Out of a Crucible of Pain arises Wisdom, Hope and Love
341418
Susan Piver's book is a loving treatise on the experience of a broken heart - something most of us have had to endure at least once in our lives.  She portrays vividly her devastation and the long, sometimes unsteady, climb from inconsolable grief and loss to a place that is centered around loving kindness.  Her writing is personal, descriptive and compassionate.  She intersperses personal experiences with excellent lessons that teach us to allow the grief and anger to flow through us, be accepted and then released.  Most important, the true Wisdom of a Broken Heart demonstrates that even the wrenching experiences we encounter can and will subside when we learn to project loving kindness on ourselves and to the Universe.  Those difficult times are lessons that enrich us and prepare us for the love we are intended to experience.  I recommend this book with my highest endorsement - even if you're not broken-hearted.  It can help you realize that we have an endless supply of love that can be refreshed and given freely.  My heart was broken badly not so long ago.  This book has been a cornerstone of my healing process.  While I've yet to meet the partner I yearn for, I'm absolutely certain that the learnings I've received from my broken heart and through Susan's book will make our lives fulfilling and precious.  I can't wait for the opportunity to prove it to the woman I'm sure I'll meet some day!!!
3634638
This is an evocative and moving book about love, courage, loss, longing and the power of continued connection between mother and son. With a whole new realm of connection possibilities to consider, it beckons the mind and heart to stretch wide open.  Its an emotional, often mysterious, heart crushing AND heart lifting account of a young life extraordinarily well-lived and the loving and energetic bond that continues still between Melody and Dev.  This story is an intimate and emotional journey that invites the reader to sit still and contemplate whats possible. Bring a box of tissue and also prepare to smile through your tears as the power of love does its magic.
4455545
"Wildflowers in the Median: A Restorative Journey into Healing, Justice, and Joy," fulfills the promise of its title. Beautifully written and edited, this small book is chockful of wisdom and insight. Leonard Scovens, currently serving two consecutive life sentences for the murders of Agnes Furey's daughter and grandson, has a poetic, sophisticated writing style that offers a glimpse into the mind of a badly damaged but hopeful man. And Agnes - how I wish that her letters had been saved! Her poems offer just a taste of what her agony has been, and how she has embarked on a determined voyage of healing.

This book should be a text for criminology classes, a bible for social workers, and a raft in a sea of anguish for victims and their families. It lifts the dark veil of outrageous criminality for a moment and offers a sliver of hope for mankind.
<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Wildflowers-in-the-Median-A-Restorative-Journey-into-Healing-Justice-and-Joy/dp/1475953674/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Wildflowers in the Median: A Restorative Journey into Healing, Justice, and Joy</a>
2485621
I was gifted a copy of Dear Wonderful You by one of my friends.  I have read many of the letters, though not sequentially front cover to back cover.  I love how the book weaves the strands of each individual Lifestream expression and experience into a tapestry or collective of souls who have had the life experience of Adoption.  Each one walked through their soul journey with feelings of abandonment, isolation and a greater questioning of who am I?  Through this journey, for each contributor and for all who read this book, a place of understanding has been seeded, for themselves, with each other and those who are entrusted with their story.  Once we are given a voice, a place to express and share, then in being heard the heart can open and trust grows.  As a reader, I shed tears as the Mother, Daughter, Sister for each one.  It wasn't my experience, but I understand and have more compassion for those on this soul journey.  From understanding comes healing, forgiveness and hopefully redemption for all who touch the book.  Simply put this is a book about loveself love, love for others and how that fits.  As illustrated by an Aspen Grove, each individual tree grows, becomes stronger over time.  What cannot be seen, below ground the Aspen grove is a shared root system - actually one living organism.  These letters are a Soul Group Journey, one tapestry within the vast weave, and recognizing we are not alone adds strength and brings healing and the recognition.we are all simply seeking Love.
664226
Recovering from tragedy and trauma is not easy. In fact, it is hard work, especially when death is the result of sudden, horrific tragedy. Mark shares his grief and his doubts about afterlife and his gradual awakening to the truth that life continues after physical death. He walks you through his efforts to find himself,and he shares his thoughts and feelings as he explores various healing sessions and trainings. All these healing adventures contribute to the development of a new life of hope and joy and a new understanding of what it means to be a spiritual being. The book begins with the 9-11 death of his girlfriend and ends as he finds a new love and builds a new life, one based in the belief that life is eternal.
4352669
The description of this book is heartbreaking, but I came away from reading it moved, overwhelmed, and possessed by the joy you can only feel in the presence of truth. Forman has been through pain that most of us will never experience -- by taking us with her on that journey, we are able to see her growing through sadness, anger and denial into a warrior, teacher and healer who advocates fiercely for her multiply disabled, but no less beautiful or important child. Through her eyes we are able to learn truths that we might never reach on our own; when she writes, "Even a short life is a whole life; this I have learned," I cried, not with anguish, but with joy.

There is a Zen saying, "If you want to find the path, set fire to your own life." By enduring the flames of her rage, pain, and ultimately love, Forman illuminates truths that will stay with me forever. I am grateful for this book.
1236452
This book offers insight into the pain,suffering,mental turmoil of dealing with a spouse's illness and eventual death. As the writer experiences the stages of grief, he elightens us on the emotional rollercoaster he must ride everyday. He is alive. He is in pain. He needs to love and be loved.  As he encounters people, he finds ways to express himself through touch, laughter, anger, and dreams. Other people may not understand his actions,  but each action is a part of his healing. Eventhough he longs for his wife to be healed, he knows it will not happen.  He must survive on his own.
1428137
Pombriant's "Letters from a Wildflower" starts off with any parent's worst nightmare and transcends through a healing process with optimism on the horizon. Pain should never be endured alone, and the poetry within these pages lets others who have gone through similar grief in their lives know that the sun will shine again with time. I don't often cry when I read, but being a father myself made me connect to this collection even more. A quick read about a life that was too short. May this book bring peace to all who are in need.

- Tim Heerdink, author of "Red Flag and Other Poems"
2166714
The author shares her life leading up to her eventual adoption of Christopher with deep, heartfelt emotion and honesty. I found these revelations to be a wonderful reminder that we are all the sum of our previous experiences, making us who we are today.  The journey can be painful at times, but can ultimately lead to greater riches if we learn from our experiences.  Welch demonstrates how great love could come from experiencing great pain. Ultimately, this is a tale of resilience, hope and unconditional love.
4629192
We are all broken people, wounded by the world and those around us.  Sadly, communities of faith either contribute to our wounding or seem unable to offer the healing we need.  Carol Howard Merritt, in openly and painfully sharing her story, provides hope for many.  She writes with passion and compassion, and provides practical steps we might take in becoming healed and whole.  Her chapter on "Redeeming Our Broken Selves" is particularly powerful.
890849
Rick Belden has clearly done the work of moving through the fallout of a wounded childhood to come out the other side, sharing his journey in poetry as sign-posts for other travelers.  He lays open his heart and grants us to entry to a sacred space of healing private pain, loss, grief, anger.  His poems unfold and unfold and unfold into depths of personal exploration and transformation, remaining accessible without becoming overwhelming.  I could not stop reading, and felt myself open up in recognition of the path he has traveled. This is a book worth reading much more than once.
4687962
As painful as this narrative is, I could not put it down. On an obvious level, it deals literally with a traumatic accident that is very specific to this family, but with a nuanced candor concerning its differential impact on husband, wife and the remaining son. It explores being the embodiment of "a parent's worst nightmare", of not only losing all that this child represented in the past and the present but also losing their future together. It is refreshingly free of blame and shame. What elevates this book to a more universal relevance is that it places a magnifying lens over what it means to be human, as illness, aging, and unexpected losses are the very texture of life. As a psychologist/psychoanalytic myself, I have used my understanding of tragedy to heal the suffering of others. This book not only deepened my understanding of this particular loss, but what it shares in common with all loss. The author speaks to the toxicity he experienced about sharing the details of the loss and the almost inevitable aftermath of isolation that follows. So, I highly recommend this book not only for it's compelling and well written story, but because it also is an inspiration as to the possibility of healing and moving on. It feels particularly relevant to clinicans working with trauma.
3713006
A journey, some healing, and some hope...three things that all, as some time or another, are on and in the middle of searching for. This book is not the easiest book to read. Oh, the wording and the flow are there...the words are easy to understand. The part that is not easy, is the emotional roller coaster ride you will be taken on. You will experience sheer joy in reading words a mother has penned regarding her beautiful Ramsey. You will lovingly "awwww" at the sweetness of this family. You will laugh at the details of toddler happenings. You will experience utter sadness when you read the words that same mother penned regarding the most tragic event of her life. You will experience anger when you read the ridiculous things people say during that devastating time. Then, once again, you will experience joy and happiness in the ongoing healing of her precious heart, as this mother shares her story for God's glory.
This is a book I can read over and over again, knowing that though there is much pain, there is a greater hope in the end.
1662813
This is a beautifully written story of heartbreak and hope that can only be told by those who have experienced great love and loss. Sarah is that person. Through her deep love for her husband and the profound loss that followed, she dared to risk love again by choosing to have a daughter from her deceased husband, only to face a mothers worst fear - the loss of a child. Through miraculous intervention her daughter survived against all odds. This is a captivating story of great faith in the midst of deep suffering; a story of life in the midst of death. A story of hope in the depths of despair. Now we need to read the next chapter of the story from this woman of great faith and love of how she willingly chose to open her heart again to a new man and family. I greatly anticipate the sequel.  God bless you, Sarah.
155658
This book: The hardening truth in the face of adversity. Poetry with life sown in. Love untouched in a heart aching sense. A resilience that must last to bring forth a fruitful future.

I appreciate that things go wrong. Because they humble themselves to the truth, they made a mistake and need to learn how to avoid making them in the future. I love that the characters are growing/maturing in their crippling adversity. It's a painful way to gain upward mobility, but it's better than not moving at all.

Read this book, enjoy, hurt and move forward.
1029105
When she is not traveling on book tours, or out of town doing public speaking or teaching writer's workshops, Anne Lamott can be found in her native Marin County, California, usually hanging out with her son Sam, who is a little boy in this book.  Anne is a single mom, and never was married to Sam's dad, who is one in a succession of lovers she has had in her quest to fill the gap left by her now deceased Dad, whom she loved as much as sunshine, air, and life itself.

Anne embodies a unique blend of sorrowful sensitivity, sharp observation, unashamed candor, unmarred eloquence, and spiritual sweetness and vulnerability.  Her humor delights and astonishes, as does her wisdom, often expressed in brief epigrams worth becoming the armataure around which you just might restructure  aspects of your life.  I love the woman and trust her because above all, she is unafraid to be real.

However, this fearlessness did not come naturally or easily. Anne has had a messy life.  In Traveling Mercies she pulls the bandages off her wounds that we might see.  In her "Overture," titled "Lily Pads," she retraces her fragile journey into the arms of God, telling us how she was dragged kicking, screaming and crawling, into the Kingdom by pierced hands, and how her wounds are now healing.  What follows is twenty-four chapters divided into seven sections: Mountain, Valley, Sky;  Church, People, Steeple; Tribe; Kids, Some Sick; Body and Soul; "Fambly"; Shore and Ground.  She reveals glimpses, sparks, glimmers of God's glory in the mundane relationships and neurotic struggles of her life, teaching us about forgiveness, grace, and hope. Never preachy, she is always vigilant to preserve life's mixed quality, light in the midst of darkness, hope in the midst of despair, joy, wet with tears of sorrow. You won't find a plastic Jesus on the dashboard of her car, or anywhere in this book.

Lamott's candor, humor, faith and groundedness are everywhere apparent, as in this quotation:  "God:  I wish you could have some permanence, a guarantee or two, the unconditional love we all long for. 'It would be such skin off your nose?' I demand of God.  I never get an answer.  But in the meantime I have learned that most of the time, all you have is the moment, and the imperfect love of people" (168).

The book is aptly titled.  She is sharing with us the some of the mercies she's found traveling the bumpy, potholed pathways of life in the raw.  If you are looking for pat answers, look elsewhere.  But if you're in need of mercy and a little light in the midst of your own darkness, find it here.
2276180
This book offers the possibility of relief from unnecessary pain and suffering in individual lives in a kind and loving way.