Congrats, Author/Life Coach Luke Benoit for garnering this awesome Midwest Book Review!
If anyone ever told you that you were anything less than wonderful—they lied.
—ALL STORMS PASS: RAIN AND FIRE
This book offers ways to soothe the suffering and liberate them, if they are willing to face their demons.
As with the first book, Benoit presents verses he calls “anti-meditations” (which are the same as meditations, only different). RAIN AND FIRE continues to riff on therapeutic themes of recovery, addiction, self-help, and personal spirituality. A former psychotherapist with extensive 12-Step Recovery knowhow, Benoit proposes that these anti-meditations may occasionally serve as puzzles—jumping off places for discussion, self-assessment, or prayer.
As a philosopher and poet, Benoit strikes a balance between his own truths and universal truths. Yes, he went through the Valley of the Shadow, but he points out that his experiences are not unique. The question ultimately is not necessarily how can we avoid trauma, but how can we flourish in spite of it?
RAIN AND FIRE’S hybrid of searing poetry, confessional naked rage and heartfelt love is tempered with popup humor that keeps the reader smiling through tears while turning pages. Instead of titles, the meditations have subject-oriented headlines such as:
“When will it be success and how will I know it when it gets here?”
“Today, I will admit that sometimes BEING STUCK IS A CHOICE”
“Today, I will accept that LIFE is not an ALFRED HITCHCOCK MOVIE”
“There comes a time when no matter where you've been and no matter what you've been through, you have to MOVE FORWARD anyway”
And my personal favorite:
I will WALK MY DOG -
no matter what else is
going on.
Even Benoit’s Dedication starts out with a smile:
For my Auntie Cia,In a poignant, highly personal passage, the author reveals that after writing the first book, he suffered a physical and mental breakdown that was eventually diagnosed as severe vertigo—a health crisis that ended his progress for a time, except in the arena of healing, which eventually did happen.
my Mom and Dad
and the Tall Dark Stranger
I thought might bury me
in the basement.
Benoit does not attempt to offer readers magical solutions received from On High, but supplies aid as a fellow traveler who has come many times to a crossroads that asks him to choose between Light and Darkness, and he continues to choose Light.
I highly recommend this book to advocates of 12-Step Recovery and those who wish to learn more about it; seekers of recovery from trauma or life itself; spiritual seekers; and poetry lovers.
Author: Luke Benoit
Publisher: Luke Benoit
Publication Date: May 27, 2021
Language: English
Paperback: 346 pages $17.95
978-0692222119
Available on Amazon
