Monday, March 7, 2016

A Conscious Peace, My iPhone Journal, by Ruchi Rai - a very unique book

Local author, Ruchi Rai, has written a very interesting memoir.  Here is the back-of-the-book blurb:

Ruchi's life was unfolding exactly as she might have planned it when she was a young girl. A respected teacher at a prestigious school, she had a successful, supportive husband, an outstanding thirteen-year-old son, and a dear little puppy who all loved her more than anything.
And then Fate intervened.  A careless driver cut across her and set off an avalanche of life changes that threatened to disrupt all of life as she knew it.
As she struggled to come back from the chaos Fate had dealt her, she faced the most difficult choice of her life:  give in to the bleak circumstances she found herself in, or stand up to Fate and fight back.

This is a very interesting book on a number of different levels.

First, I don't know if any book has ever come from an iPhone journal.  That is really unique.

Second, A Conscious Peace mostly looks at the ramifications of a very serious car accident.  Something that this book made me realize is that a severe accident can have effects similar to PTSD.  I had always associated that disorder exclusively with soldiers in combat.

Third, let me quote what Ruchi entered on her iPhone Tuesday, October 21, 2014 12:44 PM:  "There's nothing like looking at what life has meted out to another to change our frame of reference, to make us thankful for what we have, to be happy...."  My father-in-law, Irv, used to always say that if everybody sat in a big circle; and we all put our troubles in the middle of that circle; we would pull our own troubles back.  I guess he and Ruchi are in agreement on that one.

It took courage for Ruchi to expose herself to all of us like she does in this book.  She has given us at-that-moment feelings and thoughts.  She is to be commended for this.  She had the option to keep this journal to herself.  I daresay that most of us would have done exactly that.  Ruchi, you have made us feel just a very small part of what you had to go through. Your title page for section II (page 89) is CHOOSING TO BE FREE.  I think that sums up your attitude.  Bravo.








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