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| Introduction:
New Pictures, New Components |
By
Arlene Harder, MA, MFT, Editor
If I didn't visit the hairdresser every month, this new picture would
show the many gray hairs I've added from taking so long to finally complete
the Better Tomorrows
Program. Launched on February 1, I was sure the program
for healing strained and broken relationships would be done months ago!
On the other hand, if being pleased with how a project turned out could restore
the brown by magic, I wouldn't need to pay anything to keep my hair colored.
Certainly I am happy because I can bring you the following information today
about a . . .
- A video on
YouTube that illustrates the core of healing relationships.Share it with others and enter a raffle for books from
the Better Tomorrows Program.
- A new logo, new components,
and new free introductory material at no obligation to purchase
anything for Better Tomorrows Program.
- A questionnaire and another
raffle for those who have read Letting
Go of Our Adult Children: When What We Do is Never Enough.
- A book that bridges Australia and the United States through
the story of a woman who overcomes neglect
and abuse to find her African-American family.
- A story of near-death experience that
draws a couple together.
- A request for therapists who
want to lead groups for parents who have problems with adult children
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| Share
a Video, Win a Book |
Since this video illustrates the seventh chapter of Healing Relationships
From the Inside Out, I would love to have lots of people
see it -- not only to learn something about Better Tomorrows,
but also to learn how they can improve their relationships even if
they don't participate in the program.
Therefore, if you think this would
be of interest to readers of your blog or website, go to YouTube and
copy the code for the video or just link to the YouTube page.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RaZ3K08yIA
If you send me a link to the page on your blog or site where you have
my video, or where you have a link to the YouTube page, I will
enter you into a weekly raffle. Each week for six weeks I
will randomly choose a winner for two books (see next feature). At the
end of six weeks I will put all the names into a major
drawing for the complete
Better Tomorrows Program.
What a deal. All you have to do is share the video. And if don't have
an online presence where you can tell people that you like the video,
why not email your friends and/or go to YouTube and rate
the video. |
| A
New Better Tomorrows Program |
 I am pleased to announce that Better Tomorrows has been broken down
into new components to make it more accessible and affordable for a
wider audience, while maintaining the program as a whole for those
who want to experience all of it. So if you have difficulty with a
relationship inside or outside of your family, I want you to know that both of these are packed with helpful information. You can purchase each
for a low price or get both for a very low price.
To learn which component of the program can
help you the most, be sure to read information on the Better
Tomorrows Program. 
WHEN
YOU FINISH THE BETTER TOMORROWS PROGRAM YOU WILL:
Have
a new and more positive perspective of your situation
Know
how to let go of regrets and resentments
Learn
to forgive yourself and others
Have
a lighter and more joyful heart
Livefree of the pain you feel whenever you think of the person with
whom you now have a strained or broken relationship
Discover
that some of your old wounds are
gone and you are well on your way
to healing others
Be
able to manage the ego that so often gets in the way of achieving the
kind of relationships you want
Know
how to become a recovering perfectionist, if that has been part of
your difficulty in a relationship
FREE INTRODUCTORY INFORMATION
For introductory material without any
obligation, you can now receive two preview exercises, an audio guided
imagery, the introduction to Healing Relationships from the
Inside Out, plus a bonus gift of The Law of Attraction in Action, Volume 2. See Heal
Your Relationships With Better Tomorrows. |
| What
Did You Learn from Letting Go of Our Adult Children |
A reader made my day a few weeks ago when I opened my inbox
and read the following, which refers to the book Letting
Go of Our Adult Children, available
online at no cost::
"This is an unabashed fan letter :-)
"Fifteen years ago, when I first began looking for books on this topic in
the biggest bookstore in the US, there wasn't one. There was, however, a
plethora of books on how to heal from inadequate parenting.
"I knew that as my generation aged, they'd begin to show up, and they did.
One by one, I bought them all.
"But here's yours online, offered free, and it's far and away the best I've
ever read on the topic. Hands down. I thank you for your hard-won peace
and your ability to convey it, from the bottom of my wounded but healing
heart. "
-- S. S.
Sharing this gives me a chance to tell you that I am gathering information
from people who have read the book either online or in print. I want to know
what readers have gained from the book, how their lives are different because
of it, and what they still would like to learn about the healing process.
At some point I would like to use that information to create a second version
of the book. So if you are willing to give me this feedback (anonymously if
you wish), please fill out a very
brief questionnaire. When you do, I will
enter you into the raffle (mentioned above) where you can receive one of the
new components of Better Tomorrows, Healing
Relationships From the Inside Out -- or even the complete program. |
Lindsay Lewis, co-author of this inspiring book, is a member of my
Mastermind Group in the Wonderful
Web Women online community and since we seek to encourage one
another, I looked forward to receiving her book, The Inconvenient Child: An Abandoned Australian Child Struggles to Survive and Find her American Father .
So when she sent me a copy of her 416 page book, I was curious as to
what I would write about it for
my readers and for Amazon.com since I was impressed with its length
and with the cover illustration, which strickingly shows the pain of
a child looking for love from a mother who turn her back on her.
But the real pleasure in having the book began when I started reading
the story of Lindsay's long-time friend, Sharyn Killens, who was born
to Grace, a pretty blonde Australian who became pregnant from
a liasson with an Africian-American merchantman in 1948. With both
Grace and her grandmother wanting to hide the fact
of her mixed race child at a time when prejudice was alive and well
in white Australia, the child was sent to a convent-orphanage
run by what Sharyn called the "Sisters
of No Mercy." From there she went to an even worse
hell-hole of Hays House that was eventually shut down because of its
debasement of girls under its charge.
It is said that in order to survive a neglected and abusive childhood
that a child needs a "cookie aunt or grandmother," someone
whose simple acceptance of the child shines love into an otherwise
bleak existence. Sharyn's savior was an African-American champion
boxer and his friends in a house filled with love in Sydney's red light
district for a few years before she was five.
Clearly Sharyn was an "inconvenient" child, as I believe
many children are when they interfere with a parent's narcissistic
needs. Yet in the arc of her life there is inspiration and hope. From
abuse and neglect, from drug use and early motherhood, to life as
a cabaret and cruise ship singer, this is a page-turner of a book as
it moves toward the remarkable discovery of her father and acceptance
by her American family.
I highly recommend this book, and not just because the co-author is
a friend. It would make an inspirational gift.
And speaking of gifts. If you want to give gifts from Amazon.com for
Christmas presents, please use Support4Change as an entry
there. It will help maintain this free website at no additional cost
to you. Just go to the page for this book (see link above) and even if you don't buy that one, anything else you purchase during your visit will be credited to Support4Change. |
|
A Couple
Reacts to a Near-Death Experience |
What does it feel like to have a near-death experience? Barry and Joyce Vissell,
a husband and wife team specializing in marital relationships -- they have
shared many of their stories with Support4Change -- recently discovered
what such an experience meant to each of them.
In June of this year, Barry drank something that nearly killed him and out
of the experience he and Joyce learned much of what it means to almost lose
someone you love. How does love affect such an experience?
You may want to visit
their web site at www.sharedheart.org/ for
their free monthly e-heartletter, their updated schedule, and inspiring past
articles on many topics about relationship and living from the heart.
|
 
| Training
Therapists to Lead Parent/Adult Child Groups |
In two weeks I'll be going to Dallas, Texas, to lead a workshop with Jane
Toler, PhD, LPC-S, who leads a monthly group
of parents estranged from their adult children called Healing Estranged
Relationships (H.E.R.). Now she and I are creating a national program teaching
therapists how to use the Better Tomorrows techniques, as well as the H.E.R.
program. Before too long we
hope to have many local programs for parents who want to heal their hearts
and their families as they deal with their adult children. If you are a therapist,
or know of one, who would like to learn how to work with this under-served
population please contact me. | |
