Kevin B. Burk has been helping people around the world to improve their lives and relationships since 1996 through his astrological counseling and relationship coaching practice. His humor, wisdom and compassion are always present, in his books (ten so far, including Astrology: Understanding the Birth Chart, The Relationship Handbook: How to Understand and Improve Every Relationship in Your Life, and his newest book, Anger Mastery: Get Angry, Get Happy), his classes and workshops, and his interactions with his clients and students. Kevin’s focus is always on the practical, exploring how we can actually use astrology and spiritual practice on a daily basis to transform our lives.
In the astrology world, he is best known for making Classical Astrology accessible to everyone, taking complex and abstract concepts and showing how they can be used to create concrete, specific and practical interpretations. Kevin’s website, The Real Astrology with Kevin B. Burk is one of the premiere astrology resources on the Internet. His book, Astrology: Understanding the Birth Chart is a textbook used at Kepler University in their Undergraduate Astrology Degree program, and has been translated into Russian, and is currently being translated into Bulgarian. Kevin’s articles have appeared in The Mountain Astrologer, the Australian publication,Well Being Astrology, and in Llewellyn’s Moon Sign books.
In the non-astrology world, Kevin is best known for his unique approach to understanding and improving all human relationships through The Relationship Handbook and The Relationship Workshops.
Kevin has released a series of DVDs of his Law of Attraction workshops: the self-contained Prosperity & The Law of Attraction, and Astrology & The Law of Attraction, a series of 7 DVDs recorded live in Houston, TX at a weekend workshop for the Gulf Coast Chapter of NCGR.
Kevin has developed a revolutionary program for spiritual growth called Archetypal Astrology: The Hero’s Journey. This intensive program guides participants through the process of meeting and moving into Right Relationship with each of the seven Astrological Archetypes (you may know them as the seven personal planets).
Kevin is currently synthesizing astrology and spirituality into his next series of books: Astrology & The Law of Attraction, Prosperity & The Law of Attraction andRelationships & The Law of Attraction.
You can visit Kevin’s website at www.GetAngryGetHappy.com.
To get your paperback copy of ANGER MASTERY by Kevin Burk at Amazon.
To purchase a copy of ANGER MASTERY at Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/anger-mastery-kevin-b-burk/1104012568
Buy the book directly from the author at www.GetAngryGetHappy.com
Like Kevin Burk on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AngerMastery
Can you tell us a bit about yourself?
I’ve been on a dedicated spiritual path since 1994, when I began my formal training as an astrologer. In 1996, I launched my astrology website, and started counseling professionally two years later. My first book,
Astrology: Understanding the Birth Chart, was published by Llewllyn in 2001, followed by
The Complete Node Book in 2003. In 2004, I published
The Relationship Handbook: How to Understand and Improve Every Relationship in Your Life, and spent the next several years teaching relationship workshops and creating the rest of the books and workbooks in The Relationship Handbook series.
The path to
Anger Mastery began in the summer of 2006. I had just finished teaching the last series of workshops based on my Relationship books, and I was asking myself, “What’s next?” I decided I wanted to revisit basic astrology and make it even more practical and accessible.
During this time, I was going through intensive training as a spiritual counselor, expanding my counseling practice, and immersing myself in the consciousness research of Dr. David Hawkins. I began to synthesize this material, and spent the next three years writing a new book,
Astrology & The Law of Attraction.
Astrology & The Law of Attraction presented a very powerful, practical system of spiritual development that helps people to get from wherever they happen to be right now, to “happy.” The manuscript itself, however, was quite long; it wasn’t a good fit for Hay House at the time, and I decided to set it — and my now former agent — aside.
I realized that the concepts in
Astrology & The Law of Attraction were too advanced for most people. What I needed instead was to create a book that was accessible to everyone: a book that could help people to move out of Victim Consciousness, which is the first critical step to becoming happy.
After more than four years of writing, exploring and teaching this material, I was finally comfortable enough to have fun with it, and I was able to complete the entire book in less than 2 months (if you don’t count the four years of preparation that it took to get to that point).
Although my sense of humor is evident in all of my books, in
Anger Mastery, it’s front and center. I decided the best way to get people to look at subjects that might not be comfortable is to make sure they’re laughing out loud while they’re doing it.
Where did you grow up?
I was born and raised in New Orleans. I moved to San Diego after I graduated college, and I’ve lived in Southern California for the past 23 years.
When did you begin writing?
I started writing in middle school; in high school, I wrote a number of short stories and submitted them to any number of magazines. I amassed an impressive collection of rejection slips. I knew the quality of my writing was improving as the quality of the rejection slips improved—over time, they went from unsigned Xerox copies to embossed letterhead, once with a hand-written note from an editor.
Do you write during the day, at night or whenever you can sneak a few moments?
I usually set aside time during the day to write. Sometimes, I find I’m the most productive early in the morning; other times, I’m able to be very productive in the afternoon. I can’t remember the last time that I wrote at night, though.
What is this book about?
Anger Mastery: Get Angry, Get Happy is about how you can use the energy of anger to become completely happy. I call it a handbook on how to get out of Victim Consciousness.
Anger is a tremendously valuable source of energy. It’s like fire: if you don’t know how to control it, it’s dangerous and destructive; however, when you master it, your anger can help you to get everything that you want.
What few people understand is that if you don’t feel angry, you can’t feel happy. People that never get angry haven’t mastered their anger: they’ve turned down the volume on their feelings. This is understandable. Most people appreciate that acting from anger is never the answer, but because they don’t know how to use the energy of their anger in constructive ways, they learn how to suppress it. The problem is that you can’t just suppress the negative feelings. Turning down the volume doesn’t stop the pain; it just lets you ignore it, and while you’re ignoring it, things continue to get worse.
When you follow the three-phase Anger Mastery Process, you learn how to take back your power, stop being a victim, and use the energy of your anger in constructive, positive ways that help you to become truly, completely happy.
What inspired you to write it?
Americans are angry. The amount of anger in this country today is unprecedented. The most visible way that it was manifesting at the time I was writing
Anger Mastery, was through the Tea Party. Whatever your opinions of the Tea Party’s agenda, or of the Americans who have chosen to participate in this movement, what fuels the Tea Party is anger. It doesn’t matter what the members of the Tea Party think they’re angry about. All that matters is that because the Tea Party operates entirely from the consciousness of Anger, they will never improve any of the conditions they’re fighting to change; in fact, they will only succeed in making them worse.
A more recent expression of the level of anger in this country is the “Occupy” movement. Because this movement doesn’t have a set agenda, it hasn’t yet been co-opted; however, it’s no longer news, either.
I look at the political landscape, and see an unprecedented lack of civility, fueled by anger.
As much despair (and anger) as I felt about the conditions in America, I also had to face up to a difficult truth: None of this was any of my business. I have no interest in politics or government, and I’m not an elected official, so there’s absolutely nothing I can do, personally, to change the tone of the political landscape.
Still, I was inspired to take some kind of action. I just had to find a way to act that came from integrity, and stayed within the limits of “My Business.”
I can’t do anything to get other people to change their behavior; however, I can at least make it possible for others to move out of Victim Consciousness if they choose to do so. One of my particular talents is taking extremely complex, difficult concepts and making them accessible to a much greater audience. So, I wrote
Anger Mastery: Get Angry, Get Happy.
Do you have an agent or are you looking for one?
I had an agent — briefly — to help me to sell
Astrology & The Law of Attraction to Hay House, but it did not work out.
Anger Mastery: Get Angry, Get Happy is published through my own imprint, Serendipity Press, and because of the nature (and size) of the book, this was absolutely the best choice. However, I am working on two books that are potentially good fits for more traditional publishing avenues, and I will probably get an agent to help place them.
Was the road to publication smooth sailing or a bumpy ride?
Well, I’m the publisher, and I’ve been doing this for the past 8 years, so it’s pretty smooth sailing for me as a rule.
Where can readers purchase a copy of your book?
Anger Mastery: Get Angry, Get Happy is available through all online booksellers, as well as through my website,
http://www.GetAngryGetHappy.com.
Do you have a video trailer to promote your book? If yes, where can readers find it?
I’ve created a number of videos related to
Anger Mastery: Get Angry, Get Happy. In addition to two brief book trailers, I have a 15-minute introduction video, and an episode of the game show, Whose Business Is It? You can also view “A Fairly Balanced Message from The Rich” and “Mama Mona’s Corner” videos. All of the videos are available on the Anger Mastery website at
http://www.GetAngryGetHappy.com.
What is one piece of advice you would like to share with aspiring authors everywhere?
Get very clear about why you want to write. When you think about writing, if you picture fame and fortune, and your name at the top of the best-seller lists, you’re setting yourself up for a huge disappointment. Don’t write because you think it will make you rich. It won’t. Write only because you are inspired to write. Write only because there is something that needs to be expressed, and you are the only one who can express it.
Recognize that you’re writing for you, not for anyone else. Dive into the creative process, and express what it is that you’re inspired to express, and don’t worry about what form it will take or what it might do in the world. If you can do this, your satisfaction will come from the creative process itself.
What happens to your book after you write it is none of your business. You have no control over whether people buy it, or read it, or like it. It’s nice if they do, of course, but whether they do or not doesn’t detract from your experience of writing the book.
What is up next for you?
I’m revisiting
Astrology & The Law of Attraction, and splitting it into two different books. One book will be for people who would like to learn how to speak the language of astrology. The other book,
Archetypal Astrology: The Hero’s Journey, will be for people who have mastered their anger, and are ready for a deeper, more intense spiritual process.
Is there anything you would like to add?
I encourage readers to visit the Anger Mastery website at,
http://www.GetAngryGetHappy.com. Not only can they purchase a copy of the book there, but they’ll also find a host of resources and information. They can watch the introductory video for
Anger Mastery, check out the book trailers, and even watch the full episode of the game show, Whose Business Is It? (which illustrates one of the core concepts of Phase 1 of the Anger Mastery Process). Additionally, readers can download tools to support them in each phase of the Anger Mastery Process, including MP3 recordings of the Present Moment Awareness Safety Meditation. And they can even download the Anger Mastery Book Study Facilitation Guide and use it to form a class or book-study group.
I also invite readers to visit the Anger Mastery page on Facebook, at
http://www.Facebook.com/AngerMastery.
Get angry, get happy!
Pump Up Your Book and Kevin Burk are teaming up to give you a chance to win a Nook 8GB Tablet!
Greg Messel has written four novels and three unpublished memoirs. He published his premiere novel “Sunbreaks” in 2009, followed by “Expiation” in 2010 and “The Illusion of Certainty” in 2011. “Last of the Seals” is the first in a series of mysteries which are set in 1957 San Francisco. The second book in the series “Deadly Plunge’ will be published around Christmas of 2012. Greg grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and has had a newspaper career as a columnist, sportswriter and news editor. He won a Wyoming Press Association Award as a columnist while working for a daily newspaper in Wyoming. Greg also spent many years in the corporate world as a Financial Manager. He now devotes his energies to writing at his home in Edmonds, Washington on the Puget Sound just north of Seattle, where he lives with his wife, Carol.
What was the experience like writing Last of the Seals?
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