What do you think?
Rate this book
The Geography of Loss: Embrace What Is, Honor What Was, Love What Will Be
This extraordinary book is borne of loss: the loss of love, of certainty and assuredness, of knowing where we are or who we are, of beauty and youth, of health, of life itself, of privacy, and of roles and of knowing.
When someone or something we love leaves us, we suddenly walk alone into new territory without them. We become strangers in new lands, places where the landscape is unalterably changed, where the center of gravity has somehow faltered and become weak, making us feel as if we might fall off the surface of the earth. Sometimes, that moment of loss defines the rest of our lives, becoming a center to our compass forever. This unique book is a guidebook, an atlas of those experiences of loss and grief, a map for living through and into change and impermanence, to moving on anew. You are the navigator through the three main sections: Embrace what is: walk into your new landscape
Honor what was: be grateful for your old landscape
Love what will be: live into your future landscapeIllustrated throughout with art submitted from around the world, this book is an atlas of experience, utilizing map imagery and the richly metaphoric, evocative, and functional language of geography to help you place yourself on your own journey, to find your way through helpful exercises and an empathetic, expert guide.
When someone or something we love leaves us, we suddenly walk alone into new territory without them. We become strangers in new lands, places where the landscape is unalterably changed, where the center of gravity has somehow faltered and become weak, making us feel as if we might fall off the surface of the earth. Sometimes, that moment of loss defines the rest of our lives, becoming a center to our compass forever. This unique book is a guidebook, an atlas of those experiences of loss and grief, a map for living through and into change and impermanence, to moving on anew. You are the navigator through the three main sections: Embrace what is: walk into your new landscape
Honor what was: be grateful for your old landscape
Love what will be: live into your future landscapeIllustrated throughout with art submitted from around the world, this book is an atlas of experience, utilizing map imagery and the richly metaphoric, evocative, and functional language of geography to help you place yourself on your own journey, to find your way through helpful exercises and an empathetic, expert guide.
- GenresNonfictionGrief
345 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 4, 2013
13 people are currently reading
463 people want to read
About the author
Patti Digh
14 books193 followers"If the Buddha had two kids, a dog named Blue, a Southern accent, and a huge crush on Johnny Depp, his name would be Patti Digh," wrote one reviewer after Digh's grassroots bestseller, Life Is a Verb, was published. In 2003, Patti Digh's stepfather was diagnosed with lung cancer and died just 37 days later. She woke up on day 38 and asked herself a question that she has asked every morning since: "What would I be doing today if I only had 37 days to live?"
Patti's award-winning blog, 37days.com, emerged from the lessons she learned by asking that question and soon the essays were crafted into the bestselling book LIFE IS A VERB: 37 Days to Wake Up, Be Mindful, and Live Intentionally. Patti has since written FOUR-WORD SELF-HELP: Simple Wisdom for Complex Lives, CREATIVE IS A VERB: If You're Alive, You're Creative, and WHAT I WISH FOR YOU: Simple Wisdom for a Happy Life.
Her newest book, The GEOGRAPHY OF LOSS, comes out January 2013. In the tradition of her other releases, Geography of Loss will also be beautifully illustrated by readers. This unique book will serve as a guide to help readers Embrace What Is, Honor What Was and Love What Will Be.
In addition to her writing, Patti is a co-founder of an international consulting firm focused on re-imagining K-12 education. Patti is also a sought after Keynote speaker. Audiences come away from her speeches both laughing and crying, and with a clearer sense of what's important in their own lives.
Patti and her family live (intentionally) in the serene mountain town of Asheville, NC.
www.37days.com
Patti's award-winning blog, 37days.com, emerged from the lessons she learned by asking that question and soon the essays were crafted into the bestselling book LIFE IS A VERB: 37 Days to Wake Up, Be Mindful, and Live Intentionally. Patti has since written FOUR-WORD SELF-HELP: Simple Wisdom for Complex Lives, CREATIVE IS A VERB: If You're Alive, You're Creative, and WHAT I WISH FOR YOU: Simple Wisdom for a Happy Life.
Her newest book, The GEOGRAPHY OF LOSS, comes out January 2013. In the tradition of her other releases, Geography of Loss will also be beautifully illustrated by readers. This unique book will serve as a guide to help readers Embrace What Is, Honor What Was and Love What Will Be.
In addition to her writing, Patti is a co-founder of an international consulting firm focused on re-imagining K-12 education. Patti is also a sought after Keynote speaker. Audiences come away from her speeches both laughing and crying, and with a clearer sense of what's important in their own lives.
Patti and her family live (intentionally) in the serene mountain town of Asheville, NC.
www.37days.com
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
January 1, 2018
I haven’t read very many books this year and so I was happy to find this one at the library to end my year with. I like the exercises I created with this and the visual imagery through the book. It came at the perfect time for me to read as I’m processing how 2017 went for me, and really the last 5 years. However the chapters and stories don’t flow well. There were times I couldn’t tell if it was her story I was reading or a contributors story. For that reason it gets 3 stars rather than the 4 or 5 I would like to give it for its content and contribution to my life.
April 17, 2014
Patti is back again, sharing stories from her life and the insights gleaned. If you've never read one of Patti's books, you'll notice that she writes in a very personal voice--as if in a letter to a friend or a journal entry. In Geography of Loss Patti addresses the pain we all carry. Whether from the loss of a loved one, a divorce, or expectations that never came to pass, we all carry a sense of loss in some way.
Formatted like most self-help books, each chapter begins with a story and ends with exercises or prompts. The difference with Geography of Loss is that the exercises include not just the usual journal prompt but an art exercise and meditation suggestion as well. If you choose to follow the art prompts you will end up with a series of maps reflecting your life's journey. Art is often used in treating trauma patients as a way to access the pain often held in the deeper recesses of the psyche. Although I think this is a wonderful addition to the book, the essays themselves will give a reader enough food for thought to get the emotions moving.
Speaking of art, the illustrations were submitted by readers from around the world.
Formatted like most self-help books, each chapter begins with a story and ends with exercises or prompts. The difference with Geography of Loss is that the exercises include not just the usual journal prompt but an art exercise and meditation suggestion as well. If you choose to follow the art prompts you will end up with a series of maps reflecting your life's journey. Art is often used in treating trauma patients as a way to access the pain often held in the deeper recesses of the psyche. Although I think this is a wonderful addition to the book, the essays themselves will give a reader enough food for thought to get the emotions moving.
Speaking of art, the illustrations were submitted by readers from around the world.
Read
February 17, 2014 This is a beautiful book on loss, death and change. I was very touched by this book. As I recently lost a very close friend. This book was a big help to me. I am familiar with loss and death as a nurse and facing the death of loved ones, but It never get easier. This is a wonderful book which is very helpful. I will recommend it to others.
February 3, 2014
This workbook has beautiful pictures (which I really liked) and pages filled with inspiring quotes. The stories were touching. I liked the theme of using maps to work out one's feelings. It is a good resource for dealing with loss.
September 13, 2024
For many people, it is difficult to speak about death and dying. Digh's beautiful book offers readers a way to walk through the "landscape of loss and grief". The artwork is stimulating and sivers. Digh's storytelling skills and suggested exercises offer readers powerful ways to confront their loss. As I made my way through this book, I thought about my mother-in-law, Dr. Linda Jane Vogel. Dr Vogel dedicated her academic career and her personal life to helping others deal with death and dying. I only wish she had had the opportunity to become acquainted with Digh's book. I suspect she would have incorporated many of the exercises into her university curriculum. Digh's exercises and stories helped me continue the long journey of grief for the loss of my son, Caleb. Digh's own life has made her well- qualified to speak about this topic with authority and grace. I highly recommend this book. - Ginn
March 3, 2014
I received “The Geography of Loss: Embrace What Is, Honor What Was, Love What Will Be” for free in a Goodreads giveaway.
“The Geography of Loss” is an amazingly beautiful book. At just over 200 pages in a largish, squarish, hardcover format, filled with color illustrations of abstract representations of loss and grief alongside examples of the maps you create in the book’s exercises, the book gives every presentation of an artsy table book. The wide, text-book like margins contain blockquotes from the famous and note-worthy opining on loss and thumbnails of fanciful and stark illustrations. The pages contain isolated presentations of poetry, passages of verse, stories, full-page illustrations and layout blocks of color and contrast containing interludes and shorter narratives.
“The Geography of Loss” bills itself as “a guidebook for your journey into and through the landscape of loss and grief”. And the focus and recurring exercise of the book is for you, the reader and engager, to create maps that visually represent aspects of loss and grief that you are processing.
Almost immediately the book introduces you to nine types of maps, and then to the three sections of the book: Embrace what is, Honor what was, and Love what will be, as types of geography: Desert, Forest, and Horizon, respectively.
The book presents 20 exercises, intertwined through the stories, passages, quotes, poetry, illustrations and examples. The book is very presentable, engaging, and full of promise.
And while all of this is so beautiful, and so well designed, and so meticulously thought-out, and so well executed in publication, I somehow found myself feeling like it really wasn’t delivering on the expectation it was setting. The stories and poems and passages are beautiful, but they become disconcerting in their lack of cohesion. The map exercises give a list of steps and instructions to go through, but the ending is thin in summaries or conclusions. It becomes all setup and little-to-no delivery. I found myself thinking, “I’m getting pretty good at these artsy little maps, but I’m not sure how this is supposed to be helping.”
The Geography of Loss is definitely a work book. As beautiful and engaging as it presents itself, I got very little from simply reading it. It relies on you doing the work to find a path to discovery, and it relies on you to understand the meanings in your creations and find your own way. If this kind of engagement really isn’t your cup of tea you may end up as I did, with not much gained from a very beautiful book.
For anyone looking for a more traditional alternative to reading about loss and the grief it entails, I recommend Judith Viorst’s “Necessary Losses”, a huge volume of exploration, up-close and often heart-wrenching observations of all forms of loss in a lifetime of human expression.
“The Geography of Loss” is an amazingly beautiful book. At just over 200 pages in a largish, squarish, hardcover format, filled with color illustrations of abstract representations of loss and grief alongside examples of the maps you create in the book’s exercises, the book gives every presentation of an artsy table book. The wide, text-book like margins contain blockquotes from the famous and note-worthy opining on loss and thumbnails of fanciful and stark illustrations. The pages contain isolated presentations of poetry, passages of verse, stories, full-page illustrations and layout blocks of color and contrast containing interludes and shorter narratives.
“The Geography of Loss” bills itself as “a guidebook for your journey into and through the landscape of loss and grief”. And the focus and recurring exercise of the book is for you, the reader and engager, to create maps that visually represent aspects of loss and grief that you are processing.
Almost immediately the book introduces you to nine types of maps, and then to the three sections of the book: Embrace what is, Honor what was, and Love what will be, as types of geography: Desert, Forest, and Horizon, respectively.
The book presents 20 exercises, intertwined through the stories, passages, quotes, poetry, illustrations and examples. The book is very presentable, engaging, and full of promise.
And while all of this is so beautiful, and so well designed, and so meticulously thought-out, and so well executed in publication, I somehow found myself feeling like it really wasn’t delivering on the expectation it was setting. The stories and poems and passages are beautiful, but they become disconcerting in their lack of cohesion. The map exercises give a list of steps and instructions to go through, but the ending is thin in summaries or conclusions. It becomes all setup and little-to-no delivery. I found myself thinking, “I’m getting pretty good at these artsy little maps, but I’m not sure how this is supposed to be helping.”
The Geography of Loss is definitely a work book. As beautiful and engaging as it presents itself, I got very little from simply reading it. It relies on you doing the work to find a path to discovery, and it relies on you to understand the meanings in your creations and find your own way. If this kind of engagement really isn’t your cup of tea you may end up as I did, with not much gained from a very beautiful book.
For anyone looking for a more traditional alternative to reading about loss and the grief it entails, I recommend Judith Viorst’s “Necessary Losses”, a huge volume of exploration, up-close and often heart-wrenching observations of all forms of loss in a lifetime of human expression.
August 6, 2016
Reading this book is like sitting down to have a conversation with your best friend. I actually feel like Patti is my friend instead of an author I have never met. She opens up and is courageous and vulnerable in sharing her pain. Her stories drew me in and are so incredibly relatable--each and every one. There is also gorgeous art. She put out the call into the world on Facebook for people to submit their art and chose the ones she liked. What a great idea. There is some wonderful talent out there. I imagine, though, it is not quite the same on the Kindle edition (which I got) as in the regular book.
This book is not just about losing someone you love although it is about that. It is about every kind of loss you can imagine--betrayal, illness, youth (and the gorgeous body that comes with it), and not being a perfect parent- to name a few.
The concept of using the metaphor of maps to deal with loss is a fascinating one and she weaves geography and map making into the book seamlessly. Map making is a lost art, but there is something so rich and creative about mapping the land that lends itself beautifully to mapping our inner landscape.
She has journal and drawing exercises sprinkled throughout the book. I did not do all of them because I wanted to keep reading the stories:). I did jot them all of them down in my journal and hopefully will take more time to do them in the future. But, one of them I took the time to do was extremely powerful for me. She asks you to outline your life in seven year chunks highlighting the most important things that happened. I realized that 50-58 have been some very challenging years for me compared to the rest of my life. I was diagnosed with cancer, lost both my parents, had two friends die and many other friends diagnosed with life threatening illnesses. This gave me some perspective and a lot more compassion for myself.
As she says in the book: "It's important for people to put their pain into the world for us to identify with, to feel like we're not alone, to think with relief and recognition, My God! Somebody else feels exactly this way."
Thank you Patti. I feel better because you took the risk to do that.
This book is not just about losing someone you love although it is about that. It is about every kind of loss you can imagine--betrayal, illness, youth (and the gorgeous body that comes with it), and not being a perfect parent- to name a few.
The concept of using the metaphor of maps to deal with loss is a fascinating one and she weaves geography and map making into the book seamlessly. Map making is a lost art, but there is something so rich and creative about mapping the land that lends itself beautifully to mapping our inner landscape.
She has journal and drawing exercises sprinkled throughout the book. I did not do all of them because I wanted to keep reading the stories:). I did jot them all of them down in my journal and hopefully will take more time to do them in the future. But, one of them I took the time to do was extremely powerful for me. She asks you to outline your life in seven year chunks highlighting the most important things that happened. I realized that 50-58 have been some very challenging years for me compared to the rest of my life. I was diagnosed with cancer, lost both my parents, had two friends die and many other friends diagnosed with life threatening illnesses. This gave me some perspective and a lot more compassion for myself.
As she says in the book: "It's important for people to put their pain into the world for us to identify with, to feel like we're not alone, to think with relief and recognition, My God! Somebody else feels exactly this way."
Thank you Patti. I feel better because you took the risk to do that.
March 31, 2014
I am having to read this book very slowly, like a rich dish to savor.
February 9, 2014
I got this book through goodreads giveaways. It arrived a week ago and got the same copy again this week.I just got started and I love it already. I like the illustrations.
September 28, 2014
I love Patti's gentle but firm honesty and that she is willing to reach through her writing to help you move forward. Thank you, Patti. You are a blessing.
February 8, 2015
This book isn't necessarily about death. Like Patti's other books, this one is multi-layered.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews