by D. PATRICK MILLER

I began my writing career as an investigative journalist, operating from the assumptions that there was a lot wrong with the world, it was all somebody's fault, and it was my job to find and expose the culprits.

And I wasn’t bad at it. My first series of muck-raking articles for a weekly San Francisco newspaper, written at the tender age of 24, caused a little brouhaha in local environmental politics and earned me an invitation to testify before Congress on behalf of an ecology lobby. Thankfully, that opportunity was nixed by a senior reporter on the same story (my chief mentor), who told me I had no business testifying for any political lobby -- especially when, by all rights, it should be him.

But I didn’t last long in that kind of reporting because it seemed that the net result was earning enemies on all sides. When a story was effective, I’d get a torrent of nasty letters and vituperative calls, sources would stop answering the phone, the senior writer would be eyeballing me, and the publisher would clap me on the shoulder and say, “Great job, Patrick!” ... while I just felt like throwing up. I began to understand the popularity of heavy drinking among muck-raking reporters, even though I didn't have the stomach for that either.

After the health and spiritual crisis that occupied most of my thirties, I re-entered journalism as a magazine writer focusing on issues of healing and human potential. I still had the sense that there was a lot wrong with the world, but I had learned (the hard way, of course; I doubt there's an easy way) that the most helpful investigations began by looking in the mirror. The net result of what I called "the journalism of consciousness" was making countless friends, gaining a remarkable array of new mentors, and earning the gratitude of thousands of readers.

Although I would evolve into a book author, independent publisher, and literary agent, I never quit feature journalism entirely. Out of 200+ articles written for print and pixels, I’ve saved about 30, and continue to post more.

You’re invited to take a tour of my career in the journalism of consciousness here.