I was an “ordinary” housewife, tending our home and newborn son. My husband, David, was a dentist in the Air Force, learning to salute. Our son lightened our lives, watching him take his fi rst steps, seeing him grow. Fast-forward ten years: a house of our own, fi ve children and two dogs. I felt my world shrinking even as it seemed to be expanding. I “ran away from home” to see what else was out there. Fair housing and civil rights movements were born…and I began to hatch.

THIS BOOK PRESENTS a methodology through the experiences of Barbara R. Krasner’s (Budir) life and of all those whose lives she encountered. Her passion of living the inner light of Contextual Work where enemies can reach out their hand to each other sustains her. The close-up realization of how easy it would be to destroy others and ourselves haunts her. How to fi ght the viciousness and lies that seem so inherent in politics and power games, and the consequences on innocent bystanders keeps her searching. She trusts how Contextual Work has so many essential elements that could at least help us fi ll the sandbags and stem the fl ood of free-fl oating malevolence. Contextual work is a matter of life and death for relationships in families, friends, strangers, countries, and nations — in the past, now, and in the future.

THIS BOOK IS Budir’s journey, a long-time quest to make Contextual Work a household phrase, more fully grasped, owned and embraced. This book is also meant to extend Ivan Boszormenyi-Nagy’s fi erce determination to clarify the intended meaning of words spoken here and heard there. It is the product of our yearning to uncover and clarify, tease out and sharpen the essentials of Contextual Work. Contextual Work is not just a theory. It is a matter of life and death for family, friends, strangers, countries, and nations – in the past, now, and in the future.

THIS BOOK IS A MEMOIR, not a program and not a chronology. The stories and life events embody insights and refl ections to real multigenerational family and societal relationships.