The Present Heart: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and Discovery

Synopsis

After a chance encounter with a handsome, idealistic stranger on a plane in 1969, Polly Young-Eisendrath rediscovered Ed Epstein a decade later when she least expected it. After untangling themselves from their existing relationships, they married in 1985 and spent the next 25 years together. They were soul mates, but in 2001, Ed (at the vital age of 53) began to show signs of Alzheimer's disease. Over the next 10 years, as her husband gradually reversed his mental maturity, Young-Eisendrath was faced with the question, what is love? The Present Heart is an insightful journey of living in the present moment. In a deeply moving yet unsentimental voice, Young-Eisendrath draws on her lifelong practices of Buddhism and psychoanalysis and her own unique view of love, as well as a circle of profound thinkers including author Abigail Thomas, psychoanalyst Nancy McWilliams, and Buddhist teacher Shinzen Young.A thoughtful meditation on the human experience, The Present Heart shows how our most intimate relationships, often the source of our greatest pain, can prove to be our path to spiritual enlightenment. The book offers a new perspective on how to maintain engaged, reciprocal relationships—with a partner, parent, child, or friend—under any and all circumstances.

Copyright:

2014

Book Details

Book Quality:

Publisher Quality

ISBN-13:

9781609613617

Related ISBNs:

9781609613600

Publisher:

Potter/Ten Speed/Harmony/Rodale

Date of Addition:

05/02/18

Copyrighted By:

Polly Young-Eisendrath

Adult content:

No

Language:

English

Has Image Descriptions:

No

Categories:

Nonfiction, Romance, Biographies and Memoirs, Health, Mind and Body

Submitted By:

Bookshare Staff

Usage Restrictions:

This is a copyrighted book.