I'm deeply grateful for all the endorsements I've received so far for Invisible Connections: Living the Paradoxes of Loss. The generosity and enthusiasm with which many individuals have responded to my manuscript have been extraordinary and continue to touch my heart. I appreciate how much time, effort and willingness it takes to share such feedback. Enjoy reading the endorsements below and continue with the testimonials where you will find more amazing insights.
"Martina Steiger has
the courage to feel the pain of life and use it as a labor pain which
leads her to give birth to a book we can all learn from. As a physician I
am well aware of how difficult it is for health professionals and others to
deal with loss. We tend to seek distractions or numbness rather
than accept our wounds and become more complete because of them. So read,
learn, grow and heal." – Bernie Siegel,
MD, author of Buddy's Candle and 365 Prescriptions for the Soul
"The loss of a
loved one is difficult at any time, but when the death is sudden or
unexpected, the grief is painfully deep with many unanswered questions. Even
though the grief process is well-known clinically, this beautifully written
book allows the reader to fully appreciate the profound emotions
which emerge as we seek to make sense of the void. Through her evocative
and poignant prose and poetry, the author allows us into a very private
world following the death of her beloved. Her words will resonate with all who
grieve, family and friends who want to offer support and understanding,
and care givers who often find words inadequate. This is a story of love, loss
and love again. An essential read." - Christine Page, MD, author of 2012 and the Galactic Center: Return of the Great Mother
"This is a mighty work, shared with us by a mighty
heart. With great courage and
tenacity, and despite almost unimaginable hurt and suffering, Martina Steiger
explores the depths of her own personal abyss. In her journaling with striking
poetry and beautiful prose, Steiger lets us see into, and even experience to
some extent, her dark night of the soul.
The journal covers several years, and because it was written at the
time, just as she experienced it, there is an immediacy in her experiences that
the reader can feel.
"Strangely, as this is an
accounting of grief, it is also a lyrical love story. I wish everyone could read this book. It will be deeply meaningful for anyone
who has experienced great loss including loss of loved ones, loss of self and
known identity, as is the case for many wounded survivors of wars, loss of home
and country. It will be useful for
all of us, in our persons and in our loving support of others." – Patricia
Norris, PhD, Author of Why Me? Harnessing
the Healing Power of the Human Spirit
"In
Invisible Connections, Dr. Martina Steiger tells the story of her journey in
the years following her husband's sudden and untimely death. She speaks with candor and with all her
heart, inviting you into the raw emotions, the amazing synchronicities and
ultimately, the rising and renewal of her life path. You will be captivated by her journal entries and touched by
her poetry... which you should read aloud... as you get to know Martina as a fellow
traveler on your own journey." – Frederic
C. Craigie, Jr., PhD, Psychologist/Faculty,
Maine-Dartmouth Family Medicine Residency, Associate
Professor of Community and Family Medicine, Dartmouth Medical School, Associate Clinical
Professor, Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine (formerly Program in
Integrative Medicine), University of Arizona School of Medicine
"Grief due to sudden, unexpected loss of a loved one can
be excruciating and isolating. After the death of my 27 yr old son I felt
like the flattened carcass of a rabbit left in the dust beside a road.
Friends and family tried to comfort me but were at a loss for words.
They simply could not relate to such pain.
Martina Steiger's Invisible Connections
does touch the reader in an immediate, genuinely effective way because she has
lived through such a traumatic loss. No matter where a person is in their
journey through the grieving process, there is guidance and comfort in her
words. If you are grieving or know of someone who is, you will find this
book to be healing and inspirational." – Rev. Cay
Randall-May, PhD, Author of Pray Together Now–How to Find or Form a Prayer
Group and The Intuitive Career–How to Succeed as a Consultant, Reader, or
Healer
"This poignant book is an
eloquent road map for anyone experiencing the stages of grief following a
profound loss. The guiding wisdom comes from someone who has descended down
into the darkness and made it back into the light. We are comforted and learn how to comfort others from
Martina's journal entries and poems." – Marcia
Emery, PhD, Author of PowerHunch! and
the Intuitive Healer
"It is a sad
reality that most of us will sometime experience deep grief and face the
necessity of having to work through it.
"Strange Flight" is the profound account of Martina Steiger's courageous
journey through that darkness and into wisdom. Everyone should read this profoundly moving odyssey. It isn't that we need to see a person
free-fall into the dark void of her grief. But the dizzying fall is an essential part of the odyssey,
and Martina's account of it is rendered elegantly. What we do need, for our own
souls, is to be on hand to see the parachute open, returning this courageous
survivor safely back to earth as the darkness ends in a gradual dawning light. And the light transforms her and links
her to the eternal in a way that brings everything to an enlightened
stasis. Martina's flight through
this dark night should give all of us who suffer our own separate grievings,
the reassurance that we too can accomplish a similar landing.
It is particularly
satisfying for me, a poet, to see that she accomplishes this in part by
incorporating the creation of poetry into her active process. This is the true reason poetry exists." – Harry Youtt, Poet, Writer,
instructor at UCLA; Award Winner
"At some level we
all know that life's not fair - it doesn't follow our rules. Even if our
life is very blessed, we know others who are suffering. Some, perhaps
many, of us have had a number of "little" losses along the way which have left
us perplexed or diminished. In this book, Martina Steiger invites us to
trust, to plunge with her headfirst into the abyss of loss. The risk
is real. The reward is wonder. Thank you, Martina." – Dalinda Reese, MD (USA), MTS, Integrative Wellness
Consultant
"If you have ever enjoyed a poetry reading and
found the added dimensions of the poet's personal stories enhancing and
deepening your experience, you will certainly find even more of the same
experience in reading Martina Steiger's Invisible
Connections: Living the Paradoxes of Loss. While a reading gives you the
poet's retrospective connection with the poems and her or his current
weltanschauung, Martina Steiger's book has the living connection of her
thoughts and feelings that accompanied and birthed her poems. And here we have
a moving and instructive window into the pain of loss and bereavement, and the
processes of returning from the abyss of emptiness and distress back to living
again - in a world forever changed, yet one that is deepened by the passage
through these wrenching experiences." – Daniel J. Benor, MD, Editor in Chief,
The International Journal of Healing and Caring - online and Author of Seven Minutes to Natural Pain Release
"Our refusal to mourn, grieve, and let go
in order to transform our relationships and ourselves lies at the root of our
ongoing pain. Martina Steiger, in her own personal journey of loss, through
memoir and poetry, witnesses to a commitment to mourn and grieve and grow. Her
honest thoughts and raw emotions, soothe, comfort, and support the reader to
follow one's own path, to trust the process of living the paradoxes of loss,
and to welcome the gift of fuller life." – Noel
Kilgarriff, PsyD, Clinical Psychologist, Pastoral Counselor, Assistant
Professor at Holos University
"Martina.... I have read the whole, teetering on
the edge .... knowing all that you are in the now, today, but going back there
with you and reading and then knowing, through your words, the abject loss and
the need to face it....i can hardly look at my own words, they hold such fear
for you and then, so much admiration for the true grit you showed by working
through all this.....and knowing that once again you have found your center and
your world turns now in a little different way, but turns confidently, as it
should.... I am so proud of you, that you have looked upon the abyss, drawn
upon it and forced it to give you what it must, to make friends with it and
finally, let it heal you....Suffering confusion, but finally transforming....
and taking so long, which may now seem no time at all.
This is as raw as it gets, but it is the reality
we hear, time and again, from those who go through the loss and every time we
hear them say 'I never knew it would be like this....' Your honesty will
confirm that they are not the first..." – Evelyn
Smith MacKay, BA, RN (Ret) Past
Chair, The Therapeutic Touch Network of Ontario, 25
year volunteer with Hospice Wellington, Guelph, ON
"After loosing my son several years ago
I read book upon book of how to deal with loss and grief. None of the
books spoke to my heart and soul or resonated with what I was feeling inside.
Martina's book gives voice to many of the indescribable and
inapproachable feelings that I felt and continue to feel. It is a powerful, authentic, and
very healing work of art!"– Lucia Thornton, RN, President of the American
Holistic Nurses Association
Invisible Connections - Main Page Background & Summary Table of Contents Writing Samples Testimonials Go to Top
|
