If you’re struggling to release the tethers of your past — and are still holding tight to old fictions about yourself and your life that are keeping you from flourishing — it may be time to liberate yourself from outdated stories.
Learn a deep journaling process that allows you to see how you’ve defined yourself, and then break free of outdated identities… so you can evolve and manifest a more truthful, genuine, and inspiring narrative and live into your highest potential — recognizing that your authentic, spiritual nature is already free, whole, and perfect.
Are you ready to awaken to who you authentically are, extricate yourself from the pressure of having to be someone you’re not, and pursue your true calling?
According to Mark Matousek, award-winning memoirist, spiritual teacher, and speaker whose work focuses on transformative writing for personal, professional, and spiritual development...
... “When you tell the truth, your story changes. When your story changes, your life is transformed.”
Investigating false narratives from the past can wake you up to your true nature — which is far deeper than the personality you present to the world — and provide an opportunity to heal, let go of the “shoulds” that may be driving your life, pursue your dreams, and fulfill your soul’s purpose.
This requires a willingness to delve into the truth and untangle the knots of deeply programmed beliefs.
And, when you uncover your truth, you can start letting go of the aspects of your life that don’talign with your higher self, admit to hopes and aspirations you haven’t allowed yourself to express, and set yourself free.
The link between changing your story and changing your life is well supported by psychological theories, neurological research, and real-world evidence. By consciously reshaping the narratives we tell ourselves, we can unlock new possibilities, overcome limitations, and create profound, lasting change.
Mark’s approach involves a guided but private journaling practice (no previous writing experience necessary!) as a gateway to self-liberation — which gives you access to the highest truth and vision for yourself and your life.
Mark began his practice of writing to process early losses and traumas in his own life. While it started as his personal survival mechanism, it eventually became clear that he could adopt it as a gift for others.
He now has more than three decades of experience helping others step beyond their false, limiting stories, and guiding them as they find the self-awareness and nourishment that comes from self-inquiry, revealing their unconscious thoughts and deepest knowing by putting pen to paper.
Although Mark’s medium is writing, you don’t need any writing skill whatsoever for this practice to work . It’s NOT about using beautifully expressive words, good grammar, syntax, or elegant prose.
It’s a spiritual practice designed to help you tap into Witness Awareness — the part of you that can observe your story clearly, see how you’ve been programmed, and understand how that’s affected your self-concept and the choices you make.
It’s one of THE most powerful ways to release and surrender your past and reimagine a new future.
In Mark’s brand-new 7-week live video course, he’ll help you tap into your self-witnessing superpower, understand what aspects of you are absolutely non-negotiable and want to be voiced and seen, and recognize which stories you need to shed and what you really want to cultivate in your life.
This will help you take practical steps to accomplish your deepest desires and expand your spiritual growth.
In a safe, respectful, accepting, and loving container, you’ll be invited to express yourself in an uncensored way — with total confidentiality.
Through distinct evocative journaling prompts in each session, Mark will take you on a journey that allows you to explore the unknown depths within, free yourself from old limitations, trauma, and fear, and emerge from the losses you grieve with new wisdom.
Learn to open to your raw and unfiltered truth, speak your dreams and passions into existence, and acknowledge what you’ve never allowed to see the light of day.
Access deep and trusting intimacy with yourself, enhance your creativity, and enable more powerful manifestation in the world.
When you know yourself fully, you become more authentic, insightful, honest, courageous, and creative. You won’t be imprisoned by your past — and can catapult yourself into the future you deserve.
With Mark’s compassionate guidance, you’ll have the time and space to fully open to your sacred depths and cultivate a powerful, private, journaling writing practice that you can bring into your daily life as a sacred tool for enlightenment.
During this highly experiential and empowering program, you’ll:
- Recognize that your story does not define you and learn to question limiting and destructive narratives that block you from reaching optimal wellbeing and achieving your full potential
- Learn how to step out of illusion and into your truth through deep journaling to make space for self-reinvention and increased happiness
- Experience powerful self-inquiry processes from Mark’s Writing to Awaken method that allow you to understand how the labels you use to define yourself were created — and clearly see ways to liberate yourself by reframing your story
- Discover that when you separate yourself from inherited, outdated myths from your family and culture through Witness Awareness, your personal truth will emerge and liberate your autonomy
- Unearth your gifts and interrupt the self-defeating patterns that obstruct them
- Understand that spiritual awakening depends on liberation from the stories you’ve told yourself about yourself — enabling you to embrace your original, spiritual nature that’s already free, whole, and perfect
- Realize how to adjust the roles you play in your life to be more aligned with your greater purpose and freedom
- Reveal important choices you can make that will infuse your life with deeper meaning
- Explore how major loss is a doorway to powerful transformation
- Create a profile of self-reinvention from the Witness perspective
- And much more...
This practice will help you realize how memories, assumptions, and expectations that have formed the framework of your personal story are not yours, but mental conditioning that’s shaped your tendencies and self-perception — an understanding that’s crucial to self-reinvention.
You’ll experience more psychological empowerment, emotional healing, spiritual expansion, overall wellbeing, creative growth, and spiritual awareness that will keep you rooted in the life you want to live.
Mark’s course will help you realize that your story is fluid and forever changing — and you have the capacity and the permission to adapt your narrative as you grow.
Learn how to use writing to safely excavate and work through the parts of your history (and the present moment) that bring you the most pain — releasing yourself from these inner wounds and allowing yourself to embrace life with greater joy and gratitude.
If you’re ready to dive in and evolve your story, and invite in blessings for a future that ignites your soul, this may be THE perfect path for you!
What You’ll Discover in These 7 Weeks
In this 7-week transformational course, Mark will guide you through the fundamental wisdom and practices you need to extricate yourself from the outdated stories you tell yourself about yourself, and cultivate the freedom to evolve and live into your highest potential.
Join the Livestream — or Stream Later to Watch at Your Convenience
You’ll connect with Mark and experience his teachings through livestreaming video via any connected device. This connection is easy to use and will enhance the impact of Mark’s transmissions. Can’t make it live? After each class, you can stream the video and audio recordings to enjoy anytime and anywhere at your convenience.
Weekly Sessions Thursdays at 1:00pm Pacific
This course will feature LIVE teachings, interactive sessions, experiential practices, and Q&A with Mark. Each session will build harmoniously upon the previous ones, so you’ll develop a complete holistic understanding of the practices, tools, and principles you’ll need to embrace a deep journaling practice that allows you to uncover your deepest knowing, change your story, and drastically change your life.
Module 1: Meeting Your True Self to Begin Your Journey Toward Authenticity (January 9)
Realizing that you are not your story is a critical step toward a happy, authentic life. But what does it mean to say that your personal story does not define you?
Mark will provide an overview of how the false self comes into being. He’ll reveal the challenges of separating your worldly identity — the persona you wear in daily life — from the true self behind the mask.
As Homo narrans, the storytelling ape, we survive by telling stories — one of which is the narrative of the “Little Me,” with its myths, beliefs, and aspirations. This self-created identity is a fiction, however — a stand-in for who you truly are.
In fact, you’re the storyteller, not the story. You’re the spiritual awareness behind the persona, reinventing itself at every moment.
When you connect to this larger awareness, myriad possibilities become available to you, including the door to transpersonal freedom. Journaling is an unparalleled tool for opening the doors of perception.
In this module, you’ll discover:
- That you are not your narrative self
- Why the storymaking mind invents fictions to survive
- How these fictions have holes in them and can always be changed
- That Witness Awareness is the power that makes it possible to change your stories
Module 2: The Power of the Witness to See Clearly & Navigate Your Life From a Wise Perspective (January 16)
The aspect of the mind that observes the mind is known as Witness Awareness. The Witness is your ace in the hole on the path of self-discovery.
Without the ability to observe your thoughts and feelings, you’d be trapped in a straightjacket of a self-created story you couldn’t transcend through self-inquiry.
Journaling strengthens the Witness through present-moment awareness. When you use penetrating questions to prompt your writing, the Witness thrives — and with it, the insight and wisdom that come from seeing clearly.
The Witness is not an independent entity residing inside you — nor a “thing” outside yourself that makes judgments.
Instead, the Witness is a portal to freedom and the space of spiritual awareness that exists beyond story. Using the Witness to navigate your life, learn to balance the details of daily existence with a wisdom perspective.
In this module, you’ll learn that:
- The Witness is your greatest ally on the path of self-awareness
- Witness Awareness is strengthened through journaling
- Self-inquiry deepens by asking direct questions
- Third-person seeing in journaling expands awareness
- Witnessing enables you to play your roles with greater skill and dexterity
Module 3: Unveiling Your Masks & Roles to Align With Your Larger Self (January 23)
Playing roles is a normal, inevitable part of being a social human being. You move in and out of various personae everyday, enacting different characters in different contexts, exposing distinct parts of yourself according to whom we’re with and the demands of a given situation.
But roles, like stories, are invented adaptations to the environment and the people with whom we cooperate. If you confuse yourself with the roles you play, you’re likely to suffer, leading to despair when certain beloved roles come to an end.
Explore the roles you play and what they require of you. Look at how much you’re forced to perform in your life and the impact that has on your whole being. Learn how you can use Witness Awareness to adjust your roles and masks in ways that suit you more authentically.
For example, if your grown son has moved back home and still expects you to make his dinner and do his laundry, a role update might be in order. If you’re a workaholic who genuinely loves her profession but has trouble taking the work mask off at night, it might be time to loosen your persona a bit.
Journaling provides a mirror in which to reflect your masks and roles, and be truthful about your state of mind and heart.
In this module, you’ll learn that:
- Roles, like stories, are adjustable and open to improvement
- Playing roles is a natural and necessary part of being a social being
- Clinging to masks and roles causes unnecessary suffering
- Using Witness Awareness helps you play your roles more gracefully and effectively
Module 4: Understanding the Non-Negotiable Parts That Belong in Your True Story (January 30)
Parts of you — qualities, aspirations, quirks, failings, gifts, and virtues — truly identify who you are, and without them, you’d no longer be you.
Explore your non-negotiables and how they form your sense of identity.
Look at the parts of yourself that, if you lost them, you’d stop being you… which aspects of your story are simply bogus… and which aspects of your personal narrative are based on other people’s stories, conformity, obedience, or self-denial.
You’ll be invited to ask yourself how much better your life would be without those aspects. When you understand your attachments to various aspects of your identity, you’ll see that you are more than these parts — and that these qualities and the stories attached to them do not define who you are.
Awareness creates space in your mind, grounds you in mindful self-awareness, and loosens your hold on changeable, impermanent qualities. The Witness reminds you of this distinction and points you toward the spiritual path of freedom.
In this module, you’ll understand how:
- We all have non-negotiables parts we use to define ourselves
- Your non-negotiables are the pillars of your personal story
- Understanding your non-negotiables creates space between you and your narrative
- Self-awareness liberates you from entanglement in the false self
- Loss becomes a doorway to freedom, revealing the Witness that is never lost
Module 5: Learning From Loss So You Can Make Choices That Infuse Your Life With Its Deepest Meaning (February 6)
Loss reveals who we truly are, however painful that process may be. This is the value of catastrophe (derived from the Greek for “to turn around”) or any severe change of circumstances.
When you’re stripped bare by life — which happens to all of us, sooner or later — you have an opportunity to see yourself more clearly. When your story falls apart due to divorce, pandemic, illness, or the death of a loved one, it may feel as if nothing makes sense, and that you’re no longer yourself.
That’s because you’re not. When you allow yourself to pause, reflect, and feel the open space left behind by loss, these moments of loss can become doorways into wisdom, enabling you to perceive the part of yourself that can never be lost.
Explore the paradox of loss and growth, and how the losses of your life have also freed you. Discover that blessing the spaces left behind by loss is the most healing thing you can do for yourself in a world where all things come to an end.
It’s possible to come into a deeper sense of self as your attachment to the false self falls away. This is essential spiritual practice facilitated by journaling.
In this module, you’ll learn how:
- Loss can reveal the self beyond story — the being that can never be lost
- Major loss is a doorway to self-reinvention
- Self-awareness increases through hardship
- When you bless the spaces left behind by loss, you align yourself with presence and wisdom
- The choices you make during and after loss infuse your life with its deepest meaning
Module 6: The Search for Meaning as a Path Toward Flexibility, Curiosity & Transformation (February 13)
Stories are vehicles we use to create meaning. In fact, meaning itself is a story, a means of explaining, containing, and forgiving experience — a mode of adapting the mind to life’s conditions in a way that empowers us rather than leaves us adrift.
The story of meaning is central to narratives you invent to give yourself worth and purpose. And that’s why it’s so important to understand where you believe your meaning comes from.
Examine meaning as a story, and the impact of meaning on your personal narrative. Without a sense of meaning, it’s difficult to feel empowered in the face of life’s challenges. As psychologist Viktor Frankl put it, despair equals suffering minus meaning.
Like all stories, meaning is always changing. Examine what no longer has meaning for you, and what has taken on greater importance — new meaning — as you’ve moved through your life’s journey.
When you grasp that meaning isn’t a fixed value, it’s possible to become more flexible, curious, risk-taking, and metamorphic throughout your life, discovering new sources of significance and purpose.
In this module, you’ll explore:
- What no longer has meaning for you and needs to be discarded from your story
- How we formulate stories in order to create meaning
- What has great value — in a new way — and needs to be integrated into your narrative
- That meaning is a story in itself — a story that’s always changing
- Why, without meaning, it’s more difficult to confront life’s challenges
Module 7: Putting Together the Tools You Need for Self-Reinvention & Creating a New Story (February 20)
Focus on self-reinvention as a central principle of spiritual life.
When you recognize that you’re always changing — while the Witness in you is steady and ever-present — reinvention comes more naturally. Nothing in nature remains the same. As much as the ego would like to stick to its story (“This is me!”), that effort fails in the face of reality.
The brain creates some 100,000 new cells everyday. You’re forever morphing, adapting, and learning. Knowing you’re not defined by your story, personal evolution becomes easier.
When you are no longer clutching at your identity, the process of personal growth becomes more fluid, expansive, and easy-going. You’re better able to respond authentically, simply, and naturally to the shifting circumstances of your life.
Consider the specifics of what you’d like to change and why, and create a profile of self-reinvention, using the objective, heart-centered, liberated perspective of the Witness.
Guided by Witness Awareness — and your trusty journal — leave this course with all the tools you need to stay oriented toward freedom and awakening.
In this module, you’ll learn that:
- As part of nature, you’re always changing, which is why your story must evolve
- Imagining yourself forward through story is a superpower, as long as remember you’re the storyteller
- Self-reinvention is a central principle of spiritual life
- Creating a profile of self-reinvention from the Witness perspective is liberating and beneficial on your spiritual journey
The You Are Not Your Story Bonus Offering
In addition to Mark’s transformative 7-week online course, you’ll receive this special bonus offering to complement the course and take your understanding and practice to an even deeper level.
Truth & Consequences - The Costs of Spiritual Self-Decision
Video Conversation With Mark Matousek and Richard C. Schwartz
In this interview, Mark talks with the creator of the Internal Family Systems branch of therapy, Richard C. Schwartz — an American systemic family therapist, academic, and author. They discuss how personal identity is formed, the role of storytelling in creating self-image, the different “parts” that exist within all of us, and the Self (or Witnessing Faculty) that conducts this internal chorus. This inspiring, informative interview is sure to open your mind and heart, addressing questions of authenticity, courage, and freedom that affect us all.
Excerpt From Writing to Awaken - A Journey of Truth, Transformation & Self-Discovery
PDF Introduction to Mark Matousek’s Book
This introduction to Mark’s signature book offers an overview of how deep journaling leads to spiritual awakening, and discusses the importance of recognizing that you are not your story. It draws on Mark’s 40 years of experience as a teacher, author, and seeker, and the core insight that “When you tell the truth, your story changes. When your story changes, your life is transformed.” Learn why asking questions is our human superpower, and discover how to apply this gift for self-inquiry to the challenges of everyday life.
What Graduates of Mark’s Courses Are Saying...
— Gill Bolt: “It’s Like Being Reborn”
— Toby Needleman: “I Feel So Much Lighter”
— Emma Jarrett: “An Unending Source of Wisdom and Exploration”
— Cathy McBride: “Not Just a Way to Heal, But a Way to Transform”
— Cathy Roberts: “The Writing Seemed to Be Flowing Through Me”
— Krystal Dyan: “You Feel That You’re Held With Such Compassion and Such Beauty”
This course came at the right time for me. I felt so inspired and committed to the weekly sessions. Mark is an exceptional facilitator and shares his knowledge with such clarity and passion that it is difficult not to want to engage.
Jersey, Channel Islands
Mark has created a unique and beautifully presented way of awakening to our unconscious obstacles and fears. His wisdom is profound, gathered from years of exploration of spiritual awareness through many channels, not just writing. I am inspired to buy Mark’s book as I neglected to download most of the lectures. His years of gathered wisdom and self-realization are an invaluable source of reinforcement for our journey.
Santa Rosa, California
Over the years my childhood issues seemed to keep haunting my head and driving me crazy! I’ve engaged in a healing journey on my own, and this course helped me get everything together. It’s like the last thing that was missing to finally start feeling complete. Now I can move on because I have finally accepted my past as my own and I can finally feel at peace within myself.
Guatemala
Mark is a masterful teacher of the craft as well as a wonderful human being. He combines tremendous empathy, offers kindness when it’s needed, and helps each person personally. And when we are done, he’s left us on steady ground with hopes for a journey before us!
Winters, California
Mark is a very wise, compassionate, awake teacher, and an excellent guide on the journey to both self-inquiry and self-actualization. He is simply profound in his inspiration-guidance-kindness. The benefits of studying with Mark are deep, truly life-affirming, and healing.
New York City
Join the Global Community
You Are Not Your Story offers some of the most transformational online teachings available, within a thriving global community of learning and practice.
Join fellow students and practitioners to support and inspire each other as you integrate the teachings and practices Mark will share in this powerful program.
You’ll join an international community on the leading edge of manifesting a world grounded in the principles of cooperation, harmony, and reverence for all of life.
Here’s What You’ll Receive
Seven 90-Minute Class Sessions With Mark Matousek
Experience a unique opportunity to be mentored by and learn from author and teacher Mark Matousek, founder of The Seekers Forum — from the comfort of your own home. Each class session includes a livestreaming video option and will guide you in a powerful deep journaling practice that will help you re-invent your own story and re-imagine a more current, honest, and inspiring narrative that allows you the freedom to evolve and live into your highest potential. Course sessions are on Thursdays 1:00pm Pacific.
Seven Video Recordings of Class Sessions
After each class, the video will be available for you to stream in a high-quality format. You’ll never have to worry about missing a session, and you can watch anytime and anywhere at your convenience.
Seven Audio Recordings of Class Sessions
After each class, the audio will be available for you to stream. You’ll never have to worry about missing a session, and you can listen anytime and anywhere at your convenience.
Seven Transcripts of Class Sessions
You’ll also receive the entire class transcription after each session is completed. You can then review, print, and highlight the most important insights and practices you were given.
Interactive Exercises and Questions for Each Lesson
Between class sessions, you’ll have the option of completing related exercises, practicing new tools, and answering questions to accelerate your learning and integrate each week’s lesson.
Online Community
Our exclusive Facebook online community is the perfect place to continue your discovery process after each class. Here, you can continue the discussion about your course materials and interact with your fellow students to take your exploration to an even deeper level.
An Unprecedented Opportunity to Join the Online Course, You Are Not Your Story
We feel honored that Mark Matousek has chosen to partner with The Shift Network to offer this exclusive LIVE online course. This is a unique opportunity to interact directly with an author, teacher, founder of The Seekers Forum whose powerful insights and pioneering work are helping us heal and awaken ourselves and our world.
If you’re serious about extricating yourself from limiting, outdated stories, uncovering the truth of who you are, and re-imagining and manifesting a more current, honest, and inspiring narrative that sets your life free, then you owe it to yourself, your loved ones, and our world to take this one-of-a-kind program.
If you’re ready to take the next step in your own evolution, click the register button below to reserve your space now.
Your Satisfaction Is 100% Guaranteed!
Your satisfaction is 100% guaranteed! If you don’t absolutely LOVE You Are Not Your Story — or don’t feel that it meets your needs — please submit your refund request form on or before January 23, 2025 and we’ll happily issue qualifying customers a refund.
More Praise for Mark Matousek
Mark is a masterful and loving guide: his wisdom teachings and brilliantly conceived questions will enable you to dissolve the coverings and open to life-changing truth. You don’t need skill in writing to partake; all that’s required is the longing to awaken your heart.
Author of Radical Acceptance and True Refuge
Everyone on this planet needs to take this course! I healed almost every aspect of myself (anger, depression, anxiety, etc.) and am renewed with so much love. I didn’t go in with any expectations except that I wanted to know how to finish my book. I was met with so much internal healing that my book became secondary, thereby allowing me to use my authentic voice not just in my writing but in all parts of my life. I wasn’t going to take this class because I couldn’t afford it but with the payment plan, I am so glad I did!
Kaneohe, Hawaii
Mark Matousek’s writing instruction is transformative. His classes will change the ways in which you examine your life, and how you think about yourself as a writer. He approaches your work with a deep sense of empathy, allowing him to help you tell your story in your voice. No matter what stage of the process you are at, time spent with Mark will yield extraordinary results.
Author of Ten Ways to Change the World in Your Twenties
About Mark Matousek
EDIT
Mark Matousek, MA, is an award-winning memoirist, teacher, and speaker whose work focuses on transformative writing for personal, professional, and spiritual development.
He is the founder of The Seekers Forum, an online community for writing and self-inquiry, as well as the author of eight books including international bestseller Sex Death Enlightenment: A True Story… When You’re Falling, Dive: Lessons in the Art of Living… Ethical Wisdom: The Search for a Moral Life… and Writing To Awaken: A Journey of Truth, Transformation, and Self-Discovery.
A featured blogger for PsychologyToday.com, he collaborated with Ram Dass on his book Still Here, assisted Sogyal Rinpoche on The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying, and has contributed to numerous anthologies and publications, including the New Yorker, Details, Harper’s Bazaar, The Chicago Tribune, and O: The Oprah Magazine.
A MacDowell Fellow and graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, Mark is a founding member of V-Men (with Eve Ensler), a campaign devoted to ending violence against women and girls, and is on the faculty of numerous learning institutions around the world.
He offers workshops in self-inquiry and personal development internationally, using his “Writing to Awaken” method, which has helped thousands of people around the globe
