Skip to Main Content

Shifting Shorelines

Messages From a Wiser Self

Published by Viva Editions
Distributed by Simon & Schuster

About The Book

A Gold Winner of the 2022 Nautilus Book Awards

Reawaken to the joy of being alive. Shifting Shorelines reconnects us to our true center—that place where wisdom dwells. Author Terry Helwig opens our eyes to a landscape of fierce beauty that resides both within us, as well as without; she unveils a sense of wonder about our place in this vast universe. Experience the solace of following the phases of the moon, the curve of a shell, and the solstice path of the sun.

Shifting Shorelines begs to be placed on a bedside table, where Helwig’s unique and compelling messages to her younger self, can be referred to again and again. These wisdom-filled messages, at the end of each chapter, explore how the human heart, tested by time and adversity, blossoms and ripens. Inspired by years of living beside the sea, Helwig divided the book into three sections—Ebb Tide, Slack Tide, and Flood Tide—which metaphorically refer to times of loss, equanimity, and fullness.

“The dance of these perpetual tides in our daily lives,” writes Helwig, “continually shifts the shoreline of who we are, and, more importantly, who we will become.

About The Author

Terry Helwig is an award-winning author whose new book, Shifting Shorelines, has been praised as a twenty-first century Gift from the Sea. Terry’s wise, lyrical, and heartwarming prose reveals a deep thinker who finds meaning and correlation between both her inner and outer worlds. A naturalist at heart, with a master’s degree in counseling psychology, Terry says nature and synchronicity have been two of her most profound teachers.

Her favorite pastime, combing the beach of a Florida barrier island, is a dream come true—especially for a child whose turbulent upbringing threatened to overwhelm her. Terry recounts her early struggle to keep hope alive in her coming-of-age memoir Moonlight on Linoleum, which won Elle Magazine’s 2012 Grand Prix Nonfiction Book of the Year.

Two of the brightest lights in Terry’s sky are her husband Jim and her daughter Mandy.

If you would like to connect online with Terry, visit:

Website: www.terryhelwig.com

Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/terryhelwigauthor   

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Moonlight-on-Linoleum-by-Terry-Helwig-207652995923286/ 

Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/@TerryHelwig

Product Details

  • Publisher: Viva Editions (October 12, 2021)
  • Length: 293 pages
  • ISBN13: 9781632280725

Browse Related Books

Raves and Reviews

Now and then one comes upon a quietly profound gem of a book. Reading Shifting Shorelines is both an awakening and a solace, much like reading a contemporary Gift from the Sea by Anne Morrow Lindbergh. In the loveliest and most inviting way, Helwig offers the reader the elusive experience of pausing to reflect and re-find the joy, meaning, and sacredness of being alive.

– 'New York Times' Best-selling author Sue Monk Kidd, 'Book of Longings,' 'The Invention of Wings,' and 'Secret Life of Bees'

Shifting Shorelines is a heart-warming invitation to the treasury of the shoreline and the full beauty of life. Helwig opens our eyes to the phases of the moon and the sea's bounty, then seamlessly connects all she witnesses in nature to the inner tides that define our life's journey.

– Paula D'Arcy, author of 'Stars at Night' and 'Waking Up to This Day'

Shifting Shorelines explores the author’s intimate relationship with the barrier island where she lives and the wisdom she gathers along its shores. Certain to resonate with women of all ages, this remarkable book is an ode to the natural world and to nature’s ability to deepen, inspire, and heal us. It is a powerful reflection on navigating the ever-changing contours of our lives.

– 'New York Times' Best-selling author Ann Kidd Taylor, 'The Shark Club' and 'Traveling with Pomegranates'

It is EXQUISITE. Is it like Gifts from the Sea? Yes, from what I remember, but…It absolutely stands on its own!

– Sheryl Nelsen Hutton/The Self-Help Whisperer®

Resources and Downloads

High Resolution Images