The Intensive Journal Process: A Path to Self Discover yA n In t erv i ew wi t h Ira Pro g o f f by Kat hy Juli n e

A comp reh ens ive look at th e ex tr aord in ary ap p roach to s elf-d is c overy th at h as h elp edth ous ands o f p eop le to exp ress th eir fu lles t p otent ial

S cien ce of Min d: You have been wi dely recogn ized as a pioneer in developi ng theprinciple s of depth p sycholog y, an d in p art icular, holi st ic depth psycholo gy as op posedto tradit ional mai nstream p sychological thought. Tell u s w hat your philo sophy ofpsychology is a nd wh y you call your self a hol ist ic dept h psyc hologist .

Progoff : One of the goal s of p sycholog y i s to help ind ividu als to live and unfold thepotentials of the ir bei ng in te rms of the w holen ess of th eir i nner nature rat her th an apart ial or f ragmente d aspect of their o uter live s. I refer to my o wn work as holist icdepth psyc hology. Hol ist ic suggests the qu alitat ive evolut io n of people that takes placewhen all of their expe rience s come together. As this integrat ion occurs , there is animprovement in th e qualit y of people s li ves i n that t he process of becoming who theytruly are dee pens . Integrat io n results in greater creat i vity a nd sp iritual growth .

Perso nal a nd spiritu al d evelopment also comes about t hrough work ing at an in ner l evel,at ones de pths, by w hic h I mean a level belo w our outer conscious ness.. . .the worddepth is important too.

The focus of my work ha s bee n to provide methods wh ich will enable people to workcontinuously i n their live s. It gives an in ner perspect i ve to guide them throughtransit ion s, evoki ng creat ive potential s an d dr awing fort h n ew s parks of Spi rit as theymove toward becoming whole perso ns. After formulat ing my t heorie s of per sonaldevelopment a s a n autho r an d p sychoth erapist for many years , I dev eloped the Intens iveJournal process i n the mid-1960s to provide a structured wa y for people to workcontinuously to become whole pe rsons .

S cien ce of Min d: How did you become interested in spirituality in your overallphilosop hy of depth psycholo gy?

Progoff : In the early 1950s , I conclude d that if I could ide ntify the concepts that werethe f inal conclus ions of the great per sons in the histo ry of depth psyc hology, I would

then hav e a start ing poi nt for my methods. I reali zed that in t he histo ry of depthpsychology, these person s - namely, Freud, Adler, Jung, and Ra nk - had gone throughseveral cha nges in t heir point of vie w from the time they began their work to the t imethey die d.

I found t hat Freud, for example, while he had been t he origi nator of se veral of th e mainconcepts of depth psycho logy, had e nded his life wit h a ve ry negat ive vi ew of w hat hehad ac hieved . Anoth er semin al psyc hologist , Alf red Adle r, concl uded t hat man i s al waysreaching for connect io n with the eter nal an d that , althoug h depth p sycholog y began asa protest against religion, t he net result h as been for it to reaf f irm mans ex perie nce ofhimself as a s piritual b eing.

Otto Rank e xperi enced a s imilar tur naround . After begi nni ng i n ps ychoan alys is a s asecretary to S igmund Freud, he rejected the point of view of his spiritual father, Freud,concluding f in ally th at we expe rience t he realit y of life "beyo nd ps ychology. "

S imilarly, C. G. Jung bega n as a psyc hiatri st wedd ed, a s Freud had bee n, to a materialistpoint of vie w. But t he great tra nsformation t hrough w hic h Jung passe d i n 1913 c hangedthat . He emerged from it as the spokesperson of a new s piritual ity wh ich radic allyaltered his origina l point of vi ew. Th is sp iritual po int of view whic h Jung reac hedbecame the basi s of my further studi es.

S cien ce of Min d: How did you r studi es w ith Ju ng inf lue nce the develo pment of theIntens ive Journal metho d?

Progoff : My studies with Ju ng had a major impact upon the development of theIntens ive Journ al proce ss. T he tremendous value of Jung s work i s th at he de velopedspecif ic methods for understand ing the reality that lies be neath the consciou s level.Jungs co ncepts grew out of h is dee p concern for t he spi ritual problems of our t ime.When I began my work in psychology, Jung s vie ws in psyc hology were not popular andwere in fact ridiculed. Freu ds t heories of psyc hoana lysi s comprised the pr evaili ng viewpoint in the profe ssion . I kne w that this emp hasi s upon patho logy an d diagno sis couldonly lead to a dead end and great disappointment in terms of helping people developtheir liv es. Rathe r, I thoug ht that Ju ng's broad a nd d eep v iew of l ife an d hi s beli ef inthe in ner capacit ies of per sons to develop had a great deal of v alidit y an d would b ecomethe more accepted approac h.

The I ntens ive Journal metho d seeks to fulf ill on a p ract ical level a main goal towardwhich Ju ng was movi ng as he work ed on h is conceptio n of the potential of i ndivi dualsto develop over t ime. I realized that a valid method must enable individuals to posit ionthemselves in t he movement of t heir l ives. The met hod woul d h ave to be open-e nded inscope so people would be free to u nfold and expres s their l atent potentia ls.

S cien ce of Min d: The Intens ive Jour nal process is widel y recogni zed as a hig hlyef fect ive tool for self-development, an a pproach t hat Josep h Campbell calle d "one ofthe great inve ntions of our t imes. " Would you descr ibe the process ?

Progoff : The Intens iv e Journal proces s combines one of the olde st methods of self-explorat ion - keep ing a dia ry - wit h a ne w, high ly structured format t hat e nablesjournal-keepers to get to know themse lves on ever-dee per lev els. T he Intens iv e JournalWorkbook is a large three-ri ng notebook f illed wit h paper and divid ed into fourdimension s of human exper ience Life/ Time, Dialogue, Depth and Meani ng. Each ofthese dimen sion s is d ivide d into s everal s ubsect ions .

Some of these subsect ion s are us ed to wr ite our factual recap itulat ion of the events ofour lives as well as dreams an d images. Others are for st imulat ing insig hts and creat iveact ivity.

In the Life/ Time Dimensio n, w e enter data about t he qual itat ively important e ventsthat ref lect the in ner co ntinuit y of our life histo ry. In the sect ion s of th e DialogueDimension, we enter into a dialogue relat ions hip with each of t he as pects of our l ivessuch as persona l relat ionsh ips, work, body, society or events. The Depth Dimensio n hasto do with those aspects of our lives that are s ymbolic such as dreams a nd images. TheMeaning Dimens ion con sists of e xperie nces i n w hich a per son f ind s con nect ion to alarger than pe rsonal re ality. I will discu ss in detail more about the Workbook sect ion s aswe go on.

S cien ce of Min d: Why did you develop t he Intens iv e Journal proce ss?

Progoff : In the 1950s a nd 1960s, I was a p ract icing psyc hother apist i n New York City.The people w ho came to see me were trying to grow and improve their li ves in va riousways by re solving important matters an d realiz ing ne w poss ibilit ies .

I studi ed how peo ple go t hrough th e proces s of worki ng out th e var ious a spects of t heirlives, throug h their peaks a nd vall eys, their p ain a nd a nguish , and how th ey ult imatelymake their decision s. Also, whil e serv ing as Director of the Inst itute for Researc h inDepth Psychology at the graduate school of Drew Universit y, I studied the li ves ofcreat ive perso ns t hroughout histo ry to f i nd out what had been invo lved in t heircreat ivity. The Intens ive Journ al process i s des igned to se rve simpl y as a f lexib le meansof making object ive t he orga nic proce ss by w hich the growth of person ality proceeds. Itis an i nstrument for mirroring t hese i nner proce sses, for e xtendi ng them and forestablish ing a contin uing relat ion shi p with th em. T hese proce sses are v ery elu sivebecause th ey take pl ace beh ind the min d an d are experi enced at a de eper th an con sciouslevel.

Yet they are also the key to each persons growth. I develo ped the Intens ive JournalWorkbook to provide a s pecif ic tool for in divi duals to u se to get direct a nd def inedaccess to this proce ss so t hey could work with it construct ive ly.

S cien ce of Min d: What are some of the benef its of working with t his proce ss?

Progoff : It helps u s to see the moveme nt of our life hi story a s a w hole, f rom the vantagepoint of the pre sent moment. It also helps u s to posit io n ourse lves b etween t he past andthe future so we can suppo rt the unfoldme nt of n ew potentials in our life. O n apract ical level , it of fers us a wa y to clarify perso nal relat io nsh ips, a ddres s careerconcerns, face trans it ions, meet change, overcome blockages, de al with past hu rts andpresent dif f icult ies , gain new i nsight s, an d integrate our l ife exper iences .

S cien ce of Min d: Why is the Intens ive Jour nal process more ef fect ive than a tradit ionalapproach to keepi ng a journa l or dia ry?

Progoff : A private journal can certai nly be a n esse ntial in strument for promotingpersonal growth, but there are situat ions in wh ich it becomes a stat ic exercise of merelykeeping a recor d of eve nts or feel ings. W hen jou rnal ke eping is not related to t he largerdevelopment of ones life as a whole, it lacks a sustaining princip le. Often it is resortedto when a person has a part icular goal in mind, suc h as f inding a new career pat h orestablish ing a specif ic love relat ionsh ip, but when the goal is achieve d, the journal fallsinto disus e and t he contin uity of the life co ntext as a w hole i s lost . No overallintegrat ion or s elf-explorat ion re sults.

S cien ce of Min d: Why did you make the Intens ive Jour nal proce ss s uch a structuredmethod?

Progoff : Writ ing i n th e I ntens ive Journ al Workbook is an act ive process . It is thestructure that makes possible Jour nal Feedback, w hic h is wh at I hav e added to thetypical jour nal proces s. Jour nal Feedback is the way t he Intens i ve Journal processreaches out to work with material we have in on e sect ion to st imulate experie nces inanother s ect ion. ... in t he sub sect ion of Dialogue with Per sons, a woman in th e course ofwrit ing a dialogue scri pt with her hu sband may mentio n he r hu sban ds love of dri nking.In th e Intens iv e Journal way, thi s material will be use d as a "Feedback lea d" to start asubsect ion i n Dialogue w ith Eve nts, S ituat io ns, a nd Circumstanc es, a nd wi ll evoke,among other things, a discu ssio n of the possibilit i es of alcoholism. Thes e dialoguescome from the unconscious w ithout self-consciou s controls. I n this way, we get f reshmaterial as one t hing lea ds to anoth er an d yiel ds further aware ness.

S cien ce of Min d: Do you consider the Intens iv e Journ al process to be a signif ica nt toolfor spiritual growth ?

Progoff : Yes, absolutely. Th is process is a moder n approac h to spir ituality withoutdogma. In my book, At a Jou rnal Workshop, I compare it to e ntering a sanctua ry,because it prov ides a safe h aven from the pre ssures of th e outside world where w e canquiet ly asse ss our relat ion shi p to life. Working with the process e nric hes our i nner lifeimmeasurably, help ing us to stay in touch with that underlyi ng reality whic h is ourpersonal source of mean ing and strength. In fact , ass ist ing u s to establis h contact withthat deep realit y is o ne of its main p urpose s.

Although many people prese nt ly feel they do not ha ve the capacit y for sp iritualexperie nce, the Intens ive Journal proce ss can help....W hen we ref lect on our innerexperie nces and list and de scribe them in writ i ng, the writ ing itself tends to add to theexperie nce. We f ind ourselve s to be more in contact than we or iginal ly suppo se...oneexperie nce leads to a nothe r.

S cien ce of Min d: The I nter viewer teaches that we h ave t he power to cha nge our l ivesthrough changi ng our thinking. I s the Intens ive Journal proces s a tool for applying thatprinciple ?

Progoff : Def initely. T he Intens ive Journ al process i s a pract ical way of gett ing in touchon a deeper level with belief s and patter ns of thinki ng that may be hid den from ourconscious aware nes s. Once we know w hat they are, we ca n take steps to eliminate oralter the ones t hat limit us.

S cien ce of Min d: The I ntervi ewer also te aches the importance of worki ng w ith po sit iveideas. How c an t he I ntens ive Journ al metho d he lp peo ple to l ive i n accorda nce with t hisprinciple ?

Progoff : The creat ive proce ss i n peopl es lives takes t ime to unfol d before the y can trulyrealize thei r potential an d know w hat their liv es are try ing to become. Before thatoccurs, people exper ience cy cles of hope a nd a nxiety, succes s an d failure, co nf idence anduneasi ness.

A well-known truth is t hat the darkest moment is before the daw n. I th ink that ha s todo with the way n ew integrat io ns are formed. T hey ca nnot be formed u ntil there i s anemptying out and t he emptyi ng out does not happ en eas ily. Wit h regard to taking aposit ive or af f irmative sta nce, we s hould not eliminate t he t ime of emptines s... .therewould be no histo ry of the i nner life if it were not for the t imes of t he dark night of thesoul. If one is af f irmative about it , it s not a dark night. T hat is t he para dox.

The Journal provi des an in strument that helps people to maintain pers pect ive as theymove from the valley of anxiety until they reach the upward phas e of the cycle. Theylearn from the se cycl es of e xperie nce so thei r aw arenes ses are en larged a nd newcapacit ies are reali zed. T hey work through t heir cycles of experi ence to rea lize t heirfullest potential.

S cien ce of Min d: So the process help s us to recreate our lives ane w and ex pressourselves more aut hentical ly?

Progoff : Yes. The rev ealing of somethi ng new a nd greater i s a ve ry important re sult ofthe process. Ide as, opportu nit ies, a nd talents we previou sly may not have bee n aware ofbegin to emerge. S ince t he Intens ive Jour nal process asks us to inclu de t he fulln ess offacts of our life - all of them, not just wh at we h ave labe led as "pos it ive" - it help s us toachieve i ntegrat ion. And th is result s in e nha nced creat i vity. On e of the main indic at ionsof the stre ngth of creat i vity in ind ividual is the degree to wh ich t hey hav e brought

themselves i nto connect io n wit h the mult iple a nd i nterrelated movement of all aspectsof their lives. T hrough the Intens iv e Journ al process we are led to view painfulexperie nces in a new l ight and we discov er that the y were not so negative af ter all butrather strengt heni ng and empowering. T hat is an importa nt step in sp iritualdevelopment - the embraci ng of our whole nes s.

S cien ce of Min d: Ea rlier you referre d to the "d imensio ns of exper ience. " What do youmean by that?

Progoff : The dimen sions are s eparate re alms of huma n exp erience , eac h wit h a u niquecontent and its characterist ic wa ys of expression. For example, the Life/TimeDimension deals w ith the obvious , outer level of experience . It includ es all thosephenomena t hat form our personal life hi story. Al l of the four main Dimens ionssect ions are broken down i nto several more def i ned areas of focus, s ubsect ion s whic h Icall "mini-proces ses," a nd in the cas e of the Life/Time Dimension , these in clude theLife History Log, S tepping stones, Inter sect ions: Roa ds Take n and Not Taken, an d Now:The Open Moment. A part icularly i nterest ing one to work with is S teppingstone s, inwhich p eople are aske d to list ten or twelve high poi nts in t heir life - w hatever occursto them spontaneo usly. From this ex ercise t hey get a sens e of the t hread of conti nuitythat s moving throug h their life.

S cien ce of Min d: Is the Step p ings tones port ion of t he I ntens ive Jour nal process a goodstart ing point ?

Progoff : Yes, and it s u sually o ne of the f irst e xercises we do, becau se it doe s give a goodoverall p erspect ive on what the important events i n our life have been . It s helpful tobring to mind a s much of our autobiogr aphica l material a s we ca n at the out set . The n aswe continue to work in the Time/Life sect ion , we progressivel y reconstruct our lifehistorie s, a segment at a t ime. The Steppingstones list gives us a gener alize d outline ofour life movement, and wh en we ree nter those Steppi ngstone per iods, de scribi ng andexploring their contents, we f i nd th at eve nts f it together in a way that not onl y give s usa clearer p erspect ive but generate s an energ y that c arries us fo rward and shap es ourfuture.

S cien ce of Min d: What do the other main sect io ns of the Workbook entail ?

Progoff : The Depth Dimen sion is t he sect ion i n wh ich we e xplore the realm of human

reality that speaks in s ymbolic terms. It deals with the as pects of experience th at areprimarily non-con scious a s the y are happe ning b ut wh ich are guided in t heirunfoldment by a n u nderl ying intellige nce. To br ing th ese elu sive parts of ou rselve s upfrom the depth s, where they are unconsc ious, to the surface, where the y ca n beintegrated an d expr essed into our life, requir es a mea ns of captur ing them. To pro videthis means , there are f ive mini-proces ses i n the Depth Dime nsion sect ion of theWorkbook - Dream Log, Dream Enlargements, Th e Tw ilight Imager y Log, ImageryExtensio ns, an d In ner Wisdom Dialogue. The exerc ises ap plicable to this part icularsect ion of the workbook have a special capacity to act ivate sources of energy which cancause powerful ef fects i n our life.

S cien ce of Min d: Could you say more about that?

Progoff : What we discover as we work with th is sect ion i s that there are level s ofawarenes s beneath the surface of our consciousne ss whic h hold the key both to theproblems and the potentialit ie s of our life. Certain dreams carry the seed-nature of aperson, a nd t hrough worki ng wit h them on a consi stent ba sis, r ecording a nd e nlargingupon them, we generate a f low of new thoughts, ide as, in sights, i ntuit ions , andawarenes ses. One of the most valuable gif ts we receive f rom our dreams is the guidancethey give us as to wh ich area s of our life we need to reex amine.

S cien ce of Min d: Could you tell us more about the other main sect ions ?

Progoff : One is the Di alogue Dimens ion, whic h has t he s pecial fu nct ion of o peni ng thechanne ls for inte rnal communicat ion and of pro vidi ng a means b y whic h i nner co ntactcan be maintai ned among t he var ious part s of our life. Whe n we e nter into a dialoguewith all of the se parts , we exp erience inn er harmon y rather t han feel ing fragmented.Having begun by recording and explor ing much of our life history, it s t ime for us todeepen our relat io nsh ip w ith t he importa nt as pects of our life a nd let them speak to us.For each s ubsect ion, or mi ni-process, we start w ith a focus statement, w rit ing downwhat is or was posit iv e or n egat ive about our relat ion ship with that as pect of our life,how it got to where it is an d what our hopes are for it . T he variou s mini-proces ses wework with in th is sect ion are Dialogue with Person s, Dialogue with Works, Dialoguewith Society, Dialogue with t he Bod y, a nd Dialogue wit h Eve nts, S ituat ions andCircumstances.

In dialogui ng with each of these areas, we approac h it as if we were a person. For

example, in a d ialogue wit h bill s youve been avoid ing pa ying, t hey may respon d, "Youdont want to pay u s becaus e you wa nt to be a kid a nd h ave Daddy pay the bills. "

S cien ce of Min d: What is the fourth sect ion ?

Progoff : That is t he Mean ing Dimen sion. T his sect ion ha s the function of co nnect ingthe in divid uals in a societ y accordi ng to beli ef s. T hese belief s tend to be aboutfundamentals of life, t he values and ult imate co ncerns that motivate peop le. W hen theyfeel connected by common social symbols, people are strengthe ned in their se nse ofbeing suppo rted in l ife. If there is no such e xperi ence pre sent , th ey are su bject toalienat ion .

These co nnect ive symbols are ex perie nced on a n uncon scious lev el and must bepersonall y expe rience d in order to be valid for t he per son. It is importa nt for theindivi dual to have such a symbol in order to be free f rom the anxiet ies of beingseparated a nd h aving no source to de pend u pon.

In moder n times , ali enat ion ha s bee n i dentif ied as one of the primar y cau ses of anx iety.The ans wer to it depends upon an in dividu al havi ng a subject ive experie nce of his orher uncon scious. In the Intens ive Journal process, we c all forth the se previou slyunconscious exper iences and look at th em closely for t he good they can br ing to us.

We function best as human beings w hen we are con nected to something greater thanourselves. So i n the Intens ive Journa l process, we make it a poi nt to review t he hi storyof our connect ive exper iences . We are seeking to dra w out the strength from them andto discover the uncon scious s ymbols that are mea ningful to u s. The Mea ning Dimen sionsect ion includ es a subsect ion calle d Gatherings i n whic h we seek to recall for ourselvesas many of the se ex perie nces a s we ca n. T hus, in a histor ical wa y, by t he use of twilightmemory, we bring back memories of connect ive expe rience th at have an importa nce inour lives.

S cien ce of Min d: This process ap pears to have man y ind ividu al parts and a ratherintricate methodolo gy. How does one learn it?

Progoff : My experie nce wit h the Intens ive Journ al proce ss over a per iod of many yearssuggests that t he most ef fect ive w ay to begi n its use is by attendi ng an Intens ive Journalworkshop. T here are two main benef its to this. One is the opportunity to draw the

present situat ion of your life into focus by working privately i n your own Intens iveJournal Workbook. Secondly, at the workshop, part icipants apprec iate the support andenergy they obtain from others a lso work ing qui et ly i n t heir ow n l ives. The t hirdbenef it , of course, is the opportun ity to learn the n umerous techniq ues of the Intens iveJournal process, i ncludi ng the Feedback method, whic h enable s you to use theWorkbook on your own as a tool for per sonal a nd s piritual growt h.

...Intens ive Journal proce ss is not really i ntricate. It correspon ds to the contents of ourlives and t herefore it makes the whol e task of working out what our lives ar e tryi ng tobecome a lot simpler.

S cien ce of Min d: Would you say more about the Feedback metho d?

Progoff : Sure. In the structure of the Intens iv e Journal Workbook one basic di st inct ionis that betwe en t he Log s ect ions a nd t he Feedback sect ions . The Log sect ion s are wherewe record t he factual d ata of our lives. The Feedback sect ions, on the ot her hand , arewhere we ca rry out t he act ive exerc ises t hat generate th e ener gy w hich re sult intransformation. Actually, the feedback ef fects that occur in the use of the Intens iveJournal method take pl ace on se veral le vels.

A basic o ne is the feedback t hat is ach ieved simply by writ ing down a nonjudgmentalrecord of the inner a nd outer eve nts of our life. In a ddit ion , there is t he feedback thatresults f rom readi ng the se e ntries eith er s ilent ly to our selves or alo ud to t he group.Then wit h the pas sage of t ime a further form of feedback becomes pos sible. After wehave accumulated enoug h of them we can read back to ourselv es the e ntries we havemade in the var ious sect ion s over a per iod of t ime. T his ex perie nce of fers a valuablemeans of maintaining a per spect ive on our liv es in the mid st of movement and change.So the Journal Feedback ex ercises draw upon t he ra w data of our eve ryday exper ience tohelp car ry our life towar d meani ngful unfoldment.

S cien ce of Min d: You have in dicated that t he Intens ive Jour nal process help s b ring toour awarene ss unco nscious memorie s. Could you say more about ho w that h appen s?

Progoff : Yes. It s much like the stream-of-consciousness approac h that psychoa naly sisuses to evoke repre ssed or forgotten fee lings and des ires. I n a state of s urrende r, theyare more available. T hey well up from an u ndergrou nd stream. T hat is w hy meditat io n isan important part of the Intens ive Journ al proce ss. It gives u s an opportun ity to ope n up

to that deep w ell wit hin u s. L ett ing go and lett ing God is real ly the esse nce of theprocess. All of us are living out certain patterns, a nd we need to discover w hat thesepatterns are i n order to fulf ill our true purpos e in l ife.

S cien ce of Min d Are there specif ic ways to contact that deep well?

Progoff : The key lies in the atmosphere that i s establ ish ed. A s we enter into t he de pthsof the well through employing the tec hniqu es of Entrance Med itat ion, a qualit y ofst illnes s is establis hed from which new i deas, images and a warene ss are act ivated andfed into the i ndiv iduals cre at ive capacit i es.

S cien ce of Min d: Do you believe the Intens ive Jour nal proces s would be an ef fect ive toolfor drug ad dicts a nd ot her similar group s of peo ple to u se i n ov ercoming thei r problem,and per haps c hangi ng their be lief s about th emselves ?

Progoff : Yes, I do. It would of fer them a method they could use to get a sense of wherethey are in their life and w hat their life is tryi ng to be. I have the feeling that mostpeople w ho become c hemicall y dep ende nt are looking for something, an d usu ally theydont even k now w hat it is. T hey have a spiritua l hunge r.

The yre looki ng for something t hat ca n help them fulf ill, and expr ess themselve s, andvery of ten they have no ide a what that means of express ion might be. When manypeople work on fulf illing their true life purpose, our society improves. Indivi dualsbecome more well-rounded a nd accepti ng of others . The y also become more i nterestedin other s d evelopi ng as person s a nd se eing t hem as hav ing a life. T he d ialogue exerc isescan help people establi sh thi s relat ions hip with other per sons in the ir own lives as wellas in other societ ies . In this wa y, the Intens ive Journal proce ss fosters love andbrotherhood, and al so hel ps peopl e deal w ith problems such a s addict io n.

S cien ce of Min d: What is the best t ime in a persons life to attend an Intens ive Journalworkshop?

Progoff : Anytime is f ine, but I like to tell people that the process is part icula rlyvaluable duri ng a t ime of transit ion. Often that may mean a period of dif f iculty insomeones life. But the proces s is valuable too whe n someone is wre st ling with adecision or seeking to e xpand in his or her ex pressio n of life.

S cien ce of Min d: Do you have to be interested i n writ i ng to work ef fect ively i n theIntens ive Journal Workbook?

Progoff : No. Not at all. People f rom all wa lks of life ca n use this program. After a shortwhile, p eople get exper ience i n worki ng in the Intens ive Journ al Workbook. In fact , wehave had p eople be nef it great ly who had l it t le educat io n. Writ i ng is only esse ntial forthe reason that ind ividual s read what the y wrote and then work to develop it furtherthrough the Feedback tec hni ques.

S cien ce of Min d: Do immediate changes result f rom usi ng the Intens ive Jour nal proce ss,or might it take a long perio d of t ime before any c hanges sta rted to manifest ?

Progoff : That depe nds o n whet her the per son beli eves that c hange ca n occur quicklyand ho w wil ling he or she is to let t hem occur. A good exerci se i n thi s regard is to workwith the subsect io n call ed Roa ds Take n an d Not Taken. T hrough gett i ng more clearsomeone may f ind things opening up right away. One woman who took the workshoprealized s he wanted to be a piani st and she ve ry quickly d eveloped her piano-pla yingability, a roa d she had not taken i n the pa st . She bel ieved it could ha ppen t hat quickly.

________________________________________________________________________Ori g i n ally pri n t ed i n Sc i enc e o f Mi n d Mag azi n e. July , 1 99 2 . " Int en si v e Jo urn al" an d "Jo urn al F eedbac k " are t he

reg i s t ered t radem ark an d s erv i c em ark res pec t i v ely of Ira Pro g o f f an d li c en s ed t o Di alo g ue Ho us e .