Book Description

Would you like to go back in time and talk to your childhood self ? What events would you discuss? What advice would you give? This is the true story of Terri Yamaguchi, a Japanese girl growing up in a poor family during the 1970s and '80s. Each childhood episode is then followed by fictional discussions between the girl and her adult self, talking about the painful events of that day. The adult enters a meditational state in order to contact the girl while she is dreaming, and by using her adult perspective and spiritual beliefs, is able to console, encourage, and provide explanations for her childhood self in an effort to help her through painful times. This not only creates a healing effect for the girl, but the healing of the child also transcends time, reaching into the future to simultaneously heal the adult. The book begins with an introduction to Terri and her family and the ircumstances of their lives. The dominant role of her father; the subservient role of her mother; the embarrassment of being poor; the controlling influence of their church; and how these forces combined with the nature of Japanese society to condition Terri to think and feel the way she did - as passive, powerless, and always obedient.

But as she grows older she finds important ways to overcome this conditioning, that eventually rescue her from what she thought would be a predetermined life of drudgery and control, and the simply awful fate of repeating her mother's life.

The stories are told in chronological order, beginning with memories of events that occurred as an infant, through to events that occurred at 24 years of age.

An alternative title for the book was 'Things I Wish I'd Known as a Child', and this is because the conversations that occur between Terri as an adult and Terri as a child, provide the girl with explanations that she never received from the adults around her at the time, and also provide her with spiritual philosophies that enable her to see the painful events of her life in a completely different light. Not just the wisdom that an adult could provide to a child, but wisdom that was virtually unknown in the 1970s, but is now helping thousands of people to find deeper meaning, renewed purpose, and greater ease in their lives.

***Excerpt***
Let's say you had two lives to choose from. One is a life where people make you feel bad, and you have to then either 'fix' them or put up with feeling bad. And 'fixing' someone means you have a discussion, or an argument, or a fight to convince, coerce, or cause them to change. But these people will not stay 'fixed'. They'll eventually do the same thing again and you'll have to fix them all over again. And this goes on for maybe 80 years. How does that sound?

Sounds like hell. What's the other life I have to choose from?

gThe other life is one where people still make you feel bad, but to make sure that doesn't happen again, you only ever have to 'fix' one person. And that one person is infinitely cooperative. They will agree with everything you think, and be willing to do whatever you decide, and they will always like you, no matter what. And each time you fix that one person, it will make it less likely that you will need to fix them in the future. So, how does that life sound?

Sounds like heaven. And it sounds incredibly easier than the other life.