Breaking Eggs: Finding New Meaning with Chronic Illness

by Lucia Amsden

Winner of the 2014 Reviewers Choice Award
Winner of the 2013 New Mexico-Arizona Book Award

A Guiding Hand Through the Darkness of Chronic Illness

Lucia Amsden has lived with arthritis for 30 years, and "Breaking Eggs: Finding New Meaning with Chronic Illness" is a distillation of the struggles and treasures of that time. The book chronicles her personal journey toward spiritual and emotional unity and the lessons she learned along the way, as clarified by her experiences as a therapist focusing on clients with chronic illness.

"Breaking Eggs" addresses the psychological, mental, spiritual, and physical issues that come with chronic illness, and includes occasional small exercises to bring the lessons home. As readers retrain their minds to meet challenges with resiliency and hope, their lives become more graced with gratitude. They learn how to develop relationships with their bodies that are based on appreciation more than fear. Most fundamentally, they move toward lives filled with energy and meaning.

Stories of her own experiences and the struggles of people with other disorders, form the scaffolding for helpful principles, tools, and guidance. This is why her teachings come so gently, through the heart more than the head. And her teachings are helpful to all readers, as they encounter boulders on their path that take them into challenging territory.

Whether you are a person with chronic illness, a treatment provider, or just seeking guidance on your path through difficulties, "Breaking Eggs" should find a special place on your bookshelf. If you are a family member or friend of someone with chronic illness, it will provide you with understanding and ways to give useful support.

147 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 9, 2012

About the author

Lucia Amsden has a Masters of Social Work from the University of Kansas, completed post-graduate studies in work and family systems at Georgetown University, and served as an adjunct professor at Webster University in Kansas City. She practiced individual and family therapy for 20 years with a focus on clients with chronic illness, and has written extensively about chronic illness and spiritual psychology.

She has published two books. Breaking Eggs: Finding New Meaning with Chronic Illness, is a spirit-filled and practical guide for anyone dealing with chronic illness. Heartlines: Daily Wisdom for Your Spiritual Journey contains useful spiritual insights for each day of the year.

She has lived for 30 years with rheumatoid arthritis, and it has been the source of some of her most profound and cherished lessons. Lucia lives in rural New Mexico with her husband. You may contact her through her website at newmeaning.info.

Reviews

[Dana Letts · Rating 5 out of 5]

Breaking Eggs: Finding New Meaning with Chronic Illness by author, Lucia Amsden, is an excellent chronicle of the open-heartedness, growth and, eventually, wisdom that can emerge from living through a very difficult situation. Whether it's a health diagnosis that is terrifying or another seemingly insurmountable boulder that unexpectedly appears in our path, in the end, what matters most is how we learn to live with the aftermath. It is that view or approach that ultimately determines whether we just grind to a halt and stay there, learn to just "make do" or really grow from the experience. The author has assembled the very best of what she's learned from the consequences of being diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis. That disease was her boulder in the path, but this book applies also to a much broader audience. We have all encountered an event that has knocked us to our knees, an event that affected every corner of our life, an event for which we desparately needed to develop new tools and attitudes to emerge successfully on the other side. This book, Breaking Eggs: Finding New Meaning with Chronic Illness, gives a blueprint, a map for the journey. The chapters, with titles such as Looking Fear in the Eye; Listening; Transforming Dark Into Light; Strengthening Our Circle and Seeing the Gifts, all include the author's personal experiences as well as the experiences of others, her insights and discoveries and exercises which help the reader to gain awareness of these discoveries for themselves. This book is a labor of love, a gift to us resulting from one woman's challenging and, in the end, life giving journey. Thank you, Lucia Amsden!!

[Roger Irwin · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a retired college psychology professor I have managed to acquire certain biases with regard to self-help books. One is that the best healers among us are those who have also themselves struggled with chronic disease. Another is that most of the successful healers have had the benefit of a solid scientific /psychology education. Ms. Amsden easily passes the test on both counts. In "Breaking Eggs:..." she brings to the table an engaging writing style that flows smoothly.

A successful career as a therapist, an acute eye for stories that have healing power, and a creative imagination for finding meaning, all contribute to make this an exceptional book. The book is further strengthened by the inclusion of numerous guided meditations and specific suggestions for your own inner work.

I am certain that there is more than meets the eye in this book in that there are certain stories that have the "stealth" capability of slipping quietly by the conscious mind and taking up residence in the unconscious to continuously engage in the inner work of healing. For me, this book is like having a conversation with a friend that helps me through difficulties. -Dr. Roger Irwin

[Beth Landon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Finally, Ms. Amsden's prose provides a useful and easy-to-read perspective on living a healthy and full life with chronic disease. Most books I have read on this topic stray towards academic gibberish and scientific mumbo-jumbo, or worse, chronicle misfortune like a Jeremiah. A blend of personal experience and often-forgotten truths on how to live with meaning and purpose, Ms. Amsden inspires readers to live with honesty and find value in everyday experiences. This book is a "must read" for anyone living with chronic illness or working with people experiencing chronic illness.

[Elizabeth Herro · Rating 5 out of 5]

Breaking Eggs is an inspirational story of Lucia Amsden's experience with arthritis. Using her own experience as a guide she demonstrates how we can use any hardship, physical or psychological, as a tool to for personal growth and awakening. I would highly recommend this book to anyone struggling with chronic disease. Lucia gives us a shining example of how one can choose not to be a victim, but instead triumphantly overcome any obstacle that obstructs their journey.

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great book about looking for the lessons in the unfairness and pain of chronic illness. Some good techniques in here.