Читать книгу Tears to Triumph: - Dawn Marie Daniels - Страница 9

Based on a decade of experience, we have found common strategies for turning women’s tears into some of their greatest triumphs. By talking to thousands of women, men, and families from all walks of life, we have heard common trials and similar themes for what it takes to rise above life’s toughest challenges. These stories have been illuminating, heart wrenching, revealing, and consciousness-raising. But we have found that these stories can also be a solution-focused literary prescription for the traumas that others have faced. For every story of triumph, there is a set of steps, a personal plan, a self-actualized revelation that moved the writer from tears to triumph.

The Lesson in the Story

Until now, the transformation of Maya Angelou from a confused and broken teenage mom to one of our country’s most confident guides was a change that we have understood as unique to a exceptional sage. In reading her memoirs—I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings and Singin’ and Swingin’ and Gettin’ Merry Like Christmas—you learn of how she survived childhood sexual abuse, exploitation at the hands of older men, and traveling a long winding road through gritty Southern injustices only to find herself traveling the world to overcome obstacles as a confident black single woman in entertainment and with child. Until now, if a person read Angelou’s memoirs, one would feel that it was something about who she is and not what Maya does that has made her so exceptional. This would be a fallacy to believe. Memoirs and stories cannot tell us only what someone did to triumph, but we can also follow their path and learn how they did it.

After publishing the bestsellers Souls of My Sisters collection and the eye-opener Souls of My Brothers, we have decided to turn each of the stories that we have heard into a lesson that people can duplicate in their lives. These lessons were revealed when as authors we looked back at the sagas that have been shared, and by developing with Dr. Jarralynne Agee a system of analysis involving “coding” to determine a pattern and set of steps to make success from the real-life tales.

These stories are not only descriptive, they can also be prescriptive. We have learned that people triumphed through a set of personal characteristics, a way of thinking, and a pattern of behavior that helped them better deal with adversity in their lives. Although they were successful with dealing with a problem in their life, it did not mean that they never experienced drama again, but it did instead give them a resource to rely on when times got tough…again.

How to Use Tears to Triumph

This book will discuss the stories that we have heard over the years in the context of a pattern of success that can be gleaned from these triumphant stories of real women. Every era, every time in our life has its own unique challenges, so we are also sharing some very real and current stories of women who are meeting that ultimate challenge with that same set of traits, behaviors, and thoughts that have helped women overcome their issues in the past.

The book is broken up into sections that share the patterns of women who were successful at beating the odds. In the first section, we will discuss the purpose of crying and the concept of tears as it relates to our current lives and as it has been shared in the lives of women that we have met over the years. Then we will define the ever-fluid concept of triumph and dispel some myths about what success actually means for women who have risen to face many of life’s toughest challenges.

We will provide a portrait of triumph by sharing the traits, behaviors, and emotional responses of triumphant women. Finally, we will share with you exercises that help you apply these steps in your own life through a series of activities that will help you better make your own change.