More Beautiful Than Before How Suffering Transforms Us by Steve Leder a Beautifully Concise Book That Helps All of Us Discover Purpose in Our Pain

More beautiful than before How Suffering Transforms Us By Steve Leder A beautifully concise book that helps all of us discover purpose in our pain

very one of us sooner or later walks through hell. The hell of being hurt, the hell of hurting another. The hell of disease, the hell of loss. The hell of knowing that this year, like any year,E may be our last. But we need not come out empty-handed. In the spirit of such classics as When Bad Things Happen to Good People, A Grief Observed, and When Things Fall Apart, More Beautiful Than Before examines the many ways we can transform physical, psychological, and emotional pain into a more authentic, meaningful life. As the leader of Wilshire Boulevard Temple, one of America’s largest and most important congregations, located in the heart of Los Angeles, Rabbi Steve Leder has witnessed a lot of pain. It’s his phone that rings when people’s bodies or lives fall apart. After 27 years of listening, comforting, and holding so many who suffered, he thought he understood pain and its challenges—but when it struck hard in his own life and brought him to his knees, a new understanding unfolded before him as he felt pain’s profound effects on his body, spirit, and soul. Now, in this elegantly concise, beautifully written, and deeply inspiring book, Steve Leder guides us through pain’s stages of surviving, healing, and growing to help us all nd meaning in our suffering. Drawing on his experience as a spiritual leader, the wisdom of ancient traditions, modern science, and stories from his own life and others’, he shows us that when we must endure, we can, and that there is a path for each of us that leads from pain to wisdom. “Pain cracks us open,” he writes. “It breaks us. But in the breaking, there is a new kind of wholeness.” This powerful book will inspire in us all a life worthy of our suffering; a life gentler, wiser, and more beautiful than before.

“Rabbi Leder is everything we search for in a modern wise man; learned, kind, funny and non- judgmental, he offers remarkably healing guidance...he nds the true fabric of our spiritual lives.”

~PULITZER PRIZE-WINNING PLAYWRIGHT Wendy Wasserstein

STEVE LEDER is the Senior Rabbi of Wilshire Boulevard Temple in Los Angeles and the author of such critically acclaimed books as The Extraordinary Nature of Ordinary Things and More Money Than God: Living a Rich Life without Losing Your Soul. He is a graduate of Northwestern University; studied at Trinity College and Oxford; and was ordained at Hebrew Union College. The winner of numerous awards for his interdenominational and cross-cultural dialogue, Leder has been a guest on CBS, ABC, NPR, PBS and featured in the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times among other places. He lives with his family in Los Angeles.

A Powerful Message with Universal Appeal “ I recommend this powerful book by my dear friend, Rabbi Steve Leder. It is lled not with theory, but with time-tested wisdom that can only come from years of experience helping people. This is such a beautiful book! It is the voice of experience, from a wounded healer who is both realistic and hopeful. I love Steve Leder, I love his congregation, and I loved reading this book! But don’t just read it, buy a copy for a friend.” ~PASTOR RICK WARREN, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Purpose Driven Life

“ Steve Leder is an extraordinary man, with a heart full of grace and a soul generated by love. In this book, he teaches us how to not just survive suffering, but indeed, how to thrive from it.” ~TAVIS SMILEY, PBS Talk Show Host, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Covenant with Black America

“Rabbi Leder has written an uplifting and hopeful work about the most tough and dif cult of subjects--how we can be transformed by the most dif cult trials that face us during our lives. His stories and insights are deep and true. This is an important and very human book.” ~LES MOONVES, Chief Executive Of cer, CBS Corporation

A COMPASSIONATE VOICE WHOSE WORDS OF WISDOM CAN HEAL US ALL • Twice-named one of Newsweek Magazine’s ten most inﬂ uential rabbis in America • Sermon included in an award-winning episode of The West Wing • Subject of the award-winning documentary Restoring Your Tomorrow • Recipient of the Louis Rappaport Award for Excellence in Commentary • Recipient of Religious Action Center’s Kovler Award for his work in the African- American community • Fellow in the British-American Project, a think tank bringing together leaders from America and Great Britain • Subject of articles in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and Town & Country • His commentaries in the Los Angeles Jewish Journal were read weekly by over 50k people • A guest on CBS, FOX, ABC, NPR, PBS

More beautiful than before: How Suffering Transforms Us Hay House | November 7, 2017 | Hardcover | 5” x 7” | ISBN-13: 978-1401953126 CONTACT: Maureen Brichetto | 469-855-9788 | [email protected] This powerful book will inspire in us all a life worthy of our suffering; a life gentler, wiser, and more beautiful than before.

Re ections and Talking Points from a Top Spiritual Leader

Pain and Suffering: A First Hand Account

Pain isn’t fully understood until it visits a person rsthand. Even at funerals people never fail to keep going/walking/moving forward no matter how painfully slow. Pain teaches us many things: hopefully most of all it inspires us to add meaning and love to a world where we use robots to fake empathy. Nature gives us perspective and hope. Perspective and hope are the beginning of healing. Pain is not a matter of intellect—it is a matter of the spirit and a matter of the soul.

On Prayers, Gratitude and the Power of Forgiveness

Leder does not believe in prayers that cure, but does believe in prayers that heal. Prayer matters most when we use it to rid ourselves of something—anger, arrogance, etc.—to be rid of the thing that keeps us from being our best selves. Forgiveness cannot undo the past, but it can make a different future possible. Actually saying thank you enhances or creates our sense of gratitude. Take a blessing inventory. More times than not, the best things in our lives and the best things about us were forged in the res of adversity. Remembering where most blessings begin will help us withstand the searing heat of those res.

“The world breaks everyone, and afterward many are strong at the broken places.” ~Ernest Hemingway

Did You Know?

Generally speaking, if you are afraid of dying, it is not your day to die. Anxiety is for the living. It is a documented fact that catastrophizing the future is a greater predictor of decreased quality of life than pain intensity alone is. The ingredient that makes a marriage thrive, offers ful llment, and love throughout the years is friendship.

How can you help someone in pain?

Be willing to listen no matter how sad it makes you. The most important thing you can do when someone is suffering is to simply show up. “ How have you faced dif cult times before?” is an important question to ask someone who is suffering. It reminds them they survived pain before and gives them hope they will survive again. Never say “Let me know if you need anything.” That puts the burden on the sufferer. It’s our job to anticipate the needs of people in pain and meet them without being asked. Respect wishes: If someone asks to be left alone for awhile, respect it. Otherwise, visit, call, email, visit and email some more.

On Hospital Visits

Make hospital visits brief so you don’t exhaust the patient. Take the patient on a mental vacation which serves as a reminder of happier times. Never underestimate the power of connection—notes, cards, calls, visits mean a lot. Help with the obvious things, carpool, healthy dinners delivered to their door, a massage therapist sent to their home — sometimes a little creativity is in order.

“The sun always rises no matter how dark the night.”