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  Life, Liberty, and Covid-19 (Ortrman) will be available for free through Kindle promotions Sep 22-Sep 26. For more posts by and about Dennis Ortman, click HERE . Sign up for the MSI Press LLC newsletter Follow MSI Press on  Twitter ,  Face Book , and  Instagram .   Interested in publishing with MSI Press LLC? Check out information on  how to submit a proposal . Interested in receiving a free copy of this or any MSI Press LLC book  in exchange for  reviewing  a current or forthcoming MSI Press LLC book? Contact editor@msipress.com. Want an  author-signed copy  of this book? Purchase the book at 25% discount (use coupon code FF25) and concurrently send a written request to orders@msipress.com. Want to communicate with one of our authors? You can! Find their contact information on our  Authors' Pages .

  Excerpt from Life, Liberty, and Covid-19 by Dennis Ortman - FORGIVENESS PROCESS Forgiveness requires baby steps. It is a process that unfolds over time, with many twists and turns. Here are some marks of authentic forgiveness: A whole person response Forgiveness does not mean just saying the words, “I forgive you.” It is the response to an offense that involves the whole person, requiring a change of heart toward the offender. It engages the will, emotions, and mind. Mercy begins with a decision to commit ourselves to a process of giving up our anger and replacing it with kindness toward the offender. That decision is made again and again. We acknowledge the pain of loss caused by those we believe acted in a way to destroy our lives. Finally, through forgiveness, we seek to understand ourselves and those who harmed us in a new light so we can heal. Make a decision Forgiveness does not just happen. Time alone does not heal all wounds. To be merciful is a conscious decision, a free ac

  excerpt from Life, Liberty, & Covid-19 FLOWING TIME The river of life, time, and consciousness flows continuously. It flows from an inexhaustible source and moves toward an end shrouded in mystery. Uncertainty about the movement of time is inescapable. Despite our experience of the mysteriousness of time, we try to fix its natural flow with our ideas of what we think should happen. We try to control the uncontrollable and feel defeated and hopeless. We experience the futility of trying to predict or control the future, like trying to be Master of the Universe. The 2500-year-old book of Chinese Wisdom, Tao Te Ching (1) aptly observes, “Trying to control the future is like trying to take the master carpenter’s place. When you handle the master carpenter’s tools, chances are that you’ll cut yourself.” (74) During this stressful time, we may try to cope with our uncertainty by seeking islands of certain knowledge in the unpredictable flow of time. We may try to cope with the mysteri

  Excerpt from the pre-publication manuscript: Chapter 13 HOW DO WE USE OUR FREEDOM? “The only real prison is fear, and the only real freedom is freedom from fear.” --Aung San Suu Kyi   ·        When the lockdowns began in March 2020 to stop the spread of the Coronavirus, “to flatten the curve,” we were shocked at this drastic measure. It underlined the seriousness and deadliness of the pandemic. We imagined the shutdown opening after a brief time. My friends and I exchanged humor and cartoons to help us cope with the shock and avoid panic. (The joking has slowed, almost to a standstill.) One cartoon was prescient of a coming attitude and agenda shift. It was a cartoon of a smiling Jim Carrey saying, “Hope they allow us off lockdown by July 4 th …so we can celebrate our freedom.” ·        His humor carries a stinging truth. Disillusionment has set in on a national scale. The lockdown was eased, but COVID-19 cases rose and States are closing down businesses and gatherings again. We are

  MSI Press is happy to report the release of Life, Liberty, & Covid (Dr. Dennis Ortman)  as an e-book. The paperback version was released in December 2021. Congratulations to the two authors! To read posts about this book, including excerpts, and its authors, click  HERE .

  excerpt from Life, Liberty, & Covid-19 SELF-COMPASSION When we blame others with such vehemence, it is a good indication of a hidden, unacknowledged self-blame. We used to say as kids, “It takes one to know one.” Another way of saying it, “If you spot it, you got it.” That is called projection, as we discussed regarding prejudice. What we hate in others is what we cannot tolerate in ourselves but disown. We get rid of what we despise in ourselves by casting it onto others and then berate them for it. There is only one way to escape the blame game. Beginning with ourselves, we give up the harsh self-judgment. The first step in self-compassion, forgiveness, is to become attuned to our own suffering, which has several aspects: Losses During the pandemic, we suffer so many unavoidable losses. Our lives have been turned upside down. Most tragically, family members may have become infected and died. We could not be by their sides during their sufferings because of the quaranti

  As the subject line says, Life, Liberty, and COVID-19 is on pre-order sale at our webstore. Check it out HERE . And, as a follower of this blog, take an additional 25% off the sale price by using the coupon code FF25. (This discount code can be used on any book in our inventory.) For more posts about Dr. Dennis Ortman and his books, click HERE .