Gentle Steps on the Journey of a Healing Heart: Living Joyfully Through Rocky Times

By Clara Penner

In Gentle Steps on the Journey of a Healing Heart: Living Joyfully through Rocky Times, author Clara Penner shares her familys story of their journey to healing their hearts when their family is faced with the news that their newborn son is affected with severe hemophilia. As their world is dramatically changed with this new unknown future, she must navigate a new path and overcome her fears of the unknown.

Penner describes her familys roller coaster of emotions when faced with the realities of chronic illness, as well as the ways that each person overcame this helpless feeling. Capturing stories of the challenges each family member experienced and the steps to their healing, she shares the amazing triumphs of the human spirit and explores how each of us has the power within to shape our destiny. Transform from just surviving life to living it, loving it, and becoming a part of it! Penner shares the steps her family discovered for everyone to use in their own journey:

Validate the rush of emotions in creative ways. Evaluate your belief system. Create a more purposeful life. Align your life to reach your goals. Discover the authentic you. Experience the pure love of family; Accept the power of you and enjoy the journey of your life.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Balboa Press
• Release date: Oct 27, 2011
• ISBN: 9781452541242

Clara Penner

Clara Penner is a spiritual counsellor and life coach. She has dedicated herself to guiding individuals to live more purposeful and emotionally vibrant lives. Living the principles she teaches, she is blessed with an extremely joyful life with her two children and husband in Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada.

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Copyright © 2011 Clara Penner

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ISBN: 978-1-4525-4123-5 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4525-4125-9 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4525-4124-2 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2011918810

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The author of this book does not dispense medical advice or prescribe the use of any technique as a form of treatment for physical, emotional, or medical problems without the advice of a physician, either directly or indirectly. The intent of the author is only to offer information of a general nature to help you in your quest for emotional and spiritual well-being. In the event you use any of the information in this book for yourself, which is your constitutional right, the author and the publisher assume no responsibility for your actions.

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Printed in the United States of America

Balboa Press rev. date: 10/24/2011

Contents

Mission

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

This book is dedicated to my family. To my husband, Curtis, for reminding us to always have fun, especially during the tough times; to Braxton, for sharing his ability to overcome obstacles with an unbroken spirit; and to Blayne, who guided us to stop and enjoy the journey.

I am forever grateful you are in my life!

I love you all!

Mission

I wrote this book to provide guidance for you to find the best you, the happiest you, the peaceful you! We all have these parts within us, but daily life and difficult situations deprive us of the one true thing we seek: a happy life! This book will give you the tools and support to find those parts within you once again; to find your wholeness, and to start living life the way you truly deserve!

The chapter narratives relate my family’s personal experience. Chapters 1 through 7 each conclude with a section called Gentle Steps, which serves as a kind of workbook relevant to the topics explored in that chapter’s narrative.

Please be aware that the techniques described in this book are self-help and self-healing techniques, and you are in control of their use. As such, you have sole responsibility when you use them. I do not recommend substituting these techniques for the professional services or advice of a doctor, psychologist, psychiatrist, or any healthcare or mental-healthcare provider or practitioner.

1

The Diagnosis

Undoubtedly, you have experienced moments that changed your life forever. Whether good or bad, standing in those moments can make you feel like your DNA is changing right then and there. In these moments you can feel your heart break, or you can feel so happy you want to jump up and shout. But no matter what, you know this moment is going to shape your future and become a part of who you are. We all have been there.

Let me introduce myself: My name is Clara. I am a proud mother of two amazing kids, Braxton and Blayne; I am the wife of an incredible husband, Curtis. Individually and together as a family, we have shown each other how to live our best lives. Throughout this book I will share our moments with you… .

Our son, Braxton, was diagnosed with severe hemophilia when he was two days old. In the moment when the doctor told us, I felt a rush of every feeling I could imagine: pain, sadness, loss, insecurity, fear, and guilt. All of those feelings fused, forming what I thought would be a permanent knot in my stomach. I kept feeling like I was going to cry. Each time I swallowed it felt like my throat was closing. Never in my life had I felt fear so deep, so painful, so unwavering as the unknown that I now faced. The thought of losing this brand-new miracle I had just received in my life terrified me, sending me on a roller coaster of emotions that were more intense than anything I’d ever experienced. I spent most of the next seven days in the hospital, crying; I stopped only when I held my son and could see his precious smile. I basked in these moments, where I felt joy overpower fear and pain, even if only for a brief moment. Even though my hospital room was crowded with people, I had never felt so scared and so alone.

Curtis and I met with the hematologist, who explained to us that severe hemophilia is a bleeding disorder in which the blood is unable to clot properly. We could expect that Braxton would experience internal bleeding into his joints, muscles and possibly his organs, and this could occur with something as simple as a minor injury—or, even worse, spontaneously. The hematologist further explained that scratches would not be the problem, as they were visible to the naked eye and could be properly monitored. Internal bleeding, however, would be a serious