"The heart that is broken has been broken open. When my heart was broken, it changed my life. I still breathe in the consequences of this incredibly difficult event every day -- but with gratitude, not despair. From this most painful experience came the ability to find and appreciate lasting love." There is no pain quite like the heartbreak when a relationship ends. For many, the devastating, obsessive nature of a broken heart is a complete surprise. You feel like something has been physically shattered, right in the middle of your chest. The whole world mirrors your sorrow and there is nowhere to hide.

The anguish and disappointment of a broken heart is devastating, but Susan Piver, the author of The Hard Questions and How Not to Be Afraid of Your Own Life, reveals in these pages that heartbreak's overwhelming pain also creates an opportunity for genuine spiritual transformation, enabling you to emerge on the other side stronger, softer, and capable of loving even more deeply than before. In the years following her own heartbreak, Susan Piver came to discover the courage in sadness, and how it can make all of us more alive. In instantaneously recognizable anecdotes (heart-wrenching and, at times, comical) from her own life and others', she shows that heartbreak is a rite of passage for everyone, one that can leave you firmly convinced of your personal power and secure in your indestructible ability to love. And like an infinitely patient, trusted friend, she tells you in a thousand different ways the most important thing to remember and the easiest to forget: "You're going to be okay." The Wisdom of a Broken Heart is a practical, steadying, compassionate plan filled with important insights, on-the-spot practices, exercises, meditations, and down-to-earth advice on how to cope with day-to-day miseries, offering a priceless prescription of solace and encouragement, wisdom and humor during the hardest times of your life.