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Tears to Triumph: The Spiritual Journey from Suffering to Enlightenment
The internationally recognized teacher, speaker, and New York Times bestselling author of A Return to Love argues that our desire to avoid pain is actually detrimental to our lives, disconnecting us from our deepest emotions and preventing true healing and spiritual transcendence.
Marianne Williamson is a bestselling author, world-renowned teacher, and one of the most important spiritual voices of our time. In Tears to Triumph, she argues that we—as a culture and as individuals—have learned to avoid facing pain. By doing so, we are neglecting the spiritual work of healing.
Instead of allowing ourselves to embrace our hurt, we numb it, medicate it, dismiss it, or otherwise divert our attention so that we never have to face it. In refusing to acknowledge our suffering, we actually prolong it and deny ourselves the opportunity for profound wisdom—ultimately limiting our personal growth and opportunity for enlightenment. Frozen by denial, we are left standing in the breech. Whole industries profit from this immobility, and while they have grown rich, we have become spiritually poorer.
As Marianne makes clear, true healing and transcendence can only come when we finally face our pain and wrestle with what it has to teach us. Written with warm compassion and profound wisdom, Tears to Triumph offers us a powerful way forward through the pain, to a deeper awareness of our feelings, our lives, and our true selves.
Marianne Williamson is a bestselling author, world-renowned teacher, and one of the most important spiritual voices of our time. In Tears to Triumph, she argues that we—as a culture and as individuals—have learned to avoid facing pain. By doing so, we are neglecting the spiritual work of healing.
Instead of allowing ourselves to embrace our hurt, we numb it, medicate it, dismiss it, or otherwise divert our attention so that we never have to face it. In refusing to acknowledge our suffering, we actually prolong it and deny ourselves the opportunity for profound wisdom—ultimately limiting our personal growth and opportunity for enlightenment. Frozen by denial, we are left standing in the breech. Whole industries profit from this immobility, and while they have grown rich, we have become spiritually poorer.
As Marianne makes clear, true healing and transcendence can only come when we finally face our pain and wrestle with what it has to teach us. Written with warm compassion and profound wisdom, Tears to Triumph offers us a powerful way forward through the pain, to a deeper awareness of our feelings, our lives, and our true selves.
240 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 19, 2016
404 people are currently reading
1972 people want to read
About the author
Marianne Williamson
448 books2,328 followersMarianne Williamson is an internationally acclaimed lecturer, activist, and author with six New York Times bestsellers. Her books include Tears to Triumph, A Return to Love, A Year of Miracles, The Law of Divine Compensation, The Gift of Change, The Age of Miracles, Everyday Grace, A Woman's Worth, Illuminata, and A Course in Weight Loss. She has been a popular guest on television programs such as Oprah and Good Morning America.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 116 reviews
July 12, 2016
Most of the prerelease press indicated this book was an attack on the pharmaceutical industry and therapists who overuse prescriptions, so was surprised that it was kinder. The “being human is not a disease” theme is there alright, however the gist is more on living by the spiritual principles of “A Course in Miracles”. I’ve not read “A Course in Miracles”, but do appreciate its philosophy, as described in Williamson’s lectures, which I have at least listened to. Williamson goes on to demonstrate how the lives (metaphysical or otherwise) of Buddha, Moses and Jesus can coexist with, if not enhance, those teachings.
Finally, it should be noted the book Is complete in itself and does not suggest the reader follow-up with ACIM or lectures. Initially I believed it would at least make a nice coffee table decoration. Now, considering it contain thoughts and ideas that are potentially life changing, it might be wasted as such.
Finally, it should be noted the book Is complete in itself and does not suggest the reader follow-up with ACIM or lectures. Initially I believed it would at least make a nice coffee table decoration. Now, considering it contain thoughts and ideas that are potentially life changing, it might be wasted as such.
February 10, 2017
This is the first book I read written by the great inspirational author Marianne Williamson .. and I thank God I started with this one !
Who of us didn't experience pain and suffering ??
Well this book deals with the subject but in the context of actually using this through embracing it and surrendering it to God and then start the personal discovery and spiritual journey towards God towards ultimate love towards the real existences beyond our material world !
Rich with great meanings deep in it's exploration, this book will enrich and inspire the reader with a lot of insightful material on subjects including; spirituality, religion, pain, love, forgiveness, fear, depression, Buddha, Moses, Jesus .. and many others to end the book with an inspiring summarizing chapter which reminds us again and again that there is always hope, since God is always there who is ultimate love and with ultimate love there will always be light, happiness, enlightenment and triumph which resulted at the end of our journey starting with our tears and pain ..
I would like to thank the author for her inspiration and insights which would make the reader have a different view of life and it's meaning .. would love to read it again whenever I get the chance because it is worth it .. a recommendation to everybody !
Would like to share below some of the quotes I managed to note down while reading this wonderful book :
Tears to Triumph
From the preface:
Miracles aren’t a quick fix, or an easy answer. But they activate a spiritual power divinely authorized to help you. God is here, even here, in the midst of your suffering. And as you reach out to Him, He will reach back.
Consider the possibility now that anything could happen. I’m not asking you to believe this, but only to consider that it might be true. Simply thinking this thought—that miracles are possible—does more to pave the way for your healing than you can imagine. It opens the door to a realm of infinite possibilities, regardless of what you have been through or what you are going through now.
Marianne Williamson, Tears to Triumph, The Preface
The pain you are going through is not what will determine your future; your future will be determined by who you are as you go through your pain.
We can expand the definition of who you are, as well as what the world is—and your life will begin to change
Marianne Williamson, Tears to Triumph, The Preface
Your human self might be in hell right now, but your divine self is literally untouched by your suffering. And your divine self is who you are.
And as you do, you will see beyond them such magnificence—in yourself and in the world—that you will actually bless the journey of your suffering, for it led you to yourself and to the meaning of your life.
Marianne Williamson, Tears to Triumph, The Preface
Spiritual healing doesn’t lie in denying your pain, but in feeling it fully and surrendering it to God. And then the miracles begin . . .
Spirituality is not some pale-pink, gauzy, psychologically unsophisticated understanding of the world. Rather, it represents the most profound elucidation of how the mind operates and how it filters our experience.
Marianne Williamson, Tears to Triumph, The Preface
And by a “natural remedy” for depression I do not mean herbs or homeopathic remedies; I mean the practical application of love and forgiveness as a medicine for the soul.
And the soul craves meaning the way the body craves oxygen. In the absence of a spiritual framework, we know the mechanics of life but stop short of understanding it.
Marianne Williamson, Tears to Triumph, The Preface
Every great religious and spiritual philosophy speaks to the issue of human suffering
The great religious figures and teachings of the world are God’s gifts, a divine hand reaching down to touch the minds of those who are called to them. While the ego uses the outer aspects of these teachings to divide us—sometimes even as justification to destroy one another—their inner truths unite us by teaching us how to live with each other.
Marianne Williamson, Tears to Triumph, The Preface
We’re not without hope; we just haven’t been seeing it. We’re not without power; we just haven’t been claiming it. We’re not without love; we just haven’t been living it.
Seeing these things, our lives begin to change. Our minds are awakened. Miracles happen. And at last our hearts are glad.
Marianne Williamson, Tears to Triumph, The Preface
I wanted to be fully available to the depths of my pain. Why? Because I knew it had something to teach me. I knew that somehow, in some way, my suffering would lead to a blazing new dawn in my life—but only if I was willing to endure the deep, dark night preceding it.
Marianne Williamson, Tears to Triumph, p.4
Where there is love, there is happiness. But where the bonds of love are broken, there is pain.
Marianne Williamson, Tears to Triumph, p.6
Depression is an emotional fall, sometimes into a very deep, dark valley. That is true. Yet a life of spiritual triumph is not one in which we never fall into that valley; it is one in which, if and when we do fall, we’ve learned how to get ourselves out of it.
The pain of the world is the unbearable suffering of living outside the circle of our relationship to God, for outside that relationship we are separate from ourselves.
Marianne Williamson, Tears to Triumph, p.7
Miracles are thoughts, and thoughts produce everything. Thought is the level of cause; the world as we know it is the level of effect. A miracle is a shift in perception from fear to love, changing an effect in our lives by changing the thinking that caused it. Most of our suffering is due less to our circumstances than to our thoughts about them. In fact, the world is merely a projection of our thoughts. Everything we go through is filtered through either the mind of love or the mind of fear; love creates peace, and fear creates pain.
The pain we experience while living in this world should not be denied, of course, but it can be transcended. Miracle-minded thinking does not suppress our emotions; rather, it brings them up so we can place them on a path to true healing.
Marianne Williamson, Tears to Triumph, p.9
A spiritual perspective does not deny your pain, or any aspect of your human experience. It simply denies its power over you. It gives you the strength to endure when the tears are falling, and the power to invoke miracles that lie beyond.
Marianne Williamson, Tears to Triumph,
p.10
We can embrace a deeper truth: that we are spirits, not just bodies. That we are great and glorious beings on this earth with great and glorious missions, and having forgotten this, we have been cast into an outer kingdom of pain and despair. Our task, then, is to find a way back to this nobler vision of who we really are
Marianne Williamson, Tears to Triumph,
p.11
Love is the Truth as God created us; when our thoughts are not loving, we are literally not being ourselves.
Enlightenment, which is infinite compassion, is the only true antidote to our suffering.
Marianne Williamson, Tears to Triumph,
p.12
A spiritual reinterpretation of events gives us miraculous authority—to command the winds, to part the waters, and to break all chains that bind us.
Seeing our lives through a spiritual lens is not a less sophisticated but a more sophisticated way of interpreting our experience.
Marianne Williamson, Tears to Triumph,
p.13
Few things are more revolutionary than finding true happiness in a suffering world.
Marianne Williamson, Tears to Triumph,
p.14
The search for wisdom is a search for how to live our lives more responsibly, both as individuals and as a species.
Marianne Williamson, Tears to Triumph,
p.16
Sometimes it’s when we feel that all hope is lost that a better life begins to emerge. Our hearts crack open, and then our minds crack open. It’s when the ego says, “It’s all over,” that God says, “Now we can begin.”
Marianne Williamson, Tears to Triumph,
p.22
“Even our mistakes can lead us to a better place, once we surrender to what we obviously hadn’t been surrendered to before. The issue is to become now who you weren’t before so you can start again from a different place.
Marianne Williamson, Tears to Triumph,
p.23
Having entered the regions of our personal hopelessness, we find at last where true hope lies. We come to understand more clearly who we are and why we are on the earth. The light that can lead us out of suffering leads us into the arms of God.
Marianne Williamson, Tears to Triumph,
p.30
Difficult emotions are at times appropriate; they can be exactly what we need to experience in order to truly heal, grow, and get to the other side of our suffering with meaningful lessons learned.
Seen through a spiritual lens, depression is the inevitable result of seeing ourselves as separate from the rest of the universe. It is a crisis of the soul.
Marianne Williamson, Tears to Triumph,
p.35
An overexternalized worldview separates us from our souls, thus causing us to suffer; and only by reclaiming our souls can we end our suffering.
Marianne Williamson, Tears to Triumph,
p.42
Learning from our sadness can bear great fruit, and avoiding it can have hidden costs. Our choice is between feeling the sharp pains of self-discovery or enduring the dull ache of unconsciousness that will last for the rest of our lives. Suppressing our pain isn’t ending our pain; it’s simply displacing it.
Marianne Williamson, Tears to Triumph,
p.43
Spirituality reflects the most sophisticated mindset and the most powerful force available for the transformation of human suffering
Marianne Williamson, Tears to Triumph,
p.46
Everyone is on a spiritual journey; most people just don’t know it. Spirituality refers not to some theological dynamic outside ourselves, but to how we choose to use our minds. The spiritual path is the path of the heart; at every moment, we’re either walking the path of love and creating happiness, or swerving from it and creating suffering. Every thought we think leads deeper into love or deeper into fear.
Marianne Williamson, Tears to Triumph,
p.47
By transitioning from faith in the power of our disasters to faith in the power of God to heal them, we release the power of miracles to work on our behalf.
We can’t ask God for the “miracle” of things happening the way we want them to happen; the miracle is when we think about things the way God would have us think about them.
Marianne Williamson, Tears to Triumph,
p.49
Prayer is the conduit of miracles. It shifts the universe by shifting us
One thing the ego will never suggest is that love is always the answer, because love is the ego’s dissolution and it knows it. It feeds on lovelessness for its survival, yet its survival is our destruction.
The ego views forgiveness as weakness and attack as strength. But love is not weakness; it is the power of God. The problem isn’t whether or not love works miracles; the problem is how much we resist love.
Marianne Williamson, Tears to Triumph,
p.52
The journey of enlightenment is a journey to a transformed sense of self, a conversion to a different sense of who we are and what the world is for.
Marianne Williamson, Tears to Triumph,
p.56
To heal our depression, we must close the mental gap between that which is the ego’s view of ourselves and others, and God’s view of ourselves and others. This is the only salvation from sadness and pain.
Marianne Williamson, Tears to Triumph,
p.58
When healing physically, we need to be gentle with our bodies; when healing emotionally, we need to be gentle with our hearts.
Marianne Williamson, Tears to Triumph,
p.64
Grief over the normal losses of life should not be avoided, but accepted and embraced. It is a process—not an event—best served when we surrender to it fully.
Marianne Williamson, Tears to Triumph,
p.65
The crisis of modern society is that human beings too often feel spiritually homeless within it.
Marianne Williamson, Tears to Triumph,
p.71
Depression is a lack of passion. Passion emerges when we’ve placed ourselves in service to that which is good, true, and beautiful—something important, something bigger than ourselves.
Marianne Williamson, Tears to Triumph,
p.82
Without forgiveness, there is no love; and without love, there are no miracles.
Marianne Williamson, Tears to Triumph,
p.89
Since only love is real, only the love you were given and that which you gave others, was real in your past. Nothing else need be brought with you into the shining present.
Marianne Williamson, Tears to Triumph,
p.92
Forgiveness does not mean there are no boundaries, accountability, laws, or healthy standards of behavior. It means merely that there’s a way for us to find peace in our hearts, regardless of someone else’s behavior. And that itself is a miracle.
Marianne Williamson, Tears to Triumph,
p.94
The ego sees other people from a transactional perspective, looking for how others can serve our needs. The spirit sees other people from a relational perspective, seeking for ways that together we can serve love
Marianne Williamson, Tears to Triumph,
p.111
There’s no room for darkness in a house that is filled with light, and there’s no room for fear in a mind that is filled with love.
Marianne Williamson, Tears to Triumph,
p.114
The key to fostering soulful relationships with others is fostering our primary relationship with God, for there, we’re healed of the pieces of false self with which we so often sabotage our relationships.
Marianne Williamson, Tears to Triumph,
p.116
In the presence of mutual understanding, compassion, faith, and forgiveness, our wounds can be healed.
Marianne Williamson, Tears to Triumph,
p.119
Sometimes we have to be shaken out of our attachment to one world before we can recognize another.
Marianne Williamson, Tears to Triumph,
p.135
Too many people are sad about unimportant things, perhaps because they won’t let themselves be sad about the larger tragedies of life
The rough times in our lives can lead us to feeling, among other things, greater gratitude for life when it goes well. Having lost things that were precious, we learn to be much happier with the things that remain.
Marianne Williamson, Tears to Triumph,
p.140
Enlightenment involves more than a collection of metaphysical data; it involves the actual practice, application, and embodiment of love. The purpose of religion is not just to tell stories, but to change our lives. And the religious experience is just that: an experience. Only when that experience is an opening to love does it truly have anything to do with God.
Marianne Williamson, Tears to Triumph,
p.142
The purpose of religion is to bind us back to our right minds, which is the mystical intelligence of the universe.
Enlightenment isn’t a learning, but an unlearning.
Marianne Williamson, Tears to Triumph,
p.143
The goal of a spiritual life is the attainment of inner peace, achieved through the application of loving principles to our everyday concerns. These principles are invisible forces that, when applied, wield unlimited power to change our lives.
Marianne Williamson, Tears to Triumph,
p.147
Learning to be as honest and authentic as possible, yet taking responsibility for the heart space between ourselves and someone else, is essential to enlightenment.
Marianne Williamson, Tears to Triumph,
p.161
Great religious tales are reminders of things that do not change, that we might navigate more wisely those things that do.
Marianne Williamson, Tears to Triumph,
p.173
That is a message to all of us. We may be heartbroken, but it is programmed into the nature of the universe that whenever the ego has hurt us or whatever it would take from us, the story isn’t over; it has just begun.
Marianne Williamson, Tears to Triumph,
p.175
When we truly embrace the realization that God has an answer to every problem, that the universe is wired for our deliverance, then we can trust that as long as we persevere, a way out of darkness will appear.
Marianne Williamson, Tears to Triumph,
p.176
The benefits of the journey are cumulative. We become different because of what we’ve been through. We become wiser, nobler, more humble, and more aware. We become more peaceful and more open to the miracles of life.
Marianne Williamson, Tears to Triumph,
p.208
Who of us didn't experience pain and suffering ??
Well this book deals with the subject but in the context of actually using this through embracing it and surrendering it to God and then start the personal discovery and spiritual journey towards God towards ultimate love towards the real existences beyond our material world !
Rich with great meanings deep in it's exploration, this book will enrich and inspire the reader with a lot of insightful material on subjects including; spirituality, religion, pain, love, forgiveness, fear, depression, Buddha, Moses, Jesus .. and many others to end the book with an inspiring summarizing chapter which reminds us again and again that there is always hope, since God is always there who is ultimate love and with ultimate love there will always be light, happiness, enlightenment and triumph which resulted at the end of our journey starting with our tears and pain ..
I would like to thank the author for her inspiration and insights which would make the reader have a different view of life and it's meaning .. would love to read it again whenever I get the chance because it is worth it .. a recommendation to everybody !
Would like to share below some of the quotes I managed to note down while reading this wonderful book :
Tears to Triumph
From the preface:
Miracles aren’t a quick fix, or an easy answer. But they activate a spiritual power divinely authorized to help you. God is here, even here, in the midst of your suffering. And as you reach out to Him, He will reach back.
Consider the possibility now that anything could happen. I’m not asking you to believe this, but only to consider that it might be true. Simply thinking this thought—that miracles are possible—does more to pave the way for your healing than you can imagine. It opens the door to a realm of infinite possibilities, regardless of what you have been through or what you are going through now.
Marianne Williamson, Tears to Triumph, The Preface
The pain you are going through is not what will determine your future; your future will be determined by who you are as you go through your pain.
We can expand the definition of who you are, as well as what the world is—and your life will begin to change
Marianne Williamson, Tears to Triumph, The Preface
Your human self might be in hell right now, but your divine self is literally untouched by your suffering. And your divine self is who you are.
And as you do, you will see beyond them such magnificence—in yourself and in the world—that you will actually bless the journey of your suffering, for it led you to yourself and to the meaning of your life.
Marianne Williamson, Tears to Triumph, The Preface
Spiritual healing doesn’t lie in denying your pain, but in feeling it fully and surrendering it to God. And then the miracles begin . . .
Spirituality is not some pale-pink, gauzy, psychologically unsophisticated understanding of the world. Rather, it represents the most profound elucidation of how the mind operates and how it filters our experience.
Marianne Williamson, Tears to Triumph, The Preface
And by a “natural remedy” for depression I do not mean herbs or homeopathic remedies; I mean the practical application of love and forgiveness as a medicine for the soul.
And the soul craves meaning the way the body craves oxygen. In the absence of a spiritual framework, we know the mechanics of life but stop short of understanding it.
Marianne Williamson, Tears to Triumph, The Preface
Every great religious and spiritual philosophy speaks to the issue of human suffering
The great religious figures and teachings of the world are God’s gifts, a divine hand reaching down to touch the minds of those who are called to them. While the ego uses the outer aspects of these teachings to divide us—sometimes even as justification to destroy one another—their inner truths unite us by teaching us how to live with each other.
Marianne Williamson, Tears to Triumph, The Preface
We’re not without hope; we just haven’t been seeing it. We’re not without power; we just haven’t been claiming it. We’re not without love; we just haven’t been living it.
Seeing these things, our lives begin to change. Our minds are awakened. Miracles happen. And at last our hearts are glad.
Marianne Williamson, Tears to Triumph, The Preface
I wanted to be fully available to the depths of my pain. Why? Because I knew it had something to teach me. I knew that somehow, in some way, my suffering would lead to a blazing new dawn in my life—but only if I was willing to endure the deep, dark night preceding it.
Marianne Williamson, Tears to Triumph, p.4
Where there is love, there is happiness. But where the bonds of love are broken, there is pain.
Marianne Williamson, Tears to Triumph, p.6
Depression is an emotional fall, sometimes into a very deep, dark valley. That is true. Yet a life of spiritual triumph is not one in which we never fall into that valley; it is one in which, if and when we do fall, we’ve learned how to get ourselves out of it.
The pain of the world is the unbearable suffering of living outside the circle of our relationship to God, for outside that relationship we are separate from ourselves.
Marianne Williamson, Tears to Triumph, p.7
Miracles are thoughts, and thoughts produce everything. Thought is the level of cause; the world as we know it is the level of effect. A miracle is a shift in perception from fear to love, changing an effect in our lives by changing the thinking that caused it. Most of our suffering is due less to our circumstances than to our thoughts about them. In fact, the world is merely a projection of our thoughts. Everything we go through is filtered through either the mind of love or the mind of fear; love creates peace, and fear creates pain.
The pain we experience while living in this world should not be denied, of course, but it can be transcended. Miracle-minded thinking does not suppress our emotions; rather, it brings them up so we can place them on a path to true healing.
Marianne Williamson, Tears to Triumph, p.9
A spiritual perspective does not deny your pain, or any aspect of your human experience. It simply denies its power over you. It gives you the strength to endure when the tears are falling, and the power to invoke miracles that lie beyond.
Marianne Williamson, Tears to Triumph,
p.10
We can embrace a deeper truth: that we are spirits, not just bodies. That we are great and glorious beings on this earth with great and glorious missions, and having forgotten this, we have been cast into an outer kingdom of pain and despair. Our task, then, is to find a way back to this nobler vision of who we really are
Marianne Williamson, Tears to Triumph,
p.11
Love is the Truth as God created us; when our thoughts are not loving, we are literally not being ourselves.
Enlightenment, which is infinite compassion, is the only true antidote to our suffering.
Marianne Williamson, Tears to Triumph,
p.12
A spiritual reinterpretation of events gives us miraculous authority—to command the winds, to part the waters, and to break all chains that bind us.
Seeing our lives through a spiritual lens is not a less sophisticated but a more sophisticated way of interpreting our experience.
Marianne Williamson, Tears to Triumph,
p.13
Few things are more revolutionary than finding true happiness in a suffering world.
Marianne Williamson, Tears to Triumph,
p.14
The search for wisdom is a search for how to live our lives more responsibly, both as individuals and as a species.
Marianne Williamson, Tears to Triumph,
p.16
Sometimes it’s when we feel that all hope is lost that a better life begins to emerge. Our hearts crack open, and then our minds crack open. It’s when the ego says, “It’s all over,” that God says, “Now we can begin.”
Marianne Williamson, Tears to Triumph,
p.22
“Even our mistakes can lead us to a better place, once we surrender to what we obviously hadn’t been surrendered to before. The issue is to become now who you weren’t before so you can start again from a different place.
Marianne Williamson, Tears to Triumph,
p.23
Having entered the regions of our personal hopelessness, we find at last where true hope lies. We come to understand more clearly who we are and why we are on the earth. The light that can lead us out of suffering leads us into the arms of God.
Marianne Williamson, Tears to Triumph,
p.30
Difficult emotions are at times appropriate; they can be exactly what we need to experience in order to truly heal, grow, and get to the other side of our suffering with meaningful lessons learned.
Seen through a spiritual lens, depression is the inevitable result of seeing ourselves as separate from the rest of the universe. It is a crisis of the soul.
Marianne Williamson, Tears to Triumph,
p.35
An overexternalized worldview separates us from our souls, thus causing us to suffer; and only by reclaiming our souls can we end our suffering.
Marianne Williamson, Tears to Triumph,
p.42
Learning from our sadness can bear great fruit, and avoiding it can have hidden costs. Our choice is between feeling the sharp pains of self-discovery or enduring the dull ache of unconsciousness that will last for the rest of our lives. Suppressing our pain isn’t ending our pain; it’s simply displacing it.
Marianne Williamson, Tears to Triumph,
p.43
Spirituality reflects the most sophisticated mindset and the most powerful force available for the transformation of human suffering
Marianne Williamson, Tears to Triumph,
p.46
Everyone is on a spiritual journey; most people just don’t know it. Spirituality refers not to some theological dynamic outside ourselves, but to how we choose to use our minds. The spiritual path is the path of the heart; at every moment, we’re either walking the path of love and creating happiness, or swerving from it and creating suffering. Every thought we think leads deeper into love or deeper into fear.
Marianne Williamson, Tears to Triumph,
p.47
By transitioning from faith in the power of our disasters to faith in the power of God to heal them, we release the power of miracles to work on our behalf.
We can’t ask God for the “miracle” of things happening the way we want them to happen; the miracle is when we think about things the way God would have us think about them.
Marianne Williamson, Tears to Triumph,
p.49
Prayer is the conduit of miracles. It shifts the universe by shifting us
One thing the ego will never suggest is that love is always the answer, because love is the ego’s dissolution and it knows it. It feeds on lovelessness for its survival, yet its survival is our destruction.
The ego views forgiveness as weakness and attack as strength. But love is not weakness; it is the power of God. The problem isn’t whether or not love works miracles; the problem is how much we resist love.
Marianne Williamson, Tears to Triumph,
p.52
The journey of enlightenment is a journey to a transformed sense of self, a conversion to a different sense of who we are and what the world is for.
Marianne Williamson, Tears to Triumph,
p.56
To heal our depression, we must close the mental gap between that which is the ego’s view of ourselves and others, and God’s view of ourselves and others. This is the only salvation from sadness and pain.
Marianne Williamson, Tears to Triumph,
p.58
When healing physically, we need to be gentle with our bodies; when healing emotionally, we need to be gentle with our hearts.
Marianne Williamson, Tears to Triumph,
p.64
Grief over the normal losses of life should not be avoided, but accepted and embraced. It is a process—not an event—best served when we surrender to it fully.
Marianne Williamson, Tears to Triumph,
p.65
The crisis of modern society is that human beings too often feel spiritually homeless within it.
Marianne Williamson, Tears to Triumph,
p.71
Depression is a lack of passion. Passion emerges when we’ve placed ourselves in service to that which is good, true, and beautiful—something important, something bigger than ourselves.
Marianne Williamson, Tears to Triumph,
p.82
Without forgiveness, there is no love; and without love, there are no miracles.
Marianne Williamson, Tears to Triumph,
p.89
Since only love is real, only the love you were given and that which you gave others, was real in your past. Nothing else need be brought with you into the shining present.
Marianne Williamson, Tears to Triumph,
p.92
Forgiveness does not mean there are no boundaries, accountability, laws, or healthy standards of behavior. It means merely that there’s a way for us to find peace in our hearts, regardless of someone else’s behavior. And that itself is a miracle.
Marianne Williamson, Tears to Triumph,
p.94
The ego sees other people from a transactional perspective, looking for how others can serve our needs. The spirit sees other people from a relational perspective, seeking for ways that together we can serve love
Marianne Williamson, Tears to Triumph,
p.111
There’s no room for darkness in a house that is filled with light, and there’s no room for fear in a mind that is filled with love.
Marianne Williamson, Tears to Triumph,
p.114
The key to fostering soulful relationships with others is fostering our primary relationship with God, for there, we’re healed of the pieces of false self with which we so often sabotage our relationships.
Marianne Williamson, Tears to Triumph,
p.116
In the presence of mutual understanding, compassion, faith, and forgiveness, our wounds can be healed.
Marianne Williamson, Tears to Triumph,
p.119
Sometimes we have to be shaken out of our attachment to one world before we can recognize another.
Marianne Williamson, Tears to Triumph,
p.135
Too many people are sad about unimportant things, perhaps because they won’t let themselves be sad about the larger tragedies of life
The rough times in our lives can lead us to feeling, among other things, greater gratitude for life when it goes well. Having lost things that were precious, we learn to be much happier with the things that remain.
Marianne Williamson, Tears to Triumph,
p.140
Enlightenment involves more than a collection of metaphysical data; it involves the actual practice, application, and embodiment of love. The purpose of religion is not just to tell stories, but to change our lives. And the religious experience is just that: an experience. Only when that experience is an opening to love does it truly have anything to do with God.
Marianne Williamson, Tears to Triumph,
p.142
The purpose of religion is to bind us back to our right minds, which is the mystical intelligence of the universe.
Enlightenment isn’t a learning, but an unlearning.
Marianne Williamson, Tears to Triumph,
p.143
The goal of a spiritual life is the attainment of inner peace, achieved through the application of loving principles to our everyday concerns. These principles are invisible forces that, when applied, wield unlimited power to change our lives.
Marianne Williamson, Tears to Triumph,
p.147
Learning to be as honest and authentic as possible, yet taking responsibility for the heart space between ourselves and someone else, is essential to enlightenment.
Marianne Williamson, Tears to Triumph,
p.161
Great religious tales are reminders of things that do not change, that we might navigate more wisely those things that do.
Marianne Williamson, Tears to Triumph,
p.173
That is a message to all of us. We may be heartbroken, but it is programmed into the nature of the universe that whenever the ego has hurt us or whatever it would take from us, the story isn’t over; it has just begun.
Marianne Williamson, Tears to Triumph,
p.175
When we truly embrace the realization that God has an answer to every problem, that the universe is wired for our deliverance, then we can trust that as long as we persevere, a way out of darkness will appear.
Marianne Williamson, Tears to Triumph,
p.176
The benefits of the journey are cumulative. We become different because of what we’ve been through. We become wiser, nobler, more humble, and more aware. We become more peaceful and more open to the miracles of life.
Marianne Williamson, Tears to Triumph,
p.208
June 3, 2017
I have read most of Marianne Williamson's primary books and listened to a few audiotapes (when such existed) as well as going to hear her in a live lecture years ago. Even as I still cherish those books, esp. the prayers, I could not get myself past chapter 2 of this one. I always believe that sometimes we just need to experience a book at the right time in our lives to be able to connect with it or hear it's message. This is, apparently and decidedly, not that time for me related to Tears to Triumph. While I get Williamson's basic spiritual outlook and approach to suffering and agree with her that just being said if depressed is not in and of itself justification for medication, while I do think that medication is not always the answer, I think she has done a grave disservice to all those who are truly clinically depressed and for whom medication is the answer. not as nice either /or dichotomy, but as a path. Too often, stigma already makes people hesitant to reach out or take a medication that might help. Feeling more compassion, love and forgiveness are great but are not just going to cure all. I love books that promote spirituality and practice as helpful, even life transforming, but science and spirit should not be pitted against each other. Where Williamson sees an epidemic of prescriptions, I see inroads into overcoming barriers to getting people treatment. I too have had periods of depression and have at times uses medication and at times not, but no one should be made to feel badly for choosing a path right for them .
July 11, 2016
This book fell into my path just when I needed it. The discussion is on feeling through pain and suffering rather than the common notion to numb it with pills and shove it away. Marianne's consistent message is to turn to love, to the light inside, which is a direct spiritual connection.
September 28, 2016
It is a book for the current times for the society that refuses to grieve, forgive or live. Everybody is living such a fast life that even the intense grief does not stop them and then it leads to lifelong depression and pain when it ultimately catches up with them, which it does
It is Ok to grieve for any loss in life and each person should take the time necessary to connect with their feelings and giving themselves time to heal.
Forgiveness for any wrong done against us will help us move forward, not that we will be friendly with the person again but there will be no negative thoughts that will help our life move in a positive direction
Our lives are transformed when we live with our feelings and work our way through them always believing that the universe works with us
It is Ok to grieve for any loss in life and each person should take the time necessary to connect with their feelings and giving themselves time to heal.
Forgiveness for any wrong done against us will help us move forward, not that we will be friendly with the person again but there will be no negative thoughts that will help our life move in a positive direction
Our lives are transformed when we live with our feelings and work our way through them always believing that the universe works with us
February 5, 2019
''The pain you are going through is not what will determine your future; your future will be determined by who you are as you go through your pain.
As someone who has always viewed things through a mystical lens—even before I really understood what that meant—I’ve always seen events in my life in the context of a spiritual journey. I’ve viewed painful times in my life as part of a mysterious unfolding, as dark nights of my soul for which, no matter how devastating, I needed to be fully present. However deep my suffering, I didn’t want to be anesthetized as I went through it.
Why? Because I knew it had something to teach me. I knew that somehow, in some way, my suffering would lead to a blazing new dawn in my life—but only if I was willing to endure the deep, dark night preceding it. None of this is to romanticize suffering. Sleepless nights, obsessive thoughts, extreme mental and emotional pain are nothing to view lightly. But my journeys through deep sadness have ultimately shown me as much about light as they have about darkness—for in coming to understand my suffering, I’ve come to understand myself more deeply. On the other side of my suffering, I’ve seen things that I wouldn’t have seen otherwise. I’ve seen ways I have contributed to my own disasters. I’ve seen that love isn’t a game and that it should be taken seriously. I’ve seen that other people’s feelings are as important as my own. I’ve seen that external things are not what matter. I’ve seen that life lived with any purpose but love is a life that will lead to sorrow. I’ve seen that love is more powerful than evil. I’ve seen that nothing but the love of God can be guaranteed. And I’ve seen that life does indeed go on. Regret, remorse, humiliation, physical pain, grief, failure, loss—all of these can be excruciating. Yet as difficult as they can be to endure, they can also pave the way at times to illumination: conscience, forgiveness, humility, contrition, appreciation, gratitude, and faith. Sometimes we end up looking back on times of deep emotional pain as having been the crucibles out of which emerged the truth of who we are.
I’ve learned a lot from the midnight blues, as agonizing as they can be. It is often during sleepless nights that we come face-to-face with monsters too easily shooed away during daylight hours, carrying with them not only sorrow but information. That which is difficult is not always that which is bad. We might see something that needs to change within us, what we need to atone for, how our character defects or neurotic patterns are ruining our lives, what trespasses we need to forgive, and what amends we need to make.
Personal demons that emerge from the dark cave of deep sadness cannot just be “treated”; they must be dissolved through the light of self-awareness. Everything that needs to be looked at must be looked at; everything that needs to be understood must be understood; and every prayer that needs to be prayed must be prayed. And this can take time. A period of emotional suffering is often not simply a symptom of our depression as much as a necessary factor in healing it. It can be what we need to move through, and best not avoid, in journeying to the place where we suffer no more.
Mourning is a sacred journey, and it cannot and should not be rushed. If we have forty-five tears to cry, then crying seventeen is not enough. Deep sorrow is a fever of the soul, and within the psyche as within the body, the fever breaks when the fever breaks. The tendency to repair—an inborn immune system always moving in the direction of healing—exists in the mind as well as in the body. We simply need to give it time. The potential for heartbreak always exists; it is part of the human experience. Where there is love, there is happiness. But where the bonds of love are broken, there is pain. Given the fact that the world is so dominated by fear, and so resistant in many ways to love, how could our hearts not be torn at times by the pain of simply living here?
And once you’ve lived enough, you know this. You come to live with it, and to live with it gracefully. You learn to take the hits, and to know that they’re simply part of living. “Hello darkness, my old friend; I’ve come to talk with you again” is more than a song lyric by Simon and Garfunkel; it describes an attitude of acceptance that this week, or this month, or even this year might be hard—but you know you will live through it. And in some ways, who we become because we lived through it is someone more alive—perhaps even more beautiful—than who we were before. In the words of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, ''Should you shield the canyons from the windstorms you would never see the true beauty of their carvings.''
Each of us has a spiritual immune system—a system that exists to heal the injured psyche just as the physical immune system heals the physical body—but it takes conscious effort to activate its power. It’s not always easy to surrender our lovelessness, especially when we’re in emotional pain. Yet in order to heal, we must. Spiritual healing is work in the sense that it isn’t passive, but active.
A spiritual perspective does not deny your pain, or any aspect of your human experience. It simply denies its power over you. It gives you the strength to endure when the tears are falling, and the power to invoke miracles that lie beyond.
A ribbon of love runs through our veins, like electric impulses connecting us to every other living thing.
There are times in life when our greatest challenge is to forgive ourselves. A Course in Miracles says that we pay a very high price for refusing to take responsibility for our experience: the price of not being able to change it. The fact that it makes us feel bad to realize that we might have done wrong is simply the sign of a healthy personality. When people tell us, “You can’t make a mistake,” but we know we did, their advice, however well-intentioned, isn’t helpful. It is important to own our mistakes in order to learn from them.
The only antidote to self-hatred is self-respect, and self-respect can come only when we know we’re doing everything possible to be better people now.
There’s a Buddhist tale of a warlord who sent his minions into a monastery to announce that he was taking it over as his personal possession, and that all the monks there were to leave. One monk, however, refused to go. When his minions reported his refusal to the warlord, he asked, “Did you tell him he would be killed if he didn’t do as I say?” The minions said they had indeed relayed that message, but the monk didn’t budge from his seated position. The warlord then decided to enter the monastery and speak to the monk himself. He brandished his sword and pressed it lightly at the monk’s throat. “Did you know,” he barked, “that I could take this sword and cut you open from top to bottom?” The monk looked at the warlord and answered very calmly, “Did you know that I could let you?''
As someone who has always viewed things through a mystical lens—even before I really understood what that meant—I’ve always seen events in my life in the context of a spiritual journey. I’ve viewed painful times in my life as part of a mysterious unfolding, as dark nights of my soul for which, no matter how devastating, I needed to be fully present. However deep my suffering, I didn’t want to be anesthetized as I went through it.
Why? Because I knew it had something to teach me. I knew that somehow, in some way, my suffering would lead to a blazing new dawn in my life—but only if I was willing to endure the deep, dark night preceding it. None of this is to romanticize suffering. Sleepless nights, obsessive thoughts, extreme mental and emotional pain are nothing to view lightly. But my journeys through deep sadness have ultimately shown me as much about light as they have about darkness—for in coming to understand my suffering, I’ve come to understand myself more deeply. On the other side of my suffering, I’ve seen things that I wouldn’t have seen otherwise. I’ve seen ways I have contributed to my own disasters. I’ve seen that love isn’t a game and that it should be taken seriously. I’ve seen that other people’s feelings are as important as my own. I’ve seen that external things are not what matter. I’ve seen that life lived with any purpose but love is a life that will lead to sorrow. I’ve seen that love is more powerful than evil. I’ve seen that nothing but the love of God can be guaranteed. And I’ve seen that life does indeed go on. Regret, remorse, humiliation, physical pain, grief, failure, loss—all of these can be excruciating. Yet as difficult as they can be to endure, they can also pave the way at times to illumination: conscience, forgiveness, humility, contrition, appreciation, gratitude, and faith. Sometimes we end up looking back on times of deep emotional pain as having been the crucibles out of which emerged the truth of who we are.
I’ve learned a lot from the midnight blues, as agonizing as they can be. It is often during sleepless nights that we come face-to-face with monsters too easily shooed away during daylight hours, carrying with them not only sorrow but information. That which is difficult is not always that which is bad. We might see something that needs to change within us, what we need to atone for, how our character defects or neurotic patterns are ruining our lives, what trespasses we need to forgive, and what amends we need to make.
Personal demons that emerge from the dark cave of deep sadness cannot just be “treated”; they must be dissolved through the light of self-awareness. Everything that needs to be looked at must be looked at; everything that needs to be understood must be understood; and every prayer that needs to be prayed must be prayed. And this can take time. A period of emotional suffering is often not simply a symptom of our depression as much as a necessary factor in healing it. It can be what we need to move through, and best not avoid, in journeying to the place where we suffer no more.
Mourning is a sacred journey, and it cannot and should not be rushed. If we have forty-five tears to cry, then crying seventeen is not enough. Deep sorrow is a fever of the soul, and within the psyche as within the body, the fever breaks when the fever breaks. The tendency to repair—an inborn immune system always moving in the direction of healing—exists in the mind as well as in the body. We simply need to give it time. The potential for heartbreak always exists; it is part of the human experience. Where there is love, there is happiness. But where the bonds of love are broken, there is pain. Given the fact that the world is so dominated by fear, and so resistant in many ways to love, how could our hearts not be torn at times by the pain of simply living here?
And once you’ve lived enough, you know this. You come to live with it, and to live with it gracefully. You learn to take the hits, and to know that they’re simply part of living. “Hello darkness, my old friend; I’ve come to talk with you again” is more than a song lyric by Simon and Garfunkel; it describes an attitude of acceptance that this week, or this month, or even this year might be hard—but you know you will live through it. And in some ways, who we become because we lived through it is someone more alive—perhaps even more beautiful—than who we were before. In the words of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, ''Should you shield the canyons from the windstorms you would never see the true beauty of their carvings.''
Each of us has a spiritual immune system—a system that exists to heal the injured psyche just as the physical immune system heals the physical body—but it takes conscious effort to activate its power. It’s not always easy to surrender our lovelessness, especially when we’re in emotional pain. Yet in order to heal, we must. Spiritual healing is work in the sense that it isn’t passive, but active.
A spiritual perspective does not deny your pain, or any aspect of your human experience. It simply denies its power over you. It gives you the strength to endure when the tears are falling, and the power to invoke miracles that lie beyond.
A ribbon of love runs through our veins, like electric impulses connecting us to every other living thing.
There are times in life when our greatest challenge is to forgive ourselves. A Course in Miracles says that we pay a very high price for refusing to take responsibility for our experience: the price of not being able to change it. The fact that it makes us feel bad to realize that we might have done wrong is simply the sign of a healthy personality. When people tell us, “You can’t make a mistake,” but we know we did, their advice, however well-intentioned, isn’t helpful. It is important to own our mistakes in order to learn from them.
The only antidote to self-hatred is self-respect, and self-respect can come only when we know we’re doing everything possible to be better people now.
There’s a Buddhist tale of a warlord who sent his minions into a monastery to announce that he was taking it over as his personal possession, and that all the monks there were to leave. One monk, however, refused to go. When his minions reported his refusal to the warlord, he asked, “Did you tell him he would be killed if he didn’t do as I say?” The minions said they had indeed relayed that message, but the monk didn’t budge from his seated position. The warlord then decided to enter the monastery and speak to the monk himself. He brandished his sword and pressed it lightly at the monk’s throat. “Did you know,” he barked, “that I could take this sword and cut you open from top to bottom?” The monk looked at the warlord and answered very calmly, “Did you know that I could let you?''
July 7, 2017
Marianne Williamson's latest volume of spiritual wisdom is beautifully written and deeply inspiring. In Tears to Triumph she talks about suffering and all that it has to teach us about ourselves and our lives. She sees suffering as a necessary teacher to show us where we need to change and how to grow stronger and wiser by allowing pain or difficulty to help us find deeper healing and even transcendence. With references to Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism and The Course in Miracles, Williamson sites wisdom from these varied spiritual traditions about facing the inevitability of suffering and challenge in our lives and emerging stronger and wiser in the end.
July 8, 2017
My first book by Marianne. I think the writing was very concise and meaningful. I love the spiritual perspective she shares for when the going gets tough. I would recommend this book for someone who is having a hard time in there life letting go of something or experiencing loss. The words and perspective are very comforting.
January 16, 2021
Tym razem mamy poradnik, który wedle opisowi z tysiącą ludzi zrozumieć sens cierpienia i przekłuć je wewnętrzną siłę". Natomiast sama autorka jest podobno za no mów czynią oraz autorką wielu książek. Jak wiecie lub nie ja lubię od tego czasu poczytać sobie poradniki bo to mnie uspokaja i czasem coś wynoszę z tej lektury. W tym przypadku mocno się zawiodłam, gdy nic nie wskazywało na to że cała koncepcja tej książki opiera się na tym że autorka jest osobą religijną. Co to oznacza? Częste odwołanie się do Boga, modlitwy i odczuć wewnętrzno-religijnych pisarki, które były natchnione tzw. słowem bożym. .
.
Możecie tego nie wiedzieć, ale ja utożsamiam się jako osoba ateistyczna na pograniczu wierzącej, gdyż kiedyś uczestniczą w spotkaniach młodzieżowych, na których odbywały się modlitwy śpiewy itp. Obecnie nie praktykuje, jest to tylko i wyłącznie moja decyzja. Ale mam zgrzyt, gdy czytam tego typu książki, gdyż po prostu do mnie nie przemawia takie troszeczkę wciskania ludziom swoich poglądów religijnych, jako recepty na całe zło tego świata. I nie zrozumcie mnie źle, bo każdy może sobie wierzyć w co chcę, ale dla mnie to jest troszeczkę tak na pograniczu propagandy, a dobre książki. .
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No ale wracając do meritum. Cała książka jest oparta na 12 rozdziałach Czyli też 12 lekcjach jak radzić ze smutkiem. Mamy tam poradzy zatytułowane: poddaj się smutkowi, przejdź przez mrok do światła, antidotum na otępienie, wszechświat pełen cudów, światło Mojżesza itp. .
.
Ja osobiście nic nie wyciągnąłem z tej książki. W moim subiektywnym odczuciu jest to książka zbędna i nachalna DlA MNIE w odbiorze, ale mam świadomość że osoby praktykujący wiarę chrześcijańską/ katolicką świetnie się odnajdą w tej książce, a nuż im się przyda np. po stracie bliskiej osoby. Po za tym nie bierzcie tego tytułu jako kolejną książkę o tym jak radzić sobie z depresją, bo tu ogólnie chodzi o różne typy smutku, który wcześniej czy później dosięga każdego człowieka.Niestety nie mogę powiedzieć nic więcej na korzyść tej książki. Moja ocena to (2/10⭐) gdyż sam pomysł na książkę pierwotnie bardzo mi się podobał, lecz sposób wykonania pozostawia w MOIM odczuciu wiele do życzenia. Ale pamiętajcie, żeby mieć własny rozum i jeżeli cokolwiek z tego co Wam napisałam do góry Was zainteresowało to śmiało sięgnięcie po tą książkę.
.
Możecie tego nie wiedzieć, ale ja utożsamiam się jako osoba ateistyczna na pograniczu wierzącej, gdyż kiedyś uczestniczą w spotkaniach młodzieżowych, na których odbywały się modlitwy śpiewy itp. Obecnie nie praktykuje, jest to tylko i wyłącznie moja decyzja. Ale mam zgrzyt, gdy czytam tego typu książki, gdyż po prostu do mnie nie przemawia takie troszeczkę wciskania ludziom swoich poglądów religijnych, jako recepty na całe zło tego świata. I nie zrozumcie mnie źle, bo każdy może sobie wierzyć w co chcę, ale dla mnie to jest troszeczkę tak na pograniczu propagandy, a dobre książki. .
.
No ale wracając do meritum. Cała książka jest oparta na 12 rozdziałach Czyli też 12 lekcjach jak radzić ze smutkiem. Mamy tam poradzy zatytułowane: poddaj się smutkowi, przejdź przez mrok do światła, antidotum na otępienie, wszechświat pełen cudów, światło Mojżesza itp. .
.
Ja osobiście nic nie wyciągnąłem z tej książki. W moim subiektywnym odczuciu jest to książka zbędna i nachalna DlA MNIE w odbiorze, ale mam świadomość że osoby praktykujący wiarę chrześcijańską/ katolicką świetnie się odnajdą w tej książce, a nuż im się przyda np. po stracie bliskiej osoby. Po za tym nie bierzcie tego tytułu jako kolejną książkę o tym jak radzić sobie z depresją, bo tu ogólnie chodzi o różne typy smutku, który wcześniej czy później dosięga każdego człowieka.Niestety nie mogę powiedzieć nic więcej na korzyść tej książki. Moja ocena to (2/10⭐) gdyż sam pomysł na książkę pierwotnie bardzo mi się podobał, lecz sposób wykonania pozostawia w MOIM odczuciu wiele do życzenia. Ale pamiętajcie, żeby mieć własny rozum i jeżeli cokolwiek z tego co Wam napisałam do góry Was zainteresowało to śmiało sięgnięcie po tą książkę.
November 23, 2016
“All of us yearn for happiness and love, and sometimes we find it,” writes Marianne Willamson in her new book Tears to Triumph: The Spiritual Journey from Suffering to Enlightenment. “Yet most of us are visited at some point by sorrow as well. A relationship, a job, a particular circumstance brought us happiness—but then something went wrong.” Can you relate? I can. If you are spiritually inclined (or even if you are not) Tears to Triumph is one of the best books I have read on working through hard times.
The author speaks from experience in writing about challenging life circumstances. “I know something about suffering, as twice I’ve been diagnosed as clinically depressed,” she says. “I’ve also experienced personal tragedy and the deaths of loved ones. I’ve suffered through devastating betrayals and disappointments. I’ve felt on more than one occasion that I had lost any chance of happiness I might have ever had.” Yet Williamson has transformed these painful events to gain new spiritual insights – insights she shares with her readers in Tears to Triumph.
Sometimes I read criticisms of a metaphysical type of spirituality, like Williamson espouses, from religious conservatives. “You deny the harsh realities of life with your positive messages,” they may say. Williamson, who bases her work on A Course in Miracles, does not shy away from darkness and pain in this book. “Grief and sadness can be part of a transformational process, one that should not be automatically labeled negative,” she believes. “Difficult emotions are at times appropriate; they can be exactly what we need to experience in order to truly heal, grow, and get to the other side of our suffering with meaningful lessons learned.”
As with another book I reviewed last year, Ellen Debenport’s Hell in the Hallway, I’m getting the message that it is healthy not to deny pain but to feel your way through it. The hope is that you come out stronger and wiser, and through the lessons learned you can be of service to others. In her book Williamson emphasizes prayer and forgiveness as aides to healing.
“A prayer for a miracle is not a request that a situation be different, but a request that we see it differently,” the author writes. I recommend reading Tears to Triumph for help in transforming your own painful experiences to something good – for yourself and for others.
The author speaks from experience in writing about challenging life circumstances. “I know something about suffering, as twice I’ve been diagnosed as clinically depressed,” she says. “I’ve also experienced personal tragedy and the deaths of loved ones. I’ve suffered through devastating betrayals and disappointments. I’ve felt on more than one occasion that I had lost any chance of happiness I might have ever had.” Yet Williamson has transformed these painful events to gain new spiritual insights – insights she shares with her readers in Tears to Triumph.
Sometimes I read criticisms of a metaphysical type of spirituality, like Williamson espouses, from religious conservatives. “You deny the harsh realities of life with your positive messages,” they may say. Williamson, who bases her work on A Course in Miracles, does not shy away from darkness and pain in this book. “Grief and sadness can be part of a transformational process, one that should not be automatically labeled negative,” she believes. “Difficult emotions are at times appropriate; they can be exactly what we need to experience in order to truly heal, grow, and get to the other side of our suffering with meaningful lessons learned.”
As with another book I reviewed last year, Ellen Debenport’s Hell in the Hallway, I’m getting the message that it is healthy not to deny pain but to feel your way through it. The hope is that you come out stronger and wiser, and through the lessons learned you can be of service to others. In her book Williamson emphasizes prayer and forgiveness as aides to healing.
“A prayer for a miracle is not a request that a situation be different, but a request that we see it differently,” the author writes. I recommend reading Tears to Triumph for help in transforming your own painful experiences to something good – for yourself and for others.
February 27, 2017
This book was about a lot of things. It was about pain, loss, grief and the path to spiritual enlightenment but mostly it was about how only through love and not fear can we heal and grow. It was also about the importance of working through our pain or heartbreak or whatever ailment we may have and not numbing it or ignoring it. And it was also about opening yourself up to a higher power, whether that be God or Buddha or some other belief system. The message here is that you are not alone and you don't need to be.
June 15, 2017
Few yeras ago I would have rated this much worse, commented it as esoteric bullshit (if I had even read it). There are many wise ideas and insights in this book. However, a general openness to spirituality and a curiosity to understsand the experiences that lead to a broad use of words such as "god" is essential, or you will have a really bad time with this one.
July 21, 2017
Exceptionally written (and read on Audible) by Marianne Williamson. If you ever wonder how to carry on in this sometimes hard world we live in, grab a copy of this book or listen on Audible. I particularly liked the chapter on forgiveness but the whole book merits attention and contemplation. When I finished it, my heart felt lighter and I was more grounded to the purpose of living.
March 12, 2018
I really wanted to like the book. I love the intention behind it and the idea that we shouldn't "pathologize" grief or pain growth periods. However, I found myself getting heavier with each chapter rather than strengthened. I found myself wanting reconstruct the negative tone of many of the sentences into a more positive tone. Maybe I need to do that with my own life .... 🤔
December 16, 2016
Library Audiobook
July 21, 2019
Great perspective on spirituality from many perspectives regardless of your religious affiliation.
August 9, 2019
Good advice - lots of truth, but still hard to put into practice. Not as transformative as promoted.
November 6, 2016
I started reading this book with the expectation that it would just rehash the material found in previous works by the author. My expectations were met to a certain extent and then I started to realise that this book is different, but I can't quite pinpoint why I think this.
Suffering is such a universal concept and experience that I don't think there is anyone who would not gain something from reading this. Marianne's writing style is easy, but you do have to reread some sentences to fully grasp the point. Not because it's difficult, but because it contradicts a lot of what our usual thought processes are.
All the major religions are included within the pages as they share a universal theme and goals.
We examine the culture that makes many of us reliant on anti-depressants and this has enabled me to come off these after a period of 3 years. My life has had its fair share of trauma and I wasn't always strong enough to deal with it.
We learn to forgive ourselves for actual and perceived transgressions and understand that giving is more healing than taking. Not a new concept, but it's a cliché for a reason - it works.
I try to ensure that I think through how I will deal with situations and set myself up with the right thought processes from the outset. Again, nothing exactly ground breaking, but it works.
So you see that there are ideas that have appeared in previous books by the author and of course many others, but the overall package is thought provoking and gentle.
In the final few pages of the book, you find a quote on the influence society has on our thinking and we fall prey to it very easily
"We cultivate the emotional habits of sadness more than the emotional habits of happiness. We've been so trained to think thoughts of fear and attack that the mental musculature to support our joy has shrivelled ".
We see so many images of how we should look, what we should eat and how cheesily happy we should be. All these "shoulds" place enormous and insidious pressure on us all. This book feels like an excellent antidote.
Suffering is such a universal concept and experience that I don't think there is anyone who would not gain something from reading this. Marianne's writing style is easy, but you do have to reread some sentences to fully grasp the point. Not because it's difficult, but because it contradicts a lot of what our usual thought processes are.
All the major religions are included within the pages as they share a universal theme and goals.
We examine the culture that makes many of us reliant on anti-depressants and this has enabled me to come off these after a period of 3 years. My life has had its fair share of trauma and I wasn't always strong enough to deal with it.
We learn to forgive ourselves for actual and perceived transgressions and understand that giving is more healing than taking. Not a new concept, but it's a cliché for a reason - it works.
I try to ensure that I think through how I will deal with situations and set myself up with the right thought processes from the outset. Again, nothing exactly ground breaking, but it works.
So you see that there are ideas that have appeared in previous books by the author and of course many others, but the overall package is thought provoking and gentle.
In the final few pages of the book, you find a quote on the influence society has on our thinking and we fall prey to it very easily
"We cultivate the emotional habits of sadness more than the emotional habits of happiness. We've been so trained to think thoughts of fear and attack that the mental musculature to support our joy has shrivelled ".
We see so many images of how we should look, what we should eat and how cheesily happy we should be. All these "shoulds" place enormous and insidious pressure on us all. This book feels like an excellent antidote.
August 13, 2018
Yet another Magnum Opus book by Marianne. I have been reading all her books since when I was 16 upon having my head cracked open reading A Return to Love and giving copies away to all my loved ones. I don’t want to think what my trajectory would have been were it not for her words. A particular favorite quote from this book: “How often we too prefer the trials and tribulations of the ego to the trials and tribulations of self-actualization. We prefer to cope with our internal slavery rather than to rock the boat and make a break for freedom. We accept the false comforts of victimhood rather than assume the responsibilities of victory.” YES QUEEN. Not being afraid of the darkness and actually taking it by the reins has brought me to such sweet pleasures on the other side. I re-read her books for continual focusing that no matter the strifes I am personally put asunder that anything TRULY *IS* possible as long as my perspective is open and ever-changing with what God would have me do in any given situation. It is there for everyone. No one is more “special” having this internal voice if we are quiet enough and really listen you will feel it, too
April 6, 2018
This book is difficult to write about. It was so good, yet so frustrating at the same time. She is so close to being right on a great number of things, but yet there is an infinate casam between her beliefs and the truth. It reminds me of a spectrum one of my teachers drew where the spectrum was almost a complete circle. Because I can't draw it here I will describe it like this. The Truth will be at the 29 minute mark and at the other end of the spectrum, the 31 minute mark is this book.
She really nails depression and our need for God. She does not advocate praying your way out of depression, but rather sitting and celebrating God's love and guidance while we are struck low. I will be careful about who I recommend this to as it could be incredibly confusing for someone who is not spiritually strong and daily studying God's Word.
She really nails depression and our need for God. She does not advocate praying your way out of depression, but rather sitting and celebrating God's love and guidance while we are struck low. I will be careful about who I recommend this to as it could be incredibly confusing for someone who is not spiritually strong and daily studying God's Word.
March 26, 2017
Vintage Marianne Williamson! Of course, lots of references to "a course in miracles" - but what stands out for me, is that in the book's last several chapters she skillfully ties in thevuniversal spiritual principles she explains so well: forgiveness; redemption, restarting, and fear versus love - into the great world religions of Buddhism; Judaism; and Christianity. A truly universal spiritual path out of suffering. It moved me deeply, especially listening to her narrate the book in her own voice on Audible!
November 29, 2018
Meh. I had high hopes but found myself constantly disappointed. Im in a rough place in right now so I was really looking forward to this book but...somehow...it made me feel worse after every chapter....almost as if it were saying to me "you are the cause of your problems. Its your fault"
I strugged to get through this. I found myself zoning out and thinking of all the crap going on in my life. When My mind would return to the book, I didnt even want to rewind to relisten to what I had missed.
I strugged to get through this. I found myself zoning out and thinking of all the crap going on in my life. When My mind would return to the book, I didnt even want to rewind to relisten to what I had missed.
July 2, 2017
I was so excited to start this book and then I was so disappointed. I'm all for opinions and options and what not but the author is so extreme in her views that I found myself getting angry at points.
Things I agreed with: her desire to be closer to god, the prayers are beautiful, and she is dead on in her examination of our broken world.
Things I didn't agree with: her views on mental illness are borderline offensive.
Things I agreed with: her desire to be closer to god, the prayers are beautiful, and she is dead on in her examination of our broken world.
Things I didn't agree with: her views on mental illness are borderline offensive.
January 14, 2022
If I had a highlighter, the first 8 chapters would be all yellow. Williamson has so much good, insightful advice. It's thought provoking. The first 8 chapters are spiritual and mindful without being religious or anti-religious. Then the next three chapter take on the Buddah, Moses, and Jesus. The problem is that one chapter is not enough to cover any of these figures and it's a bland summary of the basics of each religion. I was really into the first 8 chapters, on that basis its a great book.
May 17, 2019
Uplifting
The challenges of living are the doors of awakening. Love is the key and spiritual leaders are the key makers. Marianne writes beautiful example after example of what the words of the Bible, the hardships of others and ourselves and the potential through righter choices can become. Ego thinking weighs your down, enlightenment lifts you up. Reading this book is a great reminder or place to start.
The challenges of living are the doors of awakening. Love is the key and spiritual leaders are the key makers. Marianne writes beautiful example after example of what the words of the Bible, the hardships of others and ourselves and the potential through righter choices can become. Ego thinking weighs your down, enlightenment lifts you up. Reading this book is a great reminder or place to start.
June 26, 2019
Like many of the greatest spiritual teachers of the past and present, Marianne Williamson teaches us that it's often in our times of despair---when we are suffering and in pain, that the most glorious and valuable lessons are to be found. I derived great comfort from her teachings when I was in the throes of grief after the sudden death of my husband... from her lectures in A Course in Miracles, and from this beautiful book.
April 3, 2018
Life Changing
I have really enjoyed this book so much and I took the time to think about what I read for an hour or less each night and I took note of things to remember through out the day.
This was excellent for me because it brought me back to a good place that I was living but let slip away. It reset my life and brought me back to live of being present and love.
I have really enjoyed this book so much and I took the time to think about what I read for an hour or less each night and I took note of things to remember through out the day.
This was excellent for me because it brought me back to a good place that I was living but let slip away. It reset my life and brought me back to live of being present and love.
November 9, 2018
This book helped me get thru the last few weeks of my life, infusing understanding of my pain into my every day. It also helped me understand not only my pain, grief and suffering this year and before, but that of my friends, too. I highly, highly recommend reading this one. I wish for all of humanity to read it and soak it in from start to finish.
October 26, 2017
Excellent message from Marriane. I would have given 5 stars but she made a comment about seed companies being unlawful. I work for one such company and disagree with her statement. otherwise her metaphysical interpretation of religions was very interesting and I had never heard those before.
January 25, 2018
Love and no fear, that's what we all want. If you don't have control of your own self or life, it is hard to even grasp the beautiful words in this book. The words are soothing and give hope that there is another way to live.
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