To Hell and Back...Healing Your Way Through Transition

By Gail Kauranen Jones

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• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1587362694
• ISBN13: 9781587362699
• Release Date: January 2003
• Publisher: Hats Off Books
• Length: 172 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.0" x 0.5" x 6.0"

Customer Reviews

Teaches through example.

Gail's book doesn't just talk about the feelings and thoughts that we experience during major life transitions; she puts sidebars with very specific prescriptive recommendations on what you can do. I think that's what sets this book apart from many that explore inner struggle. The book is 1/3 deep, personal diary; 1/3 "this is how it made me feel"; and 1/3 "if you felt this too, then do A, B, and C to get through it." I am impressed with the author's candid, vulnerable, and honest exploration of her own struggles and willingness to expose her own weak moments to others, so that they can learn from them. Only a strong, self-assured person can use their own dark moments as a teaching tool for others. I think Gail has done it well.

Journey into Freedom

Gail Jones takes the reader on a journey through four major transitions in her life: finding vocation, motherhood, eldercare, and the death of her father. The book's title, To Hell and Back, is apt: Jones has been there; the raw emotions of her responses to these life changes permeate her story. She invites the reader to stand with her in pain, despair, loneliness, frustration, and rage. Jones isn't afraid to touch these tender places in courage and honesty. In bringing a light into her own darkness, she shines a beacon for others to follow.But as she gives voice to the hurt, she also chooses freedom. The richness of the book lies in her story of self-understanding, empowerment, and self-love; her road back is the path to heaven. Transition is a deeply personal and unique experience that offers the opportunity to unfold into wholeness. Jones honors grief as a transformative energy and shows the reader how to take time to grieve and to let go, to face emptiness and uncertainty with strength and make a new life from nothing else but the creative power of love. While Jones advocates reflection and diving deep into the psyche to process transition, she also warns against isolation and offers helpful advice for building support through community for the journey. While intensely reflective, the book is also richly pro-active and offers helpful advice throughout for creatively dealing with change.To men: while the book is about a woman's experience, her journey is essentially human and crosses gender boundaries. There is something magical about the disclosure of the feminine that also illuminates the masculine. Read this book as a guide for help with your own transitions and for supporting the life changes of the women in your life.

Ready for Transition

After reading this book in just one sitting (for fear of not having the time to pick it up again), I can not wait to pass it on to my friends and family. I have always thought of myself as lucky for not having to deal with hardships or trauma like many of those around me. I used to believe in the mantra, "That will never happen to me." As I have gotten older, things have started to happen to me. I have seen friends lose their loved ones. I have "parented a parent" after surgery and watched as hard working and motivated friends have lost the jobs they thought would last a lifetime. This book not only taught me strategies to deal with these life changes; it also reminded me to live in the moment and appreciate and embrace transition. As I continue my journey through life's expected and unexpected transitions, I will use this book as a reference and an inspiration.

A MUST READ

"To Hell and Back" is a must read for any adult in transition. As a Financial Advisor working with clients enduring and planning for career changes, retirements, births, and deaths I see true value in Gail's insights. Most importantly this book helps us understand transition as a process and evolution that is in many ways inevitable. In a rapidly changing world we must learn to embrace change and understand our feelings and role in the process of change. "To Hell and Back" is the textbook for achieving this necessary understanding and the fulfilling life and happiness that is the direct result of building a well balanced career and family life.

A must read!

Life is full of transitions that can weaken us or make us stronger. To hell and back is one of those reads that gives us the ability to realize that we are more than capable of becoming stronger as we move through our life experiences. The author shares with the reader some of her most difficult transitions and through her words we realize we're not alone as we travel our own path experiencing our transitions along the way. The wisdom she has gained is shared throughout the book so we may take it in and apply into our own life. To hell and back is a must read for anyone moving through some of life's more difficult moments.