The Losses of Our Lives

Shows us that by becoming aware of what our lesser losses have to teach us, the larger losses become less terrifying. Includes spiritual practices and questions for reflection, weaving in spiritual and classical themes, scripture and personal story.

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Most books on loss focus on the "big" losses (death, illness, divorce) or on specific losses (relationships, jobs, pets, memory loss, financial loss). Going beyond loss as a problem to be resolved, a grief to be worked through, Dr. Copeland-Payton reframes loss from the perspective that our everyday losses help us learn what we need to handle the major losses. Weaving in spiritual and archetypal themes, personal and scriptural story, the author poses that by becoming aware of what our lesser losses have to teach us, the larger losses of our lives become not so terrifying.

"When we intentionally enter into our everyday walk through small losses, the terrain of larger loss and 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."

Not since Judith Viorst's classic book Necessary Losses has there been such a significant exploration of ordinary losses, especially from a spiritual perspective. An especially valuable book for people in transition, and for spiritual counsellors and therapists.