http://www.ncreview.com/ 488-428 http://www.ncreview.com/self-help/living-fully-dying-well This book is an honest and open-minded exploration of death and meaningful living that was prompted by the near death experience of the author. This book represents an inquiry that goes beyond western cultural and religious assumptions, myths, and dogma about the meaning of death life and death. This book is divided into two parts. The first part of the book is a collection of various discussions and dialogues about living fully and dying well and the second part is a compilation of resources and practices for doing the same. I think the best way to describe what this book is about is to share the questions that appear early in the book that drive the exploration and recommendations that appear later on. From the book: Living - How does an understanding of the process of dying help us to engage fully in our own life with meaning, purpose, and contentment? What examples and stories can help us to grasp this? How can I live my life in this way? How can I joyfully live my life in preparation for death? What meditations, prayers, mantras, visualizations, perspectives and attitudes should I learn and develop now so that I am ready for death at any moment? Dying - The process of dying can be instant or it can last for hours, days, weeks, months, or years. What are the predictable stages of the dying process? How can we prepare for this? What tools and techniques can we acquire so that we can be content and purposeful in the dying process? How should we positively prepare and engage our family and friends in our dying process- psychologically, spiritually, emotionally, physically? How and when should we organize our living will, insurance, finances, possessions, businesses, and so on to prepare for the inevitable, yet uncertain time of our dying process? How should I plan for my own care if my death is slow, expensive, and painful? How should I involve family and friends? What are the options for helping me through the dying process, including spiritual guides, psychological counseling, treatment guides, assisted living, intensive care, home care, and hospice? How can I help my friends and loved ones in their process of dying? Death - What is death? Is death the final act of our existence? Is death a process of transformation to another form of life? What happens when we die? What are the stages of death physically, emotionally, and intellectually? How can death become a meaningful, purposeful, transformative experience/ How can we be aware and conscious of dying and guide ourselves through it? How can we avoid fear and mental anguish? How can we do it with purpose and contentment? Beyond- What do the worlds' spiritual traditions say about life beyond death? What is the philosophical rationale for life after death? What are the credible reports from both individuals and medical research about continued existence? How can I have knowledge and faith that I will continue to exist after my death/ How would faith in an afterlife alter the way I live m present life? How would my behavior and state of mind during my life, dying, and death influence the form, place, and quality of my continuing existence? If you're interested in the answers to any or all of these questions, do yourself a favor and read this book for yourself. ]]> Sat, 15 May 2010 01:57:28 -0700 488-204 http://www.ncreview.com/self-help/living-fully-dying-well "Die before you die." This Sufi mantra captures the central message of Living Fully, Dying Well, co-authored by Edward W. Bastian, Ph.D., a Buddhist scholar, and Tina Staley, Director of Pathfinders, a program that provides advocates for cancer patients and their families. The authors gathered spiritual practitioners of several religions and doctors who acknowledge the spiritual needs of the dying to explore what it means to “live fully, die well.” Their starting point is to examine the current tendency in America to distance, sanitize, and deny death, and how this fear—and it is a from fear that we do this—closes off entire realms of deeper experience, wisdom, and joy. In contrast, living fully asks us to open to the awareness that death is a part of everyday life. When we make this shift, our normally armored self-images soften, relaxing the boundary between our outer lives and our vital, often neglected inner lives. Being present as “witness” to the deaths of loved ones and more accepting of the natural inevitability of our own deaths makes this inevitable passage less fearful; an opportunity to experience death as a rich summing-up, a completion. Each subsequent chapter focuses on a different aspect of dying—changing our own views, how to allow loved ones to witness and support the process, exploring the "best case scenario" of what dying well means to us, and even how to care for the body of the deceased. In a field crowded with outstanding publications encompassing every aspect of death and dying, the danger still exists that the subject can remain comfortably abstract. The second half of Living Fully, Dying Well gathers in one place the tools needed to bring into our own experience the various concepts presented. The "Life Review Exercise" itself is profoundly eye-opening. It is followed by exercises such as "Practices for Transforming Pain and Suffering" and "Meditations and Preparation for the Moment of Death." These exercises and meditations bring the work of the book full-circle. Working with any of these brings us closer to understanding death as a part of our lives; as one more thread in an unending cloth rather than "the end." Living Fully, Dying Well offers a transformational experience to any reader willing to genuinely engage with it. ]]> Wed, 02 Sep 2009 21:48:52 -0700