Exciting News and Steve Taylor Interview

WE’RE THRILLED TO ANNOUNCE THE UPCOMING RELAUNCH OF THE LIFE AFTER LIFE WEBSITE!

Later this summer we will be switching to a brand new look and adding exciting new content. Our existing blogs and offerings will be coming with us, but you’ll find a lot more to love with new features, expanded resources on life after death, near-dear and shared-death experiences, new courses being added over the next year (including the highly anticipated psychomanteum workshop) and much more!

Our web address will stay the same and if you are subscribed to our mailing list you’ll continue to receive updates and course offerings as they become available. (If you haven’t joined yet, sign up HERE.)

We’ll also be releasing a series of interviews on our new site with some of the most exciting writers and researchers working today.

We want to share a preview here with a few brief excerpts from Lisa Smartt and Paul Perry’s interview with Steve Taylor. We talk about his work dealing with post traumatic growth, the psychological theory of why some people can come away from devastating suffering with greater clarity, confidence, and resilience as well as ‘transformation through turmoil’ the term he coined for it’s most extreme form where the effects can rival those of near-death experiences in their positive impact on someone’s life and outlook.

He explores these concepts in his book Extraordinary Awakenings: When Trauma Leads to Transformation, which has received great reviews and currently has a 5 star rating on Amazon.

Enjoy!

Psychologist and author Steve Taylor explains what his term ‘Transformation Through Trauma’ means.

Paul Perry asks if the effects of transformational change, what Steve sometimes refers to as ‘shifting’, is lasting or if people frequently backslide.

Steve recounts the story of a woman who, after grieving her daughter’s death for over 18 months, experienced sudden and transformational change that brought her peace.

More about Steve Taylor’s book, Extraordinary Awakenings: When Trauma Leads to Transformation:

Why do some people who experience the worst that life has to offer respond not by breaking down but by shifting up, into a higher-functioning, awakened state, like phoenixes rising from the ashes? And perhaps more importantly, how can we emulate their transformations?

Over many years of observing and studying the phenomenon of life-changing awakening through extreme suffering, Steve Taylor coined the term “transformation through turmoil.” He calls these people “shifters” and here shares dozens of their amazing stories. In addition, Taylor uncovers the psychological processes that explain these miraculous rebirths after years of struggle or devastating loss, addiction, or imprisonment.

He highlights a number of lessons and guidelines that the shifters offer us. In Extraordinary Awakenings, readers will find not only riveting stories of transformation that show the amazing resilience of the human spirit, but also hope and guidance to call on during their own struggles, together with inspiration and profound food for thought.

“It is tremendously moving to hear accounts from people who have been to the furthest extremes of loss and suffering, who have faced the most desperate and desolate predicaments that human beings can possibly experience,” writes Taylor. “But even more than that it is inspiring that these people have risen so gloriously from the depths of their suffering and are now living such fulfilling and purposeful lives.”

Along with the amazing stories of shifters he shares throughout the book, Taylor uncovers the psychological processes that help explain these miraculous awakenings. He also highlights a number of lessons and guidelines from the experiences of shifters and offers readers hope and guidance to call on during their own struggles.

“These stories illustrate the inspiring resilience of the human spirit,” writes Taylor. “They show that we human beings tend to underestimate ourselves. As we go through our everyday lives, working and socializing and entertaining ourselves, we usually only scratch the surface of our potential. All the while, there are vast, deep reserves of strength and skill and resilience inside us that we are unaware of. We may lack self-confidence and self-esteem, thinking of ourselves as inept or weak. But when we are severely tested by life, we find that we have the inner strength to deal with almost any challenge that comes our way.”

STEVE TAYLOR

Steve Taylor is a senior lecturer in psychology at Leeds Beckett University, and the author of several best-selling books on psychology and spirituality. He is a past chair of the Transpersonal Psychology Section of the British Psychological Society. His new book is Extraordinary Awakenings: When Trauma Leads to Transformation, and his others  books include The Clear Light,  Out of the Darkness, Back to Sanity, The Calm Center, The Leap and Spiritual Science. His books have been published in 20 languages, while his articles and essays have been published in over 100 academic journals, magazines and newspapers. He regularly appears in the media in the UK, and has been recently featured on Radio 4’s The Moral Maze, BBC Breakfast,  Radio FiveLive and TalkRadio. He writes blog articles for Scientific American and for Psychology Today. Eckhart Tolle has described his work as ‘an important contribution to the shift in consciousness which is happening on our planet at present.’ Steve lives in Manchester, England, with his wife and three young children.

For more great interviews, check out the NDE Consciousness Forum.