Broken Body, Wounded Spirit

There is nothing charismatic about chronic pain regardless of its source. Pain is greedy and demanding. It consumes our time, our relationships, and our function. It threatens everything that is important in our lives, our character, and our dignity. The winter season is often compared to death. In this case, it is the dying off of old thoughts and behaviors. It is a season that offers the experience of many feelings and the opportunity to be born into a new way of thinking. Winter Devotions provides the necessary tools to fight the grotesque monster that plays on fear, agony, loneliness, and resentment. As patient and professional, the authors use their practical advice for coping. Their readers start with a blank canvas as white as the pure driven snow, full of possibilities. Offering a blend of integrative therapies and day by day tidbits of wisdom and famous quotes, the authors help their readers finalize a picture worth a thousand words, encouraging them to explore their unique, and sometimes, universal experience. Readers have the opportunity to devise their own plan bringing hope to the challenges of living with chronic pain. Come with us as we walk the barren winter land appreciating that it is necessary to rid ourselves of previous conceptions in preparation for the spring season of rebirth.
About the Author: Celeste Cooper is a retired RN who has transformed the way she copes with her own chronic pain. In her previous life, she was an educator, paralegal adviser, and caregiver. Celeste has learned to navigate the road so many share with her, and she believes surviving the roadblocks, stumbles and all, have not only made her a better person, they have given her great respect for the resilience of humanity. She is enriched by the many connections being sick has afforded her and allowed her to live out her desire to help others. She is a blogger, an advocate, an expert on fibromyalgia at Sharecare.com, and she participates in the Pain Action Alliance to Implement a National Strategy, PAINSproject.org, an initiative of the Center for Practical Bioethics created to assist in the implementation of the Institute of Medicine report "Relieving Pain in America: A Blueprint for Transforming Prevention, Care, Education, and Research." She is lead author of the 434-page book Integrative Therapies for Fibromyalgia, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, and Myofascial Pain: The Mind-Body Connection, and lead author of the Broken Body, Wounded Spirit: Balancing the See-Saw of Chronic Pain [This series]. She loves the freedom of reinventing words and exploring the endless possibilities writing provides. Co-author Jeff Miller values working with patients with chronic pain and illness. Through his expertise, he is able to help his clients cope with the many aspects of chronic illness and offers a variety of techniques and proactive utilization of gifts and skills from areas of strength adapted to areas of challenge. Jeff's interest in chronic illness has become a sub-specialty, blending his pragmatic counseling with the individual's spiritual perspective. Jeff's goal for his life/work is to reduce suffering and help others live to their true potential. Jeff's mantra is, "If you want courage as your companion, do it now, do it even though you judge that courage insufficient because it is a diminishing thing, like water held in your palms. You will never be this brave again until the next time you face this. Then you will see (as you have seen) the smallest action is mightier than the noblest intention." He is grateful above all for the trust of thousands of people in pain and for the nourishing unconditional love of his family. Jeff also gratefully acknowledges the guidance of many colleagues, especially his first boss who taught him which end of the horse he did not want to be.