Episode 507: 507: How to Get through the Crisis with Susy Flory Author of Sanctuary

Kathi Lipp is here today with her very good friend, Susy Flory for a special conversation about crisis. Have you ever found yourself surrounded by crises and it causes you to feel stuck? Join Kathi and Susy as they talk about Susy’s new book Sanctuary, a story about a man from a tiny village in Ireland who grew up on a donkey sanctuary. When Patrick Barrett left the donkey sanctuary to find his own path, he found himself living through one crisis after another. Listen in as Susy shares the lessons she learned from Patrick including:

• Reach out when you need to
• Get outside and into nature
• Adopt a meaningful morning ritual

If you are feeling stressed out and stuck in crisis mode, you won’t want to miss this episode; and you can get your own copy of Sanctuary here.

For decades, his family rescued lost and forgotten donkeys in the Irish countryside. He had no idea that one day, the donkeys would rescue him.

Patrick Barrett grew up on the back of a donkey. In the small village of Liscarroll, the young boy helped his family run a sanctuary for abandoned and abused donkeys. Struggling in school, Patrick only felt truly accepted in the presence of these funny, fuzzy, touching animals. It was like magic, how he and the donkeys understood each other. He became a true “donkey whisperer”—reading their body language, communicating with them in ways they could understand, and teaching himself how to “speak” in their distinctive calls.

But when Patrick was of age, he shipped out with the Irish Army and encountered unimaginable wartime horrors in Lebanon and Kosovo. In the aftermath, he returned home a broken man, sinking into the depths of PTSD and addictions. He believed nothing could save him. But he hadn’t counted on the donkeys.

Sanctuary is the remarkable true story of how faith turned one lost man’s life around with the help of the rescue animals who loved him. It’s an antidote to despair and a call to hope, revealing the beauty and wonder of Ireland as you’ve never seen it before.