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Periodically, my blog participates in virtual book tours
which allow authors to showcase their books to a broader audience. Today I am
hosting fellow author Jeffrey Von Glahn whose non-fiction book "Jessica: The Autobiography of an
Infant," is available on Amazon. The blog tour is sponsored by
4WillsPublishing.wordpress.com. (see relevant links below) |
| Jeffrey Von Glahn |
Jeffrey Von Glahn has been a psychotherapist for 45 years, and counting. He says that experience has been, and continues to be, more exciting and fulfilling than he had ever imagined.
BOOK BLURB:
Jessica had always been haunted by the fear that the unthinkable had happened when she had been “made-up.” For as far back as she could remember, she had no sense of a Self. Her mother thought of her as the “perfect infant” because “she never wanted anything and she never needed anything.” As a child, just thinking of saying “I need” or “I want” left her feeling like an empty shell and that her mind was about to spin out of control. Terrified of who––or what––she was, she lived in constant dread over being found guilty of impersonating a human being.
Jeffrey Von Glahn, Ph.D., an experienced therapist with an unshakable belief in the healing powers of the human spirit, and Jessica, blaze a trail into this unexplored territory. As if she has, in fact, become an infant again, Jessica remembers in extraordinary detail events from the earliest days of her life––events that threatened to twist her embryonic humanness from its natural course of development. Her recollections are like listening to an infant who could talk describe every psychologically dramatic moment of its life as it was happening.
When Dr. Von Glahn met Jessica, she was 23. Everyone regarded her as a responsible, caring person – except that she never drove and she stayed at her mother’s when her husband worked nights.
For many months, Jessica’s therapy was stuck in an impasse. Dr. Von Glahn had absolutely no idea that she was so terrified over simply talking about herself. In hopes of breakthrough, she boldly asked for four hours of therapy a day, for three days a week, for six weeks. The mystery that was Jessica cracked open in dramatic fashion, and in a way that Dr. Von Glahn could never have imagined. Then she asked for four days a week – and for however long it took. In the following months, her electrifying journey into her mystifying past brought her ever closer to a final confrontation with the events that had threatened to forever strip her of her basic humanness.
BLOG POST:
This excerpt is from the Prologue. It describes how my view
of infants was changed forever by Jessica’s revelations about her own infancy.
Listening to Jessica during therapy sessions was the same as
listening to an infant who could talk describe in vivid detail every
psychologically dramatic moment of its life as it was happening. As a result,
my perception of infants was radically altered. I will never again think of
them as simple little beings primarily interested in eating and sleeping. They
are far more complex than I had ever imagined. When I am now in an infant’s
presence, I am acutely conscious that an active force in the world is before
me. What I say and how I act will be watched with great interest by a mind
that, though not as developed as mine, is probably more curious about the world
and definitely more sensitive to it.
Infants, especially newborns, pull me toward them with what
seems like an irresistible power.
Whenever I see one of these brand-new human
beings, I must fight my urge to drop whatever I’m doing and immediately rush to
its side. In my fantasy, I see myself slow down as I approach my goal and
unhurriedly cover the last bit of distance. I close in with the most incredibly
joyous smile anyone has ever seen. My eyes bulge in unabashed delight, while my
smile and eyes speak for me. They speak the language of infancy, a life rich in
feelings, hopes, dreams, potential, and an insatiable curiosity about the
world. It is a life as exciting and intriguing as anything adults can even
imagine.
My eyes and smile express the words I would like to say:
Yes, I know how powerful your mind is. I know what new
information about yourself and the world you are trying to figure out. I know
what fundamental psychological processes are happening inside of you. If you
could talk, I know what wonderfully exciting details you would tell us about
your life.
My journey with Jessica seems—even now, after it’s over—more
a flight of fancy, an excursion into science fiction, than a real-life story.
Had I not been a fellow traveler who saw and heard everything with my own eyes
and ears, I would certainly exclaim, “How interesting! I wish I could think of
a clever story like that!”
PURCHASE LINKS:
Jeffrey Von Glahn - JESSICA: AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF AN INFANT -www.amazon.com/dp/B00IUCKOD8/
Rafflecopter Page - http://www.rafflecopter.com/
Goodreads Event Page - https://www.goodreads.com/
CONTACT INFO:
Twitter: @JeffreyVonGlahn
Website: http://JeffreyVonGlahn.com
***This tour was sponsored by 4WillsPublishing.wordpress.com
To book your own tour, please contact us.***
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