I finished Stephanie Nielson's Heaven Is Here last night... what an amazing account of the human spirit. The book is divided into 3 sections: life before the crash, the crash along with the 5 months spent in the hospital, and life after leaving the hospital. Full disclosure: I didn't much care for the 1st section. For me, it was too pie-in-the-sky-and-everything-is-perfect... it was hard to get through it. But the rest of the book was fully engaging. I read with interest and sometimes with tears in my eyes. Simply incredible what she has gone through.I took something away from this book that is so subtle yet so powerful:
... without a doubt the true source of happiness, self-worth, and authentic beauty doesn't come from the outside. Woman are constantly being persuaded to want something unachievable, to look younger or thinner and above all to fit in because being different is too painful and embarrassing. ... our hearts matter most. YOUR heart matters most, so be gentler and more patient with yourself, and THEIR hearts matter most, too, so be kinder and more compassionate to others. It's a beautiful heart, not a perfect body, that leads to a beautiful life.
Thank you Stephanie Nielson.
