The Book Report by Rebecca Traver - Our Online Bookshop Curator

“Some people see scars, and it is the wounding they remember. To me they are proof of the fact that there is healing.”

~Linda Hogan

“None of us is okay and all of us are fine.”

~Pema Chödrön

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If you’ve ever felt unwell for an extended amount of time and sought treatment or heard a scary diagnosis (either for yourself or a loved one), then you know how hard it can be to navigate our modern medical systems. How do we effectively advocate for ourselves when we’re feeling so vulnerable? How do we maintain and sustain our bodies, minds, and spirits when life brings us to the edges of our capacities to cope? 

With those inquiries in mind, here's a collection presenting a wide range of approaches to cultivating healing and well-being. Below you will find examples from that collection of the work of four authors that have been getting my attention lately. 

I recently discovered the work of Amy B. Scher: This Is How I Save My Life (paperback release date May 18, 2021), How to Heal Yourself When No One Else Can, How to Heal Yourself from Anxiety, and How to Heal Yourself from Depression. With her focus on personal responsibility, patience, and a willingness to challenge authority (both inner and outer), we are shown ways to move forward with greater ease and joy.

Author Suleika Jaouad’s profoundly inspirational memoir of illness and recovery, Between Two Kingdoms, chronicles her experience of being diagnosed with leukemia just a few weeks shy of her twenty-third birthday. After extensive treatment followed by recovery and remission, she reveals that while she survived, she did not know how to truly live. Learning how she made her way into connection, balance, and peace of mind is a gift to us all.

Wild Wisdom by Neil Douglas-Klotz is a collection of inspirational writings from wilderness mystics around the world, including Henry David Thoreau, Rainer Maria Rilke, Rachel Carson, Bai Juyi, Kahlil Gibran, Nan Sheperd, and many more. Couldn’t we all use some of that?

Slow Medicine: The Way to Healing by Victoria Sweet is the powerful story of her experiences as a physician and clinical professor of medicine dedicated to the advancement of a more humane, effective, and sustainable approach to health care. 

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“The place of true healing is a fierce place. It’s a giant place. It’s a place of monstrous beauty and endless dark and glimmering light. And you have to work really, really, really hard to get there, but you can do it.”

~Cheryl Strayed