The Heart Knows What the Mind Cannot See by Toby Negus
Please welcome Toby Negus author of The Heart Knows What the Mind Cannot See
Toby Negus will be awarding a $15 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.
The Heart Knows What the Mind Cannot See
byToby Negus
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GENRE: self-help, mind body spirit,
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INTERVIEW:
- What or who inspired you to start writing?
After many years as a student and teacher of spirituality and self-development I wanted to put it all down in a simple and heartfelt manner. To give the reader the wisdoms of a 40-year journey to the heart.
[Book Excerpt]
The heart is the source of all the world’s greatness. It can pull star dreams to earth, for the heart has created all the wonders of the world, all the gifts of humanity and all the songs of love. It is the home of an innocence, a wise innocence that dispels the cynicism I hold in myself and of myself.
It is the place of our truth, not the truth of yesterday or tomorrow that my mind struggles to know, but the truth of the moment, the living truth. And when I allow it, it is a cathedral of light. A library of illumined text that describes the union of my heaven and earth. Its call has the power to move mountains or create the gentlest touch of love. It is the artist within, the writer of meanings, and the manifestor of dreams.
- How did you come up with ideas for your books?
I wanted to put down on paper the perceptions and learnings of life I had found. They were for me, profound and I needed a way to ‘remember to remember’ the values that they gave.
Book Extract: In my journey to the heart of myself, it became apparent that there was, within the heart, something far greater than I thought possible, something that was powerful and most benevolent. It may have been the soul, spirit, the higher self, source, universe, or God. I did not care what name it had. It existed and I wanted it – wanted to join this part of myself.
It was my journey to this part of me that inspired the book.
- What expertise did you bring to your writing?
From the angsty teenager, searching for the meaning of life, to the somewhat chilled-out older man I now am. There has been a hunger that has never left me.
I have always been driven by a passion for the truth; the truth of myself, and the truth of life. To know why we do what we do and to understand the forces that cause what is, to be. I have spent 40 years, 25 of them in a modern-day Mystery school, studying the hermetic laws and a host of esoteric and spiritual subjects
During this time, I have been my own greatest teacher,
10. What is the best and worst advice you ever received? (regarding writing or publishing)
The best advice has always been to write what you know about, to draw from your own experience. This approach has always given me confidence and resources to create with. The worst advice was… curtesy of my own mind Lol
Worst advice, from my mind! – Book Extract:
Who do you think you are to write about these things? You have got to be kidding! No one wants to read your stuff, it’s just dribble. And anyway, you’ve got no proper education, you can’t spell, you’re dyslexic and your grammar is crap. You’re not really a writer. It’s a fantasy. Every time you try to do it you know it feels impossible. You’re just not strong enough, and wise enough, ha! What’s the point anyway, you’ve never succeeded at anything really, it’s just another waste of time.
- Do you outline your books or just start writing?
I usually just start writing, then put it into an outline mode to help me with its story line and to help me see what is missing.
- Do you have any hobbies and does the knowledge you’ve gained from these carry over into your characters or the plot of your books?
As an aspiring artist, the idea of illustrating my work was a thrill. Putting the right image with the right text was a journey in itself and helped me express the sometimes, elusive aspects of my work
- Do you have an all time favorite book?
The Lord of The Rings., I loved it as a child. It was like going into a dream world full of heroes and villains and the struggle of the journey. It is an incredible piece of adventure writing that pulls in ancient mythology and the human story.
- Can you tell us a little about the black moment in your book?
In life’s journey, shit happens! Sometimes it’s a gentle learning, sometimes it’s a hard learning and sometimes it’s a terrible learning.
Sometimes in life, our experience can extinguish the very grasp on who we thought we were. We can find ourselves alone, in the dark, crawling on the broken shards of all that we thought we were.
In these times, we are driven into the core of ourselves, to find the will to raise our self in the face of what seems an impossible weight.
Although we do not feel it at the time, those heroic moments as we create our self-anew; the courage, purpose and dedication we summon, touches the very heart of life. Although it is a lesson we would not wish on anyone else, it does leaves us with a profound gift. In our endeavour to heal the pain we craft a beautiful gem that has no comparison.
- Can you tell us a little bit about what it was like to write a series.
My current book ‘The heart knows’ is the 2ndin the series and was really born from the ending of the first book ‘The sacred you – how to be your won saviour’ In that book I had worked through the mind, thinking, emotions and other aspects that come with being a human. It left with a profound sense of the heart as the final and most important part of being human.explaing its power and importance became the purpose of the 2ndbook.
- Anything else you might want to add?
Book Extract: There is within ourselves, a dream we carry for this life; a knowing and a wish that is faithful to a greater vision of ourselves. It is our heartfelt feeling of love about life and our story within it. Its actuality is known only by ourselves and it is only we who can give it the light of day.
When we go with our heart, it is always an adventure, a trusting in an unfathomable thread. When we can do this, we become the hero of ourselves. We remake our life with the indisputable truth: the heart of us.
BLURB:
This is a thought-provoking and enlightening exploration of spirituality and perception. The text functions as a guide to self-improvement, with a mixture of autobiographical elements and snippets of universal wisdom. The speaker provides accessible solutions to life’s difficulties, and an outlook of optimism applicable to any circumstance. The illustrations and graphics are thoughtfully chosen, and the interactive textual elements give this work an originality that sets it apart. The speaker’s own experiences and conclusions are at the heart of this fiction, and the first person narrative voice creates a sense of proximity between author and reader. The text describes itself as ‘a journey to the heart’, and this truthful discovery of the self is reflected in the speaker’s revelation of his whole self through the text. The narrative often presents a dichotomy between positive and negative outlooks or voices.
For example, the speaker includes sections in which his self-doubt speaks, ‘you’ve got no proper education, you can’t spell properly, you’re dyslexic and your grammar is crap. You’re not really a writer’. This negative voice directly opposes the sense of self-belief the speaker builds within the narrative. He uses examples such as this to remind readers that the journey to happiness is complex and that flaws or setbacks are natural. The negative separation or fragmentation of the self is prevalent in the lines, ‘I do not love the grumpy me, the sad me, the hostile me, the parts of me that act as if I do not care’. The act of writing represents a unification of the self and an attempt to reframe the speaker’s life into coherence. The frequent use of direct address and rhetorical questions promotes an active reading experience, in which the author opens up a dialogue with the reader. The text includes prompts and activities for the reader to engage with and learn from. Encouraging readers to take part in the text is emblematic of their journey to self-fulfilment and love, in which they must take responsibility for actively creating their own happiness.
The speaker depicts his process of enlightenment as a framework for others to emulate, and the format of the text demonstrates the transfer of agency to those who take part in the speaker’s challenges at the end of each chapter. This work ultimately teaches us that ‘we are the cause of what is’ and thus sheds light on the crucial idea that every individual has the power to create themselves and their world positively.
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EXCERPT:
Real learning is not what we expect. If we could expect it, it wouldn’t be learning.
I looked in the mirror today and saw more than who I thought I was; within the eyes was a million years of purpose. I saw the depth of the universe and felt its unfaltering love. It was as if I had seen the divine within myself, the truth of who we are. The us that never dies, the custodian of our purpose, the love of our life.
This wasn’t what I expected and was somewhat sobering. There was no blinding light, no sound of trumpets, and no big handshake with an almighty. But it was as profound as if there had been. For it seemed I was touching an eternal part of myself, an authority within that could create my heaven on earth, that was already in heaven on earth! It was a glimpse of something other than the me I thought I was. Its light questioned the lack of self-care and love I held for myself. And its presence would eventually crack and then dissolve my view of what I thought it meant to be human.
Doing a spiritual journey and tackling self-development issues can give many profound perceptions, and I have had my fair share of them. But this was different, this was personal. It was my eyes that were looking at me, something that I could not escape from. It could not be brushed off as a ‘perhaps’ or a nice perception that subsided over time. Its truth seemed to embed itself into my very soul.
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AUTHOR Bio and Links:
Toby Negus has studied and taught spiritual and personal development in the UK and around the world for over two decades. He is qualified in advanced counselling, as a life coach and as a Cognitive Behaviour therapist. He is an Amazon best-selling author of a collaborative Conscious Creators book and has illustrated and self published two books on the subject of self-awareness and the spiritual journey. He is also a published author of a children’s book The Boy Who Dreamed in Colour. He has given talks and run workshops in support of his published work within the UK.
In the last few years, he has created many pieces of artwork that are a reflection of his spiritual journey. These have appeared in magazines and have been exhibited in the UK.
Website: www.tobynegus.com
Amazon Author: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Toby-Negus/e/B00PS7U9VK
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/boathouse01
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OriginalArtWords/
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GIVEAWAY INFORMATION and RAFFLECOPTER CODE:
Toby Negus will be awarding a $15 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.
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