Title: Creating a Healthy Life and Marriage: A Holistic Approach: Body, Mind, Emotions and Spirit
Author: Judith Anne Desjardins
Publisher: Spirit House Publishing
ISBN: 9780984387502
Pages: 385, Hardcover
Genre: Self-Improvement/Psychology/Alternative Health
Reviewed by: Nicole Sorkin, Pacific Book Review
Book Review
We all strive to live a happy and whole life. Most of us want to meet the right person and have a healthy relationship, which will blossom into a loving marriage. We don’t want to be tormented by the past. We want to be loved. We want to be able to love. Judith Anne Desjardins new book entitled, Creating a Healthy Life and Marriage: A Holistic Approach: Body, Mind, Emotions and Spirit is unique in its kind; offering a holistic approach with her professional objectivity. Throughout this book readers are guided on a spiritual journey finding out who they are and given the tools to live a healthy emotional lifestyle.Judith Anne Desjardins is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, a Board Certified Diplomat in Clinical Social Work, and a Master Social Work Addictions Counselor in Santa Monica, California. She has many years of experience both clinically and personally. Judith writes openly in her book about her own life struggles that have affected her. She writes about how she had to work hard to make the necessary healthy changes in her life. It wasn’t easy to face the pain, but by doing so Judith now has a happy marriage and was given the added confidence to write this book so others can learn from her personal experiences.
Judith brings home the essence of what is needed as toddlers and adolescents for creating emotional stability. She spells it out simply as love, guidance, and approval along with a few other very fundamental needs of children. She makes it very clear as to the damage caused by emotional and physical abuse, over-protection, under-guidance, abandonment and other acts that parents at times do not even realize are occurring. The realization of these issues and the guidance to work these often subconsciously buried issues to closure is the key to one’s personal transformation.
Creating a Healthy Life and Marriage is really a new beginning to properly train and socialize a wounded adult back into society, the workplace, and family life. Essentially, the process is like that of an infant learning to crawl, stand, walk, and explore the world around them, with the loving and caring guidance that lacked in childhood. Judith also includes a section on forgiving; releasing resentment and bitterness of the perpetrator(s) of the emotional damage. I found this chapter in particular to be quite beneficial. It isn’t easy to forgive. Judith writes in her book, “Forgiveness doesn’t erase the event, but it does heal the wound. When you forgive the person who hurt you, you are allowing yourself to move forward in a state of peacefulness. You are letting go of the event, the person who harmed you, the hurt, the resentment. You are free!” This statement really resonated within me. It’s clear that we have the power within ourselves to let go of the bitterness and live a harmonious life.
I would encourage anyone to read Creating a Healthy Life and Marriage, not only because the material is well presented, but also will enrich important aspects of your life. The author does not criticize nor direct how someone should feel or interpret the readers’ thoughts. This book is particularly recommended for people who have tried unsuccessfully to use traditional therapy to resolve current difficult relationships and ongoing life struggles. Beautifully hard-cover bound, the book has full color artwork created by Judith and her art therapy students. Reading Creating a Healthy Life and Marriage with an open mind will replenish your spirit and nourish your soul.
