All My Relations: Living with Animals As Teachers and Healers [Paperback]

Susan Chernak McElroy (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 7, 2004

Susan Chernak McElroy, author of the New York Times bestseller Animals As Healers and Teachers, has long believed that animals offer solace as well as lessons in living to anyone willing to listen. In her bestseller Animals As Teachers and Healers, she told others' stories of the healing power of animals. In this book, she tells her own stories.

Described by the author as a kind of prayer, the ten stories here explore concepts of ownership; naming, and unnaming, things; interpreting signs and language; animals as mirrors of the soul; and honoring one's own stories. Typical is the story about rats that explores what it means to be stigmatized, for both humans and animals. Included are suggestions for practices and meditations that will guide readers into deeper connection with their own stories and their own relationships with those creatures with whom they share their lives.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Read All My Relations and you’re guaranteed to meet both animals and people at a richer, deeper level.” — Dr. Marty Becker, resident veterinarian on Good Morning America “Susan shares transformative stories in her eloquent style that touch the heart of all kindred spirits! Read and heal!” — Allen M. Schoen, DVM, author of Kindred Spirits “In All My Relations, Susan inspires us to appreciate the yearnings, trials, and paradoxes of our own interspecies relationships as evidence that life is not a meaningless series of coincidences but a soulful journey filled with wondrous creatures intent on making the trip worthwhile.” — Linda Kohanov, author of The Tao of Equus and Riding between the Worlds “All My Relations is an inspiring, engaging, enriching, and wonderful book. Susan McElroy’s stories will seduce you — often unawares — as she reminds us that living in harmony with our animal friends is very important for our own and their well-being.” — Marc Bekoff, author of Minding Animals and coauthor of The Ten Trusts --This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: New World Library (October 7, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1577314301
• ISBN-13: 978-1577314301
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #943,827 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Shifting Our Paradigm of Relationships In Nature, January 13, 2005

By 

Timothy K. O'donoghue (Jackson Hole, Wyoming) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: All My Relations: Living with Animals As Teachers and Healers (Paperback)

Susan Chernak McElroy's fourth book, All My Relations, is an excellent contribution to deepening our understanding of human relationships with animals. Having read her previous books and attended a few of her presentations, I realize that she may be one of the most original and insightful observers and storytellers of human - animal relationships in a generation. Her stories tell of a powerful and mystical oneness that not only she experiences with animals and other creatures, but of a level of understanding and experience that are available to us all if we are willing to embrace a different way of being with Nature. The exercises she offers at the end of each story are simple yet valuable pathways to reach and experience this deeper level. I highly recommend All My Relations not just to those persons with animals, but to all people, and the sooner in life - the better, such as for school english and literature classes. Perhaps it is not too late for the current generations of adults to be empowered to achieve a paradigm shift in the way we view and behave concerning all of our relations in Nature. Susan Chernak McElroy's book can serve as an instrument for achieving this paradigm shift.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars kinship, January 1, 2005

By 

Gail Korn - See all my reviews
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This review is from: All My Relations: Living with Animals As Teachers and Healers (Paperback)

I am not a writer, but if I could write about my feelings toward animals this is the book I would write. The book helped me write my own thoughts with guidance at the end of each chapter.

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Soul searching and a must-read !, January 30, 2005

By 

Bonnie L. Hess "allmeansall" (PA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: All My Relations: Living with Animals As Teachers and Healers (Paperback)

This is truly a warm, thoughtful, intelligent book filled with new insight and ideas to creatively enhance minds, souls, and works with animals and nature. Anyone who has a yearning to feel a deeper connection with animals or nature needs to read this book. Susan not only shares gifts of animals, but truly delves deeply into our relations with all of God's creation. It is one of the most important books I have read. I was profoundly moved.
Bonnie Hess