Peace from Broken Pieces – Turning a corner

You don’t throw away a whole life just because it’s banged up a little. – Jeff Bridges character in Seabiscuit (pg. 62)

Peace from Broken Pieces is by one of my favorite people… Iyanla Vanzant. I’ve reviewed one of her books here and talked about her a few times, for different reasons. I just adore her! Why? Because she’s 100% authentic… yes… and, and, and… what else? You’re going to laugh at me… but it’s her mouth. Whether she’s smiling or talking… there is such depth and compassion… that she has drawn me in since the beginning.

This book might be her opus. It is her memoir of a life… not always well-lived… but … well… we’re back to that word again: authentic. She has been and will always be… herself.

Her life… triumphs and heartbreaks… and let me tell you, they have been legion!… are chronicled with the kind of clarity that comes from being on the other side.

Friends, we’re talking about the death of her cherished daughter … and career, which occurred under the wing of Oprah. It was nothing less than a falling out and as you might imagine, it was epic.

By the way, in the end, their relationship healed with humility and compassion… and the desire to mend by both women.

Woven among the pages of this book are sign-posts… not lists or charts. But if I were to share the main points, it would look like this:

• We are allowed to say ENOUGH
• Family patterns live on in behaviors and patterns of thought until we recognize and change them going forward
• We are allowed to protect our boundaries
• We can say no – without explanation – and stick with it
• It is healthy to feel our sorrows and sadness but the time will come to do something positive with them
• There is a spiritual component to healing
• You know what to do

One other thread that has been woven throughout this book is the complicated relationships between so many mothers and daughters – and the healing that can occur, which I also resonated with very strongly.

This is a book I have been reading off and on for several weeks, along with some others, as I’ve shared.

There is SO MUCH to glean! It also fits nicely with the other books I’ve been reading lately...

ALL OF THEM are about women and our struggles, from outside ourselves and within.

As those of you who have been along for this leg of the journey know, I have been very depressed and wading through the muck of grieving from afar for Dad.

Sometimes when you fall down, you just have to lie still, and hope that no one runs over you. If they don’t and you lay long enough, taking care to be very still, breathing slowly, refusing to whine, God will lift you and perform a soul surgery. (Vanzant pg. 252)

The last three months have ebbed and flowed. I have had moments of joy… but they have been overshadowed by the tide of depression coming in and pushing me down, no matter what is going on around me.

I’m reminded of a spot at the Pacific ocean… at the end of a road… where there were starfish and crabs walking across beach rocks into tiny pools left behind when the tide went out. Sometimes, we got there too late (or would it be too early?) and missed all the fun. Then, it looked like any other beach by the ocean with all that life teeming just below the surface. I loved it there! I can still hear the waves and smell the salt air!

This morning, I decided to go out, in search of water. I stopped for a tropical coconut smoothie and drove over to my fave beach in the area.

And yes, I let God “perform a soul surgery” while I was out there.

Very healing.

Peace from Broken Pieces is the kind of book you read when you know you’ve hit the wall… which I was well-aware of weeks ago. It’s not an easy read (because of the content, not the writing) but it is a necessary one. I mean, if you want to heal.

I highly recommend ANY book by Vanzant but this one kind of stands out and shines for me.