Mary Jaksch, my blogging friend from Goodlife Zen, just released a new e-book entitled From Tragedy to Triumph: How to Win Through a Life Crisis. The 42 pages e-book gives us tips on how to overcome crisis in life and turn the situation around.

I’m glad because the topic of the e-book is related to our monthly theme of Happiness. Crisis can greatly hinder us from finding Happiness, so knowing how to overcome it is essential.

Let’s look deeper into the e-book.

Inside From Tragedy to Triumph

The e-book is divided into seven parts: Introduction, The Crisis, and one part each for five steps to healing: Acceptance, Presence, Action, Forgiveness, and Integration.

Introduction

The structure of the e-book is laid out here. First the crisis that could happen in our life is explored. To overcome this crisis, Mary uses a method called “five steps of healing” that she has used to help many people she encountered.

The Crisis

There are many kinds of crisis that could happen in our life. Four kinds of them are explored here: shock (e.g. unexpected lost of a loved one), loss (e.g. losing a job), trauma (e.g. accidents), and stress (e.g. stress at work).

Step 1: Acceptance

Acceptance is the opposite of denial. While many people normally response to crisis with denial, healing can only come through acceptance. One good way to reach acceptance is a method called Expressive writing.

Step 2: Presence

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Being present is “an awareness of the moment we are actually living right now”. But during a crisis it’s difficult to be present because of four mind states: distraction, obsession, intrusive images, and catastrophising.  These mind states are fueled by emotions such as fear, anger, jealousy, and guilt. This part explores the four states of mind and the emotions in depth. This is the longest part of the book (15 pages).

Step 3: Action

After we are present, we must take action. Make plans and set goals to move to the future, and do what it takes to make them happen.

Step 4: Forgiveness

Forgiveness “puts grievance to rest”. There are negative emotions that hinder our part to forgiveness: hate, resentment, and bitterness. In place of them, we should develop loving-kindness and compassion.

Step 5: Integration

Integration means “redrawing our map of life and filling the empty place with new meaning.” For integration, we must find fresh confidence and develop resilience. This part ends with some concluding thoughts on how we eventually move to triumph.

Conclusion

From Tragedy to Triumph is a good and concise guide to overcoming crisis in life. I especially love the real stories that are used to explain almost every point in the book. These stories make it much easier for me to internalize the substance of the problems and the way real people overcome them. In addition, the beautiful layout (with many pictures) makes the reading enjoyable.

If you want to get tips either for your own situation or to help someone else, the price of the e-book ($12.5 with free audio version) is worth it. The e-book is available here