Yesterday I finished an amazing book! It’s called Unexpected Awakening: 22 Days at a Buddhist Monastery Freed Me from Abuse by Laurie S. Jacobson (Available on Amazon here: https://a.co/d/09rqj0Ln)It’s a MUST READ for anyone who’s ever stayed too long in a relationship that was breaking you. While this book tells a story, it is a testimony of resilience of the human spirit. There is a beautiful series of synchronicities throughout the book that inspire the reader to look beyond what’s in front of you to the hope we can cultivate within ourselves in our darkest seasons.I was able to relate to the main character on so many levels, from quietly enduring emotional abuse to the restitution of her identity she found at the monastery. I, as a grateful recovering alcoholic and stroke survivor, recognized the deeply familiar feeling of detoxing from the chaos and finding that I’d not yet given up on myself. The mercy and silence at the beginning of a structured recovery journey is uncomfortable but necessary to start rebuilding one’s self-worth.The psychological toll of emotional abuse is a self-constructed prison, and the author nails articulating her inner battle, fears, and the journey of her awakening. Her journey is not ordinary, in fact, it leaves the reader inspired that there is more going on in this life than what we see with our eyes. The story shows us how small choices and inner dialogue can lead us to freedom, just as it has in my recovery. Noticing, staying, and feeling the hard stuff is the imperfectly human pathway to living a new beautiful life. That ending? I wasn’t prepared for it, and it absolutely undid me.On my world famous Reads and Recovery Readometer scale it came in at 5 TAIL WAGS! https://recoverydailypodcast.com/reads-and-recovery/Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and YouTube. Rather listen on Apple Podcasts? https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/recovery-daily-podcast/id1693924779 Visit my Etsy shop, and join my creative journey at Recovery Upcycling. https://www.etsy.com/shop/RecoveryUpcyclingLink my low impact Recovery Exercise Program Week 1: https://recoverydailypodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/Exercise_Week1.pdf#emotionalabuse #spiritualawakening  #freedomfromabuse #recoveryjourney #abusivemarriage 

Reads and Recovery Q1 Book Review: Unexpected Awakening by Laurie S. Jacobson

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