3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Unconventional but wise, November 11, 2004
This review is from: Mourning Has Broken (Paperback)
Mourning Has Broken
Carmella B'han
In Mourning Has Broken, Carmella B'han continues the work she began in her first book, Benjaya's Gifts, which she wrote in an attempt to find healing from the drowning death of her young son. She is clearly a compassionate, reflective, kind person and wants to share the things she has learned in order to help others.
B'han comes from an "alternative" approach, and speaks in a matter-of-fact way about things like reincarnation, water birthing, ashrams and spiritual teachers, so there are those who might not feel comfortable with her perspective. However, her messages are sound, and she uses powerful stories developed from interviews she did with people who have had ordinary and extraordinary experiences of loss. For instance, she speaks with a child whose best friend dies, a man who loses his partner to AIDS, and a man who survived the ravages of the Khmer Rouge and is now an international speaker. The point of the stories is not the losses, however, but the lessons people learned and the meaning they were able to make from the challenge of facing what seems to be unbearable loss.
B'han uses what she calls "Eight Keys" to guide the process of personal transformation she has described through the stories of her interviewees and through her own experience. These keys are the headings of the book's chapters:
1. Find the bigger picture
2. Trust and surrender control
3. Share your pain and choose life
4. Reassess relationships
5. Identify and release life-long patterns
6. Cultivate compassion
7. Reclaim your heart and spirit
8. Find the hidden gifts
She includes a page of questions to reflect upon at the end of each chapter, which would make good topics to journal about, or to use as a focus for a grieving group working through the book together. She also includes a chapter about the impact of September 11 as a source of national, as well as personal grieving, and how the keys can be applied. The keys themselves are generally good ideas for any kind of personal development, but she shows how to use them specifically in the context of grieving.
The book is engaging and well-written, respectful of the interviewees and their stories, and the stories themselves are compelling. I think it will be appreciated most by people who are already on a quest for spiritual and personal development, because it uses that kind of language and approach, but the stories stand on their own as examples of how people survive, heal, and thrive even after terrible losses.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Good book for those who grieve, September 16, 2004
This review is from: Mourning Has Broken (Paperback)
Written and edited by a woman whose young son's death became her greatest teacher, Mourning Has Broken is for anyone feeling tested by life, especially those struggling with transitions such as separation or loss.
This is an excellent book on how to "Learn from the Wisdom of Adversity," containing stories from those who have broken through rather than broken down. The chapters I found most intriguing were the one that features Arun Gandhi and the one with stories from those who lost loved ones in the tragedy of September 11.
Recommended for anyone who has suffered tragic loss.
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