“Furies — the struggle for growth” book launch by Cole Bitting

A short introductory excerpt follows. If you like it you can download it for free here. Furies! The struggle for growth is yet another simple but profound expression of the deep healing potential within us all if we just accept what is and grow through that which life brings us. Thanks Cole for allowing me to share your work with my readers.

The first significant step in a healing process is to recognize a very specific duality: me, on the one hand, and my pain, on the other. Pain is painful. Our instinct is to turn away from it and have it go away. To take care of our wounds is a conscious choice. To turn away is reactive.

Your friend hates work because of an obnoxious boss and says, “It’s awful because my boss does this, and does that, and does this other thing… and the other day, he did this and that and this other thing…” Your friend is not focused on his pain. He is focused on the story of his boss (and perhaps feeling sorry for himself).

You listen and listen and stifle the desire to say, “Enough about the boss!” Your instinct was right: Stop with the story and focus on the pain. What do you want your friend to do? Do you want your friend to jump straight to a solution such as “get new job?” Would you want your friend to find a new job as an act of desperation?

Furies! is a book about our agonizing emotional wounds. It’s not a “how-to” book. It’s an introduction.

You know you well enough. You know the stories of your suffering well enough. But do you know your pain? The raw, un-storied pain? These are our Furies, and we cannot stand to look at them or acknowledge them.

Furies! is a way of saying:

‛Me,’ meet ‛my pain.’

‛My pain,’ meet ‛me.’

Genuine acknowledgement is the first significant step to feeling better.