In celebration of the tenth anniversary of its publication, a reissue of the bestselling classic that is a "touching and important book with much to teach us about the redemptive aspects of suffering" (Robert Coles, author of The Spiritual Life of Children).

For almost three decades, Wayne Muller has worked with children and adults to heal their sorrow, helping them discover how their pain can become a powerful source of strength and peace. In this inspiring book, Muller reveals the resilience of the human spirit in the face of sorrow and teaches readers how to recognize and transform the damaging effects of their wounds and rediscover their natural vitality, creativity, and joy.

Regardless of the specific nature of their trauma, be it family violence, alcoholism, sexual abuse, illness, or loss, Muller's book has provided countless thousands a path for the awakening of the heart that is psychologically sound and reassuring, yet challenges us at the same time to believe in the possibility of real change. Filled with practical suggestions, this is a book that will bring every reader consolation, comfort, and the courage to seek a more fulfilling way forward.

In today's world, with its relentless emphasis on success and productivity, we have lost the necessary rhythm of life, the balance between work and rest. Constantly striving, we feel exhausted and deprived in the midst of great abundance. We long for time with friends and family, we long for a moment to ourselves.

Millennia ago, the tradition of Sabbath created an oasis of sacred time within a life of unceasing labor. Now, in a book that can heal our harried lives, Wayne Muller, author of the spiritual classic How, Then, Shall We Live?, shows us how to create a special time of rest, delight, and renewal--a refuge for our souls.

We need not even schedule an entire day each week. Sabbath time can be a Sabbath afternoon, a Sabbath hour, a Sabbath walk. With wonderful stories, poems, and suggestions for practice, Muller teaches us how we can use this time of sacred rest to refresh our bodies and minds, restore our creativity, and regain our birthright of inner happiness.

The legendary Eoan group has performed opera, ballet and drama since the 1930s. The group was the first amateur company in South Africa to perform dance, theatre and grand opera often to packed houses in Cape Town’s best concert halls. During their artistic peak, from the 1950s to the 1970s, Eoan was extremely popular amongst opera lovers, but because of South Africa’s racial policies, could not perform with white opera and ballet companies and had to suffer the many indignities of segregation. Nonetheless, Eoan remains a vital part not only of the performance history of classical music and opera in South Africa, but also of the rich cultural heritage of District Six in Cape Town. Through extensive interviews with former Eoan members, and rich visual and archival material (from the archive now housed in the Documentation Centre for Music at Stellenbosch University), this book, the first on the history of the group, makes a unique contribution to South African music history. It illustrates not only how difficult it was for many people to work in the classical arts during the apartheid years, but also how music and the arts can bring meaning to the lives of communities and individuals. The publication of Eoan – Our story is made possible through generous funds provided by Stellenbosch University, The Nussbaum Foundation and the LW Hiemstra Trust, established by Riekie Hiemstra in remembrance of Ludwig Wybren (Louis) Hiemstra.

Grief and loss are inevitable, a part of life's journey. At one time we will need to midwife someone we love through their grief; at another time we will need to be held in ours - each taking turns loving, grieving, and holding each other along the way. We learn to do this by doing it. Being There for Someone in Grief is written for those who grieve and those who wish to walk beside someone who is grieving in a way that is welcomed, helpful, respectful, and kind. In the pages of this book, you will learn how to be present for another in the unpredictability that death brings. Through storytelling, it offers a general map of the landscape you will journey as you learn how to gaze into the face of suffering without running away. You will become skilled at being present for yourself, noticing your own fears and losses while being available to another. The stories offered here will assure you that we are all on a journey from birth to death and that the person you love who is grieving will return from their dark night, although both of you may be changed. This book will help you learn to stay, even when it's hard. And if you should decide to be there authentically and intimately for someone who's grieving, a remarkable thing can happen - love can heal grief's wound.

We all long to experience a sense of inner wholeness and guidance, but today's notions of healing and recovery too often keep us focused on our brokenness, on our deficiencies rather than our strengths. Wayne Muller's luminous new book gently guides us to the place where we are already perfect, already blessed with the wisdom we need to live a life of meaning, purpose and grace.



He starts, as do so many spiritual teachers, with simple questions: Who am I? What do I love? How shall I live, knowing I will die? What is my gift to the family of the earth? He then takes us deeper, exploring each question through transformative true stories. We meet men and women--Wayne's neighbors, friends, patients--who have discovered love, courage, and kindness even in the midst of sorrow and loss. And through them we glimpse that relentless spark of spiritual magic that burns within each of us.



Woven throughout are contemplations, daily practices, poems, and teachings from the great wisdom teachings. Page by page, we become more awake to the joy and mystery of this precious human life, and to the unique gifts every one of us has to offer the world.

From the moment we are born, we are seekers. Our culture obsessively promotes the pursuit of money, success and self-improvement. At the end of each activity-jammed day, though, we collapse into bed discouraged by everything we have "not" checked off on our to-do lists, in despair that whatever we have accomplished is never enough. Worse still, when our dreams become derailed by the inherent tragedies of life--job loss, financial peril, sickness, or the death of a loved one--we feel devastated by the pain and injustice of it all.
Nationally renowned author, therapist, and minister Wayne Muller offers healing for the perpetually stressed in "A Life of Being, Having, and Doing Enough. "By learning compassion and mercy for ourselves and by recognizing what is most profoundly true about who we are and what we need, we can gain the self-acceptance so that whatever we choose to do, in this moment, it is wholly enough.
Muller mixes the writings of great spiritual and political leaders with inspirational anecdotes from his own life, inviting us to derive more satisfaction from less and pull gratitude out of the ashes of grief. The answer to what he describes as "authentic happiness" lies not in seeing the glass as half full instead of half empty. In reality, he writes, the glass is always half full "and" half empty. The world is neither broken nor whole, but eternally engaged in rhythms between joy and sorrow. With Muller's guidance, we may find ourselves on the most courageous spiritual pilgrimage of our lives.

"From the Hardcover edition."