Seeking the Sacred - Transforming Our View of Ourselves and One Another

There is a point in our lives when we seem to stand in the center of our own decision about who we are and how we want to be. It comes after enough of the past pain, resentment and grief have been spent, enough deep holes and yearnings have been filled, enough baggage from the past has been dealt with. Now that we've restored ourselves to a "good enough" status, we're ready to meet life more or less as it is happening.

At this point we need to recognize which attitudes and behavior patterns will serve us throughout the rest of our lives and which need to be let go. Can the lives we have envisioned for ourselves flourish under the weight of carried resentment from the past? What does it cost us in terms of happiness and well-being to hang on to the blame and hurt?

Whether interacting in politics or on playgrounds, in corporate America to classrooms, we as a nation are are failing in the interpersonal relationship department. And it's no wonder. From political correctness agendas to the self-esteem movement, from absent or abusive parents or traumatic childhood events, many people share an unhealthy worldview that's black-and-white, all or nothing. This victim vs. bully mentality causes people to react to situations in unhealthy ways by being either too nasty or too nice with their family, friends, and coworkers. This causes increased stress, family discord, divorce, and physical and emotional health problems including headaches, ulcers, overeating, or drinking.  

Over the past 20 years, the Friel's 3.5-day Clearlife® Clinic Program has helped more than 6,000 people identify and change childhood patterns of behavior, beliefs, and feelings so that they can begin living a better, clearer life in the present. In this culmination of his life's work, Friel explains the breakthrough techniques he uses with clients to help them understand an important paradox—that everyone is both good and evil—and how we can call upon both in healthy ways to ignite positive change and personal growth. By learning how to balance this Power Zone between victim and perpetrator, anyone can stop dysfunctional patterns in their lives.  With case studies, pop-culture examples, and cutting edge neuroscience, Friel offers a captivating look at unhealthy patterns with a prescriptive plan to heal by creating new cognitive templates. By changing the way your brain interprets situations, Friel shows how to be constructive with your anger, instead of criticizing, snapping, or being sarcastic and how to create healthy boundaries instead of people-pleasing.  He shows how to heal from past fears, shame, or loneliness and move from victim or perpetrator to competent, powerful adult.  
  

We are each gifted in a unique and important way. It is our privilege and our adventure to discover our own special light. --Mary Dunbar

Memorably poignant and inspiring verses are coupled with striking watercolor illustrations designed to lighten the soul and offer hope and healing in Eternity: Healing Quotations and Thoughts in Times of Sadness and Loss.

Author Suzanne Maher delivers more than 120 unique and empowering phrases from the likes of Mother Teresa, Rumi, Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and other notable spiritual thinkers, and partners them with exquisite watercolor images created especially for Eternity: Healing Quotations and Thoughts in Times of Sadness and Loss by Australian artist Cate Edwards.

Words and art meld into one within this inspiring keepsake that promises solace and calm:

* Let no one ever come to you without leaving better and happier. --Mother Teresa

* Sadness flies away on the wings of time. --Jean de La Fontaine

* Nobody can give you wiser advice than yourself. --Ralph Waldo Emerson

This book is a companion in poetry and prose along the journey of love and marriage. It is a song of praise to the love between two people, and to the commitment to that love demonstrated in marriage.

As it evolves over time, marriage, like life, passes through seasons and stages, peaks and valleys. The book is organized by these stages of marriage, from the wedding day to the last days. Each section begins with an essay that reflects on the stage, followed by four poems that illuminate the experiences of marriage in ways that we can appreciate and understand, but may find difficult to express.

Poems reach us in ways that surpass other forms of expression, especially when the subject concerns matters of the heart. The prose and poetry here provide not only inspiration for the journey, but also support and wisdom.