Description
Therapeutic goals: development of loving self-love
Recommended age group: girls 12+
Secondary target group: adults who want to support their inner resources
Form of work: individual, group
Brief content of the work:
As stated by the author herself in her next publication dedicated to boys (Sheri Rose Shepherd: The Mighty Warrior, 2016, p. 111) and also according to the everipedia.org website (online: https://everipedia.org/wiki/lang_en/ sheri-rose-shepherd) to write the letters, addressed first to herself, was inspired by her own personal story, when she struggled with the consequences of growing up in a dysfunctional family, eating disorders, dyslexia, depression, suicidal tendencies and cancer. Direct private spiritual communication in the form of letters addressed to herself, as correspondence containing kind messages in response to urgent requests, finally helped her to heal. That is why she later decided to share these letters, processed into a book, as an aid to improving life and health with her current readers.
Description of the possibilities of professional pedagogical/therapeutic work:
Writing letters in the 2nd person singular (in the form You) is generally recommended in bibliotherapy in situations where the possibility of physical verbal sharing of significant experiences with another person is limited, difficult, unavailable, or could be perceived as inappropriate for various reasons and at the same time, sharing experiences in the 1st person singular (I) seems insufficient.
While a regular letter is addressed to a specific person and intended for her to read, therapeutic letters are either a) a letter addressed to a real person that is never sent or b) a letter to a fictitious person, the writer always writing with the intention of not sending it it to anyone and, if necessary, it can also be destroyed after writing or c) a letter addressed to oneself (himself or herself). For a more detailed study of the issues of writing “from lack = putting problems on paper” and “writing from redundance = sharing uplifting experiences” in the 2nd person singular, we refer to study the contribution Kotrbová: Therapeutic letters in bibliotherapy (2022) and in the 1st person singular the contribution Kotrbová , Majzlanová: Therapeutic diaries in bibliotherapy (2021).
Therapeutic letters can be, as we can also see from the mentioned publication by the author Shepherd, addressed to oneself, either in the sense of the younger/past Self, or to the future Self, in the sense of the concept of the collective unconscious and the archetypes of C. G. Jung, or to the Higher Self in the sense of the concept of psychosynthesis of R. Assagioli.
In the case of emotional healing, it is recommended to share soul-refreshing and uplifting experiences not only as a separate silent reading, but also to read them aloud – for more details on this issue, we refer to the study of Kotrbová’s contribution: The importance of the sound side of language in bibliotherapy (2023).
Description of experience from own work with a literary work:
I used this work on the one hand in my own life situation, when I needed to fill up the words of love addressed to my person, and I read the book, which I borrowed from my girlfriend, repeatedly at home. Subsequently, I brought it to the attention of my students in the study subject of bibliotherapy. I also gave a few pieces to a few of my friends, whom I assumed could encourage and internally enrich them within the framework of the self-help system. Randomly collected feedback shows that it really happened, they evaluated it as “beautiful”, “encouraging”, “uplifting”, “mediating contact with the transcendent” and “higher wisdom” and they return to it repeatedly. I also read it aloud and also asked one of my kind colleagues, whose voice I liked the most, to read it to me. And I´m thankful he agreed.
The book helps to recognize deep desires, talk about them (or write about them, e. g. in a diary). At the same time, it allows when these desires are identified and named, there is an opening of space for them to be fulfilled not only in virtual, but also in primary physical reality. At the same time, detachment from form and loving openness and trust in the best possible way for this to happen are recommended.
References:
Kotrbová, Kvetoslava, Majzlanová Katarína. 2021. Therapeutic journal in bibliotherapy. p. 28-51. In Problems of Education in the Fourth Industrial Revolution Era. Collection of Scientific Articles. European Scientific e-Journal, 02-2021 (008). Hlúčín-Bobrovníky: Tuculart Edition. Available online: http://tuculart.eu/ftpgetfile.php?id=174
Kotrbová, Kvetoslava. 2022. Therapeutic letters in bibliotherapy. p. 68-82. In Problems of Education and Teaching in the Era of Digital Society. Collection of Scientific Articles. European Scientific e-Journal, 1-16. Ostrava: Tuculart Edition. Available online: http://tuculart.eu/ftpgetfile.php?id=276
Kotrbová, Kvetoslava. 2023. Demonštrácia niektorých terapeutických techník založených na vnímaní umeleckých jazykových prostriedkov na príklade rozprávky Záhada vianočného svetla.[Demonstration of some therapeutic techniques of the nature of artistic language means through the farirytale The mystery of Christmas lights] pp. 87-98. In Philologia. Journal of the Institute of Philological Studies of the Pedagogical Faculty of the Comenius University in Bratislava, volume 33, no. 1/2023, 142 p. ISSN 1339-2026 Available online: https://www.biblioterapia.sk/wp-content/uploads/PHILOLOGIA-1-2023-Kotrbova-TLAC.pdf
Kotrbová, Kvetoslava. 2023. The importance of the sound side of language in bibliotherapy. (in press)
Shepherd, S. R. 2014. Beloved Princess (Letters from Your King). 1st ed. Bratislava: Christian Project Support, company Ltd., 2014. 196 p. ISBN 978-80-970361-8-8
Sheri Rose Shepherd. 2016. To the mighty warrior (treasure map from Your King). 1st ed. Bratislava: Christian Project Support, company Ltd., 116 p. ISBN 978-80-89793-12-9
Sheri Rose Shepherd. 2023. [online] In Everipedia International, 2022. [cit. 2023-01-10]. Available online: https://everipedia.org/wiki/lang_en/sheri-rose-shepherd
It has not undergone language editing!
The reference of literary piece was created by:
PhDr. Kvetoslava Kotrbová, PhD., MPH, Workplace: Department of Therapeutic Pedagogy, Faculty of Education, Comenius University in Bratislava (Slovakia), In Bratislava, January 10, 2023
The card of the recommended piece from Slovak to English was translated by: Mária Trechová, Workplace: PRO SKIZP – Association for support of Slovak Chamber of Physicists, Laboratory Diagnosticians, Language Speech Therapists and Therapeutic Educators, c. a. Bratislava, Slovakia
Recommended citation procedure:
Kotrbová Kvetoslava. 2023. Professional reference of the literary piece of Sheri Rose Shepherd Beloved Princess – Letters from Your King. In Kotrbová, K. et al: Biblioterapia.sk. Bratislava: PRO SKIZP – Association to support the development of the Slovak Chamber of Clinical Physics, Laboratory Diagnosticians, Language Speech Therapists and Therapeutic Pedagogues, 2023. ISBN 978-80-974667-0-1 Available on: https://www.biblioterapia.sk/en/publikacia/reference-of-a-literary-work-beloved-princess/
Warning: The content of the literary piece Beloved Princess may be contraindicated for persons who do not recognize any form of existence of the Creator, therefore it is advisable to find out the religious orientation of the person before making a recommendation. Do not impose the publication, only recommend it, or during joint group work, select parts from the text that allow the idea of a specific loving person of the male sex, whom the person trusted in the past or still trusts. If such a person does not yet exist (according to the client’s belief), or she has not yet recognized her in her surroundings, it is also possible to work with the idea of such a fictitious person, the best possible version of a loving person of the male gender, or even with the gently supernatural abilities of the most beautiful, kind and compassionate divine qualities, such as he can only create in his imagination.
The contribution was created thanks to support from the European Union Erasmus+ program, Key action 2 – Cooperation between organizations and institutions, KA210 – Small partnerships for cooperation in the field of education and training. Project name “Prototype of online teaching aid for bibliotherapy”, project number 2022-1-SK01-KA210-VET-000082483. It represents the opinion of the author and the European Commission is not responsible for any use of the information contained therein.
