In writing this deeply personal book, Ardine gets down to the nitty-gritty of what it means to grow up in a family with issues of addiction and abuse and how hard it is to break those destructive patterns. With great honesty and courage, she shares her journey from trauma through healing, toward wisdom and peace in the two-steps-forward-three-steps-back way most of us do that journey. This is a gift not only to Baby Boomers, who will relate to coming of age in the 60s and 70s, but to young women today who face issues of identity and self-worth.

In listening to her own life and sharing what she has learned with her readers, Ardine will be an inspiration to many as she has been to me.

Diane Smith Whalen, spiritual director and Roman Catholic Woman Priest serves Holy Wisdom Inclusive Catholic Community in Olympia, WA.

With uncompromising honesty, courage, and vulnerability, Ardine Martinelli brings forth through her own personal and inspiring journey, the archetypes that have identified many a woman’s life regardless of race, ethnic origin, class or sexual orientation. Listening to My Life is must read for every woman who has experienced the pain, agony, and the rewards of finding ourselves.  It is for the young millennial who wants to find her voice and experience the empowerment that comes with the exploration of the truths that exist within us beyond the illusions  of power and appearance.

A strong and courageous voice speaks loudly as Martinelli shares with us that it is possible to reach amazing healing within ourselves and forgiveness for ourselves and others as we embrace the journey to live our soul’s whisperings.

I started Listening to My Life and could not put it down until I finished the last page and then I kept wishing it would just keep going.  It is definitely a book that I will read again and again.

Patricia Benavidez, writer and retired teacher

If you’ve ever felt lost–and who hasn’t?–Listening to My Life offers hard-won insights for anyone seeking to shift from a place of wilderness to personal peace. Martinelli begins with a dramatic question she lived:  What kind of woman advocates for womens rights in her professional life yet spends 15 years as an abused wife in her own home? Mining her early experiences for answers, she unravels influences that shaped her but no longer served her.  She comes to sense a divine guidance at work in her life, learns to trust and act on it.  From there, seeming miracles unfold, so-called miracles possible for anyone willing to listen to their own life. Martinelli serves up good storytelling throughout–from her commune-living, European adventures, to intrepid spiritual journeys.  When I am in need of a model for living to the fullest, I look to her life.

Sandy Sarr, Writer and Teacher

What a journey you have been on in so many different ways as you pushed forward to becoming your most authentic self.  And it speaks loud and clear as you so carefully listened.  I hope the book goes far and wide like cottonwood seeds, landing in places where they will take root.  You will not know the lives you will change but lives will change because you have written your words.

Kay Mullen, Poet

Taking my time savoring this book, the feelings so well expressed and the growing process.  Learning to be gentle with myself as well. A wonderful read. Thanks for taking the time, care and introspection. You are a wonderful teacher.

Pattie Bastian, Retired Realtor

The first words that came to mind after reading Martinelli’s powerful memoir, Listening to My Life,  were “unflinchingly honest, uncompromisingly courageous, thoughtful, perceptive, deeply healing, inspiring and full of life-changing adventures.” The author’s story moves from the soul damaging patterns of alcoholic families to the soul-healing gifts of education, psychotherapy, personal and spiritual growth, and the journeys (inner and outer) that transform our lives. Read this book slowly, absorb its lessons, and then listens to your own life!

John C. Robinson, Phd, Dmin is author of nine books on conscious aging.