loss

The Magic in the Tragic | July Book Club

“The Magic in the Tragic: Rewriting the Script on Grief and Discovering Happiness in Our Darkest Days - A New Approach to Resilience, Grieving, and Healing in the Midst of Tragedy or Trauma”, is a long title but it aptly conveys its message.

Many chapters in my own life are marked by grief and loss. To all who have experienced such sorrow we know that you never “get over it”. You get through it, you continue to build your life and collect experiences that grow out from the space where grief left its mark, but it is always with you. This month’s book club recommendation charts a path through the pain illuminating peaceful spots of rest, reflection and healing.

Esteemed psychotherapist and bereavement counselor John Tsilimparis, MFT, shows you the ways grief and loss intertwine with beauty, tenderness, and human connection to empower you to build emotional resilience in a difficult world.

What if you could flip the script on the pain in your life and learn how to cultivate purpose and joy—not after grief but during it, not despite hardship but because of it? What if you could find a type of magic in your tragedy? A way to understand your emotions and reframe your grief that opens you up rather than shuts you down?

Drawing on his own story, scientific and philosophical evidence, the soothing effects of the arts and nature, and three decades of experience as a psychotherapist and grief counselor, John Tsilimparis offers a new take on adversity in The Magic in the Tragic. In these uncertain times, you'll be equipped to:

  • Approach grief in an empowering way

  • Acquire the tools needed to develop emotional resiliency

  • Address fear and uncertainty head-on rather than avoid it

  • Embrace difficult times without sugarcoating them

  • Access the unseen beauty of your deepest emotions

  • Discover the healing power and belonging of music, art, and nature

The Magic in the Tragic powerfully explores how the hardest things in life intersect purpose and meaning, splendor and connectedness. When you embrace the magic in your tragic seasons, you can step into the future with hope, knowing that even when grief comes, it comes with an invitation to new life.

If you are struggling or know someone that is, The Magic in the Tragic, is a soothing balm to the hurting soul. You can order a copy for yourself or a gift for another here:

ORDER: THE MAGIC IN THE TRAGIC

You can check out the PLAY LIST of songs mentioned in the book HERE.

The Testament of Harold's Wife | October Book Club

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Grief demands a villain. A target. Something or someone to pour itself into, to rail against, to destroy. This I know. So does Harold’s wife, Louisa.

I found a kindred spirit in Louisa, a somewhat eccentric, aging, bereaved woman who finds solace in conversing with her chickens. Her heart is empty and her rage is full. Relatable. Loss does that to you.

Louisa finds her target; it is Larry, the drunk driver who killed her beloved grandson, Cody, which lead to despair so great in her husband, Harold, that he took his own life. A domino effect of pain and sorrow that has left only Louisa standing, alone.

This will not do, of course, so Louisa and her ol’ hens hatch a plan.

Alas, as Robert Browning pointed out many years ago, “The best laid schemes o' mice an' men / Gang aft a-gley.” Which is another way of saying, things don’t often work out as you expect them to.

In Louisa’s case, there was a couple of young bucks, one, a wounded creature of the forest, and a another of the human realm, that wandered into her path and distracted her from her mission. As the spring sun warmed the earth, so too did Louisa’s heart feel a creeping warmth and a something else that had been missing for far too long; the human connection.

She had lost that which could never be replaced, but she was learning that she too could FIND.

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The warp and the weft of Lynne Hugo’s characters in The Testament of Harold’s Wife are woven into a rich tapestry of life, where the irreverent, unconventional, quirky flaws become the very thing that make it absolutely perfect and fills one with a sense of hope.

I think you’ll like as much as I did!

Get my October Book Club pick, The Testament of Harold’s Wife HERE

And, visit the Author’s Page: Lynne Hugo





The Shack | February Book Club

Buy the Book * Watch the Trailer * Buy the Soundtrack

Special Preview Showing March 2nd, hosted by Delilah! Get your tickets HERE!!!

My February Book Club pick is a New York Times best selling novel many of you may be familiar with, The Shack, by William P. Young.

It’s one of my FAVORITE books and has been adapted into a major motion picture coming out on March 3rd. Sam Worthington and Octavia Spencer star in the movie, which also features my friend Tim McGraw.

Since the movie will be here soon, I decided it was a great time to pick it up and give it another read. 

It was just as thought provoking and fantastic as the first (several) times I read it! Did I mention it was one of my favorite books, ever?!

At the center of the story is Mack Phillips who has experienced a tragic loss. A deep depression ensues and he finds himself questioning the very basis of his existence, his purpose, and experiencing a profound crisis of faith.

Led to an abandoned shack enveloped within the towering coniferous forests of Oregon’s Cascade wilderness by a letter that appears 4 years after the tragedy, Mack has doubts but decides to make the journey. There, he meets a woman with the odd name of “Papa” and two more strangers that initially leave him filled with even more confusion.

Yet through the experience Mack not only rediscovers himself, but takes to heart lessons of love, loss, and forgiveness, leaving with an understanding of how to live again after the unspeakable happened; walking out of the gloom and into the light.

Tim and Faith lend their voices to the soundtrack with “Keep Your Eyes On Me” written and performed by this beautiful couple. Listen to the song and watch the movie trailer HERE.

Pick it up, give it a read, then go see the movie when it comes out March 3rd!

Special Preview Showing March 2nd, hosted by Delilah! Get your tickets HERE!!!

Buy the Book * Watch the Trailer * Buy the Soundtrack