The Sitting Swing: Finding Wisdom to Know the Difference [Paperback]

Irene Watson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 16, 2008

Irene Watson's pretentious life could go no further until she faced her past. Her moving and inspiring memoir begins at the end, in a recovery center, where she has gone to understand a childhood fraught with abuse, guilt, and uncertainty.

Two distinct parts of the book look at abusive child rearing and the process of recovery years later. This story shows change, growth, and forgiveness are possible. It gives hope and freedom to those accepting the past and re-writing life scripts that have been passed down for generations. It's never too late to change your life, never too late to heal.

Praise for The Sitting Swing

"Watson's memoir recounts her fearful, highly sheltered years as she uncovers the childhood wounds leading to her personality crisis. This is an earnest memoir, well structured." -PUBLISHERS WEEKLY

"The Sitting Swing is the poignant story of the author's successful journey to transcend the patterns sculpted by her parents and childhood experiences. I loved it!" -NANCY OELKLAUS, PHD, LIFE COACH AND AUTHOR OF JOURNEY FROM HEAD TO HEART: LIVING AND WORKING AUTHENTICALLY

"As a teacher of transformational principles for self-discovery and the treatment of addictions, reading The Sitting Swing inspired me to a richer new voice, infusing my lectures with a deeper level of meaning. Irene's personal story of transformation will add to the experience, strength, and hope we share with our clients and to anyone who is on a path of personal transformation. " -MARY LYNN SZYMANDERA, LCAS, CEFIP, OUTPATIENT MANAGER, PAVILLON INTERNATIONAL, AND EQUINE PROGRAM DIRECTOR, SAWHORSE HILL

Author info at www.irenewatson.com

Book #6 in the Spiritual Dimensions Series from Loving Healing Press www.LovingHealing.com

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Named for a childhood swing the author remembers as being impossible to get moving because of the rose bushes directly behind it, Watson's memoir recounts her fearful, highly sheltered years growing up an only child to Ukrainian immigrants in 1940s Alberta, Canada. Watson writes from the hindsight of her 50s, living in a Quebec addiction-recovery facility, where she has checked herself in for 28 days, unsure whether she can stay married to a husband she considers as overbearing as her mother was to her. Gradually, Watson uncovers the childhood wounds leading to her personality crisis: until age six, she lived in a log cabin in the wilderness within a few feet of her prohibitive mother, who pined for her dead firstborn son. Watson was largely ignored by her farmer father, abused by cousins and neighbors, and unable at first to speak English at her schoolhouse or make friends. Denied expression and love within the family, she acted out and married a man who helped continue to make excuses for her lack of ambition. She undergoes a rigorous 12-step program and a systematic breaking down of her ego so that she can re-create herself. This is an earnest memoir, well structured, though the writing lacks rigorous urgency. (Jan.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Review

"There is no question in my mind that any person seriously interested in healing longstanding emotional wounds would benefit from reading this inspiring and thought-provoking book."
--Jeff Maziarek,
author of Spirituality Simplified

"Irene Watson's memoir, The Sitting Swing, provides a soul searching look at facing codependency and beginning the recovery process."
--Kay Marie Porterfield,
author of Straight Talk about PTSD,
Sleeping with Dionysus, and Coping With Codependency

"Irene Watson has written a psychologically savvy memoir. With insight and intelligence she takes the reader through her step-by-step experience of resistance and revelation"-Babette Hughes, author of Lost and Found

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 248 pages
• Publisher: Loving Healing Press; Revised edition (July 16, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1932690670
• ISBN-13: 978-1932690675
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 5.9 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (44 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,708,701 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Author of "The Sitting Swing: Finding Wisdom to Know the Difference", co-author of "Rewriting Life Scripts: Transformational Recovery for Families of Addicts" and editor of "The Story That Must be Told" and "Authors Access: 30 Secrets for Authors and Publsihers." Managing editor of Reader Views www.readerviews com, Reader Views Kids www.readerviewskids.com, First Chapter Plus www.firstchapterplus.com; Host on Inside Scoop Live www.insidescooplive.com,and AuthorsAccess www.authorsaccess.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars cleansing the memories, November 19, 2005

By 

Rebecca Brown "rebeccasreads" (Clallam Bay, WA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Sitting Swing (Paperback)

Rebeccasreads highly recommends THE SITTING SWING as a simply told passionate telling of one person's wrestle with reality, & the consequences of her behavior patterns. While it's in dire need of a copy editor, it rang all my bells, as I love a good internal adventure, complete with a life-changing "Ahha!" &, by the way, THE SITTING SWING would never have been written had the author not had that "Ahha!"

This is a memoir which begins at the end, in a recovery center, where Irene Watson has gone to "understand". What, she's not quite sure. After all, she's a highly successful dynamo, with all the accoutrements of the child of immigrants dreams: career, home, family, friends.

Born into a tight-knit, Ukrainian-speaking Northern Canadian community & a family beaten down by guilt, shame & grief over the death of their first born son, Irene's world was smothered by old world immigrant culture & by her mother who kept her close to home, segregated from the new culture, & the target of aggression by male cousins, & scornful townspeople.

THE SITTING SWING is a lively & frank record of one person's adventure into the realm of self-discovery, memories, responsibility for one's own life & the art of taking it back. Taking it back from forgotten childhood events & lessons that unconsciously drive us into deadends, into rages, into obsessions with control, into immoderate use of drugs & drink -- anything to soothe those dreadful pangs of helplessness, insatiability & a boring, troubled & empty future.

While in dire need of a copy editor, THE SITTING SWING is a must read for anyone struggling with bad memories & a hopeless present.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A insightful story, October 13, 2005

By 

Jill M. Mayfield - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Sitting Swing (Paperback)

The Sitting Swing is an insightful story. Ms. Watson lets you look inside her mind as she faces her childhood demons and adult struggles. With an honest voice she goes through the healing process and shows us all that it is never too late to change and never too late to heal. A well-written book that will appeal to just about anyone.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If you love a love a good ending, you will love this book!, April 8, 2007

By 

Judy Azar LeBlanc "Jag" (Texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Sitting Swing (Paperback)

April 09, 2007

The Sitting Swing is an encouraging and inspiring story of one person's experiences of growing up that rings true for most of us who have had similar, if not the same kind of story to tell of the kind of childhood abuse that programmed us to think that we are victims who are powerless and helpless to do anything about our external circumstances.

Being raised by a controlling mother and an absent father, whether it be emotionally absent or physically absent is more common than not. Few of us have been raised or treated like the children we grew up with on television's "Father Knows Best," or the "Donna Reed Show." The difference between Irene and us, however, is that she had the courage to share her reality with the world in this inspiring story, and did it in such a balanced way that both our emotional and intellectual minds can easily relate and comprehend to the kind of damage that can be done to us while growing up.

What I loved the most about The Sitting Swing was that Irene Watson teaches us how we all can take power over our programmed feelings of helplessness, and with love and understanding we too can come to terms with ourselves and go on to lead happy and healthy lives.

If you love a love a good ending, you will love this book!


Judy Azar LeBlanc
Award Winning Author
Many Faces to Many Places
Things My Father Never Taught Me
The Compromise
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