Blog - Anna Penenberg

Best 14 Books About Chronic Illness To Inspire Hope

things to do alone, Things to do alone: Mindfulness and Coronavirus

A healthy life is the most beautiful bounty. Unfortunately, not everyone is blessed with this gift. The CDC estimates that one in six Americans experience chronic illness. While the illness may last, there are ways to minimize suffering. To provide hope and insight, I’ve compiled 14 books about chronic illness. Each of these carries powerful messages about healing and overcoming physical and emotional pain even under the shadow of a chronic disease.

Brave New Medicine: A Doctor’s Unconventional Path to Healing Her Autoimmune Illness – by Cynthia Li MD, 2019

Like a house of cards, Dr. Cynthia Li’s happy world came crashing down when she was diagnosed with autoimmune thyroid disease. After the doctors failed to treat her, her own belief in modern medicine came under scrutiny. Finally, she decided to take a bold step towards finding new methods of healing. Brave New Medicine is not just the miracles of alternative medicine. The book offers invaluable insights from the point-of-view of a doctor. It helps us understand precisely where modern science is lacking, and how we can begin our own healing journey in the right direction.

Dancing In The Narrows: A Mother Daughter Odyssey Through Chronic Illness – by Anna Penenberg, 2020

A touching story of a loving mother who travels through hell and back for her daughter. “Dancing in the Narrows” is not just any chronic illness book, it’s about the beautiful bond between parents and children. The book narrates the story of Dana, who suffers from a chronic illness. Her mother, Anna, decides to move beyond conventional medicine and find true healing for her daughter. Dancing In The Narrows is literary journey through pain, suffering, hope, self-discovery and adventure.

14 Single Parenting Books For Stellar Moms And Dads

Raising a child is one of the hardest jobs in the world. Don’t get me wrong, it’s filled with fun, novelty and so much love. That said, it can be tough when you have to do it alone. Uncertainty and inexperience meet exhaustion and frustration. Sometimes, you might want to shirk responsibility or just take a few days off. The good news is that there are informative single parenting books with pearls of wisdom that help you get through the hard times and create more good ones.

Here are 14 best books for parents that can make your life easier

Books for Single Moms:

We Got This: Solo Mom Stories of Grit, Heart, and Humor – by editors: Marika Lindholm, Cheryl Dumesnil, Katherine Shonk and Domenica Ruta, 2019.

Seventy-five single mothers come together to write stories that inspire.

Single motherhood is a unique experience for each woman, but much can be learned from other mother’s stories. In this book, 75 women pen down their experiences of raising their kids alone. Some are famous, others are ordinary, yet each tells a story worth listening to. Filled with tales of embarrassment, hope, fear, resilience, rejection and triumphs. We Got This is one of the best books for single moms that will leave you awe-inspired.

26 Best Lyme Disease Books For Survivors and Allies

Navigating the maze of Lyme Disease can make anybody’s head spin. It’s overwhelming emotionally if you have it. Not only are there a plethora of medical decisions that have to be made but there are emotional and mental health challenges that each survivor needs to overcome to live the best life possible in the duration of the illness. This list of best books about Lyme disease can help you through your healing journey.

The titles listed below are all informative and not ranked in any specific order. These Lyme disease books are not only useful for people struggling with Lyme Disease, but also for people who know someone with the illness.

Top Lyme disease memoirs

Believe Me: My Battle with the Invisible Disability of Lyme Disease – By Yolanda Hadid, 2018

The star of the popular reality TV show, Yolanda Hadid, shares her experience of dealing with Lyme disease and how it affected her life. It showcases the problems that come with diagnosing this disease properly and how conflicted the medical community still is on the subject. The book is an interesting and gripping tale of the effects of Lyme disease and how to beat it.

Inner Child Work: Lessons For Trauma Healing

Behaviors that put us in unwanted situations often lead back to patterns that were formed earlier during childhood. Inner child work can help us address our inner children. When we acknowledge their beliefs and feelings, we can learn to follow our true voice. To shed light on practices that help us address those coping mechanisms we no longer need, I asked these incredible trauma recovery advocates:

“How do you recommend working through internal beliefs developed by one’s inner child?”

—Brenda Barros Rivera @createsaferelationships

“The first step to get to felt safety is being ‘Self led’, as Dr. Bessel Van Der Kolk describes. In order for children to feel safe, there needs to be an adult to protect them and assure them they are okay. It is the role of the Self to ensure all the children feel safe. Once that happens, exploration can occur. This is where positioning beliefs as hypotheses and testing them becomes important. Hypotheses testing should be done in a measured way to not overwhelm the inner children. Based on the evidence the children can begin to either accept or modify their internal beliefs.”

Kundalini Yoga Teachings: Shared Women’s Wisdom

These inspiring women have been in my life as mentors, guides, colleagues and deep souls on the path. Every one of these great teachers understands and cultivates the essential sanctity of women and being in community. Whether you are looking for master-level guidance or kundalini yoga for beginners, I recommend learning from each of these women. I am blessed to include their perspectives.

What do women who are new to Kundalini Yoga come to you to learn?

Sukhdev Jackson

“Women are drawn to explore their innate and true power. At Shakti School they learn ancient wisdom traditions and practices that unite body, mind, emotions and soul. Through the technology of Kundalini Yoga, they discover the true unshakable power that lies within their own being.

Through the sequences, meditations, chants and breath work there is a rewiring of their brain chemistry, a reframing of their emotions and a vitality upgrade that can happen in a short time. Our mission is to guide women back to their own intuition through the process of self-initiation. Therein lies her power to create the kind of life she longs for.”

Lyme Disease Awareness: How to get through dark times

I am a mother of a daughter who struggled with chronic Lyme disease for over 10 years. I made it through the darkest times by focusing on the bond between us. The life spirit we shared was more powerful than bodily pain. In tragic moments I let humor erupt to shake us out of fear. I nourished tenderness to bring out love as the healer of all. Part of my work is now focused on Lyme disease awareness and healing.

I maintained an unwavering faith in my daughter staying alive. It guided me to be present in every moment I could and learn from the darkness. This is reflected in my book, Dancing In The Narrows.

One of the great lights on our journey to wellness was Lyme disease awareness and Health Advocate, Daisy White.

Daisy White – Health Advocate

“What helped me to help others in their darkest days was borrowed from my own journey. I employed a single minded determination to find all answers at all times. I coupled that with a deep surrender and dedicated study of anything I could learn about. Then, like in great surfing, I mounted the board fully informed. Riding into shore on a big wave, I let go of the outcome. I let the universe know that I was ready for the ride. Rather than looking looking for one solution, I surrendered to one day, one month, one year, one lifetime, of true healing. I’ve seen it time and time again with clients. They finally connect to that moment of surrender, they begin to ride the tumultuous waves of wellness into their authentic lives to become fully well.”

Lyme disease warriors share their wisdom about what got them through their darkest times:

Healing Journey: The Birth of New Beginnings

What is a healing journey? Is it engaging the vital flow of an organism at all levels? Does it mean having times when all is integrated and functioning optimally? Is it feeling joy and invincibility?

Everyone’s healing journey is unique.

I have experienced this energy in all its manifestations. It becomes the cell in all our tissues. The energy transforms the fluids that flow through our systems, inside and outside of our cells. It is our thoughts, our bones, our emotions.

Every day we are in a balancing act with our being at all levels. Most of the time it is unconscious. When we apply our conscious mind and our breath we become masters of our own health. This advances physical healing, spiritual healing and emotional healing. We are always participating in our experience of life in this body.

Self acceptance is key to self healing.

It matters to our overall health how we accept ourselves. Self-empowerment, self-advocating and self-esteem come from our center. We attempt to reside there every moment, balancing our physical, emotional and spiritual bodies.

Alone Together, A Coronavirus Poem

My coronavirus poem:

Above my head, rain dripping unkindly on the metal roof

Darkness resulting from the death of a tree in my neighborhood, who grabbed the electrical wires on its way down

Beauty shining in my heart with nowhere to go

A clash of information real or imagined

Seeing my mother’s eyes, and only her eyes. . . her face wrapped in a homemade protective mask

Self Advocacy Skills: 5 Essential Tips

There’s no one in this world who knows you better than yourself. We all know how frustrating it is when you aren’t heard. It’s tiring when you are misunderstood. It can even be dangerous if you aren’t getting the respect and support you need. This post will teach you essential self-advocacy skills to help you help yourself.

Oftentimes people around you have no idea what you’re feeling or thinking unless you tell them. They could have the best intentions for you but still completely miss the mark in terms of what you need for your emotional and mental wellbeing. Hence, it is vital to stand up for yourself with self-advocacy.

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