Tag: Being

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Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End

In Being Mortal, bestselling author Atul Gawande tackles the hardest challenge of his profession: how medicine can not only improve life but also the process of its ending

Medicine has triumphed in modern times, transforming birth, injury, and infectious disease from harrowing to manageable. But in the inevitable condition of aging and death, the goals of medicine seem too frequently to run counter to the interest of the human spirit. Nursing homes, preoccupied with safety, pin patients into railed beds and wheelchairs. Hospitals isolate the dying, checking for vital signs long after the goals of cure have become moot. Doctors, committed to extending life, continue to carry out devastating procedures that in the end extend suffering.

Gawande, a practicing surgeon, addresses his profession’s ultimate limitation, arguing that quality of life is the desired goal for patients and families. Gawande offers examples of freer, more socially fulfilling models for assisting the infirm and dependent elderly, and he explores the varieties of hospice care to demonstrate that a person’s last weeks or months may be rich and dignified.

Full of eye-opening research and riveting storytelling, Being Mortal asserts that medicine can comfort and enhance our experience even to the end, providing not only a good life but also a good end.

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Meditations for Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself

This mental-rehearsal CD set, the four-week guided-meditation companion program to Dr. Joe Dispenza’s book Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself, is designed to move you from the analytical Beta brain-wave state to the state of Alpha, and develop your ability to sustain coherent brain-wave patterns. By placing your awareness on different parts of your body “in space” and on “the space around your body,” as instructed by Dr. Joe, you are altering your brain so that you enter into the operating system of your subconscious mind—where unwanted habits and programs exist. The objective is to learn to stay present and make meditation a skill. It is from this new place that you will begin to make the changes in your life that you desire!

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The Book of Awakening: Having the Life You Want by Being Present in the Life You Have (Thorndike Inspirational)

Philosopher-poet and cancer survivor, Mark Nepo opens a new season of freedom and joy–an escape from deadening, asleep-at-the wheel sameness–that is both profound and clarifying. His spiritual daybook is a summons to reclaim aliveness, liberate the self, take each day one at a time, and to savor the beauty offered by life’s unfolding. Reading his poetic prose is like being given second sight, exposing the reader to life’s multiple dimensions, each one drawn with awe and affection. The Book of Awakening is the result of his journey of the soul and will inspire others to embark on their own. Nepo speaks of spirit and friendship, urging readers to stay vital and in love with this life, no matter the hardships. Encompassing many traditions and voices, Nepo’s words offer insight on pain, wonder, and love. Each entry is accompanied by an exercise that will surprise and delight the reader in its mind-waking ability.

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The Book of Awakening: Having the Life You Want by Being Present to the Life You Have

Philosopher-poet and cancer survivor, Mark Nepo opens a new season of freedom and joy–an escape from deadening, asleep-at-the wheel sameness–that is both profound and clarifying. His spiritual daybook is a summons to reclaim aliveness, liberate the self, take each day one at a time, and to savor the beauty offered by life’s unfolding. Reading his poetic prose is like being given second sight, exposing the reader to life’s multiple dimensions, each one drawn with awe and affection. The Book of Awakening is the result of his journey of the soul and will inspire others to embark on their own. Nepo speaks of spirit and friendship, urging readers to stay vital and in love with this life, no matter the hardships. Encompassing many traditions and voices, Nepo’s words offer insight on pain, wonder, and love. Each entry is accompanied by an exercise that will surprise and delight the reader in its mind-waking ability.The time when we walk in the shadow of death is, ironically, a time when we feel illuminated by life’s true meaning. Poet and philosopher Mark Nepo has firsthand experience with this mystery–he had cancer. During his arduous recovery, he sought inspiration and guidance that would reflect his growing appreciation of life. Although this daybook is exactly what Nepo longed for as he struggled with a difficult disease, , it can be appreciated by all readers.

This collection of essays, one for every day from January 1 through December 30, offers a poet’s sensibility and sensuality and gives the reader Nepo’s well-harvested wisdom. “Water reflects everything it encounters,” Nepo writes in a May 5 essay. “This is so commonplace that we think water is blue, when in fact it has no color…. But the water, the glorious water everywhere, has taught me that we are more than what we reflect or love. This is the work of compassion: to embrace everything clearly without imposing who we are and without losing who we are.” After each entry, Nepo offers a short list of suggestions or questions to help carry the essay into the day. There are many inspirational daybooks out there. What sets this one apart is the mature poet’s voice rising from a seasoned soul. –Gail Hudson

Product Features

  • Used Book in Good Condition
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The Importance of Being Extraordinary

Taped on location in Hawaii, this audio program provides a rare opportunity to listen in on a profoundly moving dialogue between two of the three “most spiritually influential people alive.”*Dr. Wayne W. Dyer and Eckhart Tolle delve into everything from ancient spiritual texts to contemporary pop culture as they tackle questions we all wrestle with, such as Who am I? What is real? and What is the meaning of life? Yet even as they discuss weighty topics such as the economy and addiction, the mood remains graceful, loving, and even humorous. Through their combined wisdom and perception, Wayne and Eckhart bring you inspired lessons for an exhilarating spiritual awakening. This, according to Eckhart, “consists of relinquishing identification with the conditioned mind through the cultivation of awareness.”Although these lessons are full of rich, philosophical insight, they are also very practical and can easily be applied to the individual listener and the world at large. For, as Wayne explains, when we “create a world of extraordinary people who look beyond what they were programmed to become, we impact the entire consciousness of this planet.”

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Guardians of Being: Spiritual Teachings from Our Dogs and Cats

This wonderfully unique collaboration brings together two masters of their fields, joining original words by spiritual teacher Eckhart Tolle with delightful illustrations by Patrick McDonnell, the creator of the acclaimed comic strip MUTTS. Every heartwarming page provokes thought, insight, and smiling reverence for all beings and each moment.

More than a collection of witty and charming drawings, the marriage of Patrick McDonnell’s art and Eckhart Tolle’s words conveys a profound love of nature, of animals, of humans, of all life-forms. Guardians of Being celebrates and reminds us of not only the oneness of all life but also the wonder and joy to be found in the present moment, amid the beauty we sometimes forget to notice all around us.

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Looking at Life with a Wise Wild Woman:Everyday Lessons in Being Aware

What exactly is self-awareness and what good will it do me? What follows aims to show you how being self-aware benefits you in so many ways, not least by helping you change any thoughts or behaviour that are holding you back from being the best that you can be. The articles were written during the six years I was living in France and trying to create my own niche within another culture. They describe certain incidents and situations in my life during that time: my observations, what I learnt and how I carried that learning forward. There are additional suggestions as to how you too might apply similar learning in your life. This method of learning involves being open and aware as you engage with life from day to day. It’s the foundation of all personal growth and, like anything of fundamental value, it’s simple but not easy. The encouraging thing is that anyone can do it, as perfection is not required at all. You can work at it slowly and steadily and still see improvements as you come to know your authentic Self. Indeed it’s usually the most difficult experiences we encounter that afford us the greatest opportunity to learn about our Self. To begin, you need only appreciate and put into practice what many of us take for granted: our capacity to see and to listen, to notice, as we go about our day to day lives.