No Pressure, No Diamonds (ePub)

Where do you find resilience when given "the worst possible" diagnosis? And what does it mean to truly heal, no matter the state of your body?

At 35 and newly married, psychotherapist and Buddhist practitioner Teri Dillion thought she had arrived at the satisfied life she'd long wished for. But once diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's disease (ALS) and told to get her affairs in order before facing total paralysis and death, she finds herself pertly booted off all lofty perches of smug psychology and easy equanimity.

In the months that follow, she sets out in dizzying pursuit of an unlikely cure, traveling deeper into the byzantine landscapes of alternative medicine and self-help in hopes of being a rare survivor. Increasingly wary of spiritual bypassing as her disability grows, she attempts to court an elusive faith in a miraculous recovery while knocking ever-louder at the door of her own knowing.

In this inspiring and entertaining memoir about living with terminal illness, Teri reclaims the mysteries of grace while gently reminding us of the fragile blessings of embodiment. Join her for the journey as she asks if the most brilliant jewels of healing and meaning can be found not in conventional narratives of triumphant recovery, but in what we painstakingly and lovingly carve for ourselves out of life's roughest blows.

"Teri Dillion's No Pressure, No Diamonds confronts the reader with a searching, well-written, and honest summons to remember both the fragility of the body and the tenacity of the soul. Through her personal inquiry, she asks each of us to consider how much we may ignore our final appointment with mortality and yet what we are called to develop whenever it makes its appearance. At "mid-life" she is at the end of life and offers to each reader the gift of Persephone's wisdom: someone who moves between worlds and brings messages from both. Her work is a gift to us."

--James Hollis, PhD, Jungian analyst and author of Living Between Worlds: Finding Personal Resilience in Changing Times

"In the form of this beautifully written, always loving and honest, sometimes humorous account of her soul's journey with serious illness, deeply informed by her Buddhist practice and body-informed archetypal therapy, Teri Dillion teaches by example and has given us a gift that will outlive her body. Moving and compelling for anyone who leaves the ranks of the 'temporarily immortal.'"

--Katy Butler, author of Knocking on Heaven's Door and The Art of Dying

"This book is for every human. Dillion teaches us what true grace looks like when 'reality calls' and it's not what we wanted. Tragic, yet surprisingly light-hearted, this book is beautifully written--something we can all learn from."

--Amy B. Scher, author of This Is How I Save My Life