Gifts from the Broken Jar: Rediscovering Hope, Beauty, and JoyEveryone, at some time, learns how life can change in a moment: with the crossing of the center line on a highway or the reading of a blood test; a telephone's knell in the still of night or a spouse's hesitation before the unspeakable is spoken. Occasionally, out of the turmoil emerges a work of exceptional wisdom and beauty. Gifts from the Broken Jar is one such work. Psychotherapist PJ Long's life-altering moment came when the bolt of a terrified horse left her brain-injured. She became a stranger to herself, unable to drive a car, prepare a meal, or carry on a conversation. But when PJ began to write, pen and ink acted as needle and thread, mending her torn mind and stitching together a new life. Lessons she had gleaned over years of helping others returned to guide her. And as PJ wrote, she gained profound insight into the resilience of the spirit and the unexpected joys of everyday life. |
Contents
Prologue | 2 |
Sour Milk | 16 |
Pomegranates and Figs | 31 |
Morning Glory | 42 |
Climbing | 54 |
Singing Up a Rainbow | 66 |
Traffic Jam | 83 |
Winter 2001 | 102 |
Honeymoon | 128 |
Seedlings | 143 |
Common terms and phrases
able accident actually afternoon Anne Morrow Lindbergh asked baby Barli barn beautiful Benjin better birthday bluebirds brain injury Bravo Broken Jar camp CHRISTIN DATE conversation Craftsbury dear Christin Dementors dinner E-MAIL Ekta's everything feel garden gift girl going Gretchen grocery happened happy head healing hope imagine Journal keep kind Lakshmi live look Marsie meadow Michael Michael's birthday mind months morning mother mountain Musiek Naisa never night October Journal patient perhaps picture PJ's pond pretty Punta Cana realized recovery rehab remember rutabagas Seabiscuit seemed simply sitting sleep snow soccer started story stuff summer talk tell there's things thought tiny tired told traumatic brain injury tree Trekking poles trip trying Vermont walk week wildflower window wonder words worry writing wrote yesterday