Remember Me

How my soul connection with animals helped me recover from a severe brain injury

Non-Fiction - Memoir
292 Pages
Reviewed on 04/02/2018
Buy on Amazon

This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Free Book Program, which is open to all readers and is completely free. The author will provide you with a free copy of their book in exchange for an honest review. You and the author will discuss what sites you will post your review to and what kind of copy of the book you would like to receive (eBook, PDF, Word, paperback, etc.). To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email.

This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Book Review Exchange Program, which is open to all authors and is completely free. Simply put, you agree to provide an honest review an author's book in exchange for the author doing the same for you. What sites your reviews are posted on (B&N, Amazon, etc.) and whether you send digital (eBook, PDF, Word, etc.) or hard copies of your books to each other for review is up to you. To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email, and be sure to describe your book or include a link to your Readers' Favorite review page or Amazon page.

This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Book Donation Program, which was created to help nonprofit and charitable organizations (schools, libraries, convalescent homes, soldier donation programs, etc.) by providing them with free books and to help authors garner more exposure for their work. This author is willing to donate free copies of their book in exchange for reviews (if circumstances allow) and the knowledge that their book is being read and enjoyed. To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email. Be sure to tell the author who you are, what organization you are with, how many books you need, how they will be used, and the number of reviews, if any, you would be able to provide.

Author Biography

I was a counselor in private practice for 24 years. I ran a thriving psychotherapy practice: working with clients, interns, and therapists, when I sustained a fall from my horse, hitting my helmet-less head on a gravel road. The fall and subsequent craniotomy changed everything. I was forced into operating on only one track at a time, a place where animals live exclusively. I lost almost everything, my practice, my marriage and many of my friends. Almost immediately after returning home from nine days in the hospital, I began to have very unusual encounters with animals, both wild and domestic. Over the next several years the animals became my fellow travelers, my familiars, as I struggled to define who I had become. The new me now works as a public speaker, animal communicator and life coach for humans.

    Book Review

Reviewed by Joel R. Dennstedt for Readers' Favorite

Nothing is as riveting, nor compelling, nor enlightening to a heightened understanding of our own existence as listening to a survivor tell about their restoration from major brain damage. Linda Nija Nations, in her highly personal and touching memoir, Remember Me, adds to the automatic interest stirred by such a devastating event (caused by falling from a horse) with a fascinating adjunct to her own long-term recovery: a life-altering new ability to connect with and understand animals – their messages, their guidance, and the meaning their own lives have for humans. Lest this sound too “flaky” or “new-agey,” keep in mind that the author possesses pre-fall, real-world, professional credentials to establish credibility and competence in assessing the nature of her own restoration. She is also candid and forthright in her telling. And besides, “there are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio …”

Linda Nija Nations’ own explanation for her new connection comes quickly in Remember Me: that she is forced by her severe condition to live exclusively in the moment, something wisdom seekers strive relentlessly to do, and that animals by their very nature already do. A more immediate, non-verbal comprehension occurs in such a state that allows for direct communication between those in it. But this part of Ms. Nations’ immensely readable account is not the meat of what she has to say. As the reader begins to live the author’s renewable life, she comes to sense and understand much deeper revelations about what it means to be alive, to have identity, to have relationship to other beings, to access conscious choice for creating change; all things most of us fail to appreciate but still rely on for establishing our own worlds. Including, of course, those of any species who might be here to help.

Viga Boland

Do you remember that song “If I could talk to the animals?” I do. In fact, as a child I was mesmerized by the possibility of “Chatting with a chimp in chimpanzee.” But even if my little dog seems to be limping along with me when my osteoarthritis flares, I would probably laugh if someone were to suggest he’s feeling my pain…that is until l read Remember Me by Linda Nija Nations. This author makes you wonder about and question any beliefs you hold about all other creatures who share our world.

When Linda Nija Nations suffered a dreadful brain injury following a fall from her horse, the road to recovery was a very difficult one. No longer able to do what we all take for granted, like daily multi-tasking or walking and talking simultaneously (as just the act of walking required full concentration on foot placement), Linda was forced to forge on alone after she recognized how little her husband cared about her. Still weak, and often disoriented even for months following surgery, Linda had to tend to the maintenance of her farm and animals by herself. Though she occasionally thought she’d be better off dead, with a dogged determination, she slowly regained her strength and developed a new one, that of being able to communicate on a very deep level with her beloved animals. This skill brought her back to full acceptance of what had happened in her life, and opened her up to a new career of helping others, both humans and animals, to heal after traumatic events.

Linda Nija Nations “believes humans and animals are all an equal and integral part of the same vast universe." Because she believes this so deeply, she does a good job of convincing those of us who are skeptical, or too rooted in reality, to open up our minds and think outside the box. Through the beautiful, sometime humorous descriptions Linda gives readers of her exchanges with owls, birds, even a skunk, but especially through her tender moments with her horses and dogs, she touches our souls. If readers are receptive to Linda’s stories, they will come away from Remember Me acknowledging we still have so much to learn about life and this earth that we share with our animal friends. Nations has offered us a chance to suspend our doubts just long enough to consider alternatives. Embrace the opportunity to do so.

Jamie Michele

Remember Me: How my soul connection with animals helped me recover from a severe brain injury by Linda Nija Nations is the author's memoir of the aftermath of a fall from Sestina (later reverting to the original name Rose), a beloved horse, that resulted in a traumatic, life altering injury. Nations' story highlights how this damage, which had her learning how to walk and talk again, cost her friends, family, her marriage, and altered every facet of her day to day living. Despite this, she found a unique source of hope, help, and inspiration: guardian angels in spirit, human, and animal form. Nations was able to connect with the animal guides on a level that most would have trouble grasping, let alone conferring with, but through love, compassion, and mutual respect, a world unknown to all but a special few revealed itself to Nations and brought her more than just physical healing.

Remember Me by Linda Nija Nations might be a memoir, but it reads more like an absorbing novel. For me, the most beautiful story (of many told) is the one of her connection to Barney, an abused horse who was able to convey the offenses against him through a "photo" projected to Nations. This enabled her to let Barney's new human companion, Candace, understand the full scope of what they were dealing with. Nations states, "The animals that allowed me to connect with them have been my teachers. Through them I have gained an immeasurable understanding of their nature." The healing she embraced for herself as well as the animals and people who surround her lend weight to her story. I would absolutely recommend this book to all animal lovers, individuals who are overcoming hardships, and anyone interested in a beautiful tale of survival.