The Language of Letting Go Journal: A Meditation Book and Journal for Daily Reflection [Paperback]

Melody Beattie (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 31, 2003

Fear, shame, anger, self-doubt. Helping people "let go" of self-destructive thoughts, emotions, and behaviors has been the life work of acclaimed author Melody Beattie. For more than a decade, millions of readers have turned to Beattie's classic meditation book, The Language of Letting Go, as a wellspring for daily reflection, affirmation, and change. Now the journal edition of this best-seller features the entire original meditation text in a format that affords room for readers to record their thoughts, fears, and accomplishments.

Key features and benefits

• Beattie's work is known and trusted among self-help readers
• journal format invites readers to personalize meditations
• meditation themes explore common relationship issues
• a thoughtful gift for friends or a great gift for yourself

About the author:
Melody Beattie is the author of numerous books about personal growth and relationships, drawing on the wisdom of Twelve Step healing, Christianity, and Eastern religions. With the publication of Codependent No More in 1986, Melody became a major voice in self-help literature and endeared herself to millions of readers striving for healthier relationships. She lives in Malibu, California.

 

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Beattie was a struggling single parent of two children, freelance author, and journalist cranking out stories for a small-town daily newspaper in 1986 when she came up with a book idea. She wanted to write a book about what happens to people when they love someone who is addicted to alcohol and other drugs. "There were many books out there about how to help an addict or alcoholic. Nobody was talking about how an addict impacts the lives of the people around him or her, and how crazy you can become when you love someone who is addicted," Beattie said. "Even though I was sober, I didn't know how crazy I could get until it happened to me." Twenty publishers turned down Beattie's book proposal. "It's a good idea, but we don't think there's that many codependents out there," they wrote back. Hazelden, however, a treatment center and recovery publisher based in Minnesota, saw a need for the book. The publisher understood how families of alcoholics suffer and believed Beattie's book idea would help people. Beattie marched to the welfare department, asked for enough financial help to make it through the three months it would take her to write the book, then locked herself in a basement office and cranked out Codependent No More. Codependent No More has now sold 3.5 million copies. Beattie has since written nine more books, five for major publishing houses on the east and west coasts. She relocated from Minnesota to California, and she has long-since paid back the welfare department. Beattie has appeared in the pages of Newsweek and People and has been a regular guest on Geraldo and Oprah. Playing It By Heart is Beattie's first original book for Hazelden since 1990; the book is a return to her recovery roots that first brought her national recognition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Hazelden (January 31, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1568389841
• ISBN-13: 978-1568389844
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 7.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #13,794 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #22 in Books > Health, Fitness & Dieting > Mental Health > Codependency
  • #51 in Books > Health, Fitness & Dieting > Recovery > Substance Abuse

More About the Author

Melody Beattie is one of America's most beloved self-help authors and a household name in addiction and recovery circles. Her international bestselling book, Codependent No More, introduced the world to the term "codependency" in 1986. Millions of readers have trusted Melody's words of wisdom and guidance because she knows firsthand what they're going through. In her lifetime, she has survived abandonment, kidnapping, sexual abuse, drug and alcohol addiction, divorce, and the death of a child. "Beattie understands being overboard, which helps her throw bestselling lifelines to those still adrift," said Time Magazine.

Melody was born in St. Paul, Minnesota in 1948. Her father left home when she was a toddler, and she was raised by her mother. She was abducted by a stranger at age four. Although she was rescued the same day, the incident set the tone for a childhood of abuse, and she was sexually abused by a neighbor throughout her youth. Her mother turned a blind eye, just as she had denied the occurrence of abuse in her own past.

"My mother was a classic codependent," Melody recalls. "If she had a migraine, she wouldn't take an aspirin because she didn't do drugs. She believed in suffering." Unlike her mother, Melody was determined to self-medicate her emotional pain. Beattie began drinking at age 12, was a full-blown alcoholic by age 13, and a junkie by 18, even as she graduated from high school with honors. She ran with a crowd called "The Minnesota Mafia" who robbed pharmacies to get drugs. After several arrests, a judge mandated that she had to "go to treatment for as long as it takes or go to jail."

Melody continued to score drugs in treatment until a spiritual epiphany transformed her. "I was on the lawn smoking dope when the world turned this purplish color. Everything looked connected--like a Monet painting. It wasn't a hallucination; it was what the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous calls 'a spiritual awakening.' Until then, I'd felt entitled to use drugs. I finally realized that if I put half as much energy into doing the right thing as I had into doing wrong, I could do anything," Beattie said.

After eight months of treatment, Melody left the hospital clean and sober, ready to take on new goals: helping others get sober, and getting married and having a family of her own. She married a former alcoholic who was also a prominent and respected counselor and had two children with him. Although she had stopped drinking and using drugs, she found herself sinking in despair. She discovered that her husband wasn't sober; he'd been drinking and lying about it since before their marriage.

During her work with the spouses of addicts at a treatment center, she realized the problems that had led to her alcoholism were still there. Her pain wasn't about her husband or his drinking; it was about her. There wasn't a word for codependency yet. While Melody didn't coin the term codependency, she became passionate about the subject. What was this thing we were doing to ourselves?

Driven into the ground financially by her husband's alcoholism, Melody turned a life-long passion for writing into a career in journalism, writing about the issues that had consumed her for years. Her 24-year writing career has produced fifteen books published in twenty languages and hundreds of newspaper and magazine articles. She has been a frequent guest on many national television shows, including Oprah. She and her books continue to be featured regularly in national publications including Time, People, and most major periodicals around the world.

Although it almost destroyed her when her twelve-year-old son Shane died in a ski accident in 1991, eventually Melody picked up the pieces of her life again. "I wanted to die, but I kept waking up alive," she says. She began skydiving, mountain-climbing, and teaching others what she'd learned about grief.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Language of Letting go a wonderful journal, February 19, 2006

By 

Laura Henderson "Laura Henderson" (Thunder Bay, ONT Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Language of Letting Go Journal: A Meditation Book and Journal for Daily Reflection (Paperback)

I just started using this book as a recomendation made by one of my college teachers last semester. By reading the daily pages, and journaling a little bit about each topic for each day I have been able to make some very profound discoveries about myself. It is helping me to not only better understand myself, and my situation, but it is allowing me to become more tolerant of others, and is helping me to understand that I am allowed to feel some of the emotions in which we are conditioned to discount. I would recomend this book to not only people that feel they have issues they need to work out, but to anyone that is interested in learning a little more about themselves.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Life Changing, August 30, 2007

By 

B. Wiggins "Babette" (Minnesota) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Language of Letting Go Journal: A Meditation Book and Journal for Daily Reflection (Paperback)

This book on co-dependency is a real eye opener for anyone who struggles in this area. It was a catalyst for me; I have let go of the responsibility of overseer of the lives of those within my family. It is an essential tool in order to gain freedom from co-dependency.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful insightful author, June 11, 2009

By 

Kirstin Mason "karmicfilly" (Franklin, TN) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Language of Letting Go Journal: A Meditation Book and Journal for Daily Reflection (Paperback)

Anything Melody Beattie writes I am willing and happy to read.
She has a great perspective on codependency and it resonates
with me and my process. I love the format and the fact that
I don't have to sit down and read it from cover to cover.