Healing Through the Dark Emotions: The Wisdom of Grief, Fear, and Despair [L0091]

2004 - PB Excellent condition.Nautilus Book Award Gold Winner A psychotherapist offers "crucial" guidance on how to "alter fundamentally our fearful relationship to deep feelings," from depression and anxiety to grief and fear (Los Angeles Times). We are all touched at some point by the dark emotions of grief, fear, or despair. In an age of global threat, these emotions have become widespread and overwhelming. While conventional wisdom warns us of the harmful effects of "negative" emotions, this revolutionary book offers a more hopeful view: there is a redemptive power in our worst feelings. Seasoned psychotherapist Miriam Greenspan argues that it's the avoidance and denial of the dark emotions that results in the escalating psychological disorders of our time: depression, anxiety, addiction, psychic numbing, and irrational violence. And she shows us how to trust the wisdom of the dark emotions to guide, heal, and transform our lives and our world. Drawing on inspiring stories from her psychotherapy practice and personal life, and including a complete set of emotional exercises, Greenspan teaches the art of emotional alchemy by which grief turns to gratitude, fear opens the door to joy, and despair becomes the ground of a more resilient faith in life. "This remarkable book has taught me a whole new way of thinking." -Harold Kushner, author of When Bad Things Happen to Good People "A beautiful piece of work destined to become a perennial classic." -Martha Beck, author of The Joy Diet

From recent Amazon/GoodReads reviews: "I can't recommend this book highly enough... The author writes is a very direct, honest, down-to-earth style, yet what she has to say is extremely profound. Like the little boy who says, "look, but the emperor has no clothes", she compassionately yet clearly through the cultural myths and denial that envelop and alienate us from the truth of our own direct experience."; "One of the most impactful and best books I have ever read. Truth so deep that it has completely changed my life. I am no longer numbing constantly. I have become someone who wishes to befriend all of my emotions. My other readings in this vein were crystallized by Miriam's depth of clarity and her personal story. May we all become so integrated to the emotional ecology of each other consciously that we can heal together."; "The dark emotions are a strong part of our birthright as humans, and it seems to be a part that we often reject. What, really, is wrong with feeling and owning sadness, anger, fear? This book is full of insight about how to remove the stigma from these emotions and allow them back into our lives. As we do so, our "light" emotions will manifest more purely. She gives a lot of food for thought, her experiences, and exercises that can help the reader contact and feel the dark emotions."