Download or read book Wisdom for End of Life Living written by Tommy S. W. Wong and published by Tommy S. W. Wong. This book was released on 2013-09-09 with total page 62 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In a way, we are all going through our end-of-life living. So, this book is relevant to all of us. It is, however, more pertinent to those or their loved ones who are suffering from terminal illness or at an advanced age whereby death is within a foreseeable future. This book contains a conversation between a young man, Tom, and Guru Harry. Among various life and death issues, they discussed the following: (1) How to see life and death such that there is no death? (2) How to live without pain when a relationship ends? (3) How to feel at peace when our loved one passes on? This book is useful to the living and the dying. May peace be with you, always!
Download or read book Top Five Regrets of the Dying written by Bronnie Ware and published by Hay House, Inc. This book was released on 2019-08-13 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Revised edition of the best-selling memoir that has been read by over a million people worldwide with translations in 29 languages. After too many years of unfulfilling work, Bronnie Ware began searching for a job with heart. Despite having no formal qualifications or previous experience in the field, she found herself working in palliative care. During the time she spent tending to those who were dying, Bronnie's life was transformed. Later, she wrote an Internet blog post, outlining the most common regrets that the people she had cared for had expressed. The post gained so much momentum that it was viewed by more than three million readers worldwide in its first year. At the request of many, Bronnie subsequently wrote a book, The Top Five Regrets of the Dying, to share her story. Bronnie has had a colourful and diverse life. By applying the lessons of those nearing their death to her own life, she developed an understanding that it is possible for everyone, if we make the right choices, to die with peace of mind. In this revised edition of the best-selling memoir that has been read by over a million people worldwide, with translations in 29 languages, Bronnie expresses how significant these regrets are and how we can positively address these issues while we still have the time. The Top Five Regrets of the Dying gives hope for a better world. It is a courageous, life-changing book that will leave you feeling more compassionate and inspired to live the life you are truly here to live.
Download or read book A Better Death written by Ranjana Srivastava and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2019-06-01 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A powerful, timely exploration of the art of living and dying on our own terms by one of Australia’s most respected voices Of all the experiences we share, two universal events bookend our lives: we were all born and we will all die. We don't have a choice in how we enter the world but we can have a say in how we leave it. In order to die well, we must be prepared to contemplate our mortality and to broach it with our loved ones, who are often called upon to make important decisions on our behalf. These are some of the most important conversations we can have with each other - to find peace, kindness and gratitude for what has gone before, and acceptance of what is to come. Dr Ranjana Srivastava draws on two decades of experience to share her observations and advice on leading a meaningful life and finding dignity and composure at the end. With an emphasis on advocacy, leaving a legacy and staying true to our deepest convictions, Srivastava tells stories of strength, hope and resilience in the face of grief and offers an optimistic meditation on approaching the end of life. Intelligent, warm and deeply affecting, A Better Death is a passionate exploration of the art of living and dying well. Dr Ranjana Srivastava OAM is a practising oncologist, award-winning writer, broadcaster and Fulbright scholar. See www.ranjanasrivastava.com
Download or read book The Four Things That Matter Most 10th Anniversary Edition written by Ira Byock and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2004-03-08 with total page 237 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “This beautiful book, full of wisdom and warmth, teaches us how to protect and preserve our most valuable possessions—the relationships with those we love. It shows that the things that matter definitely aren’t ‘things,’ and how to empower your life in the right direction.” —Dr. Stephen R. Covey, author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People Four simple phrases—“Please forgive me,” “I forgive you,” “Thank you,” and “I love you”—carry enormous power to mend and nurture our relationships and inner lives. These four phrases and the sentiments they convey provide a path to emotional wellbeing, guiding us through interpersonal difficulties to life with integrity and grace. Newly updated with stories from people who have turned to this life-altering book in their time of need, this motivational teaching about what really matters reminds us how we can honor each relationship every day. Dr. Ira Byock, an international leader in palliative care, explains how we can practice these life-affirming words in our day-to-day lives. Too often we assume that the people we love really know that we love them. Dr. Byock demonstrates the value of “stating the obvious” and provides practical insights into the benefits of letting go of old grudges and toxic emotions. His stories help us to forgive, appreciate, love, and celebrate one another and live life more fully. Using the Four Things in a wide range of life situations, we can experience emotional healing even in the wake of family strife, personal tragedy, divorce, or in the face of death. With practical wisdom and spiritual power, The Four Things That Matter Most gives us the language and guidance to honor and experience what really matters most in our lives every day.
Download or read book The Five Invitations written by Frank Ostaseski and published by Flatiron Books. This book was released on 2017-03-14 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The cofounder of the Zen Hospice Project and pioneer behind the compassionate care movement shares an inspiring exploration of the lessons dying has to offer about living a fulfilling life. Death is not waiting for us at the end of a long road. Death is always with us, in the marrow of every passing moment. She is the secret teacher hiding in plain sight, helping us to discover what matters most. Life and death are a package deal. They cannot be pulled apart and we cannot truly live unless we are aware of death. The Five Invitations is an exhilarating meditation on the meaning of life and how maintaining an ever-present consciousness of death can bring us closer to our truest selves. As a renowned teacher of compassionate caregiving and the cofounder of the Zen Hospice Project, Frank Ostaseski has sat on the precipice of death with more than a thousand people. In The Five Invitations, he distills the lessons gleaned over the course of his career, offering an evocative and stirring guide that points to a radical path to transformation. The Five Invitations: -Don’t Wait -Welcome Everything, Push Away Nothing -Bring Your Whole Self to the Experience -Find a Place of Rest in the Middle of Things -Cultivate Don’t Know Mind These Five Invitations show us how to wake up fully to our lives. They can be understood as best practices for anyone coping with loss or navigating any sort of transition or crisis; they guide us toward appreciating life’s preciousness. Awareness of death can be a valuable companion on the road to living well, forging a rich and meaningful life, and letting go of regret. The Five Invitations is a powerful and inspiring exploration of the essential wisdom dying has to impart to all of us.
Download or read book Wisdom for End of Life Living written by Tommy S. w. Wong and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2013-09-09 with total page 62 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In a way, we are all going through our end-of-life living. So, this book is relevant to all of us. It is, however, more pertinent to those or their loved ones who are suffering from terminal illness or at an advanced age whereby death is within a foreseeable future. This book contains a conversation between a young man, Tom, and Guru Harry. Among various life and death issues, they discussed the following: (1) How to see life and death such that there is no death?(2) How to live without pain when a relationship ends?(3) How to feel at peace when our loved one passes on?This book is useful to the living and the dying. May peace be with you, always!
Download or read book On Living written by Kerry Egan and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2017-10-24 with total page 226 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "A poetic and philosophical and brave and uplifting meditation on how important it is to make peace and meaning of our lives while we still have them.” –Elizabeth Gilbert, bestselling author of Eat Pray Love "Illuminating, unflinching and ultimately inspiring... A book to treasure.” –People Magazine A hospice chaplain passes on wisdom on giving meaning to life, from those taking leave of it. As a hospice chaplain, Kerry Egan didn’t offer sermons or prayers, unless they were requested; in fact, she found, the dying rarely want to talk about God, at least not overtly. Instead, she discovered she’d been granted a powerful chance to witness firsthand what she calls the “spiritual work of dying”—the work of finding or making meaning of one’s life, the experiences it’s contained and the people who have touched it, the betrayals, wounds, unfinished business, and unrealized dreams. Instead of talking, she mainly listened: to stories of hope and regret, shame and pride, mystery and revelation and secrets held too long. Most of all, though, she listened as her patients talked about love—love for their children and partners and friends; love they didn’t know how to offer; love they gave unconditionally; love they, sometimes belatedly, learned to grant themselves. This isn’t a book about dying—it’s a book about living. And Egan isn’t just passively bearing witness to these stories. An emergency procedure during the birth of her first child left her physically whole but emotionally and spiritually adrift. Her work as a hospice chaplain healed her, from a brokenness she came to see we all share. Each of her patients taught her something about what matters in the end—how to find courage in the face of fear or the strength to make amends; how to be profoundly compassionate and fiercely empathetic; how to see the world in grays instead of black and white. In this hopeful, moving, and beautiful book, she passes along all their precious and necessary gifts.
Download or read book What Dying People Want written by David Kuhl and published by PublicAffairs. This book was released on 2003-07-10 with total page 353 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Facing death results in more fear and anxiety than any other human experience. Though much has been done to address the physical pain suffered by those with a terminal illness, Western medicine has been slow to understand and alleviate the psychological and spiritual distress that comes with the knowledge of death. In What Dying People Want, Dr. David Kuhl begins to bridge that gap by addressing end-of-life realities--practical and emotional--through his own experiences as a doctor and through the words and experiences of people who knew that they were dying. Dr. Kuhl presents ways of finding new life in the process of dying, understanding the inner reality of living with a terminal illness, and addressing the fear of pain, as well as pain itself. He also offers concrete guidance on how to enhance doctor/patient relationships and hold family meetings, and provides an introduction to the process of life review. It is possible to find meaning and peace in the face of death. What Dying People Want "helps us learn to view the knowledge of death as a gift, not a curse." (New Times)
Download or read book The Wisdom of Dying written by N. Michael Murphy and published by HarperElement. This book was released on 1999 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Interweaving the intensely moving stories of those who have met death and those who have accompanied them, with stories from ancient myth and legend, and insights gained from the author's decades of experience in guiding others on their journey toward death, this remarkable book may well change your approach to life.
Download or read book Dying Well written by Ira Byock and published by Penguin. This book was released on 1998-03-01 with total page 321 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From Ira Byock, prominent palliative care physician and expert in end of life decisions, a lesson in Dying Well. Nobody should have to die in pain. Nobody should have to die alone. This is Ira Byock's dream, and he is dedicating his life to making it come true. Dying Well brings us to the homes and bedsides of families with whom Dr. Byock has worked, telling stories of love and reconciliation in the face of tragedy, pain, medical drama, and conflict. Through the true stories of patients, he shows us that a lot of important emotional work can be accomplished in the final months, weeks, and even days of life. It is a companion for families, showing them how to deal with doctors, how to talk to loved ones—and how to make the end of life as meaningful and enriching as the beginning. Ira Byock is also the author of The Best Care Possible: A Physician's Quest to Transform Care Through the End of Life.
Download or read book Life after the Diagnosis written by Steven Pantilat and published by Da Capo Lifelong Books. This book was released on 2017-02-14 with total page 227 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A renowned expert in palliative care, who is featured in the Netflix documentary, End Game, Dr. Pantilat delivers a compassionate and sensitive guide to living well with serious illness. In Life After the Diagnosis, Dr. Steven Z. Pantilat, a renowned international expert in palliative care demystifies the medical system for patients and their families. He makes sense of what doctors say, what they actually mean, and how to get the best information to help make the best medical decisions. Dr. Pantilat covers everything from the first steps after the diagnosis and finding the right caregiving and support, to planning your future so your loved ones don't have to. He offers advice on how to tackle the most difficult treatment decisions and discussions and shows readers how to choose treatments that help more than they hurt, stay consistent with their values and personal goals, and live as well as possible for as long as possible.
Download or read book Harnessing Plant Wisdom for End of Life Care written by John J Horton and published by Independently Published. This book was released on 2024-02-10 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Harnessing Plant Wisdom for End-of-Life Care: Embracing Nature's Guidance for Conscious Living and Dying With Plants: Plant-based Palliative Care is an all-encompassing handbook that includes herbs, floral essences, aromatherapy, and homeopathy that are regularly utilized. It also includes secrets for supporting the heart, soul, spirit, and body during the journey of dying. Through his profound understanding of how plant medicine can facilitate the release of unprocessed feelings, experiences, and belief structures, John J. Horton skillfully honors the plant kingdom. He does this by sharing his profound knowledge of how plant medicine can help ease and support those who are nearing the end of their lives, as well as all the transitions that one goes through throughout their life's journey. I am required to be a student of life since I am a writer. This, of course, encompasses the concept of death, as the two are components of the same entity. You can only imagine how unsettling it was to learn that the topic is almost completely off-limits in the communities of the Western world. What a delightful discovery it was to then find John J. Horton's field guide to nature's treasure trove of plants that were hiding in plain sight, willing and able to assist us in the ultimate transition with dignity, grace, and ease! What a wonderful gift!" David Seidler, winner of an Academy Award for his work on "The King's Speech" This once-forbidden information has been smuggled across the decades by John, and as a result, many women have given their lives practicing and protecting it. Now, John is revealing and sharing this ageless wisdom in his voice, which is kind and generous. His work is an old salve, allowing us to step away from the corporatization of death and dying, and gently takes us back into the loving arms of Mother Nature." - Clara Moore Hendon, Producer, Studio Seven 13 "The profound sorrow I felt as a result of being a witness to a great number of deaths that were accompanied by anxiety and fear throughout my twelve years of service as a hospice nurse served as the impetus for me to look for ways to assist individuals in having a more peaceful transition. John's book is a bridge to getting to the fundamental source of that fear. I am excited about this resource, not only as a tool to help end-of-life care but also to offer guidance in using plant medicine to bring forward unresolved concerns before one gets to their dying bed. This is your reference guide on how to prepare for a beautiful spiritual passage." - Carol Meckley RN, BSN, LMT "For those of us who honor nature and want holistic health care, this easy-to-use guide gives end-of-life support in keeping with our values. In these pages, medicine woman John returns nature's wisdom to the dying process, even as he returns death to its rightful place in the wheel of life. As someone who supports the dying and their caregivers, as well as clients of all ages and stages who are dying to an old version of themselves, I am grateful for John's practical suggestions on how to partner with the wisdom of plants to support the multi-layered processes of conscious living, conscious dying and conscious grieving." - Melody LeBaron, Author of Transforming Death: Creating Sacred Space f or the Dying
Download or read book With the End in Mind written by Kathryn Mannix and published by Little, Brown Spark. This book was released on 2018-01-16 with total page 302 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For readers of Atul Gawande and Paul Kalanithi, a palliative care doctor's breathtaking stories from 30 years spent caring for the dying. Modern medical technology is allowing us to live longer and fuller lives than ever before. And for the most part, that is good news. But with changes in the way we understand medicine come changes in the way we understand death. Once a familiar, peaceful, and gentle -- if sorrowful -- transition, death has come to be something from which we shield our eyes, as we prefer to fight desperately against it rather than accept its inevitability. Dr. Kathryn Mannix has studied and practiced palliative care for thirty years. In With the End in Mind , she shares beautifully crafted stories from a lifetime of caring for the dying, and makes a compelling case for the therapeutic power of approaching death not with trepidation, but with openness, clarity, and understanding. Weaving the details of her own experiences as a caregiver through stories of her patients, their families, and their distinctive lives, Dr. Mannix reacquaints us with the universal, but deeply personal, process of dying. With insightful meditations on life, death, and the space between them, With the End in Mind describes the possibility of meeting death gently, with forethought and preparation, and shows the unexpected beauty, dignity, and profound humanity of life coming to an end.
Download or read book The Best Care Possible written by Ira Byock and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2013-03-05 with total page 338 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A doctor on the front lines of hospital care illuminates one of the most important and controversial social issues of our time. It is harder to die in this country than ever before. Though the vast majority of Americans would prefer to die at home—which hospice care provides—many of us spend our last days fearful and in pain in a healthcare system ruled by high-tech procedures and a philosophy to “fight disease and illness at all cost.” Dr. Ira Byock, one of the foremost palliative-care physicians in the country, argues that how we die represents a national crisis today. To ensure the best possible elder care, Dr. Byock explains we must not only remake our healthcare system but also move beyond our cultural aversion to thinking about death. The Best Care Possible is a compelling meditation on medicine and ethics told through page-turning life-or-death medical drama. It has the power to lead a new national conversation.
Download or read book When Breath Becomes Air written by Paul Kalanithi and published by Random House. This book was released on 2016-01-12 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • PULITZER PRIZE FINALIST • This inspiring, exquisitely observed memoir finds hope and beauty in the face of insurmountable odds as an idealistic young neurosurgeon attempts to answer the question What makes a life worth living? NAMED ONE OF PASTE’S BEST MEMOIRS OF THE DECADE • NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The New York Times Book Review • People • NPR • The Washington Post • Slate • Harper’s Bazaar • Time Out New York • Publishers Weekly • BookPage Finalist for the PEN Center USA Literary Award in Creative Nonfiction and the Books for a Better Life Award in Inspirational Memoir At the age of thirty-six, on the verge of completing a decade’s worth of training as a neurosurgeon, Paul Kalanithi was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer. One day he was a doctor treating the dying, and the next he was a patient struggling to live. And just like that, the future he and his wife had imagined evaporated. When Breath Becomes Air chronicles Kalanithi’s transformation from a naïve medical student “possessed,” as he wrote, “by the question of what, given that all organisms die, makes a virtuous and meaningful life” into a neurosurgeon at Stanford working in the brain, the most critical place for human identity, and finally into a patient and new father confronting his own mortality. What makes life worth living in the face of death? What do you do when the future, no longer a ladder toward your goals in life, flattens out into a perpetual present? What does it mean to have a child, to nurture a new life as another fades away? These are some of the questions Kalanithi wrestles with in this profoundly moving, exquisitely observed memoir. Paul Kalanithi died in March 2015, while working on this book, yet his words live on as a guide and a gift to us all. “I began to realize that coming face to face with my own mortality, in a sense, had changed nothing and everything,” he wrote. “Seven words from Samuel Beckett began to repeat in my head: ‘I can’t go on. I’ll go on.’” When Breath Becomes Air is an unforgettable, life-affirming reflection on the challenge of facing death and on the relationship between doctor and patient, from a brilliant writer who became both.
Download or read book The Stories Oh the Stories Life Lessons from End of Life Wisdom written by Estelle Rouleau and published by . This book was released on 2006-07-20 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As anyone who has dealt with the dying will attest, it is, in fact, dealing with death these many years that has taught me the preciousness of life. Finding herself in a time of restlessness and transition in her own life, the author looks for inspiration from the Hospice patients she had been privileged to work with for the past 16 years, remembering the stories they had shared with her about what life had meant to them. What were they proud of? What were their regrets? What were the ingredients that went into someone's sense that they had had a very full life? How did the families left behind cope with the loss? She soon found that the Stories were rich and varied, and offered much wisdom about life, even, or maybe especially from, the children who had lost people close to them. It can be a real wake-up call to discover that, for the most part, we die as we've lived. Adding poignant quotes and poetry, the surprising humor that people could find in their situations, as well as her own personal experiences, this book is about the insights and renewed enthusiasm for life that she gained, from 2-year-olds to 95-year-olds, about living life to the fullest. What came up again and again is that it is the Love we leave behind that is all that matters. It is not so much what we do, as how we do it. She includes suggestions for helping children to deal with loss, part of what her own work at Hospice entailed. Consequently we are invited to re-examine our own stories, to change what no longer satisfies us, and to rekindle our own goals and dreams.
Download or read book Living Life Backward written by David Gibson and published by Crossway. This book was released on 2017-07-14 with total page 164 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What if it is death that teaches us how to truly live? Keeping the end in mind shapes how we live our lives in the here and now. Living life backward means taking the one thing in our future that is certain—death—and letting that inform our journey before we get there. Looking to the book of Ecclesiastes for wisdom, Living Life Backward was written to shake up our expectations and priorities for what it means to live "the good life." Considering the reality of death helps us pay attention to our limitations as human beings and receive life as a wondrous gift from God—freeing us to live wisely, generously, and faithfully for God's glory and the good of his world.
