How many of us have not felt the icy pain of rejection, abandonment, or betrayal, and the dissociation that often occurs afterward? The Outcast, about and for whom this book is written, is one who is harshly judged as too different, or too sensitive, or who is made wrong by family, friends, and society, and even rejects herself as she chooses to withdraw, isolate, and go further inward to hide. Most of the people I have worked with are suffering from the devastating results of rejection and abandonment, and experience pain and unhappiness to the exact degree they believe they are powerless to do anything about it. I offer them my belief that everyone comes into life in order to express Spirit in their own unique and creative way. All of our life experiences support that expression, even the uncomfortable ones that we label as negative and ones to be avoided and denied. Spirit gives us life and has a Divine Plan for us, but it is up to us how we interpret and create the details of our lives within that Plan. Spirit doesn't make us unhappy. It just offers us powerful life experiences that we can do with what we choose because we have free will. The process of spiritual transformation is the tool that gets us free from believing that outer things have power over us and that bad things just seem to happen to us. I believe the only possible sin is to believe in it.

This book is about how we can use the pain of the past to our advantage in transforming our lives into ones of joy and fulfillment. It is even about how, having been rejected by family or society, we stand on the outside looking in, and as a result of that isolation, we experience a different world than others do. From this unique viewpoint, we may have the opportunity to perceive life from a greater perspective. This perspective may lead us to develop the ability to offer wisdom and healing to others. This book, therefore, is intended to awaken and support anyone seeking a new way of perceiving her abandonment.

Comfort does not always urge us to grow, and challenges, no matter how difficult, always hold the potential for evolvement within them. Unfortunately, most of us don't rise to the challenge. We feel victimized, feel sorry for ourselves, take our pain out on others, or seek only pleasure in our lives, and therefore don't try to go further than just denying the discomfort. Others, however, may sense there is more to suffering than suffering itself and choose to transform it, even if it means losing the security of the known and plunging into the unknown. The key is movement. When there is no movement, there is no growth. And for many, movement is painful until it is experienced enough so that one is strengthened. This is a particularly difficult challenge for the Outcast, who doubts that security and love will ever be hers.

In the film, The Power of One, the main character, "P.K.", suffers abandonment after abandonment, through the death of his father, then his mother, then his good friend, then his lady love. He almost gives up but decides, with the encouragement of a friend, to continue on in his life of helping others. The Native Africans called him the Rainmaker because, in times of drought, rainmakers could make rain. P.K. brought life to places that were dry of life force and to people who were losing hope because he was willing to move through and past his experiences of loss. He used his role as an Outcast to great advantage.

During an interview show, Phyllis Diller spoke of her hellish childhood and how it actually helped her become a successful comedienne. She said it was like the oyster which only produces a pearl when an irritation is present.

Though the life of an Outcast may be miserable, the constant presence of suffering creates the tension that, in turn, creates the possibility of breakthrough. In ordinary reality, the Outcast may experience depression, dysfunction, loneliness, poor health, and unhappiness. In expanded realities, such as in Shamanic states of consciousness which will be discussed later in the book, these problems may actually become the foundation for wholeness. The reason for this lies in the learning potentials within all life situations. While we are caught in experiencing only the suffering, we cannot usually see these lessons in the greater perspective. When we are able to at least consider there may be another way of looking at our problems, we are free to create new realities. This is usually called transformation, or a change from one state, form, or viewpoint, to another. I like to use the Shamanic term, Shapeshifting, for we literally change the shape, or foundations of belief, and move into a greater awareness. It is based upon the idea that no healing can take place, no matter whether the modality is traditional or nontraditional, in an ordinary state of consciousness. If a medical doctor seems to heal someone of a disease through surgery or medicine, the cause of the healing is the strongly held belief in either the doctor or the patient that healing is possible. And that belief is something that transcends ordinary consciousness which depends primarily on logic. The basis for true healing is not logical, it cannot be explained using ordinary language because it emerges from the non-ordinary. For the Outcast, Shapeshifting holds not just a promise of relief from pain, but transformation of the inner cause of the pain into something powerful.

Buy Both E-books and Save $5! (Total cost $40)