author of Mystic Journey and The Story of Our Time
November 27, 2020
“In the powerful tradition of Annie Dillard, John Muir, and Rachel Carson, yet with her own unique lyricism, Lisa offers us a precious and wise handbook of both companionship and connection....While this dear book is a treat to read at any time of year, it may be best to slow your reading down, to read only Lisa’s words that describe the current season, so specifically precious are her words of wisdom and companionship. Yet it does us immediate good to mouth and inhale her closing verse,“Consider the Raindrop.”
Jacob Watson, Author
November 27, 2020
Essence: The Emotional Path to Spirit and Enso Morning: Daily Meditation Gifts
“Being human is to live out variations on a theme, or a collection of themes....We seek to craft, from the twinkles of insight along the way, a coherent constellation of purpose. That’s what Lisa Steele-Maley has accomplished in Arriving Here. And in sharing her reflections, Lisa invites each of her readers to gaze back, gaze up, gaze all around, and do the same.”
Aram Mitchell, Executive Director
Renewal in the Wilderness
November 27, 2020
“Arriving Here offers us a sensitive and insightful look into the micro and macro, the momentary and the timeless, the personal and the universal, all at the same time. Adopting an ageless pattern as a lens to make sense of her life, Lisa makes the subtle explicit and the mundane sacred....This book will warm hearts, ground us in gratitude, and raise our sense of responsibility.”
Robert Atkinson, PhD
“This is a beautifully written book in which the author uses her gift for writing to celebrate her spiritual connections to nature and her family. As I read her exquisite writings, I could feel my blood pressure dropping and my muscles loosening where they had been tense from dealing with my mundane world. By sharing her stories, the author inspired me...”
From the Back Cover
This beautiful and aching world is calling for each of us to claim our participation with open hearts, clear minds, and full intention.
Arriving Here is a book for anyone seeking to make sense of their lived experience. In a series of essays that follow a season of reflection and two years dedicated to leaning into its teachings, Lisa Steele-Maley invites readers into the inner and outer work that has carried her to this particular moment—to here. It is a place of deep awareness, belonging, and continually renewed commitment to family, community, and the earth.
Paige Lovitt, for Reader Views February 26, 2021
From the Introduction
When I fell into step with my Dad’s journey with dementia, I did not have any idea where we were going, how we would get there, or what we would encounter. But we would travel together with attention to the moments that would arise along the way.
“A lifetime of wilderness experiences provides an exquisite frame and potent context for dementia’s unstoppable exhausting robbery.
Lisa writes “If the fog lifted near midday, the sun was warm, but if the wind was blowing down the glacier, it carried the coolness of the ice with it. I often felt chilled to the bone beneath the warmth of my exertion that summer.” it perfectly describes multiple experiences that are forced together. This forcing of previously unrelated experiences sums up both the challenge and the opportunity that dementia provides for the caregiver.
Her story provides a vivid description, so as to facilitate beneficial recognition and familiarity, but not so detailed that our individual experience is compromised or derailed. Lisa Steele-Maley’s book is a rare, necessary, and welcome light for a journey filled with darkness and confusion.”
Watson Jordan, Author
Mine, Ours, and Yours: A Father's Journey through the Life and Death of a Child
December 31, 2019
“Without a Map measures up to my sense of what makes a book not just
good but superb. In Lisa Steele-Maley’s graceful prose—which is a joy
to read—you see a fine mind and a loving heart at work. Her use of her
frequent forays into the wilderness as a metaphor for her journey with
her beloved father thru the thickets of Alzheimer’s disease gave me more
guidance than I received from learning science-based “tips, tricks, and
techniques” as I tried to accompany my mother on the same journey. And
the take-away lessons to be learned from this real-life story are
treasures in themselves. E.g., “Caring for, loving, and grieving for my
Dad has heightened my resolve to live a life of intention and
meaning”—the final lesson from a father who had already taught his
daughter well. I finished the book with a more understanding heart, more
courage (at age 80) to face into my own old age, and with a smile on my
face: While it’s true that there is no map for the perplexing journey
with a loved one lost in Alzheimer’s disease, Lisa Steele-Maley in this
beautiful book has provided us with a metaphorical map that I found
profoundly inspiring and useful. I believe that you will, too.”
Parker J. Palmer, Author
On the Brink of Everything, A Hidden Wholeness, Let your Life Speak and more
December 6, 2019
“In Without a Map Lisa Steele-Maley invites us to pause, embrace our loved ones, and embrace the good that is in each moment as we come to accept the unknown together. Steele-Maley offers solidarity and hope, along with many examples of practical problem-solving, to anyone who is in a position to care for an aging parent or loved one. Her own walk with her father through the profoundly destabilizing experience of his illness and passing is recounted honestly, but Steele-Maley reminds us that caregiving can open us up to awe and reverence for the wonder that each lifetime really is.”
Elizabeth Gibbons Capdevielle, PhD University Writing Program
University of Notre Dame
December 6, 2019
