Burn This Book . . . and Move On with Your Life

By Jessica Hurley

Most people carry around emotional baggage without realizing how it negatively affects the quality of their everyday lives. Burn This Book . . . and Move On with Your Life helps readers identify those issues that are dragging them down, whether they are fear or pride or anger, and then gives them a way to purge their problems from their lives. Each page of Burn This Book addresses a new topic, such as "I will no longer blame my parents for my choices" or "I will let go of the need to be perfect," and includes supporting text that examines that particular issue.. Once the reader has contemplated a particular problem, he or she tears out that perforated page, internalizes the simple lesson, then casts it away for good by carefully putting it to flame.

Burn This Book offers a uniquely active and involved reading experience - one in which symbolic destruction through fire brings mental rejuvenation. It's an ideal way for readers to free themselves from restrictive thinking by taking dramatic action. From cover to cover, Burn This Book . . . and Move On with Your Life is a refreshing way to resolve problems and make life better.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Andrews McMeel Publishing
• Release date: Feb 5, 2013
• ISBN: 9780740787072

Book preview

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Other Titles by Jessica Hurley

Let Your Worries Go

Other Titles by Jessica Hurley with Julia Butterfly Hill

One Makes the Difference: Inspiring Actions

That Change Our World

Other Titles by Jessica Hurley with Lynn Gordon

52 Great Travel Tips

52 Ways to Pamper Your Pets

52 Ways to Stay Young at Heart

52 Ways to Make Your House a Home

52 Party Activities for Grown-Ups

52 Relaxing Rituals

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To Mom:

For learning which things to let go of and for making room for positive change

Acknowledgments

I’d like to thank Jean Lucas and her cohorts at Andrews McMeel Publishing; Ben Raker, Suzanne De Galan, and the rest of the hardworking crew at becker&mayer!; Christopher Pease for his insight into ritual and myth; my Campalicious, New Melones, and KBHK posses; my former coworkers at ThriveOnline who bravely let go of their amazing award-winning Web site (on healthy living), and learned to start anew; Gary Evans, an inspirational leader; Lynn, for showing me the ropes; Judy, for keeping me sane; Dr. Nadler, for sharing heavy and down; my dad for his puns and my mother for her psychobabble; and the rest of my supersupportive family, roommates, friends, and Tika—for just being there.

Introduction:

Renewal Through Fire

He knows his time is out! and doth provide

New principles of life; herbs he brings dried

From the hot hills, and with rich spices frames

A Pile shall burn, and Hatch him with his flames . . .

—Claudian, The Phoenix (circa A.D. 4)

Throughout history, cultures and religions around the world have used elaborate fire rituals to symbolize release, rebirth, forgiveness, and cleansing. Buddhists use fire rituals in meditation to clear the mind of the negative effects of human passions, which are thought to hinder one’s attainment of enlightenment. Some cultures use fire to banish evil spirits while others feed sacred flames with offerings that rise heavenward in plumes of smoke and sparks. For some, a fire ritual takes the form of a tiny candle set silently