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Summary: A Powerful Book for Developing Compassion
Review: As a professor I've used this book for 10 years for an intro class for counseling. I believe that it has had a powerful influence (through the true stories in the book) turning out compassionate and caring counselors. It is a GREAT book. We are not taught compassion, or how to help others. We see little examples of how to care or be helpful in the media (many examples there or how to do violence though!). This book provides true stories of the nature of compassion and helping.I recommend it highly for anyone who wants to help others. I think it is an essential book for anyone who wants to help others
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Summary: Every helping professional should read this book
Review: I am a social worker and an author. I have recently become involved with writing about medical as well as human rights issues. (My book BEHIND THE BURQA, which is to be published in October by John Wiley, is the memoir of two women who escaped the brutality of Afghanistan and the suffering they endured in the US.) Through my work, I have come into contact with people, such as the two subjects of my book, who have endured excruciating circumstances. HOW CAN I HELP sits on my night table so that I can read it after I've come home from interviewing someone in pain. It addresses all the issues that come up when people try to help each other, whether as "helping professionals" or simply as friends or family who are reaching out--guilt, burnout, fear, sense of helplessness--the myriad emotions that afflict those who want to make a difference in the lives of others. HOW CAN I HELP is psychologically astute, spiritually enlightening and written with great gentleness, compassion and occasional moments of humor. I feel the authors have become my mentors and friends. They accompany me to detention centers when I interview imprisoned asylum-seekers who have fled horrific tortures. They're with me when I visit people in the hospital. Their wisdom and guidance inspire me and inform my ability to remain intimately involved with people who have undergone horrible suffering. This book should be required reading in medical schools, psychology and social work programs, and any other context in which people are being trained to work with others in need.
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Summary: Book has been my bedside reading for more than ten years
Review: I read the book called "How can I help" by Ram Dass and Paul Groman when I attended a seminar for care givers. It was intended to help us not get "used up" or "burned out" as the saying goes. The book has a number of vignettes followed by commentary. Each vignettes has proven an inspiration and the commentary has always added to the insight. I do something I call "peer counseling". What it means is I simply try to provide a really safe place for them to express themselves. I have a structured way of developing that environment but that's too complex for this email. I believe that even if we think very hard about an issue we still need to say the words before we get a complete perspective. When we say the words out loud the first time to someone else we some times think, "Damn I'm right!" other times we think, "Boy is that stupid." and I try to provide a non-judgmental place to reach a conclusion. I also expect that if the outcome is the second they will try to distance themselves from everything that was associated with time spent working in the wrong direction. Generally that means they distance themselves from me too. I have to help them leave me with no feelings of guilt because they are "abandoning" someone who has befriended them. That is the second part of my counsel letting them go guilt free. I sometimes fear "losing" clients will drain me but re-reading the vignettes in the book renews me.
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Summary: Comforting and Revelational
Review: I read the book called "How can I help" by Ram Dass and Paul Groman when I attended a seminar for care givers. It was intended to help us not get "used up" or "burned out" as the saying goes. The book has a number of vignettes followed by commentary. Each vignettes has proven an inspiration and the commentary has always added to the insight. I do something I call "peer counseling". What it means is I simply try to provide a really safe place for them to express themselves. I have a structured way of developing that environment but that's too complex for this email. I believe that even if we think very hard about an issue we still need to say the words before we get a complete perspective. When we say the words out loud the first time to someone else we some times think, "Damn I'm right!" other times we think, "Boy is that stupid." and I try to provide a non-judgmental place to reach a conclusion. I also expect that if the outcome is the second they will try to distance themselves from everything that was associated with time spent working in the wrong direction. Generally that means they distance themselves from me too. I have to help them leave me with no feelings of guilt because they are "abandoning" someone who has befriended them. That is the second part of my counsel letting them go guilt free. I sometimes fear "losing" clients will drain me but re-reading the vignettes in the book renews me.
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Summary: Comforting and Revelational
Review: This book is filled with insights. These insights are hidden gems of wisdom revealing our personalities desire to seek and find what we all have in common. This unity is driven by our need and desire to find peace in the midst of life's most difficult moments. As our heart goes out to those in need, our acts of service contain our soul's longing to connect with a fellow soul. Once our soul is awakened in service, a path opens and leads us into a sacred human relationship infused by the power of peace. Thanks, Ram Dass, for your guidance into the realm of spirit through the words written in this book. I also recommend: What the Dying Teach Us: Lessons on Living by Samuel Oliver
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Summary: Touching Stories
Review: This is a must read for anyone entering or already in a life of service--which can really mean anyone.
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