Interview with Eva Dillner: Author of Z2A

Please make a warm welcome to Eva Dillner, the author of Z2A and so many other books.  Thanks for coming to our blog and giving this interview for us.

Eva Dillner is a writer, artist, therapist and teacher specializing in creative and therapeutic processes for inspiration and transformation.  She started the company DIVINE DESIGN in 1998 to work with therapy and personal growth, then meandered into writing, painting and publishing.  Her art works has been described as timeless, magical, mystical, dreamy, inspiring, fantastic, emotional, healing, like stars being born, a journey through Cosmos and Mother Earth.

I had the pleasure of reading her book, Z2A, a few days back and it was..too different and inspiring.  Anyone, who read her book, will want to speak to her at the least once.  Although the questions were from all sectors, Eva answered everything patiently.  Let's start with our interview now.

Our questions & Eva's words

In your book - Z 2 A, you focus on the space in between.  Does that happen to everyone?

Yes, but we all experience it in different ways. For some, it's a glip, a space, a moment in time, like the breath between the breath. For others it lasts for long periods of not knowing which way is up.

When I read your book, it felt like spontaneous thoughts put into words, without re-thinking it.  So, did you do any research for your books or its your experience that speaks for itself?

I write from my own experience, but take into account what I learn from others. I find that knowledge isn't really there until we've experienced it.

From your books, we know that you had an instinct to write and you started doing that.  Before that moment, you never thought you would be an author?

It had been in my mind for some time before. It started with friends saying I should write a book, which I suppose planted a seed. However, when I was young I was quite the dreamer and liked making up stories. But in 5th grade a teached ridiculed me in front of the whole class about my story of a trip into outer space to meet the Marsipans. When I took up book writing I had to emotionally heal that experience in order to be able to write again.

I thought Z 2 A to be an inspirational book.  But at the end, you wrote about letting go and trusting the higher power.  Is spirituality your key point then?

Spirituality is a part of it for me. I would say that intuition, or letting the senses guide us, is the key. Trusting that inner voice that speaks so softly. And yes, letting go, especially of the mind's need to know. It doesn't.

The readers felt much energy and positive thoughts filling in this book.  You wish to say something on this?

This is a positive book. We tend to think of Z 2 A as something negative, that we somehow have to always know, that we have to fill an empty space. Allowing it to be there is the path forward.

What are your current works?

I have so many ideas in my head. Not sure which one will be next. One is a new edition of God put a Dream in my Heart - Handbook of Life Therapy, expanded and deepened with full length meditations and exercises as well as more meat around the various techniques, in print, audio and e-book formats. I may combine this with a revision of Secrets of Transformation, as the two do connect up. If you read one, you need to read the other, and they would work well as one complete book. Working title is Karmic Soup - Recipes for Healing. Another book I mean to write is about decisions, choices, options... because I want to understand why some people opt out at a young age. I've had more than my fair share of close friends who have died in their 40's and 50's. I write to understand, to learn, to discover. Another book/calendar project is Timeless Art, where I write about how I create as well as the experience of art, what happens when we look at it, for example. There's more, but those are the ones at the top of the pile.

What genre do you think your books comes under?

Metaphysics would be my first answer. But then my stuff is more personal than that, flesh and blood rather than lofty thoughts. I'm rather hard to box in, my job seems to be to paint outside the lines.

You are an writer, artist and therapist.  Which of these jobs do you like that most?  Please provide your view of enjoyment and challenges you faced during those jobs. 

I like the combination. They all feed each other and weave in and out of my life. I don't think I'd like to do any of them exlusively. When I write I tend to be focused on just that. I need to clear my desk and email of other distractions. The writing requires a longer period of focus, or I lose my train of thought. It's not uncommon to wake up at 4 am in the morning with a new chapter wanting out. I've learned to get up and write, then go back to bed. It's a challenge! But when I saw the movie Conversations with God, which is about how the author Neale Donald Walsch came to write the books, I had to laugh. He too was awakened at 4 in the morning.

The art I do in between as well as weeks on end with other artists during the summer, when we paint in barns. There again, it's a total focus, being there, allowing the process to be what it is, with no attachment to the outcome. I may not produce anything during that time, or paint like a banshee. The outcome is not the point. That is a challenge of course, to let go of wanting to produce. I do love the big space, the not having to worry about spatters and spills. I can be pretty messy when I paint.

Even when I was training as a therapist, I didn't envision myself doing it day in and day out. As it turns out I now do the occasional client for an intensive, where they come and do several sessions a day for about three days. Then they may do another series a few months down the road. I also trained as an instructor and lead retreats for experienced therapists about once a year. We go to different places each time, so we get a bit of a holiday along with work and socializing. So far we've gone to Turkey and Ireland, next time it looks like either India or USA. The challenge with SHEN Therapy is figuring out how to unlock the client, to help them let go. There is no cookie cutter formula, each individual is unique. The reward may take its sweet time, it may be years before you meet up again and they tell you how a session changed their life. Seems I'm learning about trust, doesn't it?

If you were given another chance at your life, do you want to change your profession?

I may have chosen to do things a bit differently. But we always make the choice that is right to make, for us, at that point. It would have been nice to land in the creative professions at a younger age, as it takes time to build a business. But then, I wouldn't have had the experience, the life know how, to do what I do.

What is the audience, your books are intended for?

Anyone interested in going deeper within. Anyone seeking knowledge of the self. Anyone interested in those big questions: Why are we here? What is the meaning of life?

What are your challenges you faced, while writing this book, if there is any?

Interruptions. Funny in a way, as the book is all about discontinuity. I got to write it in the spaces in between.

Did you learn anything interesting, while writing this book or during your tours, that you wish to share with us?

The final product is not at all what I had envisioned at the start. The idea to illustrate it with art came in rather late in the process. I knew I wanted to explore the space in between. I thought of those moments where creativity takes place, where healing happens, those ahas that come out of the blue. I also thought of the major 'rug pulled out from under our feet' events, that change the course of our lives. I didn't know how to write a book like this. I didn't know how to make it happen, but by just doing it in bits and bobs I learned how to do it.

What are your favorite fiction and non-fiction books? 

Non fiction without a doubt Memories Dreams and Reflections by Carl Jung. Fiction is a much harder choice, many good ones to pick from. What comes to mind are the Crusades Trilogy by Jan Guillou, also Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts and Nora Roberts Born In Trilogy.

Share with us about your favorite movie.

Must I pick just one? I love movies like Australia, The English Patient and Doctor Zhivago.

Tell us about you that you never told your audience about - which feels that "we know you now", after reading it.

Don't know that there's much more to tell, my books are revealing enough I think. Readers already say they feel like they know me.

What do you want to say to our readers?

A great big thank you!

And a great big thank you to you too, Eva, for giving this interview.  All the best on all your future endeavors and we all wish you a Merry Christmas!