title: Turning Dead Ends into Doorways: How to Grow through Whatever Life Throws Your Way
author:  Staci Boden 
description: "Staci Boden is the ideal guide for navigating the unknown. She is the wise friend, the generous teacher, the compassionate soul-sister you've always wished for. In this book, Staci introduces a practice and a path that will help you move from control to trust, no matter what challenges you are facing. If you are seeking a practical spirituality that makes deep wisdom accessible (and applicable) in everyday life, this is the book for you. If you would like to awaken your capacity to experience grace and gratitude--in any circumstance--this is the book for you. Staci has transformed my appreciation for life as it as--while awakening the possibilities for life as it could be." --<b>Sage Cohen</b>, author of <i>The Productive Writer</i> and <i>Like the Heart, the World</i><br /><br />"To today's anxious, frenzied world, Staci Boden offers a big in-breath. In <i>Turning Dead Ends into Doorways</i>, she lays out the path of 'Practical Spirituality.' Rooted in the ups and downs of daily family and work life, the path embraces the Divine by opening compassionately to the unknown within and without. Boden walks her talk, and as we follow her through the challenges and traumas of her life as a wife, mother, friend, birthing doula and healer, we grow along with her. A candid, rare and immensely helpful book, especially for women in transition or crisis." --<b>Meg Lundstrom</b>, author of <i>What to do When You Can't Decide</i><br /><br />"An enlightening, deep, real, illusion-busting, door-opening must read if you are seeking your own real-life answers and personal strength. I love that Ms. Boden isn't afraid to delve into the nitty gritty aspects of real living. Written in a down-to-earth, personal style with deep compassion for the human experience and mystery of life, this treasure is a potent guide to practical living. You'll want to devour every line and put it to work in your life right away." --<b>Colleen Deatsman</b>, author of <i>The Hollow Bone: A Field Guide to Shamanism</i> and <i>Seeing in the Dark: Claim Your Own Shamanic Power Now and in the Coming Age</i><br /><br />"Staci Boden opens a dialogue to Life's eight great teachers through stories that will inspire you and activate your own story. She is a woman who has walked her talk. <i>Turning Dead Ends into Doorways</i> comes at a time when all of us are seeking a way out of the chaos. This practical guide can help us embrace our fear of change by letting go and allowing Life's Mystery to reveal the way." --<b>Jyoti</b>, Spiritual Director, Center for Sacred Studies; Ambasssador, International Council of Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers
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  #  CHAPTER 1
  
  
  
  
  
  “I heard it’s dangerous to resurrect someone in the open, unless you tie them
  up. Instructor Fern saw one guy flip out when they brought him back. He was so
  out of it that he grabbed a knife and stuck Fern in the gut,” said Jakub.
  “You’d think he’d have been a little more grateful, you know, considering Fern
  cheated death for him.”
  
  
  “We won’t be making the same mistakes as Instructor Fern,” answered Kortho.
  “I’d like to end our mission with both our bellies perfectly unstabbed.”
  
  
  “Binding them up works. Still scary as shit for the person getting brought
  back, but it’ll stop them going crazy until they get their head together.”
  
  
  “We have fully-equipped chambers back at the academy. If the necromancers of
  centuries past saw how things have moved on, they’d die of shock…and then we’d
  bring them back to life again.”
  
  
  “I guess.”
  
  
  “You guess? Such a probing response. Curiosity is dead among the young, isn’t
  it?”
  
  
  “My head is throbbing, Kortho. We 