BOOKS: Let Go, Let Miracles Happen

LET GO, LET MIRACLES HAPPEN:
The Art of Spiritual Surrender
by Kathy Cordova
(Conari Press, 2003)

Trade paperback, 202 pgs, $14.95

I am no stranger to self-help books, the power of positive thinking types, especially. I used to believe, more than I do now, that you can simply visualize and set goals and make great things happen in your life, simply by believing that they will -- sending it out to the universe, and all that.

Those fairly innocent beliefs, and a lot of hard work, on top of personal drive and ambition, went a long way toward making things happen and a great deal of success in my life; but in all my naive optimism, I was ill-prepared for trouble and hard times, when they came.

Although I was raised in a highly-organized religious environment, I no longer consider myself religious, so much as spiritual, which to me is more all-encompassing, and reassuring. I believe in God, if that's what we want to call it -- the universal power, or force that exists within everything and everybody. Phew. Going deep here, and I didn't mean to. I'm simply trying to explain that I recognize, and certainly appreciate, in a very spiritual way, that things happen for a reason.

So, stuff was happening in my life, some bad stuff, and out of the blue (?), something else came along, something good, that helped me a great deal. As sometimes happens, I ignored the help for a long time, from April, when I first received the book, to June, when I found it again, at one of those crucial moments in life, and read it. It was not what I expected it to be, and, honest to God, it saved my life, because it was what I needed -- at the right time, in the right place.

Now, because it's been a year since this not-so-small miracle, and because I'm obviously having a tough time objectively reviewing this book for you, aside from it's tremendous personal impact, allow me to quote from the back of the book to tell you what it's really about:

"LET GO, LET MIRACLES HAPPEN shows how surrender is more powerful and effective than constant striving or toughing it out at all costs. These are real-life stories of people who have let go of bad relationships, miserable jobs, or addictions. There are stories from people who have thrived in the face of life-threatening illnesses, devastating personal problems, or the loss of loved ones. Each and every one of them inspires and motivates us to live a different way."

This is not a preachy, born-again, evangelical kind of book. Perhaps it is as simple as "misery loves company," but I believe more likely that when faced with seemingly-insurmountable challenges and crises in our lives, it helps to know other people have been there, and they have survived to live, love, and laugh again.