Healing from Despair : Choosing Wholeness in a Broken World

by Spitz, Elie Kaplan

• ISBN13: 9781580233606
• ISBN10: 1580233600
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2008-08-01
• Publisher: Jewish Lights Pub

Summary

Despair imposes heavy burdens upon us. Under these burdens, you may find yourself in a deep, dark, lonely place, utterly overwhelmed, deeply depressed, even considering suicide. But what if within this misery you found you possessed the power to choose?to choose to move toward healing, to listen to a message of hope, to craft your true identity and find goodness in your life?This wise and helpful guide explores the nature of personal suffering and brokenness and the potential for personal crisis to be a source of strength and renewal instead of despair and death. Examining the personal journeys of biblical and historical figures such as Moses, Maimonides, Abraham Lincoln and Martin Buber?as well as the author?s own personal experience with despair?it looks at brokenness as an inescapable element of the human condition. It traces the path of suffering from despair to depression to desperation to the turning point?healing?when first-hand knowledge of suffering can be transformed into blessing.Whether you have encountered despair and depression personally?through illness, loss, trauma or betrayal?or you know someone who is struggling with brokenness, this book will provide an informative, safe and comforting look at the nature of despair and the ways we can overcome it.

Table of Contents

This Book Is For You If ...	p. i
Foreword	p. xiii
Acknowledgments	p. xvii
Introduction	p. 1
Tools for Perspective	p. 18
A Shattered Vessel	p. 19
Tools for Transformation	p. 51
Bitter Darkness	p. 53
Tools for Gratitude	p. 65
Forgiving the Lost Soul	p. 67
Tools for Forgiving	p. 81
A Healed World	p. 83
Tools for Healing	p. 107
You Shall Be a Blessing	p. 109
Tools for Becoming a Blessing	p. 141
Practical Guidance Distilled: Checklists for Specific Areas of Concern	p. 143
Notes	p. 151
Suggestions for Further Reading	p. 169
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