Alison Cook PhD - Boundaries for Your Soul

PRAISE FOR BOUNDARIES FOR YOUR SOUL

Personal growth requires that we create healthy boundaries for our internal world, just as we are to do in our interpersonal relationships. When the various parts of our soul are connected and integrated, the result is that we heal, relate, and function at the highest levels. Alison Cook and Kimberly Miller have written a very helpful, engaging, and practical book on how to accomplish this process.

Dr. John Townsend, New York Times bestselling author of Boundaries and founder of the Townsend Institute

Boundaries for Your Soul spoke to me in echoes of already-known, yet-not-fully-applied truths, as well as with sweet new understandings. For both those familiar with Jesus inner healing and those new to the process, there is real help here. I plan to review the material often for myself, and share it with others.

Elisa Morgan, author of The Beauty of Broken and The Prayer Coin, cohost of Discover the Word, and president emerita of MOPS International

Is there a spirit-led self within you that emanates love and can lead your inner and outer life? Is it possible for you to love your inner enemies in the same way that Jesus extolled you to love your outer ones? In this beautifully-written book, Cook and Miller not only show you how to do that but also make a strong case that doing so creates enormous inner transformation and peace, turning former enemies into valuable allies. I am thrilled with the way they have translated my work for a Christian audience and believe this book is an extremely important contribution to our cultures healing.

Richard C. Schwartz, PhD, developer of the Internal Family Systems Model of psychotherapy

Before we can realize an integrated lifea flourishing lifewe must imagine it. We live in a world that often feels drained of the capacity as individuals, let alone as a culture, to imagine the life of an undivided heart, of an integrated soul. Into this world Miller and Cook stepnimbly, generously, and with great kindness. With Boundaries for Your Soul they offer us a wellspring of desperately longed-for imagery and actions that provide the opportunity for real change in real time and space. For all of those parts of us that have been waiting our entire lives to hear the call to come home and take their proper place and purpose of healing, wholeness, and creativity, I cannot think of a better place to start.

Curt Thompson, MD, psychiatrist, speaker, and author of Anatomy of the Soul and The Soul of Shame

The Internal Family Systems model is a trusted method of psychotherapy that seeks to bring emotional growth by differentiating between the many complex parts of our personalities. Boundaries for Your Soul delivers the good news that we dont have to be controlled by our strong emotions. This thoughtful book is a rigorously compassionate, biblically-informed manual that can help you discover your true self in the choppy waters of lifes ever-changing circumstances.

Sandra McCracken, songwriter and musician

Living with overwhelminternal and externalis among lifes most relentless and wearisome realities. Far too often the chaos without matches the cacophony within. With the courage to delve into the oft unruly and misunderstood realm of the soul, Kimberly Miller and Alison Cook point our divergent parts to Christ Jesus invitation to his followers: Come unto me... Here is a treatise that gracefully weaves together theory and Scripture, personal experiences with professional insights, and the wisdom of social scientists with the power of the Holy Spirit into one accessible tome. Miller and Cook have given us a gift.

Kanyere Eaton, MSW, MDiv, senior pastor of Fellowship Covenant Church, Bronx, NY

Compelling yet accessible insights on a timely issue: our need to befriend the inner stranger. Our personal mental, spiritual, and emotional health depends on this kind of knowledgeand the health and common good of our society require that we examine our own inner landscape, searching for the clues that will enable us to resist coldness of heart. By gaining insight into our broken inner lives, we grow in empathy and love for those we naturally regard as strangers or enemies. Cook and Miller have given us a valuable tool to assist us in this important self-work.

Bruce Herman, MFA, painter, creator of Ordinary Saints project, and author of Through Your Eyes

What an accomplishment! When we have dissonance within our souls, our hearts crave harmony and wholeness. This groundbreaking book on boundaries helps us manage our emotions, improve our minds, and enrich our relationships. Everyone needs this!

June Hunt, founder, CEO, and CSO (chief servant officer) of Hope for the Heart and author of The Answer to Anger and Counseling Through Your Bible Handbook

It was the apostle Paul who first floated the idea that the very hardest parts of being usor what he called thorns in the fleshhave the unexpected potential to become our allies. It is through our thorns, Paul wrote, that the power and grace of God are most vividly manifested in our lives. In this helpful volume, Miller and Cook have done a great job of showing us how God can repurpose potentially destructive thorns for good, including anger, fear, sadness, and guilt, so that we can become the best versions of ourselves. I hope this book is a help to you. It certainly was to me.

Scott Sauls, senior pastor of Christ Presbyterian Church, Nashville, TN, and author of Jesus Outside the Lines, Befriend, and From Weakness to Strength

Living in the freedom of an integrated life with God is a refreshing priority. This includes transforming the inner garden of the soul, even the weeds. Thanks to Miller and Cook, we now have in our hands this gentle, transformational journey that leads us graciously into healthy internal boundaries of Spirit-led self-leadership.

Dr. Stephen Macchia, founder and president of Leadership Transformations, Inc. and author of Becoming a Healthy Church, Crafting a Rule of Life, and Broken and Whole

Our culture often eschews boundaries and limits in the name of freedom, success, or power. Yet people without boundaries bring damage on themselves and others. And in the process they sabotage the very freedom, success, and power they want. Miller and Cook provide an accessible path to understanding why boundaries are hard and how we can grow through integrating them into our lives. I continually found myself saying, Thank you for these questions. Thank you for this insight. Thank you for giving names to the fault lines in the soul and the landmines in relationships. If you are interested in transformation and seeing people change, this book is a must-read.

Adele Ahlberg Calhoun, pastor of Spiritual Formation, Highrock Church, Arlington, MA, retreat speaker, Enneagram trainer, and author of Spiritual Disciplines Handbook and Invitations from God

Using a psychological lens to refract the complexities and conflicts of the soul, Miller and Cook offer a Christian perspective as a resource to provide awareness, insight, and guidance for anyone seeking to integrate their painful and conflicting thoughts and feelings and achieve internal harmony. This is a worthy challenge and theirs is a remarkable achievement. We highly recommend this book to anyone seeking inner peace and joy, and that is a lot of people!

Harville Hendrix, PhD and Helen LaKelly Hunt, PhD, founders of Imago Relationship Therapy and New York Times bestselling authors of Getting the Love You Want and Making Marriage Simple

In Boundaries for Your Soul, the authors have given us a great gift that will help people gain greater self awareness and new-found self-control over those unruly thoughts and feelings that threaten to derail our life and relationships.