The Ten Things to Do When Your Life Falls Apart

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY FEB 8, 2010

Known primarily for books on relationships (Coming Apart), Kingma s latest is a lifeline for those in the isolating depths of personal tragedy. Its purpose is to hold, to heal, and to listen, and it comes from a very real place: a friend of the author s in the midst of physical and financial hardships asked for a list of 10 practices to survive his crisis. With chapters dedicated to the necessity of tears, the freedom of letting go, and the fulfillment found in simple living, these techniques are all about practicality. Realistic indeed, yet underlying the straightforward advice is an enlivening spiritual message that isn t content with just soldiering on through the darkness. Rather than being random assaults from an uncaring universe, the difficulties you are going through have meaning and purpose, the author writes. Kingma relates her worldly and spiritual survival tools in graceful prose and includes illustrative, though somewhat broad, real-life stories of people who rise above catastrophe. This work is about more than just getting by; it directs the reader toward transcendence and peace.