Growing Hope: Sowing the Seeds of Positive Change in Your Life and the World [Paperback]

Sue Patton Thoele (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Red Wheel/Weiser (February 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1573249114
• ISBN-13: 978-1573249119
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.9 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #668,805 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Writing made me sit down and shut up and, as a result, helped me become aware of the desire to move from an over-busy lifestyle to a more balanced one. I actually didn't begin writing until all four kids were either in college or on their own. In fact, I was forty-five when the Muse grabbed me by the back of the neck and wouldn't let go no matter how much I resisted. And resist I did! However, my first book, The Courage To Be Yourself, seemed to have a mind of its own and simply would not let me rest until I was totally committed to it. By the time the original book was completed, I was passionate about writing. Since I'd had a private psychotherapy practice for many years, it felt natural to write about issues similar to those with which my clients and I grappled.

I am incredibly blessed to be able to do work I love and to have the support of My Husband Gene, without whom I would never have become an author. We--well, really he--self-published "The Courage To Be Yourself", stacked the first 5,000 copies in our itty bitty garage, and hand delivered two and three copies at a time to local bookstores before the book was eventually picked up by a "real" publisher. To this day, Gene continues to do all the heavy lifting, paper and financial work, schlepping of author to speaking engagements, and has enduring patience with the weirdness-of-wife-while-writing phases I inevitably go through while working. He is my rock.... and he makes me laugh.

Each of us plays many roles and works in different arenas during a lifetime. Below are a few roles I've played and some of the work I've done. Several I still do and others seem as if they existed in another time and space.

ROLES I'VE HAD
Wife, divorcee, wife again ... still "wife again"
Mom, single mom, stepmom ... once a mom of any kind, always a mom
Grandmother, mentor ... love these roles
Myriad acting roles in community theater ... now do some Reader's Theater

WORK I'VE DONE
Author
Psychotherapist in private practice
Public/Keynote Speaker
Seminar/Group/Retreat Leader
Hospice Chaplain, Trainer &
Counselor
Director of a Counseling Center
High School and Adult Ed teacher

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Cultivating a More Positive Life, August 14, 2006

By 

Virginia Allain "(retired librarian)" (Poinciana, FL) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Growing Hope: Sowing the Seeds of Positive Change in Your Life and the World (Paperback)

I love finding books like this with inspiring words of wisdom. Thoele suggests thinking of ways to be a better friend to yourself. Note the ideas like giving yourself more compliments or getting a massage and then start making them happen with small steps everyday.
Since most of us don't take the time to nurture ourselves, this book makes you think (and hopefully take action).