Autopsy of a Soul
Autopsy of a soul is a inspirational story ripped from the pages of the life of a woman named
Maria Reynolds.
Though very small in stature this is a woman that commands enormous respect that she has
earned over a lifetime of adversity and accomplishment. She has lived a long and
turbulent life that began in the small farming community in northern California
where Maria was born into a very old fashioned and oppressive family structure.
As a second generation Mexican American woman Maria was raised to be the picture
perfect woman. With 5 older brothers she was taught at an early age that this is
mans world and that women are to be seen and not heard and that woman are to do
as they are told and that her only purpose was to serve the men of her life. She
was denied the opportunities that many of us take for granted because in her day
education was wasted on girls because they are only permitted to stay at home
and raise children. Maria was a foreigner in her own country she was raised in a
very rural community and had very little contact with the outside world. It
wasn’t until well into her teenage years that she was exposed to the world
outside of her farm that she realized that she was poor and oppressed.
Her
Spirit was fierce and she was hungry for adventure and for life and experience. Maria was young and rebellious she
left home against her parents wishes as soon as she was old enough and ran into
the arms of the man that she thought would give her the life that she had
dreamed of. He was handsome and courageous and she believed that he was going to
protect her and they were going to live a wonderful life together. Unfortunately
for Maria not too long after she ran away her dreams came crashing down and she
soon realized that the man of her dreams was not who she thought he was. Like
many young people they had hard times and her husband quickly became violent and
abusive. Maria was hopelessly lost and alone she had alienated her family and to
teach her a lesson they refused to help her. When she turned to them for help
they refused and send her back to her abusive husband to face the music. Six
children later and after being beaten down for years She finally Summoned the
courage to flee, she packed her things took her children and slipped away from
her abuser once he found them he put a gun to her head and threatened to end her
life Maria was so tired of being afraid and I suspect that she wanted her
suffering to end she gave up and told him then go ahead and kill me get it over
with. She was done being afraid and her abuser was powerless to control her
since she no longer feared him he abandoned her with her Six children.
Once
again alone Maria had to start over from scratch. Maria found herself alone again with
six young children no family no husband no education and no skills she would
take her children and scavenge for cans to fill her car with gas so that she
could look for work Broken and ashamed Maria turned to her neighbors and her
landlady and cleaned houses and worked in the field to pay the rent. Slowly she
made it through day by day she got emergency food stamps from the county and
went on what must have been a million job interviews while somehow etching out
an existence.
That’s when Maria met her second
husband a white man that introduced her to a life that she never could dreamed
existed with social gatherings, and camping trips she thought she had found
happiness for the first time in her life. All of these wonderful experiences
made Maria lust for more, her new husband was still oppressive but he did give
her new opportunities that she never had before. Her husband allowed Maria
however to attend night school as long as it didn’t interfere with here domestic
duties, and she was more than happy to comply. But what Maria found in those
classes was more than anybody had bargained for. Going back to school gave her a
new breath of life her spirit was revived and Maria was again back in the
position she was in when she was a young girl her spirit was restless and she
knew that the world had more to offer than a life of servitude. When she talked
to her husband about working and being independent that’s when the abuse began
again it seemed like a nightmare that she could never escape. Her husband felt
like he was losing control over her and intended to remind her that without him
she was nothing. It went on for years and quietly she served with a smile but at
the same time she was learning and watching and then the day Maria had decided
Enough is enough She was not going to live out the rest of her days being abused
and mistreated and made to feel worthless and ashamed she fought for her own
independence and the right to be happy and she paid dearly for it. But Maria
tasted life and freedom and she was not going to be denied any longer. Her
second marriage ended and Maria was again left alone with her youngest of six
still at home she had to start over again.
This time was different she was a new
person full of confidence and self esteem and it wasn’t long until she had
landed a great job working for the city and she was for once in her life making
it on her own without anybody to hold her back. She continued to educate herself
and is now a ordained minister and author a teacher and coach. She has now
dedicated her life to helping people overcome adversity in their own life
through spiritual coaching and mentoring. There is no obstacle in our path that
is to big to overcome with love, and understanding she has helped many people
learn how to recognize when they are being abused and what to do to end it and
live a happy and healthy life. Autopsy of a soul is much more than a
Maria’s story it is a like seeing yourself in a mirror that allows you to see
deep into your soul where you keep the secrets and thoughts that only you know.
Maria exposes the feelings that we all have but oppress and keep hidden in a
secret chamber in our heart that we don’t discuss with other people. We all have
feelings of fear and shame that we may or may not even realize that we have
because we work so hard to hide it from friends and relatives and even from
ourselves.
Autopsy of a soul is literally what Maria attempts to perform with
this book. When we open up our souls and uncover the secret unseen injuries and
causes of our pain and unhappiness, she gets right to the point and exposes the
root causes of shame, fear, social programming, and emotional abuse, how words
can affect a person’s wellbeing and state of mind and can cause the death of a
person spirit. I highly recommend this book for anybody that has ever struggled
in their life and to anybody that has children or plans to have children in the
future must read this book
