How Books Work: The Shaman’s Path to Freedom, by don Jose Ruiz
Last year, I had the pleasure of working with don Jose Ruiz on his beautiful book The Shaman’s Path to Freedom. Although don Jose had written several other books, Shaman’s Path was by far his most raw and personal, giving readers an intimate glimpse into some difficult moments in his life, including drug addiction, failed relationships, and a suicide attempt.
In an earlier post, I wrote about the art of weaving personal stories into your self-help and spirituality book without veering off into writing a memoir. The Shaman’s Path to Freedom is a great example of an author using personal stories to support the reader’s journey. Let’s take a closer look at how Ruiz does this.
Concept + Personal Story
Throughout his book, Ruiz uses personal stories to illustrate concepts. For example, one of the core concepts in The Shaman’s Path to Freedom is that human beings are unwittingly addicted to suffering. Here’s how he lays out the concept:
“When we’re addicted to suffering, we keep splitting our old wounds open again and again, preventing them from healing. Often, this happens because we’re afraid that, if we heal, we will lose our identities.”
Next, he illustrates this concept with a personal story:
“This was certainly true for me. For many years, I needed to see myself as a victim—first of drug addiction, then of sexual abuse, and then of a bad marriage. It feels crazy to say this now, but I was truly frightened of giving up my old, familiar wounds. Who would I be without the stories that had defined me since the age of thirteen?”
Throughout the book, Ruiz uses this basic formula again and again, including only the personal stories that directly support the concepts he’s teaching. As a result, The Shaman’s Path to Freedom is delivers maximum value to readers, showing them a way to overcome their own struggles and change their own lives.
Imagine if, instead, he’d included long chapters about every crazy experience he’d had when he was experiencing drug addiction. Sure, they might be great stories, but they wouldn’t align with his book’s goal of teaching readers how to achieve personal freedom.
By linking your personal stories to the key concepts in your book, you can ensure that you put your reader’s needs first and stay away from writing an accidental memoir.
Are you writing a self-help or spirituality book? Schedule a free 30-minute consultation with me, and we'll chat about ways to maximize your book's potential to change readers' lives.
