Mourning Has Broken

This book is about transformation through adversity. It is for anyone feeling tested by life, especially those struggling with grief from any cause or working in the fields of healing, counselling, or bereavement. It is a book full of riveting stories from those who have broken through rather than broken down, stories that lighten the spirit and offer a collective blueprint for human potential in the face of difficulty. Author Carmella B''Hahn speaks from a place of deep personal experience. Her five-year-old son, Benjaya, drowned in a river in England in 1992 -- an event that subsequently became her greatest teacher. In 1997, she began a quest to determine whether those who face traumatic challenges in life have the greatest opportunity to wake up from automatic pilot and discover their innate resilience. By interviewing people who have experienced and healed from the effects of major adversity, she sought to discover what keys allow us to thrive rather than just survive. Interviewees whose healing stories appear in the book, include Arun Gandhi, grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, Hafsat Abiola, whose parents were both assassinated in Nigeria for fighting for democracy, Cambodian and Bosnian children of war, individuals who have faced AIDS, cancer, a car crash, a house fire, divorce, death of a child, suicide of loved ones, a fireman who worked in the heart of the rubble on September 11th in New York City, and many more. The personal stories, which represent people from different ethnicities, economic levels, religious beliefs, sexual orientations, and disabilities, take people on a voyage of discovery, inspiring new perspectives on traumatic events and offering practical keys to effective living. After each section of the book, there are questions and reflections to help readers internalize the content of the book in a real and self-revealing manner.