During her career spanning four decades as a Therapist, Dr. Gwen Hecht has often been asked by patients: "Why did that happen to me?" "Why isn't life more joyful?" "Why can't I have what others seem to have so effortlessly?" "Why do I feel stuck?" "Why didn't my previous therapy help?" "Was I born only to suffer?" "Where was God when this was happening?" "What is spirituality?" "How can I let go of my grief?" In Finding the Gems, she explores these themes, paying part...

Mine was a sad and lonely childhood, as I was left to fend for myself against uncaring, cold, abandoning, and terribly abusive adults, both family members and strangers. As my life unfolded, there were too many losses to count: innocence, childhood, opportunities, Mother, family, and losses due to death. By my late twenties, I knew more dead people than live people. Life would have been unbearable without love. As I look at my life from the vantage point of being sixty-...