Barbara Sinor sits on the couch placed in front of the fireplace in her living room, her silver-gray hair framing her face. Yo-Yo, her bright, spunky dog, flops next to her. The eight books she has written line out along the coffee table. Japanese brush paintings hang on the walls, sitting above stacked small wooden boxes and figurines of the Buddha.
Barbara received her Ph.D. in Psychotherapy and spent years working with people struggling with addiction, childhood abuse, and trauma. Each step of the way, she has also written. “If you read every one of my books, you would know me completely,” she says.
“The key is not to stop. Don’t give up your power!” She smiles. “Take your power. Use your power. And heal.” She looks down at the table with her books and picks up An Inspirational Guide for the Recovering Soul. Yo-Yo hops off her lap and paces the living room.
“Look at this book,” Barbara says. “Ask a question in your mind, and then open it to a random page. “You’ll find what you need.” She smiles and puts it down. You can also have this experience on her website, where she has an Inspirational Cards section.
“Or there’s Gifts From the Child Within,” she says, picking up another book. “This book is about recreating ourselves. Re-creation is a transforming process; When we accept the child that we were and the trauma and experiences we lived through, we can release the blockages and pain of childhood that have followed us into adulthood.
“It’s different than traditional therapy,” she continues. “Rather than being defined by your childhood, you can re-create it. We have created an illusory reality in our childhoods, and based our lives on that illusory reality. We need to go into the past so that we can change that reality into something better.”
Yo-Yo hops back on the couch and paws Barbara’s pant leg. Her seashell earrings dangle above her shoulder-length hair. “In the winter of 2017, I fell and broke my hip. I couldn’t put any weight on my leg for three to four weeks, so I began journaling. And every day there was a bird who would come and sit outside the window. And it helped me. I don’t know how I could have made it without that bird.” Her journals of the recovery process became a short meditative book, Inspirational Musings, that provide the steps to walk through the pain and into healing.
The afternoon sun shines through the window. Yo-Yo yawns; Barbara gently strokes her. Sometimes things are difficult, and life doesn’t work out the way we had hoped. But it doesn’t have to stay that way. We can choose how our experiences shape us, and create a life that we choose. Barbara Sinor is living proof.
Barbara is available to facilitate writing workshops in the county, as well as readings and book signings at the libraries. To purchase Barbara Sinor’s books visit her website at drsinor.com or her Amazon page.
