Coming So Soon! ~ Stark Raving Zen

My Dear Friends,

In about one week’s time my book that documents a series of events so fantastical they’ll be hard to process as non-fiction will be available worldwide.  In the world of transpersonal psychology, what I experienced is referred to as a Spiritual Emergency (very specifically a Spontaneous Shamanic Initiation)– when an internal shift happens instantaneously, rather than gradually and gently, resulting in the temporary shattering of our established worldview, psyche, and sanity. This temporary window of insanity dismantled a type of invisible shield that keeps hidden from us an entire universe of mythology that actually came to life before my eyes. Though more painful than I could possibly describe, it was also more beautiful than we have the words for. Every minute of terror was matched by the intensity of divine ecstasy. I was left permanently healed of traumas I carried with me throughout my existence. Chronic physical ailments that medicine couldn’t explain were resolved overnight, and the tenacious grip that severe OCD had over my life dissolved without a fight.

I hope you’ll read Stark Raving Zen: A Memoir of Coming Alive.

I hope you’ll read it not only because it will remind you of the much larger invisible forces that are always working to heal us, to free us, and to open our eyes to the wonders of the universe. I also hope that reading it will grant you the freedom to talk freely about your own incredible experiences, to open to all that you were put on this earth to accomplish. I hope it gives you the strength to face your traumas without turning back, and to finally and completely heal your life, and open to your incredible gifts. I hope this book gives you the courage to unfold your wings and fly, like our spirits were always meant to do.

I’ll leave you today with a promise that I’ll announce exactly when the book is in distribution. It’s currently being converted to eReader formats, and I am awaiting a test print copy to be sure it’s beautiful before I open the gate and let it out into the world.  It should be ready in about one week.

For now, allow me to share the back cover blurb and tell you how excited I am that I can finally share all of this, all of me, and relax, knowing that there are no more secrets between us. To know this book is to know me. Thank you for being here with me, so intimately!

 

Stark Raving Zen is the story of how one woman came home to her soul on a road trip from Minnesota to California, a journey both terrifying and beautiful. Her only physical companion through each stage of this sudden awakening was her dog, Arya, who kept her grounded through shocking revelations, heavenly and hellish visionary experiences, and an intuitive opening including a voice in her left ear that guided her, working to keep her safe as her mind unraveled.

This heroine’s journey is also the story of Kristy Sweetland’s life, including a childhood and young adulthood of trying to desperately control a chaotic family history filled with a parental legacy of addiction and mental illness that kept her psyche locked in a perpetual state of survival.

After an outwardly successful career in the field of veterinary medicine, (while inwardly falling apart), she finally hit the wall, left her twenty-year profession, loaded Arya into her car and headed southwest on what she thought was a trip to see a mentor and counselor in California. As it turns out her soul had wildly different plans. This riveting true story of a road trip filled with benevolent ghosts and gods, angels, demons, monsters, mythology, and guiding voices will keep the reader glued to the page for the duration. Through the volcanic gift of those ten days on the road in January of 2009, Kristy broke through her own chains forged of trauma, and finally came alive.