Redemption of the Shattered: A Teenager's Healing Journey Through Sandtray Therapy

Rating:
Summary: A Challenging and Rewarding Story
Review: Redemption of the Shattered is a brave, challenging and uniquely rewarding work. Think of it as a video game where, instead of sitting safely in your room pushing buttons or pulling on a joystick, you're inside with the monsters, fighting for your life. The monsters may come from your own mind, but that doesn't make them any less real. They may attack with guilt, fear and shame, instead of with guns or blades, but they are deadly just the same.

I encourage anyone dealing with issues of grief, guilt, or buried pain to read this book. You may find within it a powerful healing experience.

Like a video game, Redemption of the Shattered plays out on different levels. To survive each level in his grief process, Rob needs to learn new skills, find new help, and discover new strengths. Each of the 24 levels brings a new treasure, too. But, like in a video game, successfully completing one level brings Rob face-to-face with old and new demons on the next level.

Having to face the same trials over and over, when you think you've beaten them, is one of the few similarities between video games and life. It would be nice if our inner demons stayed dead, but they usually don't. They have to be faced, accepted and transformed repeatedly, over time.

Redemption shows us how to follow that long, spiraling, often frustrating path. It is not a self-help book, though, and it is not easy. It is an adventure through time, space, mind and spirit. Rob moves from teenage to adulthood and back, and is sometimes in both places at once. A large number of characters come and go, and the author leaves it to us to understand their significance.

The story requires us to remain flexible about time and person, and to a certain extent about grammar. It's worth the effort, though. Redemption will challenge you, but will also reward you with scenes of great beauty, a message of profound hope, and a new understanding of grief and what it takes to over come it.

Rating:
Summary: A Challenging and Rewarding Story
Review: Redemption of the Shattered is a brave, challenging and uniquely rewarding work. Think of it as a video game where, instead of sitting safely in your room pushing buttons or pulling on a joystick, you're inside with the monsters, fighting for your life. The monsters may come from your own mind, but that doesn't make them any less real. They may attack with guilt, fear and shame, instead of with guns or blades, but they are deadly just the same.

I encourage anyone dealing with issues of grief, guilt, or buried pain to read this book. You may find within it a powerful healing experience.

Like a video game, Redemption of the Shattered plays out on different levels. To survive each level in his grief process, Rob needs to learn new skills, find new help, and discover new strengths. Each of the 24 levels brings a new treasure, too. But, like in a video game, successfully completing one level brings Rob face-to-face with old and new demons on the next level.

Having to face the same trials over and over, when you think you've beaten them, is one of the few similarities between video games and life. It would be nice if our inner demons stayed dead, but they usually don't. They have to be faced, accepted and transformed repeatedly, over time.

Redemption shows us how to follow that long, spiraling, often frustrating path. It is not a self-help book, though, and it is not easy. It is an adventure through time, space, mind and spirit. Rob moves from teenage to adulthood and back, and is sometimes in both places at once. A large number of characters come and go, and the author leaves it to us to understand their significance.

The story requires us to remain flexible about time and person, and to a certain extent about grammar. It's worth the effort, though. Redemption will challenge you, but will also reward you with scenes of great beauty, a message of profound hope, and a new understanding of grief and what it takes to over come it.

Rating:
Summary: Healing the sands of time
Review: When was the last time you took a stroll along the beach at dawn, while there were very few people around? The air is crisp; the clap of the water is magnified; the bits of shell prick your soles. You kneel down and cup some of the sand in your hand, remembering the times when you played on the beach as a child. There is a peaceful aura. The ocean water washes away your troubles as it slowly disintegrates your new sand castle. If you have never experienced this before, plan a morning trip to a nearby beach, and witness the calming effects.

"Redemption of the Shattered" describes how the author used the act of playing in the sand to heal the emotional scars from his teenage years. With the help of a Sandtray therapist, he reenacts significant scenes of his life, by choosing from hundreds of miniature figures. Each chapter has a narrative, a commentary and family discussion questions. The narrative or mini "play" describes the event from his viewpoint as a teenager. A commentary follows the narrative, which explains his feelings of the event in retrospect. Then there are family discussion questions, asking the reader how they would feel in similar scenarios.

Bob Livingstone shares the tough parts of his life with the world. It takes a strong person to open up, and say, "This happened to me, and here's how I received healing." He knows how life can be dangerously cyclical, especially within families. "Redemption of the Shattered" shows how Sandtray therapy helped to mend the cracks in his circle of life. This book should be recommended reading not only for emotionally wounded teenagers, but also for adults who need to heal the sands of time.

Rating:
Summary: Healing the sands of time
Review: When was the last time you took a stroll along the beach at dawn, while there were very few people around? The air is crisp; the clap of the water is magnified; the bits of shell prick your soles. You kneel down and cup some of the sand in your hand, remembering the times when you played on the beach as a child. There is a peaceful aura. The ocean water washes away your troubles as it slowly disintegrates your new sand castle. If you have never experienced this before, plan a morning trip to a nearby beach, and witness the calming effects.

"Redemption of the Shattered" describes how the author used the act of playing in the sand to heal the emotional scars from his teenage years. With the help of a Sandtray therapist, he reenacts significant scenes of his life, by choosing from hundreds of miniature figures. Each chapter has a narrative, a commentary and family discussion questions. The narrative or mini "play" describes the event from his viewpoint as a teenager. A commentary follows the narrative, which explains his feelings of the event in retrospect. Then there are family discussion questions, asking the reader how they would feel in similar scenarios.

Bob Livingstone shares the tough parts of his life with the world. It takes a strong person to open up, and say, "This happened to me, and here's how I received healing." He knows how life can be dangerously cyclical, especially within families. "Redemption of the Shattered" shows how Sandtray therapy helped to mend the cracks in his circle of life. This book should be recommended reading not only for emotionally wounded teenagers, but also for adults who need to heal the sands of time.

Rating:
Summary: A profound and engaging voyage of self-discovery
Review: Written and published by Bob Livingstone, Redemption Of The Shattered: A Teenager's Healing Journey Through Sandtray Therapy is a compelling blend of candid memoir with personal spiritual testimony. Here recounted is Livingstone's individual experiences and the near devastating pain of coping with the early loss of his father. Redemption Of The Shattered is highly recommended as a profound and engaging voyage of self-discovery, insight, and the recovery from familial grief.