to it to get to know your self more objectively. Look for patterns that may be apparent to others around you but totally invisible to yourself. To find answers to questions that you did not know you had. He speaks of the possibility of LATER editing the journal to create a "legacy journal" to leave for future generations. He stresses the importance of editing for several reasons, first to keep you completely open and true to self in your original work of self discovery, and secondly because through seeking to find the correct words to express yourself you come to greater self understanding. He very much advocates using word processing if you plan to edit if as a legacy journal or published diary.In ADDITION, this book is the complete 13 month diary of a psychiarist. It offers a peek into the lives of his patients, their treatments, his own personal thoughts about them. He has to deal with their troubles, and even some of their self-inflicted deaths, while balancing his own life, family, happiness.The author describes himself as an "analog" man in a "digital world". It is the "realness" of flip flopping back and forth between hunting in the midst of nature to scheduled appointments in the office. He desperately seeks to come to terms with his longing for the analog: nature, the spiritual, the body clock rather than the one on the wall; while at the same time operating in the digital: the scheduled, the media filled, the world of modern technology. This book is a spiritual journey in one man's life.Dr. Hageseth is a Christian of (Catholic background) but he does not seem to practice "organized religion". The spiritual is highly emphasized but any specific "religious practices" or "denominational preferences" are muted. He also seems to have a high respect for Native American spiritual ways leaning toward appreciation of nature and viewing God as the Creator of all. Throughout his own interesting journal, he offers comments in italics to tell you some of the things to watch for in your own self-revealing writing. Very refreshing and very "real" in comparison to other "journaling" books that I have read lately.