Early Endorsements

WHEN THE ACHE REMAINS

“Lisa's writing feels like testimony and lament. There were moments while reading when a sentence would snatch my soul and wrap it up gently. Reading When the Ache Remains felt like someone was lovingly applying an ointment on a wound with relief and soothing felt immediately. A deep anchor and a flotation device in a raging sea. I was transported and changed when I finished reading. Lisa can write! This book is a gift and prayer.”

Tricia Hersey, founder of The Nap Ministry, performance artist, and author of Rest is Resistance and We Will Rest!

“In When the Ache Remains, Olivera gently accompanies us into our hidden corners, encouraging us to discover our inherent goodness, awakening us to all that is possible when we open to the full range of our emotional experience.”

Sharon Salzberg, author of Lovingkindness and Real Life

“I cannot recommend this book highly enough. Because of the profound work Lisa Olivera has done to meet her own grief and depression, she offers gentle straight talk about how we, too, might tune into our own knowing—not to fix or to heal ourselves, but to turn toward our pain, integrate it, and live into the kind of ever-changing whole-hearted fullness in which our “wounds become wisdom keepers.” Nourishing. Wildly compassionate. Breath-takingly real. When the Ache Remains is a celebration of our individual and shared humanity.”

Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer, author of The Unfolding and host of The Poetic Path

“A beautifully poetic guide to tending what is often left unspoken, this book is a divining rod that leads us back to the deep waters of truth, courage and wholeness.” 

Tracee Stanley Author of Living Ritual and Radiant Rest 

“As a human who has tried and failed to outrun her pain and grief and self, Lisa invites a wholly different perspective: that we can, and should, instead of running, fully inhabit and expand into the places we are told we’re only meant to linger – and that it is in this practice of staying where we find our aliveness.”

Holly Whitaker, author of Quit Like A Woman and writer of Recovering 

“Lisa Olivera’s approach to the deep work of loss and suffering will be a blessing to anyone who encounters her work.”

Francis Weller, author of The Wild Edge of Sorrow and In the Absence of the Ordinary

"When The Ache Remains is a book of invocations—spells written from inside the architecture of healing. After honestly inhabiting her own grief and trauma, Lisa Olivera has smuggled out this tender collection of consolations, questions, and incantations to orient us on our own dark sea. She writes with the kind of vulnerability that can only be wrought by experience. Having battled depression and anxiety, Lisa chooses to lower her defenses. In a rare act of bravery, she names what so many of us resist knowing: some pain will never go away. Instead, she invites us to give our grief a name, to learn its shape, and to expose it to our compassion—perhaps, eventually, even to make it an ally. To read this book is to feel held in the author's kindness until it overflows into every ache that longs for love."

Toko-pa Turner, author of the bestselling books Belonging: Remembering Ourselves Home and The Dreaming Way

"Lisa is saying what we all need to hear and remember again and again: there is nothing wrong with our ache. This book offers the rare comfort of knowing nothing in us needs fixing. She makes the hardest parts of being human feel tenderly approachable. When the Ache Remains is a generous companion for anyone learning how to stay with themselves through it all, discovering a gentler way of being with what is. There is no greater gift than a writer who reveals her own ache so others may find light in theirs, and Lisa does so with grace, generosity, and deep humanity."

Sarah Blondin, Author of Heart Minded

"Lisa Olivera's words continue to be a balm in a world where we are constantly grasping for hope. In these breathtaking pages, Lisa makes space for our grief in such loving and affirming ways. She gives us permission to be untethered without needing to find a "quick fix" and invites us to have an intimate connection with our grief, instead of bypassing it. Her words make you feel like you are having coffee with a beloved friend who sees you in all of your wholeness. Her soft teachings are the medicine this world deeply needs. A timely, courageous, compassionate, and life changing guide for these times."

Zahabiyah Yamasaki, RYT, M.Ed., author of Protect Your Energy and Trauma-Informed Yoga for Survivors of Sexual Assault

“When The Ache Remains invites us to acknowledge our struggles and live gracefully, understanding that not everything will heal, yet we can still find peace. Lisa guides us on a journey to be gentle with ourselves, offering thoughtful practices and intentions along the way. This book is for those of us who feel stuck and want to reclaim our lives despite the challenges we face.”

Nedra Glover Tawwab, New York Times Bestselling Author of Set Boundaries, Find Peace and Drama Free

“A lullaby for the hurting. A salve for the sensitive. This book feels like a friend who sits with you and holds you during the hard parts of life. Lisa writes with such gentleness and clarity that the uncomfortable parts of being human start to feel less frightening, and the beautiful parts start sparkling extra brightly.”

Amie McNee, author of We Need Your Art and To Kill A Queen

“Grief is an abundant teacher—it comes in many shades and various waves, knocking us into spirals of potent feeling, into pits of sadness and rage. We all need help remembering how to be soothed, how to find comfort and beauty as we withstand the transformative pain of living. Within the heartfelt pages of When the Ache Remains, Lisa Olivera works to show us “how to participate in this practice of remembering.” Her words lead us down winding paths of self-exploration with examples of everyday healing methods and gentle prompts to steer us toward the light when we go searching. This is an intimate book, voiced with Olivera's writerly attention to detail and curiosity; each chapter brings a blend of query and encouragement woven to support us in our shared phases of ache.”

Jacqueline Suskin, poet, educator, author of The Verse for Now and A Year in Practice