A woman based in Cumbria has written a book all about kindness and 'how it has saved her life'.
Carlisle’s Judith Cook, a singer and performer who has performed across Cumbria and the world, penned ‘The Gift of Human Kindness’ in response to the kindness she received throughout her life, and particularly recently after a bout with suicidal ideation.
Judith’s book contains self-written poems and short stories, as well as illustrations to accompany it, all about what kindness means to different people and how it changes people’s lives.
She said she came to the realisation of the power and healing aspect of kindness after a comforting call with her doctor while considering suicide, something which was brought on severely during her menopause, which she discussed in the autobiographical My Doors of Destiny.
The book also contains quotes from known figures in Cumbria, such as councillor and former mayor Pam Birks, Carlisle Living’s Sarah Millington, and Janet Carter from Lake District Radio.
Stories include a time when Judith comforted an older woman who was mugged, where she asks the reader if they would do the same, and it is Judith’s intention to have a positive and life-altering impact on her audience.
The book also quotes people in her life, such as William Strong, a man who lives nearby, who have each given their view on what kindness means to them.
An ongoing theme throughout, therefore, is that kindness means different things to different people, but the constant is that the indomitable human spirit can be stronger than any medicine to cure mental strife and emotional lows.
The book, Judith said, would not have been written had it not been for the kindness she has received from people all around her, and the people that have contributed to the book itself, and that this publication is also an ode to them as much as it is to kindness itself.
Of the people she thanks personally for helping her get to where she is today are Sarah Millington, Pam Birks, Janet Carter, and Joy Yates and Vanessa Sims of Newsquest, the latter two of which have platformed her at an In Cumbria networking event.
The book has not been published yet, as Judith hopes to hold a finished edition in her hands this Friday (January 13), and then she will embark onwards to various shops, cafes, garages, and garden centres to get them to stock the book, which she will be selling for £14.99.
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