You Are Not Alone: A Heartfelt Guide to Grief, Healing, and Hope

by Debbie Augenthaler

Overview

Has someone you love died? Or have you experienced another kind of loss where you feel like a part of you has died? Do you feel alone in what you're experiencing? You're not alone. When Debbie Augenthaler was 36 years-old, her husband Jim died suddenly and unexpectedly, in her arms, of a heart attack. Debbie thought her life was over and felt hopeless about the future. Yet today she is living a life filled with love, hope, and meaning.



Just as she has helped many grief-stricken people as a psychotherapist specializing in trauma, grief, and loss, Debbie and her wisdom can help you too. In her book. Debbie combines her personal story of devastating loss with practical insights and simple suggestions for healing and hope.

With the connection of a shared experience, ‘You Are Not Alone’ is a gentle guide through grief, transformation, and a new beginning.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781732023307
Publisher:	Everystep, LLC
Publication date:	05/01/2018
Pages:	268
Sales rank:	532,190
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.61(d)

About the Author

Debbie is a psychotherapist with a private practice in New York City, where she has specialized in trauma, grief, and loss. Interweaving eastern philosophy, energy healing, and spiritual practices from cultures around the world, Debbie bridges together traditions of ancient and modern, east and west, the wisdom of the ages, and the many different ways people have ritualized grief and healing. She uses time-honored practices to inform the tools she shares with readers and clients.

Debbie holds a deep curiosity and interest in how people have been dealing with grief and loss since the beginning of time. She helps normalize common feelings and experiences for people who are grieving, and holds space for each of us to experience grief in our own way and time, because grief is not linear. There are many gifts that accompany loss, including spiritual awakenings, discovering the connection with forever love, developing deep compassion, and grateful appreciation for the blessings along the way - from grief to healing to transformation and joy. Debbie has walked this path throughout her life and wants to help you on your path from grief to joy.

Prior to becoming a therapist she had a successful career in the financial industry for over twenty years. Debbie has a Master's Degree in Counseling for Mental Health and Wellness from New York University and completed a two year post-graduate Advanced Trauma Studies program at the Institute of Contemporary Psychotherapy. In 2012 she received the NYU Steinhardt Award for Outstanding Clinical Service.

With the connection of a shared experience, Debbie guides the reader through grief to transformation and a new beginning.

Table of Contents

Introduction................................................................................ xv

Prologue...................................................................................... xxi

SHATTERED

1. Those Three Words........................................................... 1

“Third Eye Kiss” by Debbie Augenthaler.......... 16

2. The First Night................................................................... 19

3. Widow Falling.................................................................... 33

GRIEVING AND COPING

4. Please Come Back............................................................ 47

“If You Knew” by Ellen Bass...................................... 62

5. Cinnamon Toast............................................................... 65

6. Rites and Rituals............................................................... 75

7. Walking the Stairs........................................................... 89

8. Lost........................................................................................ 105

9. Crossing the Street....................................................... 117

EMERGING AND TRANSITION

10. Gift of Permission....................................................... 127

“The Thing Is” by Ellen Bass.................................. 134

11. Hard To Let Go........................................................... 137

12. The Butterfly Clan..................................................... 151

“Heavy” by Mary Oliver........................................... 164

13. Ready to Dance Again.............................................. 169

14. Turning Point .............................................................. 183

EXPANDING INTO THE MYSTERY

15. I Didn’t Want to Know ........................................... 197

16. Tell Everyone............................................................... 207

17. Moon - Light.................................................................. 219

“Welcome Home” by Debbie Augenthaler ...... 229

18. Still Transforming ..................................................... 235

APPENDIX: How to Help ............................................ 236

Editorial Reviews

“Debbie Augenthaler is that rare combination of someone who has endured great personal loss and a skilled, caring clinician who has figured out how to use that experience to help others cope successfully with grief. Her book is unique because, as she says, “she gets it.” She is a beautiful writer who inspires the reader to imagine the transformative power of grief and leads the way to healing and hope.”

— Shelley Reciniello, Ph.D., author of The Conscious Leader, Winner, Best Motivational Business Book, INDIE Excellence Awards 2015

“What a gift Debbie Augenthaler has given us! Grief is a road each of us must travel in our lives that feels at once impossibly difficult yet completely inevitable. If ever a journey called for a wise companion, it is the trail from loss to healing. In You Are Not Alone, Debbie has descended to the depths of her own grief to surface with treasures in the form of practical insights and simple suggestions for healing. If you or someone you love is facing a loss, one could not ask for a better guide.”

— Joel ben Izzy, Storyteller and author of The Beggar King and The Secret to Happiness

“Writer and psychotherapist Debbie Augenthaler has done what she set out to do: based on her personal and professional experience, she has written a book which will assist those dealing with the death of a loved one. Without question, the reader will gain comfort from Ms. Augenthaler's understanding, experience, genuine concern, and humanity.”

— Judie Alpert, Ph.D. Professor of Applied Psychology, New York University

““You Are Not Alone” is a must read for anyone dealing with extreme loss, and a recommended book for the rest of us. It’s a wonderful combination of story and guide. Organized in a way that makes it both a riveting read, as well as a practical how-to book on rebuilding one’s life after devastating loss.”

— Yitzhak Berger, Ph.D., CRC, Adj. Associate Professor, New York University

""You Are Not Alone" is a beautifully expressed book that will give readers the confidence to deal with their loss and grief, and appreciate the deeper compassion they develop while dealing with grief. The combination of prose, poems, and tips for quick meditations make it an interesting guide and, at the same time, it shows readers how to find their direction. Most importantly, the book gives hope to all those who are grieving."

— Mamta Madhavan for Readers' Favorite

From the Publisher