Dragon Doesn't Live Here Anymore: Loving Fully, Living Freely

Adversity is our dear friend. It is the driving force that pushes us out of our comfortable nest and forces us to learn to fly on our own. We can really welcome adversity as a gift. Without it our growth is very slow. With it, we are transformed from fledglings into masters. Every great person has a history of adversity. No one has ever made a contribution to humanity without first undergoing a certain amount of trials. ~Alan Cohen Through Alan Cohen's books I've learned a lot about myself and quite a bit about life itself in all its highs and lows. Alan seems to encourage me to look at life as more of a challenge. He sees humor and lessons in situations that would cause others to sink into a deep depression. He has a secret way of looking at life that he reveals in his caring way and wise contemplations. At the start of this book he lists dynamic ideas to open your heart and mind and then he delves into an almost autobiographical essay. If you are interested in how Alan started his journey, then this particular book will reveal his initial interests, his yearning for a connection with the Divine and how he sought out various books and teachers to guide him in his spiritual quest. This book is divided into two sections: The Journey and The Homecoming. Alan talks about how he visited a Zen monastery, became interested in Ram Dass and Jesus' teachings and worked in a Seven-Eleven type store. He finally meets a spiritual teacher named Hilda who has a profound effect on his life. Through stories, meditations and inspired insight he weaves a book to heal your soul and comfort you in times when you need a shoulder to cry on. You can draw strength from this book or make it a place of comfort and support. Some of the essay chapters include: Enough is Enough If Not Now, When? Health, Wholeness, and Holiness Seasons The Key to the Future Transforming Relationships The Power of Appreciation Courage Golden Opportunities Undoing Unworthiness The Law of Attraction There is an intimacy in Alan's books that mingles with humor and spiritual healing. It seems that when I'm feeling sad, Alan's books either make me laugh or help me to release my negative emotions in tears. So, either way, the reading of The Dragon Doesn't Live Here Anymore helped me fight off a few angry invisible dragons. There are nice dragons too, I think. Those are the dragons that love to fly across the October moon and enjoy seeing their shadow floating across lakes. After reading this book, you may want to watch the Dare to be Yourself video or look for additional books. When I read Alan's books, I seem to wake up the next day high on life itself. There is an energy in his books that makes me want to write! ~The Rebecca Review

His first book,and it's a good one. Cohen reminds us that nothing has to be fixed, we only have to recognize who we are. A MUST read. Here are some of his words."Life is showering its gifts upon us at this very moment. There is a force of love and light that is streaming, rushing, pouring toward us from all angles at all times. All we have to do is to let it in. Blessings are being offered to all of us without condition or limit. It's all already given to us. The keys to the Kingdom are ours whenever we are willing to accept them. What we have to lose is fear, lack, limitation, and sorrow. What we have to gain is peace of mind, success, health, and love. We do not need to become anything that we are not already. We need only say, "Yes!" to what the universe would just love to give to us. We need to think with God.

I've owned a copy of this book since the early 80's. I have worn out a couple and given away a few. It has helped me recover from an abusive marriage and a few not so wonderful relationships... It has helped me heal my soul more then any other book has. One of the best things about it is that it goes beyond any one religious dogma in that he makes it clear that although he uses the term "God" it is gender neutral and meant to refer to the Divine no matter what name/s is used. I have Christian as well as Jewish friends who rave about it and as a person who follows the Path of the Ancients I too have found it wonderfully healing. It freed me to love wholly and in a healthy loving relationship... after learning to love myself. This is a guide for "Living Freely" and "Loving Fully" just as the title says. If you really and truly want to ditch the *Dragons* within read this book and follow your soul's soft voice. Blessings of Light, Love and Laughter! *>Dabbi<*

I'm surprised there aren't more reviews! I first ran across the ideas of Alan Cohen in his monthly column in New Frontiers magazine, but this wonderful book of observations and suggestions is the best of his (and many others) work distilled. Both pithier and more accessible than any other New Age self-help book and definitely worth owning.I was actually a bit put off, at first, by his life story - it's a very different life from mine, and I suspect from most of the people Alan is trying to reach! Cohen has experienced overcast afternoons of the soul, rather than dark nights. However his sunny optimism is part of his charm and what makes ME turn to the book time and again!

For someone like me who has a strong distrust of religion but has an overwhelming need to know God, this book is incredibly comforting. I have not found any message in his book which is not healing on a deep level. Ideas in DRAGON which resonated in me include "You can know God now, but you can never know Him tomorrow...God is now." (p. 52)"...each of you is dear to God in a unique and individual way. To follow the path of another is a fruitless search in the thicket of shadows. God dwells in your very heart, and you need never look outside yourself to find Light." (p. 79)"We believe that a man, a woman, a cigarette, or a job will be the end of our seeking. The irony, or the joke, is that our soul is already satisfied, except for the THOUGHT that we need something else to fill it in. We must live our our desires in a painful evolution of development until we realize that we are--and always have been--whole." (p. 69) This is the best guidance book on the subject of spirituality that I have ever read. Everywhere in Cohen's work, the message is that God is Love, and that particular message resonates with a truth-o-meter that is somewhere inside my chest. I have not found any organized religion which truly espouses unconditional love--there's always some hidden hook when you look closely. I always wanted to believe that God was 100% good. Thanks to Alan Cohen for embodying the Love necessary to have been able to create a work as great as this.