The Counselor's Bookshelf:
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The Counselor's Bookshelf:
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I've spent the past several weeks enjoying a beautiful book by Frank Ostaseski, co-founder of the Zen Hospice Project in San Francisco. The Five Invitations: Discovering what death can teach us about living fully reads like a dharma talk, fluidly integrating Buddhist teachings with story telling and gentle reminders to come back to the richness of the present moment, no matter what is happening. He doesn't sugar coat death, promise that everything will be ok, or placate our fears that it won't. He simply reminds us, lovingly and persistently, to use our experiences with death to make the time we are living more rich and meaningful. From the introduction: "Life and death are a package deal. You cannot pull them apart. In Japanese Zen, the term shoji translates as "birth-death." There is no separation between life and death other than a small hyphen, a thin line that connects the two. We cannot be truly alive without maintaining an awareness of death. 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. She helps us to discover what matters most. And the good news is we don't have to wait until the end of our lives to realize the wisdom that death has to offer... "Over the past thirty years, I have sat on the precipice of death with a few thousand people. Some came to their deaths full of disappointment. Others blossomed and stepped through that door full of wonder. What made the difference was the willingness to gradually live into the deeper dimensions of what it means to be human.
To imagine that at the time of our dying we will have the physical, strength, emotional stability, and mental clarity to do the work of a lifetime is a ridiculous gamble. This book is an invitation- five invitations, actually- to sit down with death, to have a cup of tea with her, to let her guide you toward living a more meaningful and loving life."
2 Comments
11/13/2022 02:01:14 am
Paper morning trouble growth author. These military true.
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The Counselor's Bookshelf:Sharing the books, articles, podcasts, and other resources I'm drawing from personally, and in my work as a counselor. Archives
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