Books That Have Helped: "The 10 Things to Do When Your Life Falls Apart"

Yes, life on Earth can really suck a lot of the time.  That's especially true when you're grieving.  But....that doesn't mean there aren't ways to alleviate the pain.  Sometimes we need others to show us a different way. I like to think that Daphne Rose Kingma is one of those people.  I've been re-visiting Kingma's book The Ten Things to Do When Your Life Falls Apart.  While the book was written in 2010, the lessons in her book, I believe, are timeless.

 

From her introduction: "This book is about those times when life has become so overwhelmingly difficult that you feel as if you want to give up -- when it feels as if you can no longer cope, when you feel as if you've been taxed to the max.  On an emotional level you're wondering how you'll make it through all the terrible feelings: grief, loss, sadness, despair....But the truth is that no one escapes such things, no matter what their origins.  Loss, heartache, tragedy, and strings of difficult events that leave us breathless with confusion, terrified about the future, hating our lives, and wondering about their meaning are the warp and weft of the human condition.  No matter your birth sign, hair color, nationality of origin, net taxable income, or acts of a thousand past lives -- no one is exempt."

Kingma then offers ten techniques to help you when you're faced with these agonizing and hopeless situations.  They are:

1.  Cry Your Heart Out

2.  Face Your Defaults

3.  Do Something Different

4.  Let Go

5.  Remember Who You've Always Been

6.  Persist

7.  Integrate Your Loss

8.  Live Simply

9.  Go Where the Love Is

10.  Live in the Light of the Spirit

Of course, my summarizing doesn't do the book justice.  What I love about Kingma's book is that it has the potential to appeal to people of many diverse faith backgrounds, including those who could identify themselves as "spiritual but not religious".  It's also a big plus that her work is loaded with stories of people from all walks of life who have struggled with loss and heartbreak.  This book is definitely on my short list for those who are trying to make sense out of their grief.  Absolutely worth a read!