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Book I Just Want My Life Back  From Trauma to Triumph

Download or read book I Just Want My Life Back From Trauma to Triumph written by Carrie L. Reichartz and published by Bowker Identifier Services. This book was released on 2019-09-14 with total page 162 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Being so young, unable to put words to what was happening. Not knowing anyone else's life was any different . Believing it had no affect on her life.It was probably her fault It was probably her fault for not reacting or doing something different. Journeying through perfectionism and other attempts to control the world around her and make it a safe place.Living alone, abandoned, and afraid for 30+ years with awake of broken dreams, relationships, and scars. Carrie battled her way out of the dark and into the light. Let her story be a guiding light to help you into healing, joy, and love. You are not alone. Let's do this together.

Book From Trauma 2 Triumph

Download or read book From Trauma 2 Triumph written by Antoinette Spade and published by AuthorHouse. This book was released on 2020-02-11 with total page 241 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Love. What is it? Can a person describe love? Can love even be described? Throughout time, it has been heard that love can be defined in different ways. That there are different types and styles. It has been heard that love could be defined as an attraction (driven by the chemicals in our brains such as adrenaline, dopamine, and serotonin), an infatuation, a feeling, an emotion, an action and even as much as a choice. In this book you will read of how a woman experienced the Storge (empathy), Philia (friendly), Eros (romantic) types of love throughout her life at the onset of trauma that cost her identity, therefore, leading her through life searching for the only type of love that not only covered all her mistakes and bad decisions, but also experienced the only type of love that she needed called the Agape (unconditional) type of love. The trauma Antoinette experienced stemmed from various types of abuse she went through during her childhood at which when she reached her teen years had prompted her to embark on different endeavors during those years into the adult years of her life. The most crucial and important type of love there is to be found by everyone, including Antoinette. It was when she found that type of love did she realize that there really and truly was someone who did see her as a person, a human that noticed and loved her for who she was. Someone not only fully loved her, but also fully knew her even when she was in her mother’s womb. This love, my friend, was the love that she had been longing for, searching for her whole life. It took for her to experience this love that she finally recognized someone was chasing her all along and didn’t even know it. This love that was given to Antoinette was not merely because she was attracted by this someone, no, she was chosen by this someone because of the unconditional love that He had for her. He made a choice, which is an action. He made a sacrifice for her, but He knew He had to let her experience all that she did in order for her to find the love that she longed for. It has been 16 years since she has found this love and it hasn’t faded away for her, nor did it ever leave or hurt her, not one time. Because of this very reason, Antoinette would like to share who gave her this love and let you know that this love is being given to you too. I must assure you; Antoinette is of NO exception to this very love by any means and she would just like to share her story with you in hopes that you will find this very same love too. It doesn’t matter who we are, where we come from, or even what we did in our life because we too are worth being loved the very same way that she was at all costs. This love that Antoinette found was totally worth finding. She found it so worthy that she is willingly choosing to share it with all of us in hopes of us accepting the value of our own worth to accept this very same love too. Contact Information: [email protected]

Book What My Bones Know

Download or read book What My Bones Know written by Stephanie Foo and published by Ballantine Books. This book was released on 2023-02-21 with total page 353 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A searing memoir of reckoning and healing by acclaimed journalist Stephanie Foo, investigating the little-understood science behind complex PTSD and how it has shaped her life “Achingly exquisite . . . providing real hope for those who long to heal.”—Lori Gottlieb, New York Times bestselling author of Maybe You Should Talk to Someone ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: The Washington Post, Cosmopolitan, NPR, Mashable, She Reads, Publishers Weekly By age thirty, Stephanie Foo was successful on paper: She had her dream job as an award-winning radio producer at This American Life and a loving boyfriend. But behind her office door, she was having panic attacks and sobbing at her desk every morning. After years of questioning what was wrong with herself, she was diagnosed with complex PTSD—a condition that occurs when trauma happens continuously, over the course of years. Both of Foo’s parents abandoned her when she was a teenager, after years of physical and verbal abuse and neglect. She thought she’d moved on, but her new diagnosis illuminated the way her past continued to threaten her health, relationships, and career. She found limited resources to help her, so Foo set out to heal herself, and to map her experiences onto the scarce literature about C-PTSD. In this deeply personal and thoroughly researched account, Foo interviews scientists and psychologists and tries a variety of innovative therapies. She returns to her hometown of San Jose, California, to investigate the effects of immigrant trauma on the community, and she uncovers family secrets in the country of her birth, Malaysia, to learn how trauma can be inherited through generations. Ultimately, she discovers that you don’t move on from trauma—but you can learn to move with it. Powerful, enlightening, and hopeful, What My Bones Know is a brave narrative that reckons with the hold of the past over the present, the mind over the body—and examines one woman’s ability to reclaim agency from her trauma.

Book Turning Trauma Into Triumph

Download or read book Turning Trauma Into Triumph written by Richard C. Scheinberg and published by Wordclay. This book was released on 2007-04 with total page 184 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What if someone told you that the most difficult period in your life may be a blessing in disguise? As a psychotherapist with 25 years of experience, Richard C. Scheinberg has candidly and succinctly summarized the spiritual and deeply personal transformation of ten people attempting to overcome the worst challenges of their lives. In this inspirational book, Scheinberg also reveals how he survived the most difficult periods in his own life. Furthermore, he conveys his personal conviction that our common strengths emanate from a source more powerful than any challenges that may come our way. "An amazing book!" -Dr. Vivienne Finnegan, MD, Melbourne, Australia "It's very rare that a book comes along that is so thought-provoking about life. It made me reflect about my own life and start to truly understand 'How did I get here?' I started reading and I couldn't put it down! I loved it in its entirety and I can't wait to read it again!" -Michael D'Amico, Medical Programming Engineer, Selden, New York

Book Trauma to Triumph

Download or read book Trauma to Triumph written by Mark Goulston and published by HarperCollins Leadership. This book was released on 2021-03-23 with total page 128 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When you turn a crisis or even a trauma into a learning moment, it will turn fear into courage and then determination. This leadership roadmap shows you the way to successfully navigating through crisis or trauma and coming out stronger on the other side. Organizational trauma takes many forms. It could be a pandemic that disrupts the way people work. An economic meltdown. An act of violence. A failed merger. A layoff—or continual threats of one. Whatever the scenario, events like these can traumatize leaders and employees, sending everyone into survival mode. Here’s the good news: when leaders navigate a traumatic event effectively, the organization doesn’t just survive. In Trauma to Triumph, Mark Goulston, MD, and Diana Hendel present a visionary and tactical roadmap to help leaders create stability amid chaos and uncertainty, move productively through a traumatic event, and flourish in ways previously unimagined. After reading this book, readers will learn: How the survival mechanism manifests in employees and leaders amid trauma The predictable polarities, dilemmas, tensions and other patterns that emerge in traumatized organizations…and how to break these cycles Why lack of clarity in roles and poor communication are dangerous in times of crisis (and how to avoid these common pitfalls) How leaders can shift to a mindset that helps create trust, confidence, safety, respect, and inspiration in employees Best practices for leading yourself and others through crisis; grieving losses, embracing healthy coping mechanisms, reframing, and more How to launch a rapid-response process where you “control the controllables” and create a framework for making better decisions during a crisis High-impact tactics to help your organization recover and heal in a way that doesn’t just return to baseline, but transcends it Filled with tools and tactics, Trauma to Triumph is an organization-wide blueprint for navigating a future where we’ll likely experience one trauma or crisis after another. It gives leaders at every level the guidance to create confidence, courage, and enthusiasm in their team.

Book The Essence of Resilience

    Book Details:
  • Author : Tanya Lauer
  • Publisher : Health Communications, Inc.
  • Release : 2016-10-11
  • ISBN : 0757319416
  • Pages : 290 pages

Download or read book The Essence of Resilience written by Tanya Lauer and published by Health Communications, Inc.. This book was released on 2016-10-11 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Trauma is like a thief in that night that steals peace and joy from the souls of its unsuspecting victims. Whether it is a series of events...or a singular incident...no one is ever left unchanged by traumatic events. Here you will meet 14 trauma survivors who embody the essence of resilience; people who endured the unthinkable, then found a way to rewrite their story, celebrating their strengths and, ultimately, learning to not only survive but thrive. --

Book Trauma  Tears   Triumph

    Book Details:
  • Author : Salty
  • Publisher : Balboa Press
  • Release : 2019-06-01
  • ISBN : 1982228938
  • Pages : 327 pages

Download or read book Trauma Tears Triumph written by Salty and published by Balboa Press. This book was released on 2019-06-01 with total page 327 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: You pull me in. I resist. I run away but want to crumble. Your eyes: only one glance, one look, hits me like a tidal wave. I can’t breathe. I’m plunging. Rescue me before I drown. I hide but wish to be found only by you ... Salty understands first-hand the devastating effects of trauma as well as the importance of showing ourselves compassion during these moments rather than placing unreasonable expectations on ourselves to “get over it” after a certain time period. In a poetic story of love, loss, and lessons learned, Salty shares writings that lead others on a journey through the depths of the heart as she bravely confronted the emotions associated with unrequited love, self-doubt, and heartache, ultimately learning how to lift herself up and face the future with a new perspective. In poems and prose that speak to the universal human experience, Salty helps us all map a course through one of our most relatable struggles in life. Trauma, Tears & Triumph shares poems and prose that lyrically chronicle a young woman’s powerful journey to and from the self as she struggled with and eventually healed from heartache and loss.

Book The Girls Within

    Book Details:
  • Author : Gill Frost
  • Publisher : Phoenix Publishing House
  • Release : 2020-11-30
  • ISBN : 1912691604
  • Pages : 430 pages

Download or read book The Girls Within written by Gill Frost and published by Phoenix Publishing House. This book was released on 2020-11-30 with total page 430 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A compelling true story of one woman's battle with the aftermath of childhood trauma, which gives a gripping account of the often controversial and misunderstood condition of dissociative identity disorder (DID), formerly known as multiple personality disorder (MPD). This emotional but ultimately uplifting journey details the unforeseen twists and turns of the effects of therapy and how it can help in coming to terms with the past and its unsettling echoes in the present. Heartwarming and lucid, it's an inspiring tale for all to read. Through its clinical rigour, professional therapists will also gain insight into the various treatment options for DID, including the innovative use of energy therapy. The book contains 32 colour illustrations, including 24 drawings by The Girls. The star of this book is an extraordinary, bright-spirited, and entertaining six-year-old girl, called Little Vivvi, who experienced shocking abuse from members of her family. Yet Little Vivvi lives within Vivian, a middle-aged woman who has struggled with DID for many years. The challenging process of psychotherapy is laid bare, as Little Vivvi wrestles with overwhelming memories of childhood abuse. Alongside talking therapy, energy treatment, which she calls Wooshing, is utilised to astonishing effect, becoming the enigmatic ingredient that finally enables Little Vivvi to find relief from the distress and fear that had dominated her existence. As therapy seems to draw to a close, Izzy appears. A very sensitive, thoughtful and mature eight-year-old, Izzy too needs love, support and treatment to speak about her trauma. After overcoming her understandable distrust, Izzy enables an exceptional ending to the therapeutic journey, far beyond anything Vivian and her therapist, Gill, could have dreamed. Little Vivvi and Izzy will make you want to laugh out loud as well as cry. Their story teaches so much about suffering, dissociation and survival. Their aim is to enlighten, inspire and offer hope to others through reading their incredible tales, which reveal the astonishing power of The Girls within.

Book From Trauma to Triumph

    Book Details:
  • Author : Uboho Bassey
  • Publisher : Xlibris Corporation
  • Release : 2020-10-28
  • ISBN : 1664135057
  • Pages : 409 pages

Download or read book From Trauma to Triumph written by Uboho Bassey and published by Xlibris Corporation. This book was released on 2020-10-28 with total page 409 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: FINDING LIBERTY: FROM TRAUMA TO TRIUMPH There’s nothing like the written Word of God for showing you the way to true liberty through faith in Jesus Christ. Through God’s Word we are created, mended, shaped and put back together for the purpose predestined for us. Let it equip and empower you to walk in liberty. Do not be so scared that you cannot envision the glory of a new beginning. Do not be so consumed by tests, trials, and trauma that you fail to grasp the glory of the coming triumph. Do not feel so condemned that you feel there is no redemption for you. Do not be so beaten down by the scourge of captivity that you jettison the glory of freedom. Do not allow the troubles of your past faze you or your present tribulations derail you. Forget the ugly truths – the unmentionable pains and the inconceivable hurts. Remember the reasons. Remember your dreams. Remember why you began the journey in the beginning. Remember the call of liberty. The call that told you, “You are more than this.” Remember the stirrings in your spirit for something more meaningful, more fulfilling, more enriching than the mediocre, mundane and ordinary existence that sapped your energy and dampened your spirit at the rising of the sun. We don’t get burned out because of what we do. We get burned out because we forget why we do the things we do. Whether you are jaded from past trauma, a present heartache, or a persistent feeling of rejection, self-doubt, the bitter sting of failure does not have to narrate your story. If you conclude that your best days are over – they are. If you think they’re ahead – they are. Regardless of the adversity that you face, regardless of how abysmal you think your situation is, you can face every day with enthusiasm. You can walk your way through trauma to triumph. All it requires is your faith. You can be everything you always dreamed of, soaring to the heights that always called out to you. You can dream again, journeying with uncertainty through the valley of rebirth - knowing that God is still in control. As you learn to cultivate the power within, you will come to the truth that you are broken to be blessed and that your liberty is guaranteed – as you transit from trauma to triumph. Graves become gardens and bones become armies. Ashes become beauty and seas becomes highways! The oil of joy for mourning, and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness. Heroes and victims both get knocked down by life’s circumstances. See yourself as a Hero that got back up, armed with faith and determined for purpose, instead of a victim that stayed down, defeated by fear. Be the Hero that creates a positive future from a broken past. Whether the captivity we experience is due to the actions of others or social circumstances, the captivity of physical infirmities, or that which we bring to ourselves by our own mindset, choices and attitude, the captivity of physical death comes to us all as a result of the fall of Adam. God offers liberty to all captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound. Let this book “From Trauma to Triumph: Finding Liberty” uncover how God transforms a troubled past into a glorious destiny to illustrate that there is more in you than your history.

Book Peeling Back the Layers

Download or read book Peeling Back the Layers written by Lawayne Childrey and published by . This book was released on 2014-11-25 with total page 308 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Everyday millions of people lose sight of their dreams when life's gut wrenching curve balls knock them off their feet and out of the game. With the grace of God, that was not the case for Lawayne Orlando Childrey, who has endured some of the most horrific trauma imaginable, including childhood sexual abuse, depression, a crack cocaine addiction and an HIV diagnosis. Childrey beat all the odds to become an award-winning and respected news journalist, a dream he has had since childhood. In his autobiography, Peeling Back the Layers, Childrey demonstrates his ability to persevere during times of immense struggle by relying on the faith that was instilled in him as a child.

Book Think Unbroken

    Book Details:
  • Author : Michael Anthony
  • Publisher :
  • Release : 2020
  • ISBN : 9780578623917
  • Pages : 248 pages

Download or read book Think Unbroken written by Michael Anthony and published by . This book was released on 2020 with total page 248 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The impact of childhood trauma and abuse can forever alter the course of history. Throughout generations, countless children have been hurt by those that are meant to care for them. Yet, in society once those children turn to adults the impacts of child abuse are often discounted and spoken to with the frame of 'that was years ago" or "it's time to get over it." The reality is that we are at the core a collection of all of our experiences leading up to this very moment. If the childhood trauma survivor's foundation is built atop a volcano, then sooner or later it will be engulfed. Childhood trauma and abuse is the elephant in the room of societies mental health epidemic, and most people don't know how to understand the role that trauma has played in their life.When I sat down to craft the baseline of The Think Unbroken book, I did so intending to create something that would be a testimony to the undeniable will of the human mindset. For generations, the world has been plagued by the ramifications of the effects of Child Trauma, and like millions of childhood trauma survivors, I was stuck in The Vortex. My life in a word was a disaster. I was an addict of undeniable proportions, I was morbidly obese and suffocating under the weight of my past. Think Unbroken is not only a guide to helping other Trauma Survivors find their way out of The Vortex, but it is also the cornerstone to how I changed my life. I am, in essence, a product of my product, and I believe that Think Unbroken is the key to taking the first steps in overcoming the effects of childhood trauma.This book will expose you to possibility through mindset, palatable understandings of self, and a step by step guide to discovering out how to place the first piece of the puzzle on the table. What you will find in Think Unbroken is not just my story, but a reflection of the possibilities that can become a reality when you understand that Mindset is Everything. Childhood trauma took everything from me, but I took everything back, and so can you."THOUGH TRAUMA MAY BE OUR FOUNDATION IT IS NOT OUR FUTURE."

Book I Love My Life

    Book Details:
  • Author : Charlotte Lewis
  • Publisher : Balboa Press
  • Release : 2023-07-09
  • ISBN :
  • Pages : 95 pages

Download or read book I Love My Life written by Charlotte Lewis and published by Balboa Press. This book was released on 2023-07-09 with total page 95 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: I Love My Life takes you on a healing journey from deepest despair to finding an inner sanctuary where all of life is celebrated in peace and joy. Lewis invites you to traverse with her from the dark night of her soul to remission from cancer, from grief, and divorce, to fractured minds mended and broken hearts healed. She shares the challenges she encounters along the way, lessons learned, and a holistic treasure chest of tools and practices to help on your individual quest to heal yourself, and ultimately to love your life.

Book Getting Past Your Past

    Book Details:
  • Author : Francine Shapiro
  • Publisher : Rodale Books
  • Release : 2013-03-26
  • ISBN : 1609613686
  • Pages : 354 pages

Download or read book Getting Past Your Past written by Francine Shapiro and published by Rodale Books. This book was released on 2013-03-26 with total page 354 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An accessible user's guide to overcoming trauma from the creator of a scientifically proven form of psychotherapy that has successfully treated millions of people worldwide. Whether we’ve experienced small setbacks or major traumas, we are all influenced by our memories and by experiences we may not remember or fully understand. Getting Past Your Past offers practical techniques that demystify the human condition and empower readers looking to take charge of their lives. Shapiro, the creator of EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing), explains how our personalities develop and why we become trapped into feeling, believing and acting in ways that don't serve us. Through detailed examples and exercises readers will learn to understand themselves, and why the people in their lives act the way they do. Most importantly, readers will also learn techniques to improve their relationships, break through emotional barriers, overcome limitations, and excel in ways taught to Olympic athletes, successful executives, and performers. An easy conversational style, humor, and fascinating real life stories make it simple to understand the brain science, why we get stuck in various ways and how to achieve real change.

Book STRONG  Successful Women Share Stories of Childhood Trauma and Triumph  illustrated in full color

Download or read book STRONG Successful Women Share Stories of Childhood Trauma and Triumph illustrated in full color written by Mia Doucet and published by Bankerman Press. This book was released on 2023-09-11 with total page 217 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Eighty-one successful women from 22 countries share poignant memoirs of early childhood struggle and suffering: trauma, loss, betrayal, bullying, neglect, sexual abuse, and the disconnection of dysfunctional family relationships. The memoirs read like intimate bits of conversation between best friends, overheard, at times in sordid detail. These stories are in stark contradiction to the nostalgic ones we like to tell ourselves about the charms of childhood. They paint the picture of early years that are not all sunshine and rainbows. Some will amuse. Some will tear at your heart. The author writes in a brief, clear, concise style. Original, full-color drawings capture the essence of each memory as seen through the eyes of the innocent child. "This compelling collection of personal narratives has been honored with the prestigious Literary Titan Gold Book Award, a recognition reserved for books that masterfully deliver original content, explore innovative themes, and exhibit elegant prose." NOTE: This book contains several true accounts of child abuse that some readers may find disturbing. This book is not for children.

Book Though I Walk Through The Valley

Download or read book Though I Walk Through The Valley written by Timothy W. Scott and published by Fulton Books, Inc.. This book was released on 2022-10-13 with total page 213 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Walking the painful path of divorce leaves us feeling isolated, despaired, and doubtful of any happiness and peace again. While the narratives shared in this book are theirs alone, there are great commonalities. Each is full of pain; but even in the valley of messy, broken, and death-filled relationships, there is relief, healing, and hope in every story. You will find hopeful reassurance in and through the raging storms and valleys of shattered relationships. No matter the wounds, Tim Scott reminds us there is a healing balm that sustains us if we will make the choice to turn to Christ in our brokenness. We have every reason to hope. --Terry W. Pollard, pastoral coach and mentor (Des Moines, Iowa) The weaving of the experience of different people of both genders and ages along with strong biblical reference and relevance creates an undeniable picture of the human condition. In reading this book, God will stretch your thinking and sensitize your heart to the heart of this painful reality. A must-read for anyone interested in representing the real Jesus to a broken world. --Pastor Ernest Mullins (Raleigh, North Carolina) As a pastor and child of divorce, I found Though I Walk through the Valley a heartfelt, gut-wrenching, and hopeful story of walking through the valley of divorce. This book is a great resource for those who find themselves in the heartbreaking situation of a broken dream and marriage. God's grace will walk with you every step of the way. --Pastor Gina Colburn, BreakPointe Community Church (Overland Park, Kansas) I believe that Though I Walk through the Valley will be a very helpful resource, both to those who have gone through a divorce or who are on the verge of going into one. Most of us in the church are unaware of the opportunity for ministry among those we know who are going through this valley. This book will be a great resource in helping the church understand the struggles of an individual going through a divorce. --Pastor Shawn DeOrnellis (Milton, Washington) Sharing many people's stories makes Though I Walk through the Valley very relatable. I believe God is going to use this book to minister to many. --Pastor Dan Menefee, Crossroads Wesleyan Church (Rapid City, South Dakota)

Book The Stroke of Grace

Download or read book The Stroke of Grace written by Warren G. Landrum Jr. and published by Xlibris Corporation. This book was released on 2014-06-20 with total page 283 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Stroke of Grace was written to provide an up-close and personal look into the life of one of the most unique young men I have ever had the pleasure of getting to know. I believe, as others do, that perseverance definitely describes Juaquin Hawkins, who overcame unique obstacles that have inspired, and are still inspiring, many people. When you combine the different challenges he overcame, with the strong determination he displayed-anchored in a deep-rooted spirituality passed down to him from his Grandma Tweet-you have the making of a story that is both inspirational and motivational. This book is written in a format that is slightly different from most autobiographies. We wanted you to be the proverbial fly on the wall during some of these crucial moments in his life. Juaquins journey includes trauma, triumphs, and testimony that describe overcoming challenges to making it to the top of his profession in the National Basketball Association (NBA) and beyond. Although reaching the NBA was satisfying and significant to him, the work that Juaquin has done post-NBA and post-stroke will likely have a more lasting impact and leave an enduring legacy as he constantly strives to satisfy his God-given plan and purpose.

Book Shadows Bright as Glass

    Book Details:
  • Author : Amy Ellis Nutt
  • Publisher : Simon and Schuster
  • Release : 2011-04-05
  • ISBN : 1439150079
  • Pages : 310 pages

Download or read book Shadows Bright as Glass written by Amy Ellis Nutt and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2011-04-05 with total page 310 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On a sunny fall afternoon in 1988, Jon Sarkin was playing golf when, without a whisper of warning, his life changed forever. As he bent down to pick up his golf ball, something strange and massive happened inside his head; part of his brain seemed to unhinge, to split apart and float away. For an utterly inexplicable reason, a tiny blood vessel, thin as a thread, deep inside the folds of his gray matter had suddenly shifted ever so slightly, rubbing up against his acoustic nerve. Any noise now caused him excruciating pain. After months of seeking treatment to no avail, in desperation Sarkin resorted to radical deep-brain surgery, which seemed to go well until during recovery his brain began to bleed and he suffered a major stroke. When he awoke, he was a different man. Before the stroke, he was a calm, disciplined chiropractor, a happily married husband and father of a newborn son. Now he was transformed into a volatile and wildly exuberant obsessive, seized by a manic desire to create art, devoting virtually all his waking hours to furiously drawing, painting, and writing poems and letters to himself, strangely detached from his wife and child, and unable to return to his normal working life. His sense of self had been shattered, his intellect intact but his way of being drastically altered. His art became a relentless quest for the right words and pictures to unlock the secrets of how to live this strange new life. And what was even stranger was that he remembered his former self. In a beautifully crafted narrative, award-winning journalist and Pulitzer Prize finalist Amy Ellis Nutt interweaves Sarkin’s remarkable story with a fascinating tour of the history of and latest findings in neuroscience and evolution that illuminate how the brain produces, from its web of billions of neurons and chaos of liquid electrical pulses, the richness of human experience that makes us who we are. Nutt brings vividly to life pivotal moments of discovery in neuroscience, from the shocking “rebirth” of a young girl hanged in 1650 to the first autopsy of an autistic savant’s brain, and the extraordinary true stories of people whose personalities and cognitive abilities were dramatically altered by brain trauma, often in shocking ways. Probing recent revelations about the workings of creativity in the brain and the role of art in the evolution of human intelligence, she reveals how Jon Sarkin’s obsessive need to create mirrors the earliest function of art in the brain. Introducing major findings about how our sense of self transcends the bounds of our own bodies, she explores how it is that the brain generates an individual “self” and how, if damage to our brains can so alter who we are, we can nonetheless be said to have a soul. For Jon Sarkin, with his personality and sense of self permanently altered, making art became his bridge back to life, a means of reassembling from the shards of his former self a new man who could rejoin his family and fashion a viable life. He is now an acclaimed artist who exhibits at some of the country’s most prestigious venues, as well as a devoted husband to his wife, Kim, and father to their three children. At once wrenching and inspiring, this is a story of the remarkable human capacity to overcome the most daunting obstacles and of the extraordinary workings of the human mind.