Writing
Unfolding the Heart
One Woman’s Quest for True Nature
At the age of ten, the author had a vision of Christ calling her to become a nun only to have her devout Catholic mother respond to the news by slapping her across the face. That moment sparked a lifelong search for authenticity and wholeness leading to unexpected paths beyond her childhood dreams. Told with honesty and courage, this is a descriptive and intimate portrait of the author’s life as a spiritual being, her family, her friendships and her overall journey to become who she was fully meant to be.
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Praise for Unfolding the Heart
“It has been my great privilege to watch Unfolding the Heart grow from a scene into this gorgeous, meaningful memoir. Rosanne Annoni takes us with her on her quest for true nature, navigating childhood wounds, missteps and misadventures, marriage and motherhood, friendship and grief with honesty, grace, and forgiveness. We can all learn from Annoni as we, too, stumble through our messy lives on our own paths to true nature.”
—Ann Hood, New York Times bestselling author of The Knitting Circle
“Touching and honest, we can journey with her as she opens each door of healing and discovery.”
—Jack Kornfield, Cofounder of Spirit Rock meditation center and bestselling author of Path With Heart
“In the aptly named memoir, UNFOLDING THE HEART, therapist, teacher, and spiritual explorer Rosanne Annoni contemplates her life with the curiosity and compassion and candor the genre demands. In the process she contemplates life’s big questions and in doing so extends a gentle invitation to her readers to do the same. What happens when we pay deep attention to our own lives? What makes us who we are and how do our past experiences shape us?”
—Anne D. LeClaire, bestselling author of Listening Beneath the Noise
“Unfolding the Heart. When you see the title of Rosanne Annoni’s memoir, you have to wonder— is that even possible? To let your heart slough off its crusts of hard-earned protection and just open up? Is that even wise? Rosanne asks questions like this from the time she’s in grade school and thinks she needs to do something to live a life that is real and full of meaning. It takes courage to follow such longings. Some call this awakening, others a maturing developing of a heart of wisdom.”
—Sherry Ruth Anderson, The Feminine Face of God and The Cultural Creatives
“Rosanne Annoni’s beautiful and inspiring memoir is the story of how she fulfilled her calling to live a life devoted to God, but not in the way she imagined she would. Along the way to fulfilling her destiny, it’s a story about marriage and divorce, motherhood, being a therapist and spiritual teacher, and about her soulmate. It’s a story about love and loss, and about forgiveness and making peace with the imprints of one’s history, and of forging a life lived with an open heart, in the world but not of it.”
—Sandra Maitri, author of The Spiritual Dimension of the Enneagram: Nine Faces of the Soul, and The Enneagram of Passions and Virtues: Finding the Way Home
“In prose as inviting as a perfect cup of tea, Rosanne Annoni has crafted a spiritual autobiography documenting her lifelong journey in the direction of reconciliation and understanding. She is exacting, forgiving, and good-humored. Her generous spirit will prove infectious for readers inclined to conduct their own similar moral inventory, as they witness hers, with the same positive results.”
—Madeleine Blais, Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, author and professor
“An intimate, beautifully observed journey into solitude and spiritual awakening—and the bravery of staying present.”
—Martha McPhee, award-winning novelist and English professor
“As a writer, I can think of nothing more challenging than putting into words one’s complex and sometimes ambiguous spiritual path. Yet Rosanne Annoni has done just that with great beauty, insight and compassion. Unfolding the Heart is a welcome and necessary memoir for our turbulent times.”
—Ken Harvey, author of The Book of Casey Adair
“This book’s intimacy and honesty took me by surprise, as I marveled at Rosanne’s journey, my journey, and the human journey. I came away reassured and inspired that living a full life in the world does not have to be separated from a spiritual life.”
—John Davis, Diamond Approach teacher and author of
The Diamond Approach: An Introduction to the Teachings of A.H. Almaas
Short Pieces
“The fact of death is certain.
The time of death is uncertain….
We don’t know which will come first—
our next breath
or our next life….”
~ Tibetan proverb
Photo by Kim Roderiques