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Patty de Llosa is the author of Taming Your Inner Tyrant (A Spiritual Evolution Press, 2011) and The Practice of Presence (Morning Light Press, 2006). She is a contributing editor of Parabola Magazine and lives in New York City where she writes, teaches Tai Chi and the Alexander Technique. Former managing editor of American Fabrics & Fashions magazine, then associate editor of Leisure magazine, a Time Inc. startup, she moved on to Fortune magazine, where she became deputy chief of reporters.
In Lima, Peru, where she raised three children, she founded the first foreign chapter of the United Nations pre-school, International Playgroup. She is a graduate of the American Center for the Alexander Technique and Swarthmore College.
For more information, please visit www.tamingyourinnertyrant.com.
Reviewed by Laurie Gray for Readers' Favorite
"In Taming Your Inner Tyrant: A Path to Healing through Dialogues with Oneself", accomplished journalist Patty de Llosa guides the readers through her personal odyssey using Jung’s Active Imagination Experiment to disempower her critical inner voices by first separating herself from them and then dialoguing with them. The most prominent voice for de Llosa is a male Tyrant, but she includes dialogues with polarized personas such as the Wounder and Wounded, Terrorist and Tortured Hero, Scorner and Scorned, and a whole cast of archetypical characters that emerge through de Llosa’s childhood, early adulthood, marriage, divorce, professional career, and post-retirement work as a teacher of Tai Chi and Taoist meditation. This psychological memoir incorporates an expansive bibliography of works exploring human consciousness.
Though well-written, the book is not an easy read. De Llosa often moves backward to go forward, engaging in a circular battle with her ego. She shares the full cacophony of the voices and the violent aspects of her accompanying dreams. The expedition requires significant energy which readers may prefer to invest in the suggestions for self-inquiry at the end of each chapter. Still, the principal message is sound. We each must live our own lives and engage in our own peculiar dialogues. It is a process that must be experienced, not copied. In that respect, de Llosa’s attempt serves as an illustration rather than a blueprint. For the author, writing is the process. For others it may come through painting, sculpting, gardening or any other form of creative expression. Nevertheless, in the end, it remains unclear whether any of us can ever fully resolve the conflict and integrate the fragments into a single, healthy identity.
