Soul Friends: The Transforming Power of Deep Human Connection

Thank you Mr. Cope. You inspired me to write the suggested list. Then paragraph why each name was added. Short stories emerged and now a book might be in the works. My own experience of connections that changed the path I was on. Your book lives on…I highly recommend this read to anyone who is curious about their own journal in this life!

"Soul Friends" is a treasure, one of those books I'm going to reread several times and understand differently as I grow.I'll confess--when I started reading, I dug in, and read it completely out of order. I disobeyed Stephen Cope's instructions to do tasks, make lists, and take action--I skipped around from beginning to end, "Oh, that's me!"Finally, I sat down, stopped skipping around, and really read. Wow. If Stephen Cope's "The Great Work of Your Life" challenged me to think about my dharma--my truth--and things I was avoiding, this book is asking me to dig even deeper to see how relationships--and lack thereof--have helped or hindered me on my path."Soul Friends" discusses the six types of relationships we have in our lives, that we must have in order to thrive.Some are lifelong friendships that keep us honest, mirroring our deepest thoughts and feelings. Others, intense but fleeting connections that become catalysts for major life changes. Some of these deep connections are with people we haven't even met. Each tells us something about ourselves--things we knew, or things we struggle to face. Stephen asks us to feel blessed by soul friends, and to recognize missing areas, because we cannot grow without all six.As I read, I immediately recognized these people in my life. Stephen asked me to write them down. I froze. He knew why. "Don't write who you think should be on the list," he said. He wanted me to write the people who really are.The truth is where most of us get stuck. Stephen Cope knows this--his parables have a gentle way of helping me work through the truth when I struggle. His writing and teaching is brilliant for that reason.Stephen Cope's works never let me off the hook. I feel like I'm sitting for coffee and deep conversation, that he really knows where I'm stuck. "Soul Friends" won't go on the "reread" shelf. This book will stay with me.

I adore this author and His book The Great Work of Your Life. I found this one to have a handful of gems in ideas presented but too much detail in some of the historical anecdotes and too much self-indulgence in relating these things to his own life. TMI on the personal stuff. Highly recommend The Great Work If Your Life by this author which is written in the same style and organization but just much better to this reviewer.

What an absorbing delight to read these pages and work with Cope's ideas! In the personal growth field, a lot is written about yourself alone (as if there could be a seeker alone) and a lot is written about romantic/soul love relationships. Few books examine friendship as such, and inquire into the various kinds of friendship. This book will make you think, as never before, about the number and intensity of your friendships : same-sex and cross-gender friendships, connections between old and young, between the living and the dead, even friendships with people you haven't met in the flesh, like authors. Cope grounds his ever-readable, often passionate discussion in three ways: in attachment theory and object relations -- which, incredibly, he renders entertaining; in the friendships among famous exemplars, like that between Darwin and Fitzroy; and most absorbingly of all in his personal stories of friendship and love. The longest and best chapter, the one that will probably provoke the strongest response from you as it did from me and as it seems to from Cope himself, is the chapter on the Noble Adversary -- the kind of friendship in which you are free both to love and to hate, and through which both parties grow. This book will take you into delicious stories from history (like the special bond between Victoria and Albert) and insights from world literature (some choice extracts from Annie Dillard, Emily Dickinson, Rilke, etc), and most of all (if you do the exercises he puts at the end of each chapter) into a searching exploration of your own past: what is glorious, and what may be lacking or difficult, in the landscape of your own close human relations.

I absolutely loved this book. Since reading it, I have bought multiple copies to give away to my "Soul Friends" and every single recipient has loved it. During my first reading I found myself highlighting and underlining like crazy, and I've found myself going back to reference those notes many times since. Every time I read it I connect with it just a little differently and I appreciate that so much. The stories will really stay with you and pop into your mind long after you have finished reading. I can't praise Stephen Cope enough; every book of his I have read has been full of wisdom and insight that feels both so personal and so universal. If you're wavering on whether or not to buy this, buy it. Buy it, buy it, buy it, you will be so glad that you did.

I’ve just read three of Stephen Cope’s books in succession and loved them all: The Great Work of Your Life, The Wisdom of Yoga and Deep Human Connection. They each offer a valuable distillation of more complex works enabling the lay reader, like me, to absorb truths that I otherwise may not have accessed. Stephen has a beautiful writing style and peppers his own thoughts and other quotes with stories that make his writing come alive. Each of the books I have is beginning to look rather battered as I have a tendency to keep referring back to them.

A deeply moving and insightful analysis of the types of soul friends we encounter through life: applied psychology, linked to the author's personal experiences, really helped me understand and value my friendships more. It's a must read.

Great book really interesting

Great book

Une sensible autobiographie avec ses souvenirs, les personnes qui ont le plus compté dans sa vie, exemples des vies de gens célèbres .Un sympathique journal intime plutôt qu'un livre technique sur la construction des relations humaines.Agréable à lire ,facile, comme un bavardage chaleureux autour d'un café.