No Pressure, No Diamonds: Mining for Gifts in Illness and Loss

How do you define hope and healing when faced with an early death?

At 35 and newly married, psychotherapist and Buddhist practitioner Teri Dillion had tidy answers on offer for creating a meaningful and beautiful life. 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 all smug psychology and easy equanimity no match for her new harrowing prognosis.

With a humorous exploration of the current landscapes of alternative medicine and self-help, No Pressure, No Diamonds recounts Teri's powerful journey while shedding light on the fragile blessings of embodiment in general. As she grows increasingly disillusioned with toxic positivity and bypassing spiritual gurus in her determined pursuit of a miraculous cure, she's forced to examine her deepest beliefs and define her own faith about hope, and healing.

Inspiring, entertaining, and deeply moving, this memoir will resonate with anyone forced to grapple with chronic or terminal illness. Teri's story teaches us how the most brilliant jewels of meaning and resilience 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.

Author: Teri A. Dillion
Publisher: Teresa A. Dillion
Published: 11/16/2020
Pages: 340
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 1.1lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.76d
ISBN: 9780578736884

About the Author
Dillion, Teri A.: - Teri A. Dillion is a licensed psychotherapist, addictions counselor, clinical supervisor, teacher, and meditation instructor. As an award-winning group process leader, she taught Large Group Process in Naropa University's Contemplative Psychotherapy program and has presented at regional conferences on group dynamics and leadership. In retirement, she now explores what an ethical, dogma-free, engaged life of recovery looks like once spiritual bypassing has lost its luster. This exploration includes the humbling lessons of her own early-onset neurodegenerative illness, which she excavates through writing, robust humor, and a hard-won trust in human resilience. She lives in Boulder, Colorado with her husband and two cats.