Casey’s reports from those retreats offer vividly described lessons, insights, and revelations that demystify the process of meditation and spiritual searching while never diminishing the greater mysteries. Casey describes awakenings, recovering memories of a “unified connection with all,” and also understandable uncertainty about her first experiences. “What do you do here?” she asks, with hesitation, after expressing concern that she’ll feel “strong feelings” during an intense, three-day “Zen sesshin.” Her teacher’s answer: “We sit.” And she did, learning that “in the realization of ultimate Truth, all must be seen by oneself.”
The result is an unusually grounded book of discovering truths, with an emphasis on the work that this demands, including setbacks and doubts, but also the real changes Casey experienced as she learned to name feelings, recognize “five primary hindrances,” confront “emotional patterns of despair and unworthiness,” and “transform shame into forgiveness and make amends.” Even if the book didn’t cover her eventual path as a mindfulness meditation teacher, readers would probably guess—page after page, with warmth and clarity, she teaches.
Takeaway: Encouraging, relatable memoir of discovering meditation, Buddhism, and one’s path.
Comparable Titles: Jack Kornfield’s After the Ecstasy, the Laundry, Sharon Salzberg’s Real Change.
Production grades
Cover: B+
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A
"Constance Casey is a genuine and accomplished spiritual adept who shows us what is possible in opening to freedom. Propelled by remarkable dedication and compelling honesty, this Midwest mother and carpenter takes us on a profound meditative journey into the depths of insight and awakening."
"Over the course of this memoir, Casey successfully presents a spiritual quest narrative that has the potential to inspire readers who find themselves similarly dissatisfied with modern life... An earnest and personal tale of searching for oneself."
"Part memoir, part guide to self-knowing, Time for Awakening is a spiritual coming-of-age story that serves to inspire and accompany those drawn to the path of liberation. Through curiosity and vulnerability, Constance shares her transformative experiences and embodied wisdom, inviting us into a deeper understanding of the human journey."
Now a 2-time Award Winning Spiritual memoir. You can trust the quality and sincerity of Constance's journey in her book, Time for Awakening.
Read the book Jack Kornfield called "a profoudn meditative journey," and Tara Brach describes as "a capitvating and intimate exploration of how authentic awakening unfolds."
Available now on Amazon!
Constance Casey's heart-opening memoir, Time for Awakening, has officially won the Silver Medal from the Nonfiction Author's Association Book Awards!
Here's what they had to say:
"An interesting, inspirational story of a midwestern woman who begins to search for a deeper meaning and added strength in her life... Casey's step by step process in her success story could be a perfect tool for another to follow and reach their goals as well.
Pleasure and pain, elation and despair and other triumphs and struggles are authentically documented. Constance Casey learned to live the mantra, "Trust the process," and her book is a well-written, meditative account of how and why she did it... Her story was so transparent that I felt I was experiencing her life through her words and thoughts. I commiserated with the remodeling challenges and embraced her spiritual awakening... Truly an inspiration and enjoyable read."
