INTRODUCTION
We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience. - Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
Sometimes our life lessons come in beautifully wrapped packages with pretty bows on top and other times they come in brown greasy French fry bags. I’ve had my share of both and you probably have, too. The truth is that all our life experiences need to be honored. Every situation we encounter whether pleasant or unpleasant offers a lesson if we are open to learning it. Each relationship can teach us something important about ourselves if we are willing to see it. There comes a time when you need to tell your story. I’m finally healed enough and my children are old enough for me to share mine with you. My intention for writing this book extends far beyond telling my story for my own healing. That would be a by-product of something much grander. My story simply provides a backdrop for teaching how to build resilience so that you can navigate the turbulence of your own life with more grace and ease. And help you evolve from surviving to thriving when your cosmic egg has been cracked. In 2001, my husband was indicted for a range of white-collar crimes. It was a shocking, embarrassing, painful, stressful time for my family and me and included multiple life changes. We got divorced, I had to file for bankruptcy, and I became a solo parent for a decade. I received no divorce settlement, child support, or alimony. I sold all my possessions to survive. My mindfulness practice, spirituality, and inner constitution enabled me to survive the full catastrophe of my life. We lost our home, our social standing, our lifestyle, our friends, and eventually our marriage and our family unit. Seven years later I landed a job in Corporate America making six figures enabling me to financially take care of my children and myself. I eventually qualified for a mortgage and bought a home. What I’ve learned is that sometimes things need to be completely dismantled before something new can be built. There is power in the present moment. It is possible to press the reset button. We can gather ourselves up again. We can learn our lessons and take that wisdom forward to build an authentic, healthy life. Thriving When Your Cosmic Egg Is Cracked: A Mindful Journey is about learning how to thrive even if you feel broken. We’ve often heard that time is healer. I believe true healing is only possible if we are willing to tend to our wounds. We must heal, not seal our wounds. Sealing means we compartmentalize the wound. We create protective boundaries. We shut down. Often when we seal a wound we become callus. We close our hearts. We become afraid of living. Here’s the deal. It is impossible to grow without change. It is impossible to change without loss. In order to grow, we must experience loss. The problem is that we’ve never been taught how to handle loss on a more global scale. So when it happens we shut down and internalize stress until we become physically ill. We work too much, eat too much, drink too much, and self-medicate with alcohol, tobacco and prescription drugs. We’re physically or emotionally abusive. We sleep around and have cyber affairs. We do all this to numb ourselves from our pain. Whatever has caused you to feel as though your world is shattered, this book will inspire you to grow through it to rise up stronger than ever. Completing the journal questions will help you get to know yourself better and to be able to act from that place of greater awareness. I will share a number of skills and practices that will help you lower your stress level, build resilience and feel a sense of peace even when things are falling apart. While it’s true that some people by nature are more resilient than others, resilience is something you can learn. It’s possible to have a breakthrough rather than a breakdown. Thriving When Your Cosmic Egg is Cracked: A Mindful Journey opens a path to consciously creating an authentic life full of meaning and purpose.
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