I received a complementary copy of this book from Hay House for review purposes. The opinions are completely my own based on my experience.
“Never in the modern world have we attempted to meet the growing needs of so many people through shrinking supplies of so few resources, with climate change supercharging the demand,” Gregg Braden writes early in his new book The Turning Point: Creating Resilience in a Time of Extremes. At first I thought this was a book just about global problems – those biggies that affect the whole human race. “I’m glad we have people like Gregg Braden addressing this stuff,” I thought to myself. “I have enough on my plate in running the family business, getting our kids through college, and attempting to lose a few pounds. These bigger issues are too much for me to think about right now.”
But in Turning Point Gregg Braden does an excellent job in explaining these huge planetary problems in language an average person, like me, can understand. I liked how Braden put into perspective the turbulent times we are living in. “For 11,500 years or so,” he writes, “there had been fewer than 500 million people on the planet. To put this into perspective, it means that during this time the number of people being sustained by the resources of our planet was less than half the number now living in India today.” Wow.
Far from painting a doomsday picture, though, Turning Point is a book of hope. Braden contends that our ancestors have faced equally challenging problems, and through resilience and innovation came out better on the other side. We can do that too. “We humans have a history of embracing change and an amazing track record for successfully turning the extremes of crisis into transformation,” the author says. “Our willingness to think differently about ourselves and the world will be the key to the success of our journey.”
While I found Braden’s expose on global issues enlightening, I was surprised as I read further that he applies these same transformational principles to common problems we all face. Not sure when to leave a job? A relationship? The author gives questions to ask yourself when facing a big change. In a chapter on personal resilience he identifies unhealthy coping strategies and healthier alternatives when stress gets to be too much. In this way The Turning Point is a very practical book, applicable to every day life, in addition to addressing those larger global issues.
“There’s a time when every crisis can be turned into transformation; when simply surviving can become thriving. That time is the turning point,” Braden writes. Reading The Turning Point gave me a better awareness of the planetary challenges we are facing as a human race, but also gave me tools for transforming problems in my own little world. It’s a book worth reading.
You can get The Turning Point from these sources:
For more about The Turning Point watch this short video from author Gregg Braden:
