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The author has crafted a poetic and personal story of loss and isolation with suggestions on how to cope. Not a “how to” tome, these mindful observations share a unique journey through an isolating physical disability and the sudden death of a partner, inviting the reader to be curious about their own lives. In a Marcus-Aurelius-meets-Louise-Hay fusion, past-life and near-death experiences, meditation, and astral projection are intertwined with lists, charts, “short short stories,” and poems that encourage contemplation, self-growth, and self-expression.
Each soft pillow of a chapter begins with an original quote that extracts the essence of the chapter. “Ah-ha” moments, for instance, are magic applications that birth an understanding of how humans are interconnected through common fears, sorrows, shortcomings, and grandeur. The Duality of Self Model illustrates, with an additional thirteen bullet points, how the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual bodies are symbiotic and ebb and flow in varying degrees of synthesis throughout life. But readers shouldn’t take her word for it, the author advises. One must embark on one’s own journey of curiosity, contemplation, and self-expression, traits which are necessary for survival.
Courteous of others’ beliefs and long-held emotions, the author gently unveils avenues of exploration through her phrasing, such as the body is a “gold mine of experiences,” while love is an “energetic experience” that comes without seeking. Intense grief liberates the mind and soul to be uncritically creative, an adventure embraced with practicality upon realizing “since I am alive, maybe I should do something to pass my time.” The author’s book provides a well-written, sensitive guide to becoming vibrant after loss and hardship. There are no right or wrong answers here, just a gentle nudge toward seeking solutions through curiosity, self-awareness, and uncritical self-expression. In other words, one must learn to feel and learn to live.
RECOMMENDED by the US Review