Broken Open: How difficult times can help us grow - Softcover

Lesser, Elizabeth

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1844135616 ISBN 13: 9781844135615

Publisher: Rider, 2004

Synopsis

'And the time came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom' Anaïs Nin

Elizabeth Lesser shows how it is possible to deal with fearful change or a painful loss and be reborn, like the Phoenix, to a more vibrant and enlightened self. In Broken Open she shares penetrating tales from her own life, the lives of those she has taught and counselled and the lives of friends and family, tales that explore the big challenges of death, illness and divorce, as well as the daily roller coaster rides of relationships, parenting and work.

Woven into these stories are quotations from great poets and philosophers. And following them is a toolbox of valuable aids, including meditation, psychological enquiry and spiritual practice. The result is a book that runs the gamut of the human experience, and in a style that is genuine, funny, often heartbreaking, but always inspiring, she shows us how we, too, can allow the pain of adversity to break us open instead of breaking us down, making us bitter or closing our hearts.

About this title

About the Author

Elizabeth Lesser is the co-founder of the Omega Institute in Rhinebeck, New York which offers conferences and workshops attended by 20,000 people a year, and she has been a director and teacher at that organization. Formerly a midwife, she attended Barnard College and San Francisco State University and now lives in the Hudson Valley with her husband and three sons. She is the author of The Seeker's Guide and The New American Experience.

From the Back Cover

This book shows how you can transform any difficult transition into a time of great strength and awakening' Jane Fonda
During our lives, we will all face challenges. Some of these challenges may come from the everyday roller-coaster rides of relationships, parenting and work. And others may take the threatening forms of illness, divorce, loss and death. In this wise and essential book, leading counsellor Elizabeth Lesser shows how the difficult times we fear might ruin us are the very ones that can break us open and help us blossom into who we were meant to be.
Co-founder of the prestigious Omega Institute, America's largest retreat and personal development centre, Elizabeth Lesser shares her own story and the stories of many others who have faced change and transformation, and risen from their experiences like a phoenix. Woven into these stories are quotations from great poets and philosophers, and, following them, is a toolbox of valuable techniques, including meditation, psychological enquiry and spiritual practice, to help you meet your own challenges to change and to grow, to break through and break open on your personal journey from darkness into light.
'Elizabeth Lesser bravely and beautifully explores one of the most compelling questions of life: how do we emerge from suffereing and challenge with real, encompassing wisdom and love' Sharon Salzberg, author of Lovingkindness

Edition details

• Publisher: Rider
• Publication date: 2004
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1844135616
• ISBN 13: 9781844135615
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 336