Where Do I Go From Here?

Book excerpt: Life has a way of tilting. Jobs are lost. Children leave. Homes foreclose. Spouses die. Everyone experiences the loss of something or someone precious at some point. And more often than not a loss is unexpected, certainly unwanted, and can be our undoing. Miriam Neff, M.A. in counseling, has experienced loss in many manifestations from her beloved soul mate Bob going home to the Lord to a close family member’s incarceration. Yet, she has learned “that good things are still possible.” “Life is like a kaleidoscope. We point our sphere toward the light, peer in, and see a beautiful array of glass and stones reflecting beauty, diversity, and contrast. We adjust the lens, and another beautiful, yet different combination of color evolves. Then suddenly the kaleidoscope is thrust to face a black hole. No light means no beautiful display. When you timidly, maybe fearfully, tilt your kaleidoscope back toward the light, you’ll see a new combination you’ve never seen before, colors you didn’t know existed. Location and contrast create new and unexpected beauty. “ More than a “survival” book, Where Do I go From Here raises the bar in life after loss to include love, laughter, and adventure. This is a book about facing forward, not backwards. It is about purposely moving into a bolder and broader future. Includes practical help and chapter discussion questions for individual or group study.