Synopses & Reviews
The loss of a love is a nearly universal emotional crisis, whether the end is divorce, desertion, or a mutually agreed-upon separation. At first, friends and family are there to offer a shoulder to cry on, but after a few months there's an expectation that we just need to get over the crisis and move on. Thus, unprocessed, painful feelings are buried, leaving us numb. Or we repeat damaging relationship patterns over and over again.
The situation doesn't have to be like that. Healing a Broken Heart guides those of us grieving for a lost love through four metaphorical seasons of recovery with provocative questions -- and journal pages on which to respond -- to help move us forward.
The four seasons serve as powerful metaphors for the stages of the grieving process. Summer is the season for charting the course of a relationship: remembering hopes and expectations, the warning signs that went unheeded. During autumn, journalers accept the reality of breaking up and acknowledge things about the relationship that didn't serve their needs. Winter brings the pain of grief over the profound loss. Finally, spring -- and, with it, renewal -- invites readers to examine and understand how their family history may have affected their past relationships.
Punctuated throughout with poems and moving meditations, the thoughtful, interactive approach of this book offers the time and space we all need to heal when our hearts are broken.
Review
Laura Davis author of I Thought We'd Never Speak Again If you are struggling to come to terms with a broken relationship, this is the one book you will return to again and again. Whether you are suffering over the loss of a lover or a spouse, this book will help you through the dark and lonely days ahead.
Review
Cynthia Heimel author of Sex Tips for Girls This is a wonderful, smart, and nurturing book. There are no clichés. It is the most helpful guidebook I have ever read.
Review
Matt Groening creator of The Simpsons and Life in Hell This thoughtful book about getting through heartbreak is like a good friend holding your hand when everything seems bleak.
Synopsis
The loss of a partner through divorce, desertion, or even a mutually acknowledged "change of heart" is a common, frequently devastating experience. Healing a Broken Heart is designed to help readers understand and cope with the death of a once-passionate relationship. Focusing on the universal aspects of loss, the authors present provocative questions and other tools that spur readers to explore their feelings openly and honestly, recording them right in the book itself. A selection of contemplative poems and meditations offer additional comfort, guidance, and insight.
The four seasons serve as powerful metaphors for the various stages of the grieving process. Summer represents a time to chart the course of a relationship, to examine early expectations and hopes, pitfalls and warnings that were overlooked, and the events that ultimately led to the failure of a romance that once seemed so promising. Autumn is the time of accepting the reality of the loss and of facing up to the negative aspects of the relationship. The section on surviving winter, when grief and pain peaks, shows readers how to pull themselves out of despondence and look forward to spring. Spring is also the season to renew self-care, to think about the future, to examine and understand family history and how that has affected the choice of intimate partners. Spring is the season to embrace the possibility of a new, more fulfilling, and more enduring romantic relationship.
About the Author
Sarah La Saulle, Ph.D., is a marriage and family therapist.