The Losses of Our Lives, livre ebook

Find hope and renewal in life's natural cycle of ordinary losses and new beginnings.

"When we intentionally enter into our everyday walk through small losses, the terrain of larger losses, the valley of the shadow of death, is not totally unknown. It is not completely unfamiliar, alien, terrifying, for we have walked some of this way before with our lesser losses. We can journey through this valley of loss, for journey through it we must. And we can emerge markedly changed, but alive, on the other side."
—from the Prologue

Going beyond loss as a problem to be resolved, a grief to be worked through, Dr. Nancy Copeland-Payton, a spiritual director and ordained clergywoman, reframes loss from the perspective that our everyday losses help us learn what we need to handle the major losses. Weaving in spiritual and classical themes, personal and scriptural story, Dr. Copeland-Payton shows us that by becoming aware of what our lesser losses have to teach us, the larger losses of our lives become less terrifying. Each chapter includes a spiritual practice and questions for reflection to help you:

• Mine the hidden depths of painful losses of things and places
• Traverse the devastating loss of relationships and the heart-wrenching death of people we love.
• Overcome the steep, dark slopes of loss of beliefs and faith.
• Venture past our fear of the losses of aging and our own death.
  

  Acknowledgments ix
  Prologue xi

  1 The Human Tapestry 1
  Spiritual Practice: Breath Prayer 10
  Exploring Deeper 11

  2 Birth Pangs and Passages 15
  Spiritual Practice: Walking Meditation 29
  Exploring Deeper 30

  3 Awakening: Patterns of Gift and Loss 35
  Spiritual Practice: Examen 47
  Exploring Deeper 48

  4 Things and Places 51
  Spiritual Practice: Sand Mandala 64
  Exploring Deeper 65

  5 The Ebb and Flow of Relationships 69
  Spiritual Practice: Labyrinth 86
  Exploring Deeper 87
  6 Relationships That Unravel and Tear Apart 89
  Spiritual Practice: Accompaniment 108
  Exploring Deeper 109

  7 When Foundations Shake and Crumble 113
  Spiritual Practice: Lectio Divina 129
  Exploring Deeper 130

  8 The Passing of Time: Our Final Loss … and Gift 133
  Spiritual Practice: Guided Meditation 146
  Exploring Deeper 148

  Epilogue 151
  Notes 153
  Suggestions for Further Reading 155