Dear Friends,
No matter who we are or what we face, each of us has the birthright gifts of strength, beauty, courage, compassion, hope, joy, talent, imagination, reverence, wisdom, love, and faith. When we open our hearts and access these gifts, they can help heal, enrich, and empower every area of our lives. I learned the truth of this in the challenges of my life, including facing cancer. My book, The Twelve Gifts for Healing, came from that experience. I have also witnessed the power of these gifts in the lives of others.
The focus of all my books, workshops, and presentations is on using life’s gifts to live well. If you would like to know more, please visit www.thetwelvegifts.com and www.thetwelvegiftsforhealing.com. You may wish to watch a short video presentation in which I share the message of these gifts throughout the United States.
Thank you for visiting!
May you always recognize your own gifts and help others to see theirs!
If you would like to receive occasional uplifting messages about THE TWELVE GIFTS and information about new books and products, please contact me.
Wishing you all the best,
Charlene
THE STORY BEHIND THE STORIES, about author CHARLENE COSTANZO
Even as a young child,
Charlene was a student of inclusive spirituality. Looking for God
outside of church as well as inside, she sensed God in cirrus clouds,
wildflowers poking through sidewalk cracks, and in the “grandfather”
tree she passed each day on her way to and from school. She dismissed
the “outside the Church there is no salvation” precept and the notion
that God had “chosen” any group of people over another one. “That makes
no sense,” she reasoned, noticing the way her grandmother loved all her
grandchildren without having favorites. “Surely God is at least as
loving and smart as my grandmother. Whoever said that must not have had
grandparents like mine. Maybe theirs had favorites and so they thought
God has favorites too.”
In the 1950s, during air raid drills in the dark hallways of St. Elizabeth School in Linden, New Jersey, Charlene would imagine meeting Nikita Khrushchev and practice how she would appeal for friendship between Russians and Americans.
When she read the Sleeping Beauty story and thought about fairy godmothers bringing beauty, talent, and grace and other “royal” gifts to the “royal” baby, Charlene thought, Can’t I have these gifts too? Can’t all children? A small voice within said, “You do.”
That childhood memory was buried in Charlene’s consciousness until 1987 when 38 year old Charlene “woke up” in her kitchen, not from sleep but from the jolting realization that 17 years had passed in a flash and her daughters’ childhood years were gone. “Have I been a good mom?” she asked herself. “Yes…but,” was the answer that came to her. In that moment she realized that the most important thing she could give her children is unconditional Love. When a partial life review passed before her and she saw times of missed opportunities, Charlene wept. What can I do now? she asked. An answer came in a fable-like dream which Charlene fashioned into a handmade book. The message of The Twelve Gifts of Birth told her daughters they were born with “royal” gifts. Gentle wishes suggested how to use each gift to live well. She then remembered her childhood response to the Sleeping Beauty fairy tale.
The 500-word message about The Twelve Gifts of Birth took hold of her. Like Roy, the character portrayed by Richard Dreyfuss in the film, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, who was powerfully drawn to an unknown mountain, Charlene felt compelled to do more. Like Roy, who shaped that mountain in shaving cream, mashed potatoes and soil, Charlene hand made book after book, saying, as Roy did, “This means something! This means something!”
The Twelve Gifts of Birth grew into a quest and a mission for Charlene. Determined to bring the message about all the children of the world to all the children of the world - after receiving twenty rejections from publishing companies - Charlene self-published the book. Within a few months, the book won five awards and sold out of its first printing. And Charlene set out on what she called the Polished Stone Tour. The one-year motor home tour was so named because, as part of her visits to schools, shelters, hospitals, churches, bookstores, libraries, and prisons throughout the U.S., she offered everyone she met a polished stone to remind them of the value they could not always see in themselves – a touchstone for the message.
While giving away thousands of stones during that tour and ever since, Charlene has been gathering touchstone stories that demonstrate the power of life’s gifts. Her forthcoming series of books will feature those stories.
In all her books - as well as in her workshops and presentations – Charlene’s approach is practical, playful, and uplifting. She seeks to offer experiential opportunities for others to have their own aha moments of discovery about life’s gifts. Charlene’s already-published books, The Twelve Gifts of Birth, The Twelve Gifts for Healing, and The Twelve Gifts in Marriage (HarperCollins) are being used in many ways by parents, teachers, counselors, healers, and clergy. The series to come is likely to be used by these groups as well as others. The Twelve Gifts of Birth is published in Spanish and Japanese as well as in English.
Charlene presently lives in Sedona, AZ with her husband, Frank (with whom she has been married since 1969) and their cats, Minka and Bailey. Her daughters are grown. Stephanie is a counselor; Krista, a physician. Still deeply interested in spirituality and philosophy as well as psychology, Charlene is now pursuing a master’s degree in spiritual psychology at the University of Santa Monica. She already holds a degree in philosophy from St. Bonaventure University.
In addition to THE TWELVE GIFTS books,
Charlene has published
A
Perfect Name
(c) 2008 Charlene Costanzo
