Snow Day. Cardinals flit to the feeder as clients call to cancel appointments. The afternoon becomes a weathered window of opportunity to peruse a stack of books left languishing in a corner.
Hopefully you can benefit from my gleanings so that you can read for yourself a book or two.
Winter is a time for hibernation, not only for the seed in the ground and the bear in the cave, but also for the human psyche—if we allow it to be so. Thus, my first choice on the roster of books to review is Robert Sardello’s “Silence: The Mystery of Wholeness.” This book is a psycho-spiritual antidote to a celebrity and profit-driven culture.
Sardello reminds us that, while our “ever-fruitful companion—presence” that leads us to our true selves is Silence, we run away. “Our choosing to live in the noise of our thoughts and emotions—within the incessant clamor around us—happens almost without our recognition. But we are uncomfortable with the Silence. It does not go with our hectic lives, with what must be done every day, and with our felt need to accomplish something … we have neglected the core of our being. … Anxiety enters.”
Far unlike many self-help books, Silence has no glib quick fixes. Instead, Sardello enjoins the reader to take time to slow down into silence in relation to the book itself. He also provides imaginal exercises to help in letting go of themes and issues in our lives that stop us from living more authentically — silently, in fact.
Another book that requires reflection is James Hollis’ “Hauntings.” A prolific writer, Jungian analyst Hollis gives a compendium for how to “dispel the ghosts who run our lives.” We think we are independent, especially when we cut ourselves off from our family of origin. Yet, it is in the burial of our past where the ghosts most linger. Just as Sardello reminds us to stop running from silence and into cultural chaos, Hollis may say, and in that silence, we may find the ancestral mythology that runs our lives unless and until we become conscious of it.
The invitation is now here—you don’t need to find a deep snow day to find your own deep self.
* Kayta Curzie Gajdos holds a doctorate in counseling psychology and is in private practice in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania. She welcomes comments at [email protected] or (610)388-2888. Past columns are posted to www.drgajdos.com.

About Kayta Gajdos
Dr. Kathleen Curzie Gajdos ("Kayta") is a licensed psychologist (Pennsylvania and Delaware) who has worked with individuals, couples, and families with a spectrum of problems. She has experience and training in the fields of alcohol and drug addictions, hypnosis, family therapy, Jungian theory, Gestalt therapy, EMDR, and bereavement. Dr. Gajdos developed a private practice in the Pittsburgh area, and was affiliated with the Family Therapy Institute of Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, having written numerous articles for the Family Therapy Newsletter there. She has published in the American Psychological Association Bulletin, the Family Psychologist, and in the Swedenborgian publications, Chrysalis and The Messenger. Dr. Gajdos has taught at the college level, most recently for West Chester University and Wilmington College, and has served as field faculty for Vermont College of Norwich University the Union Institute's Center for Distance Learning, Cincinnati, Ohio. She has also served as consulting psychologist to the Irene Stacy Community MH/MR Center in Western Pennsylvania where she supervised psychologists in training. Currently active in disaster relief, Dr. Gajdos serves with the American Red Cross and participated in Hurricane Katrina relief efforts as a member of teams from the Department of Health and Human Services' Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.Now living in Chadds Ford, in the Brandywine Valley of eastern Pennsylvania, Dr. Gajdos combines her private practice working with individuals, couples and families, with leading workshops on such topics as grief and healing, the impact of multigenerational grief and trauma shame, the shadow and self, Women Who Run with the Wolves, motherless daughters, and mediation and relaxation. Each year at Temenos Retreat Center in West Chester, PA she leads a griefs of birthing ritual for those who have suffered losses of procreation (abortions, miscarriages, infertility, etc.); she also holds yearly A Day of Re-Collection at Temenos.Dr. Gajdos holds Master's degrees in both philosophy and clinical psychology and received her Ph.D. in counseling at the University of Pittsburgh. Among her professional affiliations, she includes having been a founding member and board member of the C.G. Jung Educational Center of Pittsburgh, as well as being listed in Who's Who of American Women. Currently, she is a member of the American Psychological Association, The Pennsylvania Psychological Association, the Delaware Psychological Association, the American Family Therapy Academy, The Association for Death Education and Counseling, and the Delaware County Mental Health and Mental Retardation Board. Woven into her professional career are Dr. Gajdos' pursuits of dancing, singing, and writing poetry.
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