Books
Solving the Mystery of You (2023)
by Ann Sawyer, LCSW and Susan West Kurz
A unique guide taking the reader on a transformative journey to greater self-knowledge and to the authentic self.
Focused on the reader’s own life and experiences, the beauty, strength, talents and virtues of the self, previously unknown, will be discovered. This work is an antidote to the modern malaise of depression, anxiety, aimlessness, and feelings of being lost and disconnected in life. Answers are not found in social media conformity, influences, dogma and ideological dictates on how to think, act, believe and be. Real solutions, empowering and freeing, are instead found within. There the individual will find the keys to independent thought, self-determination, self-confidence and the courage to follow the laws of one’s own being.
This is accomplished through a guided examination of the reader’s biography, personality, relationships, dreams and inner self. Both subjective and objective views are taken of the protective personas, the critical inner voice, the shadow self and the higher self. Building trust of self through this work, the mind-heart-soul are opened to new growth and an empowered, authentic self.
Gardens of Karma: Harvesting Myself Among the Weeds (2021)
It Began in a Simple Garden . . . and Led to a Spiritual Path.
Susan West Kurz’s earliest memories began in a garden, where she nurtured herbs and colorful flowers, nibbled sun-drenched vegetables and ripe berries, and danced with her doll, Pinocchio. Later, she landed in another garden, that one in Germany, where she shaped her budding interest into a hugely successful career for international organic and natural skin care products. But for decades, Susan was steeped in another role-one of enabler, support system, and overall back-up singer to the alcoholics who were center stage in her life. The pain of that disease ultimately led her to Anthroposophy, her spiritual path, where she soon recognized she had been headed all along. On her subsequent journey to health and freedom, Susan continues to find inner peace in a garden.
Reviews:
“A passionate woman details her growth from lonely herb gardener to a forceful, renowned holistic beauty expert…. The book ably captures the complicated facets of addiction and those who enable it and never suggests easy solutions. West Kurz’s growth as a businessperson is far from conventional, and the story will be a welcome one to those who seek a career beyond the office or boardroom. An honest, warts-and-all memoir with interesting botanical elements.” – Kirkus Reviews
“These autobiographies of two women with significant relationships to anthroposophy and celebrity make refreshing and compelling reading.” – Joyce Reilly
“Gardens of Karma, by Susan Kurz, is a well-crafted memoir that takes the reader on an insightful and introspective journey from her risk-taking youth and toxic relationships to her salvation through the world of Anthroposophy and natural healing. This is a roller coaster ride from URI where she met the charismatic JT Walsh and worked at an herb garden in Rhode Island to a career in Manhattan in the natural cosmetics business. From her early years of enabling addictive personalities, to a life of intentional purpose, Susan brilliantly articulates how being connected to and caring for the land takes care of the soul. A must read.” -Nancy West of Noble Designs
Awakening Beauty (2006)
In a culture that idealizes youthful looks and encourages elaborate makeovers or even surgery to achieve them, the idea of natural beauty is often all but ignored.
But true beauty is within reach for women of any age, without submitting to needles or knives. The secret is nurturing beauty from the inside as well as on the surface, caring for both body and soul in a way that will naturally result in the smooth skin and radiant glow of good health whether one is eighteen or eighty.
A-list celebrities, professional makeup artists, and Hollywood stylists have long embraced Dr. Hauschka’s botanical products, attracted by their extraordinary results and the company’s thirty-five-year commitment to purity, therapy, and luxury. Now the same extraordinary results are available to the rest of us through a rejuvenating prescription for healing. In Awakening Beauty the Dr. Hauschka Way, Susan West Kurz, president of Dr. Hauschka, Inc., and a longtime devotee of the company’s products, offers readers a transformative program grounded in Dr. Hauschka’s key principles of natural ingredients and working with the body’s rhythms. Her suggestions, when followed, naturally restore healthy, radiant skin and a sense of peace and well-being, and can even result in weight loss.
Awakening Beauty the Dr. Hauschka Way outlines a series of achievable lifestyle changes that can dramatically improve appearance in a single month. First and foremost, Kurz describes how using organically grown and mindfully harvested products can have a positive impact on the body and skin. While simple dietary changes begin to repair and renew the body, the complementary use of meditation, massage, and exercise enhances good health inside and out. Kurz’s holistic approach is founded on an understanding of the body’s own natural rhythms, using them to direct the way each of us receives and responds to subtle cravings for nutrition and care. By recognizing exactly how skin behaves and how it responds to other parts of the body, we can use specific practices to improve the way we care for our skin and improve our overall health. Awakening Beauty the Dr. Hauschka Way includes detailed advice on the most effective ways to wash, tone, and moisturize skin using homemade products, as well as tips on how to critically assess skin care claims and break unhealthy habits. Meal plans, meditation techniques, advice on addressing specific skin conditions and an extensive collection of recipes complete this remarkable story. In just thirty days you can transform your skin and bring forth a natural, glowing beauty that is truly your own.
Beecoming Sophie (2013)
Sophie Saffron, although adopted from Central America along with her brother Rolando thinks of herself as just an average teenager—that is until the day a talking honeybee flies in her window. After the honeybee, Queen Phoebee takes Sophie on an amazing adventure into a reality she calls “Beeconscious” they form an unbreakable bond. Sophie is changed by what she has learned. The honeybees, which have helped mankind since the dawn of civilization, are rapidly dying—and all of us are facing a dark future without them and their gift of pollinating our food crops. Sophie, along with her brother Rolando and her friend Sokuen join forces to find ways to help the bees and show their community how to cooperate with the natural world which is in crisis. Despite Sophie’s good intentions, things begin to develop and expand in ways she never expected.
Both young adults and their parents will enjoy this graphic novel, learning what part they can play in helping during this most urgent crisis. Profits from book sales go to Bee Conscious, a non-profit dedicated to making Biodynamic beekeeping possible for urban and suburban families and schools.
I am currently offering a limited number of free copies of Beecoming Sophie. Customer pays only the cost of shipping – $6.00