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Carolyn CJ Jones
Self-Help/Relationships
Carolyn CJ Jones’ passion is showing you how to find peace and freedom from resentment through her guided study of forgiveness.
Carolyn CJ Jones’ passion is sharing with you how to find peace and freedom from resentment, through the practice of forgiveness. She is a college forgiveness instructor, multi-award-winning author, motivational speaker, life coach, and retired registered nurse. Her work The Art of Forgiveness: A Promise of Peace is an international bestseller. Additionally, it won an Honorable Mention in the “How To” category in the 2020 San Francisco Book Festival.
Her first book, Opening the Gates of the Heart: A Journey of Healing, won a Silver Medal for World Peace in the 2018 Living Now Evergreen Book Awards, among many other awards.
CJ spent 40 years as an angry, bitter, blaming victim until she grew into someone who lives in a state of gratitude and positivity. Recognizing the miracle, CJ believed it to be Divine intervention. She saw it as a sign to pay forward to others the message of how to resolve resentment and find peace.
Having lived in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Colorado, CJ now lives thirty miles north of San Francisco. She is passionate about her kitty, Izzy, sailing, varnishing teak wood trim on boats, caring for her many house plants, and decorating her home.
Learn more about CJ in our Author Spotlight interview, or visit her website.
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BOOKS:
The Art of Forgiveness: A Promise of Peace (2019)
Opening the Gates of the Heart: A Journey of Healing (2010)
Your biggest literary influences:
Neale Donald Walsch (Conversations with God), Oriah Mountain Dreamer (The Invitation), Iylanya Vanzant (Yesterday I Cried and Until Today), Eckhart Tolle (The Power of Now)
Last book read:
Houses of Healing: A Prisoner’s Guide to Inner Power and Freedom by Robin Casarjian
The book that changed your life:
Conversations with God by Neale Donald Walsch changed my life. You see, I got to adulthood vehemently disbelieving in God. After all, I had prayed to Him many times during my childhood and He never protected me from the experiences that beat me down. I went through 40 adult years, angry and resentful of God. Conversations with God awoke in me the belief that God is everywhere around us, in everyone and everything. I started looking for Him in all things and people.
This discovery occurred in 2001, the year I got sober after 40 years of heavy drinking. With the belief in God in me, I came to live a life of deep gratitude and positivity due to the fact I forgave my past and God. I became able to live in peace, free from resentment.
Your favorite literary character:
Iyanla Vanzant is a favorite literary character. In her book, Yesterday I Cried, I related to her history of abuse. I felt less alone, plus I saw an example of someone who had grown beyond victimhood. She then wrote the book, Until Today. It is a collection of daily meditations. I like the book so well because she relayed her vast wisdom in it, which resonates with me.
Currently working on:
I am creating CJ’s Book Study Group. We’ll review the gates book first, slowly meandering through the titled images of wrought iron gates I photographed and verses I wrote that comprise Opening the Gates of the Heart: A Journey of Healing. Each duet will be the topic for our weekly meetings. I am planning on going deeply into our emotions as a way to heal and grow. Then we’ll review my second book, The Art of Forgiveness: A Promise of Peace.
At the same time, I am working on a video course entitled, The Forgiveness Chronicles. Each video is roughly fifteen minutes in length and covers all the points in a method I created called the YIPPEE Method of healing. The results of the course are peace and freedom.
I continue to teach forgiveness at a college. I speak to audiences and coach people who are struggling with resentment and stress.
Words to live by:
Find what you love; love what you find.
Advice for aspiring authors:
Relax into it … become transparent and vulnerable. Tell stories; readers relate strongly to a story. It allows a reader to really remember you.
Articles and Reviews:
Amazon Reviews of The Art of Forgiveness
Amazon Reviews of Opening the Gates of the Heart: A Journey of Healing
Testimonials:
“The Art of Forgiveness is a complete guidebook on moving from playing the blame game to living in a place of real forgiveness. CJ illustrates her book with touching, personal stories of how she has used forgiveness to take her from a well of depression into a world of light. If you, or someone you know, would like to change your life’s outlook to one of openness, forgiveness and self-acceptance, then pick up and read this book. It will change your life.”
— Wil Dieck, Speaker, Author, Psychology Professor
“It is the stories CJ shares in The Art of Forgiveness that reveal her humanity. In this sharing, she grants you permission to explore your own humanity without shame or humiliation, but rather, with curiosity. As a retired psychotherapist of forty years and a current wellness business coach, I found in CJ’s book an approach that facilitates healing from wounds that lead to anger and resentment. Hers is a gentle and compassionate approach to deal with these feelings that may be consuming your life. In the process of exploring, you discover forgiveness and this leads you to great peace and freedom.”
— Iris Stallworth-Grayling, LMFT (Ret), Women’s Empowerment Mentor/Coach
“This book is clear, fun, and powerful. CJ Jones uses her personal story of transformation to illustrate her ‘YIPPEE Method’ of changing resentment into empowerment and simultaneously shares expertise in the psychology and spirituality of forgiveness. Reading this book helped me develop my existing forgiveness skills to a much higher level and finally release the negative emotions that had bothered me for many years.”
— Ivan Galperin, Student, Reader
