Local Author Describes Spiritual Journey After Depression

Rosemary Hurwitz was admitted to a psychiatric hospital when she was just 18- years- old. She found basic tasks like eating and drinking difficult. She felt like she didn’t know who she was.  Hurwitz’s experience with clinical depression and her search for a cure ended up molding her life.

“It was a thrust into adulthood but also an opening into the way I wanted to shape my life,” Hurwitz said. 

To Hurwitz, depression felt like betrayal, but after years of growth, she was able to see her illness in a positive light.

Hurwitz describes this transformation in her chapter “The Call,” which is part of a compilation of over 20 inspirational stories in No Mistakes: How You Can Change Adversity into Abundance. 

“Growth often feels like betrayal.” she writes at the beginning of her chapter.

Hurwitz used her experience overcoming depression to help others in their search for comfort. “You get a call sometimes in strange wrapping paper,” Hurwitz said. “How do you find the gift in the adversity?" 

Her success in finding spiritual peace and meaning after a battle with clinical depression was the inspiration for her chapter in No Mistakes. she explains the obstacles she confronted and her method of effectively coping.

Now Hurwitz coaches workshops and individual sessions at Common Ground, a holistic and educational center at 815 Rosemary Terrace in Deerfield.

She believes in keeping her spiritual muscles strong by sharing the lessons she’s learned.

“When you work hard at your own individuation and empowerment … you get protective over your emotional wellness,” Hurwitz said.

Hurwitz said her intuition expanded with the birth of each of her four children. She began to take classes on intuition, looking for something deeper.

Hurwitz eventually enrolled in Loyola University Chicago’s Pastoral Studies Masters program, where she learned about enneagram, which is a personality system that emphasizes personal, spiritual growth tools. Enneagram is comprised of nine universal personality types: the reformer, the helper, the achiever, the individualist, the investigator, the loyalist, the enthusiast, the challenger and the peacemaker.

“We have all of those in us, but we have a home in one,” Hurwitz said.

Hurwitz said that the nine universal types are types of the Divine from the point of view of a spiritual person, but from the standpoint of someone who isn’t spiritually inclined, “it’s about nine ways of being,” Hurwitz said.

She has described her pull toward emotional wellness and spiritual growth in her chapter, “The Call” from No Mistakes: How You Can Change Adversity into Abundance. The book will be available at Barnes and Noble’s front table on July 1.

Hurwitz will hold a book signing at Oakbrook’s Barnes and Noble location at the end of August and hopes to have a signing at the Deerfield Public Library as well.