Susan Jeffers - Life Is Huge!: Laughing, Loving and Learning From It All

Copyright 2004 by Susan Jeffers, Ph.D.

Jeffers Press

A division of Susan Jeffers, LLC

P.O. Box 5338

Santa Monica, CA 90409

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Every effort has been made to ensure proper credit has been given for all sources in this book. The author and publisher would be grateful for notification of any corrections that need to be made. Sources not given appropriate credit will be included in future publications.

ISBN: 978-1-937003-66-1

Dare to Connect: Reaching out in romance, friendship and the workplace*

Embracing Uncertainty: Achieving peace of mind as we face the unknown*

End the Struggle and Dance with Life: How to build yourself up when the world gets you down*

Feel the Fear... and Beyond: Dynamic techniques for doing it anyway*

Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway: How to turn your fear and indecision into confidence and action*

Feel the Fear Power Planner: 90 days to a fuller life

Im Okay... Youre a Brat: Setting the priorities straight and freeing you from the guilt and mad myths of parenthood*

Inner Talk for a Confident Day*, Inner Talk for a Love That Works*, Inner Talk for Peace of Mind* (the Fear-less series)

Losing a Love... Finding a Life: Healing the pain of a broken relationship

Opening Our Hearts to Men: Taking charge of our lives and creating a love that works*

The Feel the Fear Guide to Lasting Love

The Little Book of Confidence

The Little Book of Peace of Mind

Thoughts of Power and Love* (quotes by Susan Jeffers)

*Also available in audiotape

Audiotapes from Live Appearances:

The Art of Fearbusting

A Fearbusting Workshop

Flirting From the Heart

Opening Our Hearts to Each Other

www.susanjeffers.com

To my wonderful husband,

Mark Shelmerdine,

who fills every day of my life with

a HUGE amount of love.

I am truly blessed.

Nothing is less real than realism.

Details are confusing. It is only by selection,

by elimination, by emphasis

that we get at the real meaning of things.

Georgia O 'Keeffe

My life is definitely HUGE when it comes to all the wonderful people in it. These include the following who, professionally and personally, provided me with incredible support for this book... each in their own way.

Dominick Abel, my agent, who has made it possible for my books to be published in more than 100 countries and over 35 languages. Wow!

Tom and SueEllen Strapp of Powersource, who have created www.susanjeffers.com, a very happy and successful website. They make it fun!

The many people around the world, who have let me know in so many ways that I have made a difference in their lives. They can give me no greater gift than that.

My dear friends: Rosanne Yaman, who gave me permission to include the e-mail she sent to her loved ones on September 11, 2001 in the article, "Am I Dreaming?"; Caren and Dick Lobo, long-time friends who have supported my work in so many ways... especially through their warm and welcoming bookstore, The Sarasota News and Books; Sir Ken and Lady Terry Robinson, who constantly offer love, support and laughter as we share our dreams; Diana Von Welanetz Wentworth and Ted Wentworth, who offer so many ideas and words of encouragement; Gerald Rafferty, Ph.D., who has given me many valuable suggestions relative to a number of projects; Donna Gradstein, who was my co-writer of our book for children, I Can Handle It. She is the "Donna" who appears in a number of the enclosed articles; DC Walton, who offers constant encouragement and valuable feedback.

And the rest of the "gang": Paul Huson, Bill Bast, Lois Luger, Henry Gradstein, Melissa Oberon, John Levoff, Jenny Blackton, Ed Philhower, David Osterlund, Larry Gershman, Trevor Chenery, Sue Chenery, Rosie Bunting, Paula Berenstein, Fiona Copeland, Stewart Copeland, Joy Starr and Mandi Robbins, who continue to love and support me, each in their own way.

My wonderful family: Gerry Gershman, my loving son, who contributed the very moving article, "A Fateful Day"; Leslie Wandmacher and Michael Wandmacher, my loving daughter and son-in-law; my step-children, Anthony Shelmerdine and Alice Shelmerdine, (Anthony is my hero as he broke tradition and took his wife's name!) and Guy Shelmerdine and my new daughter-in-law, Ashley Jacobs. A special thank you to Ashley, who also gave me permission to use her moving September 11th email in the article, "Am I Dreaming?"; and as always, my very special sister, Marcia and brother-in-law, Bruce Rabiner, who I love so dearly.

And most importantly, my husband, Mark Shelmerdine, who supports me in everything I do. My love for him grows... and grows... and grows.

Life truly is huge.

It is filled with so many emotions... joy, sadness, silliness, seriousness, love, hate, anger, fear, confidence, confusion, curiosity, clarity, courage, calm, panic, peace, happiness... and so much more.

It is filled with a massive array of experiences that involve... relationships, parenthood, single-hood, career, travel, friendships, alone time, holidays, health, sports, politics, television, war, peace... and so much more.

No question about it... life truly is huge!

Over the past few years, I have attempted to capture some of the "huge-ness" of life in a monthly column on my website (www.susanjeffers.com). I named this column THE WORLD ACCORDING TO SUSAN JEFFERS as it represents a compilation of personal observations I have collected over time... much humor that is a constant necessity in my life... important lessons I have learned that I want to pass along to you... poignant moments that make me stop and reflect on the purpose of it all... and the gift of love that helps me transcend all that is difficult in this world.

These 50 articles vary widely in terms of content and style. The very humorous articles were written long before my first book,Feel the Fear And Do It Anyway, was published. The "how to" articles are drawn from a number of my books and are filled with tools for handling important areas of your life. Some of the remaining articles capture a particular moment in time while others reflect my personal feelings about life and the human condition.

It is my hope that the enclosed will entertain you, make you think, make you laugh, make you cry, make you reach out... and much more. You may disagree with my sentiments on a number of issues. That is good! In the huge-ness of life, different people hold differing views of it all, which certainly makes life more interesting. As always, I ask that you take what works for you and let the rest go. In fact, that's a great rule to use throughout your journey through life.

As I began putting this book together, I considered arranging the articles in terms of subject matter but, with a few exceptions, I decided to present them in a more random fashion. I figured that it would be more interesting for you to read them this way.