I read a lot of nonfiction, particularly nonfiction that has to do with any aspect of mental or physical health as I am a registered nurse. Unfortunately, these days with self-publishing, I often read health books that are inferior, shallow, wrong, or even possibly harmful. So, it is an absolute delight to read a book that is in depth and on point. This is one of those books.

This book is logically organized, which I always appreciate as I think it is important to help the reader fully assimilate the knowledge shared. The four major parts of this book are a brief look at what emotional health is, ways to gain insight and knowledge into our emotional pain, healing the wounds, and transforming your life.

To me, these four parts seem to reflect past, present, and future. The first section explores the foundations of emotional health and how it goes awry. We may have adopted masks and avoided the pain in a variety of ways. The author looks at the distinct ways that we can be emotionally hurt, like through grief, shame, and betrayal. This is what I'm calling the “past,” the causes and how we have coped. The next two sections are what I see as the present, gaining insight and knowledge about our own particular emotional wounds and then working on healing them. The author gives many methods and suggestions, many of which you will have seen before, but I don't think I have seen them all so well described in one book. I particularly like the section on getting unstuck as that is what truly seems to be one big problem in getting past emotional trauma. The author also dedicated an entire section to whether one should forgive or not. This is more complex than it would seem on the surface, and the author gives it the space that it needs. The section on healing creatively is an absolute gem, as we need to not only speak to the logical left side of our brain to truly heal emotional pain, but we also need to use the power of the creative right brain to fully heal. The final section is what I'm seeing as the future part of this book, transforming our lives after healing. I think this is such a beautiful idea and a worthwhile goal and something to keep in mind as you are doing the harder work.

As you can tell, I thought this was an exceptionally well-done book. The writing style is a little clunky and academic at times, as one might expect for one as well educated as this author is. But he shares some of his own stories and insights, and you can tell that he wants you to be able to let go and heal, as the title suggests. If you have suffered emotional trauma and are still feeling the effects, no matter how big or small, I recommend this book to help you work through and move past it to a better life.

I received a free copy of this book, but that did not affect my review.

An exceptionally well written, well plotted book on the hows and whys of trauma, and how to heal from it. The author took great care in outlining a book in such a way that you can almost visualize how traumatic events happen, how they unfold and almost become a difference thing altogether than where they started, and how to use both logical and creative means to find healing. The candor and vulnerability of the author makes you trust the methods suggested. As healing is not a straight line, this is a resource that one can use throughout their lifetime.