Book Testimonials
“Stunning. Wisdom-drenched. Elegant. Beauty beyond words, yet her words will lead you toward discerning a more meaningful life. Allow Amba’s guidance to seep into your soul, your heart, your mind, and maybe most of all, your eyes. Amba has been preparing for this work all of her life. Let it be her gift to you.”
– Donna Zajonc
Master Certified Coach and Director of Learning and Coaching, Bainbridge Leadership Center
“I have had the privilege of seeing this book grow from a handful of seeds that Amba let me glimpse by the River Shannon in Ireland in 2018. Those little seeds of pure intention and potential have blossomed into this exquisite flower that you now hold delicately in your hands. This flower is a bridge—a vanished bridge that is brought back into sight of our mind’s eye. Each word in this book is a stepping-stone for us to skim across the surface of our soul. With each turning page we turn further toward that something that is never disappointed, and forever encourages us—Do not despair.”
– Owen O Suilleabhain
singer, composer, speaker, and founder of Turas D’Anam: Journey of the Soul
“This book can transform your life! Amba’s invitation to pause through poetry, inquiry, metaphorical photography, and journaling gives each of us the opportunity to move again, to let go and journey to new places where your next threshold will advance you to greater destiny. Breathe this book into your heart. A whole new exciting world awaits you.”
– Bill Weymer
President and CEO, Town and Country Markets, Poulsbo, Washington
“The book is wonderful, some really snappy lines of poetry and a real flow through them, and the photos are stunning. I’ve always loved applied art projects, and this intersperses and encourages the use of the poems in context of group and solo reflection. The poems achieve the stillness and awe of the beautiful island. It is a guide for all of us to break open our hearts and the hearts of others through poetry and the yearning and personal demand for presence. Bravo.”
– Micheal O Suilleabhain
poet, singer, and author Early Music
“One small line in any poem in Crossing Thresholds looms large with wise guidance for our own thresholds we are unsure of crossing, and then learn to cross with trust and courage. Over thirty-five years of knowing Amba, I have witnessed her courageous, unwavering intention to go toward her next threshold crossing in the midst of uncertainty and without formula, except for listening to her heart of wisdom—the wisdom radiating through each poem. When I read Crossing Thresholds, I am reminded of Rilke’s advice about living into questions. Whether I am in a dialogue with Amba, attending one of her courses, or reading her poetry, I’m always left with a profound question to live into, which has opened up my life in so many ways I couldn’t see on my own. The book also returned me to my deep love of the land, and a sacred appreciation for the wisdom garnished by the poetry lived out loud by Amba. Crossing Thresholds is our most useful guide for today’s challenges and how we can learn to listen for what life is calling for us to move toward and fulfill.”
– Jan Smith
president and founder of Center for Authentic Leadership, Inc.
“I doubt there’s been a more important time to acknowledge our collective “Threshold” and to explore our own ability to self-reflect. Amba, authentically sharing tender and vulnerable moments, takes us right to the edge of a deeply personal dive. No need to fear; even as the canvas of our days change, she skillfully walks us through.”
– Kathryn Lafond
intuitive healer and author of Seasoned with Gratitude: 250 Recipes and Blessings Celebrating the Greater Nourishment of Real Food
“I was surprised by the connection I felt, the shared awareness of how to experience physical and spiritual life, reading this book. The strength of Crossing Thresholds is in the words, lessons on finding meaning, and Ansel Adams would agree and applaud her use of imagery. For the photographer, poet/author, or student of life, awareness and insight are essential to defining and grasping concept. Amba’s photographs are inviting portals to her island experience. Let each be an invitation to the words they inspired.”
– Mark Alberhasky, MD
contributing photographer for NIKON, photo educator, author, and inventor.
“Stunning. Wisdom-drenched. Elegant. Beauty beyond words, yet her words will lead you toward discerning a more meaningful life. Allow Amba’s guidance to seep into your soul, your heart, your mind, and maybe most of all, your eyes. Amba has been preparing for this work all of her life. Let it be her gift to you.”
– The Rev. Nóirín Ní Riain, PhD
Spiritual singer, author, teacher and soul searcher
“Amba’s book is coming out exactly at the right moment. Photography and poetry like hers would have power to enchant eyes and hearts at any time. But now, our eyesight rinsed by tears and our hearts widened by silence, we are ready to be guided across inner thresholds we will have to cross before we can cross the outer ones awaiting us. Amba Gale’s work can provide much needed guidance. Blessings on its task!”
– Brother David Steindl-Rast
Benedictine monk and founder of Gratefulness.org
“I love Amba’s book, and I love her poetry. Crossing Thresholds provides a gift of healing for all of us—individually, collectively, and globally—as we cross this threshold time, between worlds, being taught lessons by Mother Earth, who herself has had difficulty breathing. Poet David Whyte says in his poem Loaves and Fishes, ‘People are hungry and one good word is bread for a thousand.’ This is a book that will feed and nourish.”
– Lynne Twist
Author of Soul and Money and cofounder of Pachamama Alliance
“This is an intimate book, at once both delicate and piercing. I relish its soulful truths and predict that, like me, you will find yourself returning to it again and again, discovering new joys in each visit.”
– Sanford (Sandy) Robbins
Producing Artistic Director, Resident Ensemble
“To live deliberately, that’s why Thoreau went to live in the woods. Amba Gale has provided an inspirational, and practical, guidebook to the rest of your life. It will help you, every day, to truly regard your life, your soul. Along the way, you may come to recognize the connectedness of all things, living and otherwise.”
– Rolf O. Peterson
author of The Wolves of Isle Royale: A Broken Balance