Gifts from the Broken Jar: Rediscovering Hope, Beauty, and Joy

by P.J. Long

Everyone, at some time, learns how life can change in a moment: with the crossing of the center line on a highway or the reading of a blood test; a telephone's knell in the still of night or a... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0966739396
• ISBN13: 9780966739398
• Release Date: November 2004
• Publisher: Equilibrium Press
• Length: 254 Pages
• Weight: 1.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.9" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Oh, my! Absolutely wonderful.

As a person with brain damage, I felt like I knew the author, and she knew me. I was touched by finding that another person shared my difficulties and view of the world. This new world can be a terribly frightening and lonely place. Patricia Long faced the challenges, sometimes feeling defeated, but ultimately with a strenght of character that has brought her to a new level she never thought she had in her. Patricia had traumatic brain injury. Mine is acquired and worsening daily. I don't have the ability to get better, but the book was still a great encouragement. I learned some new ways of coping. This book was recommended by my cognitive therapist. And, yes, it took me a half hour, with many corrections, to write this.

easy to read, hard to forget

Wonderful book. Not every one suffers from brain injury, but we all find ourself suffering from one or more of the maladies like anger, aurguments, jealousy, unhappiness, ingratitude, unfulfilled expectations, lethargy and boredom, grumpiness, dissatisfaction with the way things are, disappointments with family and relatives, feeling down and out because we might have had to let go of a job /career for staying home and raising kids, feeling annoyed and used up because of the endless chores and errands involved in running a household. The book " gifts from the broken jar " can help us see the transient nature of everything and remind us to focus on the brighter, positive side of life. While recovering and healing from a non-apparent brain injury the author stumbles upon many truths of life that we all wonder about from time to time. From her interaction with kids, husband, mother and friends the author derives fresh meaning in the ordinery, simple words, gestures and events and from her experience we can see clearly that life is not about having it all, but it is about being thankful for what we have been given and deriving meaning and nurturing from it.Once we begin doing that, the maladies listed above might just free us from thier grip. A book so inspiring, strong and clear that I would read it again and recommend for injured and non-injured brains alike. '

A testimony of strength, of finding joy in life and adapting

Gifts From The Broken Jar: Rediscovering Hope, Beauty, And Joy by P.J. Long is a memoir that encompasses how one's life can change on every level in a single instant. Psychotherapist and author P. J. Long experienced such a cataclysm when an accident caused permanent brain damage. For the first few months afterward, she was unable to reason clearly, hold a conversation, or take care of herself; she was a stranger to herself. The passage of time brought incomplete healing, as she was unable to perform the simplest tasks without complete silence, and still experienced severe difficulty attempting to function or communicate. But in picking up a pen and putting feelings on paper, she was gradually able to learn how to reach out. Her testimony and reflections upon life, as she works to repair the breakage in her own mind, come through with unparalleled power and honesty. "I realized that what is initially most troubling for brain injury patients is their diminished ability to function", she writes candidly. "'Not doing the things I used to do' translates pretty quickly into 'not being the person I used to be.'" Gifts from the Broken Jar is a testimony of strength, of finding joy in life and adapting to change. Highly recommended.

A tribute to the human spirit

PJ's ability to capture the human spirit and her way of telling her story of growth and healing is truly amazing. I found myself looking at my own life in new and creative ways because of her story. It is also the story of deep love and commitment of friends being with each other in the life process. I am giving the book to my friends to help us articulate our process as we encounter the limitations in our lives.

An inspiring chronicle of catastrophe and change

"I'm not myself anymore... I don't know who I am, but I'm not myself. And I really miss that other person. She wasn't perfect, but I liked her. Now she's gone." On September 16, 1999, P.J. Long embarked on her last horse-riding lesson. A gust of wind spooked her horse, and she was thrown, landing twice on her head. She walked away from the accident, but in the days to follow odd symptoms appeared, and she began to sense something was seriously wrong with her. She slept twenty hours a day and could not remember how to do simple tasks in sequential order. Several months later the doctors finally gave their verdict: She had suffered traumatic brain injury (TBI). Her life would never be the same. Gifts from the Broken Jar is Long's memoir of her struggles to find "that other person" and come to terms with her new self-image. No longer able to make mental assessments requiring higher cognitive reasoning, Long realizes that her career as a psychotherapist and college lecturer is essentially over. But through her journaling and e-mail "discussions" with her close friend, novelist Christin Lore Weber, Long discovers that she is still herself. It's not so much her brain functioning and coping mechanisms which have changed for the worse; it's her outlook on life and how she approaches things which have changed for the better. She observes life from a different perspective now, appreciating the simple beauty of nature and the love of her family, no longer frustrated to be labeled as "only" a homemaker, wife and mother. This book presents a touching and inspiring chronicle that reveals how sometimes it takes a hard knock on the head to realize the good God has worked in our lives all along. -- Cindy Appel for the FEARLESS REVIEWS