[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ admin_label=”section” _builder_version=”3.22″][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.0.5″][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.0.5″][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.0.5″]<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row column_structure=”1_2,1_2″ admin_label=”row” _builder_version=”4.0.5″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ _builder_version=”3.25″ custom_padding=”|||” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_image src=”http:\/\/anngimpel.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/les-dragons-Kerem-Beyit-181.jpg” _builder_version=”4.0.5″ hover_enabled=”0″][\/et_pb_image][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ _builder_version=”4.0.5″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text” _builder_version=”3.27.4″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”]I guess I just can’t have a website without at least a nod to my original profession. I\u2019m a psychologist and also a mountaineer. Those were my first loves. I still remember sitting with the University of Washington catalog describing majors (keep in mind, this was well before \u201ccreative\u201d majors came into being) open on my lap. It was the eve of my junior year and I had to declare a major. I just kept coming back to psychology. Despite dire predictions from my parents that I\u2019d be destitute, I\u2019ve never regretted my choice. I feel the same way about the mountains. Ever since my first overnight backpacking trip at summer camp when I was just a kid, I\u2019ve always loved the remoteness and being \u201cout there\u201d having to rely on my own resources.<\/p>\n
Back to psychology, my first trilogy, Soul Storm, is about a Jungian analyst. I never made that<\/em> mistake again. Much too close to home, but as long as I brought it up, I’ll say a little more.<\/p>\n The Soul Storm books are an extension of my lifelong fascination with dreams. I\u2019ve had precognitive dreams all my life. The ones where I see something in a dream, and it comes to pass. In the spookiest of them, a dear friend was dying and tried to take me with him. I kid you not. It was early one morning and I was heading to work, driving the mountainous roads around Lassen Park in Northern California. For absolutely no reason, my Volkswagen Rabbit went into a spin, the wheel wrenched through my hands, and I slammed into a snowbank. It could have been a boulder, or I could\u2019ve slewed off the cliff into the river. I discovered later that Don died at exactly the same time my car turned against me\u2014to the minute. Coincidence? Maybe, but I\u2019ve never believed in coincidences.<\/p>\n One of my most closely held beliefs is there\u2019s more to the world than what I can reach out and touch. It\u2019s only very recently that people stopped believing in magic. Those who live in third world countries still do. There’s an inverse relationship between levels of industrialism and people\u2019s willingness to accept that life holds mystery. I don\u2019t want a world where science talks everything to death, trying to explain the unexplainable. I prefer at least a few things I still have to take on faith.<\/p>\n Sometimes I’m asked if I still practice psychology. Not directly, no. I put my license on inactive status to reduce the temptation when people ask about seeing me, and it happens often in my small town. But not a day goes by that I don’t use some element of psychology either in my writing or in dealing with people. I’m grateful I followed my heart on that long ago day when I declared a major, and I’ve never looked back.[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":603,"template":"template-page-builder.php","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"I guess I just can't have a website without at least a nod to my original profession. I\u2019m a psychologist and also a mountaineer. Those were my first loves. I still remember sitting with the University of Washington catalog describing majors (keep in mind, this was well before \u201ccreative\u201d majors came into being) open on my lap. It was the eve of my junior year and I had to declare a major. I just kept coming back to psychology. Despite dire predictions from my parents that I\u2019d be destitute, I\u2019ve never regretted my choice. I feel the same way about the mountains. Ever since my first overnight backpacking trip at summer camp when I was just a kid, I\u2019ve always loved the remoteness and being \u201cout there\u201d having to rely on my own resources.\r\n\r\nBack to psychology, my first trilogy, Soul Storm, is about a Jungian analyst. I never made that<\/em> mistake again. Much too close to home, but as long as I brought it up, I'll say a little more.\r\n\r\nThe Soul Storm books are an extension of my lifelong fascination with dreams. I\u2019ve had precognitive dreams all my life. The ones where I see something in a dream, and it comes to pass. In the spookiest of them, a dear friend was dying and tried to take me with him. I kid you not. It was early one morning and I was heading to work, driving the mountainous roads around Lassen Park in Northern California. For absolutely no reason, my Volkswagen Rabbit went into a spin, the wheel wrenched through my hands, and I slammed into a snowbank. It could have been a boulder, or I could\u2019ve slewed off the cliff into the river. I discovered later that Don died at exactly the same time my car turned against me\u2014to the minute. Coincidence? Maybe, but I\u2019ve never believed in coincidences.\r\n\r\nOne of my most closely held beliefs is there\u2019s more to the world than what I can reach out and touch. It\u2019s only very recently that people stopped believing in magic. Those who live in third world countries still do. There's an inverse relationship between levels of industrialism and people\u2019s willingness to accept that life holds mystery. I don\u2019t want a world where science talks everything to death, trying to explain the unexplainable. I prefer at least a few things I still have to take on faith.\r\n\r\nSometimes I'm asked if I still practice psychology. Not directly, no. I put my license on inactive status to reduce the temptation when people ask about seeing me, and it happens often in my small town. But not a day goes by that I don't use some element of psychology either in my writing or in dealing with people. I'm grateful I followed my heart on that long ago day when I declared a major, and I've never looked back.","_et_gb_content_width":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/anngimpel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/events\/534"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/anngimpel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/events"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/anngimpel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/events"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anngimpel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/603"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/anngimpel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=534"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}