Title: Awakening to More – Life Lessons to Keep Us Grounded, Hopeful, and Prepared
Author: Adele von Rüst McCormick, Ph.D. and Marlena Deborah McCormick, Ph.D.
Publisher: iUniverse
ISBN: 9781532015571
Pages: 124
Genre: Body, Mind and Spirit
Reviewed by: Barbara Bamberger Scott

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Two therapists have applied their personal experiences to the development of a practical philosophy based on classic sources and sensitivity to nature in their book titled, Awakening to More – Life Lessons to Keep Us Grounded, Hopeful, and Prepared.

The journey that led Adele and Marlena McCormick to the creation of this book was the sudden death of Adele’s husband, Tom. Dealing with the loss seemed overwhelming, though the family took it as best they could, in the spirit of their Celtic heritage. Several months later the family gathered for a dinner, at which two photos were taken. Tom appeared clearly in both. This gave the authors inspiration to examine our human condition and “expand our human perceptions.”

Merely being born human, the writers point out, is no guarantee that we will naturally evolve as humans – they give examples of children raised by wolves who may be later unable to adapt to human ways. Studying other species can give us a way to understand our human traits. This can be a path to wisdom, which, according to Greek philosophy, is a key to living an ordered life, and to connecting with the “Source of our Being. “In their study of animal and human behaviors described in this and earlier works (Horse Sense and the Human Heart, Horses and the Mystical Path) the authors observe that most of us will rush to solve problems with busy activity, instead of inward turning. Yet by assuming a composed manner, we can dispel anxiety. Similarly, many of us think relationships are a preplanned set of actions and negotiations, unwilling just to let each other be as they are. These are the kinds of counter-intuitive approaches that the McCormicks recommend. We need to become more self-aware, more subjective, to learn when to retreat and when to adapt, how to cope, comprehend and lead through truth rather than sentiment, and to appreciate the value of silence. The authors speak of “becoming an eagle” – ascending and soaring above it all to get the big picture.

Relationships with animals, a pervading theme of the book, can offer needed sustenance to our human minds and souls. With references to and quotations from the ancient Greeks, the Bible, the Bhagavad Gita and other sources (included in a helpful bibliography) the McCormicks engagingly build a case for not treating our problems as problems, but as a motivation for understanding, accepting, and growing. Awakening to More can provide a sensitive guide to achieving that state of security and transcendence that can make even the event of death an opportunity to “learn so much more about how we fit into the whole.”