Steve Taylor - Extraordinary Awakenings: When Trauma Leads to Transformation

Contents

Steve Taylors brilliant new book introduces us to individuals who have experienced traumas and crises and have come out the other end deeply transformed and spiritually awakened. What I love most about this book is how clearly he outlines the process underlying these positive transformations. This can help us all with the crises and traumas of our own lives. Such a wonderful book!

Phil Borges, photographer and filmmaker, codirector of Crazywise

A powerful and inspiring book that shows that the most difficult moments of life can also be the most transformational. The profoundly moving stories show how resilient human beings can become and how much potential lies inside us.

Scott Barry Kaufman, founder and director of the Center for the Science of Human Potential and author of Transcend: The New Science of Self-Actualization

In crystal-clear prose, Steve Taylor offers practical wisdom on how to transform and transcend lifes inevitable turmoil. Taylor is a remarkable guide sure-footed and calm through the startling transformations that individuals sometimes undergo when facing death (their own or someone elses), being challenged by addictions, or experiencing the loss of what seems central to their identity. Taylor shows that when the ego attachments we take for granted are irretrievably broken, they can be replaced by a more encompassing and far more fulfilling sense of self, bringing with it tranquility and transcendence. As with his previous books, Extraordinary Awakenings explores terrain we all tend to walk but not fully recognize, and his gentle, insistent voice draws out the meaning. There is much to learn here, much to awaken to and embrace in order to let go of habits, preconceptions, and fears and become our highest selves.

Michael Jawer, author of Sensitive Soul

Steve Taylor takes a giant step by revealing how traumatic situations and gritty life challenges can catalyze profound awakening experiences. No longer can these be seen as delusions or throw-away stress responses; instead, they clearly belong in the arena of positive life-transformative episodes that leave the experiencer profoundly changed.

Emma Bragdon, PhD, author of A Sourcebook for Helping People in Spiritual Emergency and The Call of Spiritual Emergency

A moving book that is right for our times. Some people awaken through a blissful encounter with nature or a mystical experience induced by a psychedelic substance. But others awaken through addiction, imprisonment, life-threatening illness, depression, and other dark nights of the soul. Steve Taylor shows that awakening is always an option even during dire times and his book can serve as a life raft for those who are caught in challenging circumstances.

David Lukoff, founder and director of the Spiritual Competency Academy

Extraordinary Awakenings is both extraordinary and ordinary: extraordinary because it describes the sudden lifting of suffering and the deliverance into a more luminous, joyful existence; ordinary because every human being is capable of being what Steve Taylor calls a shifter. We can all shift our consciousness. The stories in this book inspired me to continually wake myself up and contribute to a better, kinder, and more peaceful world.

Elizabeth Lesser, cofounder of Omega Institute and author of the New York Times bestseller Broken Open: How Difficult Times Can Help Us Grow

Fascinating and inspiring. Offering more than just a compelling account of traumatic circumstances leading to unexpected spiritual awakenings, Steve Taylor also explores their common features and how they can facilitate our own awakening something we all can benefit from.

Peter Russell, author of Letting Go of Nothing and From Science to God

Mind-blowing. A gripping combination of moving personal stories and groundbreaking psychological research, this inspiring book will help you find the gifts in lifes greatest challenges. By connecting the study of personal transformation with even bigger questions about our destiny as a species, Steve Taylor makes the leap from psychologist to visionary.

Matthew Green, author of Aftershock: Fighting War, Surviving Trauma and Finding Peace

EXTRAORDINARY

AWAKENINGS

Out of Time

The Fall

Making Time

Waking from Sleep

Out of the Darkness

Back to Sanity

The Meaning

Not I, Not Other Than I: The Life and Teachings of Russel Williams

The Calm Center

The Leap

Spiritual Science

The Clear Light

Copyright 2021 by Steve Taylor

All rights reserved. This book may not be reproduced in whole or in part, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, or other without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review.

The material in this book is intended for education. It is not meant to take the place of diagnosis and treatment by a qualified medical practitioner or therapist. No expressed or implied guarantee of the effects of the use of the recommendations can be given or liability taken.

Text design by Tona Pearce Myers

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Taylor, Steve, date, author.

Title: Extraordinary awakenings : when trauma leads to transformation / Steve Taylor.

Description: Novato, California : New World Library, 2021. | Includes bibliographical references and index. | Summary: A noted psychologist investigates cases of post-traumatic growth, or transformation through turmoil, in which ordinary people from all walks of life undergo a spiritual awakening after a painful experience such as combat, bereavement, addiction, incarceration, life-threatening illness and injury, or severe depression-- Provided by publisher.

Identifiers: LCCN 2021022375 (print) | LCCN 2021022376 (ebook) | ISBN 9781608687671 (paperback) | ISBN 9781608687688 (epub)

Subjects: LCSH: Suffering--Religious aspects. | Psychic trauma--Religious aspects. | Life change events--Religious aspects. | Religious awakening.

Classification: LCC BL65.S85 T39 2021 (print) | LCC BL65.S85 (ebook) | DDC 204/.42--dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021022375

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021022376

First printing, September 2021

ISBN 978-1-60868-767-1

Ebook ISBN 978-1-60868-768-8

Printed in Canada on 100% postconsumer-waste recycled paper

10987654321

The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain.