The Gift of Change

The Gift of Change

Bring positive change to your life with #1 New York Times bestselling author Marianne Williamson – preorder her latest, The Mystic Jesus, picking up where A Return to Love left off In this honest and uplifting book, bestselling author Marianne Williamson delves deeply into the powerful role of change in our lives today. Far from something to fear and avoid, she says, every change—even the most difficult and painful—gives us an opportunity to receive the miraculous gift of personal transformation into what we are capable of becoming. The only real failure in life, she observes, is the failure to grow from what we go through. We will find real growth, Williamson gently teaches us, when we reorient ourselves with an eternal compass of spiritual principles, which alone can guide us on this path to wholeness. “Never has a society needed this wisdom and guidance more than now.” - Caroline Myss, author of Sacred Contracts and Anatomy of the Spirit “Williamson takes her readers seriously enough to ask serious attention of them and to offer them much in return.” - Harold Kushner, author of When Bad Things Happen to Good People “[Williamson’s] voice is strong medicine for our woundedness, warmth, insistence, good humor, and a little light to see by.” - Anne Lamott, author of Traveling Mercies “[From] one of our most profound teachers of transformational wisdom, this book is truly a gift to the world.” - Wayne W. Dyer, author of The Power of Intention “Williamson challenges us to live in the present moment … that it can be a portal to the miraculous.” - Spirituality and Health magazine “Marianne Williamson challenges us to dive beneath the slick surface of our everyday life to encounter–and embrace–what frightens us most.” - Body & Soul Bestselling author of Return to Love and Law of Divine Compensation, Marianne Williamson shows people how to live without fear or worry in The Gift of Change. The time in which we now live is more difficult and stressful than people are willing to admit. We live with an abiding sense of collective anxiety. Williamson shows how we are paralyzed in our current state of fear and anger because we are not facing and dealing with the true causes of our anxieties and fears. Williamson reveals that fear and worry do not need to be the only tools in our tool box for dealing with problems in the world. As we learn to trust God and the love that surrounds us and guides us, we will see that what causes us pain is an opportunity for growth, healing, and miracles that can transform us and our world. Williamson delivers hope and healing as she illuminates ten basic changes that each of us can make as we learn to view the world through the eyes of love instead of fear. Marianne Williamson is an internationally acclaimed author, speaker, and activist. Six of her published books have been New York Times bestsellers. Her books include A Return to Love, A Year of Miracles, The Law of Divine Compensation, The Gift of Change, The Age of Miracles, Everyday Grace, A Woman’s Worth, and Illuminata . She has been a popular guest on television programs such as Oprah, Good Morning America , and Charlie Rose . The Gift of Change LP By Williamson, Marianne HarperLargePrint ISBN: 0060757159 Chapter One Crossing the Bridge Life as we knew it is passing away, and something newis emerging to take its place. All of us are playing a part in a larger transformative process,as each of us is being forced to confront whatever it is we do, oreven think, that keeps love at bay. For as we block love's power tochange our own lives, we block its power to change the world. Humanity is moving forward now, though in some ways weare doing so kicking and screaming. Nature seems to be saying toall of us, "Okay, it's time. No more playing around. Become theperson you were meant to be." We would like to, but it's hard. The problems of the worldtoday seem larger than they have ever been before, making it easyto succumb to cynicism, fear, hopelessness, and despair. Until,that is, we remember who we are. For who we really are is a power bigger than all our problems,both personal and collective. And when we have rememberedwho we are, our problems -- which are literally nothing otherthan manifestations of our forgetfulness -- will disappear. Well that would be a miracle, you might say. And that is preciselythe point. This book is about learning who we are, that we might becomeagents of miraculous change. As we release the fear-based thoughts we've been taught to think by a frightened and frighteningworld, we see God's truth revealed: that who we are at our coreis love itself. And miracles occur naturally as expressions of love. It is said in Alcoholics Anonymous that every problem comesbearing its own solution. And the gift being borne by our currentchallenges is the opportunity to make a large leap forward in theactualization of our own potential. The only way the world canmake a quantum leap, from