Excerpt Tour and Giveaway: Compassion for Life by Philip W Mason

 

Compassion for Life

by Philip W Mason

 

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GENRE: Self-Help, Non-fiction   {as in (Body, Mind & Spirit / Inspiration & Personal Growth)}

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BLURB:

During life, everyone experiences difficult struggles and pain. The relief from this pain can come when either we recognize that we are only human and make an appropriate change for the better or when another person helps us recognize it and encourages us to make that change. These two phenomena are called self compassion and compassion and are great powers that people possess to make life better. They are the first steps to take towards a healing process that results in one being able to enjoy and share all the wondrous experiences that life has to offer. 

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EXCERPTS:

I had been planning on volunteering at the Weaver Homeless Shelter and could not due to extenuating circumstances. I had bought a warm winter jacket, some jeans, and a sweatshirt, intending to use them as my volunteer clothes so I could wash them of contact grime after each volunteer session. I assembled some things that were extras along with clothes I didn’t wear and placed them in the living room. The items included the warm winter jacket, the jeans, a Christmas ugly sweater, a bright red Spyder skiing sweater, three pairs of wool socks, a winter hat, a gym baseball cap, soap, a toothbrush and paste, a candle, a flashlight and extra batteries, a charger pack for his cellphone, a backpack, a pair of good running shoes, and six gallons of water. I also assembled a water-resistant binder and placed blank sheets of paper, pens, sticky notes, scissors, and scotch tape in it. Most all of these things from my apartment were either extras, or things I had no plans of using.

Lee called me the next morning, January 2, at nine. Mom and I drove back to the spot we had first met and waited for Lee. After about five minutes he walked over from another parking lot. I showed him all the items I had assembled the night before and had placed in the back of the car. He was very happy when he saw it all. He then said he wanted to take us to his tent so he could show us his home and drop the things off there. We drove the half mile and parked in a lot behind an Office Depot. We unloaded Lee’s new belongings and carried them through the woods to his tent. When we got to his tent, he found a sign on the ground that said move on. this is not yours. The only other things that were already at the spot were two tents made of tarps folded over triangle frames and an old foot-high small grill. Lee suddenly became very dejected and explained that he did not have a place to stay anymore. He and I talked away from Mom for about five minutes about what were his options at that point. We decided that I would take Mom home and come back for Lee and we would go to Winston-Salem (about thirty miles away) to pick up a tent he had been using for the past few weeks. We would then drive back to Greensboro, and he would set up his home across town in a better wooded spot than he had used before.

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AUTHOR Bio and Links:

I grew up on small family farm in rural Gorham, Maine in the 1970’s. Farm life instilled in me a strong sense of values, including resilience, responsibility, and the necessity of team-work. When I graduated high school, I attended Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts, starting off in mechanical engineering before switching to physics, and graduating with a Bachelor of Science in 1991. From there, I went to Lehigh University in Pennsylvania, earning my masters and finally a PhD in physics in 1998 with my dissertation “An Optically Detected Magnetic Resonance Study of Point Defects in Wide Band-gap Semiconductors.” I have, over the course of my career, put those degrees to good use at various high-tech companies including a five year stint at the Bell Labs Division of Lucent Technologies.

And for many of the last fifteen years, I have suffered with serious mental health issues.

I have had numerous in-patient and out-patient treatment sessions and have learned about human frailty and gained a better understanding of the human condition. This has taught me to have more compassion for the world. I have also come to learn that my mental illness is not my fault, for there was nothing I could have done to prevent it. I have come to accept it, have received medical care for it, and am now going through the process of healing from it. It is a very emotional recovery at times, and I now have hope for a much brighter future.

I am now able to love who I am and want to share that sense of hope and love with the rest of the world.

Connect with Philip W Mason

WEBSITE https://philipwmason.com/

GOODREADS https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/53329158-compassion-for-life 

Buy Compassion for Life                   

AMAZON.COM https://amazon.com/dp/022882673X

AMAZON.CA https://amazon.ca/dp/022882673X

KINDLE https://amazon.com/dp/BLOCKED20200427

BOOK DEPOSITORY https://www.bookdepository.com/Compassion-for-Life-Philip-W-Mason/9780228826736

SMASHWORDS https://www.smashwords.com/books/notPublished/1018386

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GIVEAWAY:

Philip W Mason will be awarding a $15 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway