Books have always been important to me and been a big part of my life. Having worked in a bookstore for many years, I’ve long had the desire to be an author. I understand the transformational power of words and want to try and make a difference in other’s lives in the way that other books have made such a profound difference in my life.
This book is about my journey to discover and accept my authentic self. Writing it has helped me make sense of my life experiences, working through the pain and the fear. It helped me make peace with myself, including all the damaged parts. I’m sharing my struggles and the joy of my spiritual awakening with the intent of helping others to awaken to their own compassion.
What people are saying
Evolving into Wholeness: My Journey of Compassion by Dianne Waltner is a gift of grace to all who read it and to the animals of the world as well. It can’t be easy to tell your own story so openly and honestly, but Dianne has bravely accomplished that. Hers is a remarkable story of being bullied as a child, growing up on a Mennonite farm with low self-esteem and depression, and then coping with alcoholism and guilt as an adult. Yet, through it all, Dianne felt the call of compassion for others and ultimately was able to find compassion for herself. This profound story of transformation and wholeness is a must-read for all of us. For we all have our challenges, and this book gives us the inspiration and the realization that we have the power within us to live from our true hearts, no matter what our life experience has been. I highly recommend this book.
– Judy Carman, author of Homo Ahimsa: Who we Really are and how we’re going to save the world and Peace to All Beings: Veggie Soup for the Chicken’s Soul
http://www.peacetoallbeings.com
“…I’m sure there’s a fascinating anthropological explanation as to why the life of another person, even someone with a markedly different background, can profoundly influence our own. Whatever that explanation, Dianne Waltner has tapped into it with Evolving into Wholeness.
Her story of growing up in rural Kansas and working in her family’s poultry hatchery, her discovery of animal rights, and how the same principles of compassion that led her to veganism could also impact her personal struggle with alcohol, kept me enthralled from chapter to chapter…”
– From the foreword by Victoria Moran, author of Creating a Charmed Life, The Love-Powered Diet, and Main Street Vegan.
Evolving into Wholeness: My Journey of Compassion, Dianne Waltner’s quietly courageous memoir, is a must-read for anyone who has struggled with the desire to be accepted and loved as a highly sensitive person, while daring to live in alignment with their deepest personal values. Her journey from bullied child to brave activist is shadowed by the pain of her own personal anguish and her deep empathy with the suffering of the beings on whose behalf she advocates. As she embraces compassion and justice for others, her spiritual path leads her eventually to the completed Gestalt of healing and self-compassion that allows her to break free from alcohol dependency, and to find peace in full congruence with her core beliefs.
– Lorrin Maughan, Gestalt coach. (shamwaricoaching.com)
Evolving into Wholeness: My Journey of Compassion is an honest and multifaceted memoir that guides readers on Dianne Waltner’s journey from a young Mennonite girl working in her family’s rural Kansas hatchery business to an adult vegan whose personal experience with suffering informs her commitment to alleviating the suffering of sentient beings who lack voice or choice. Interwoven into this story is Waltner’s concurrent journey from alcohol-numbed self-loathing to alcohol-free self-love. Her courageous, vulnerable writing creates space for readers to explore their own relationships with their bodies, faith, family and ethics. Waltner beautifully elucidates the truth that, if we genuinely espouse compassion as a core value, it is vital that we freely give it to ourselves, as we are offering it to others.
– Sheri E. Barnes, JustWind Coaching (https://justwindcoach.com)