LIVING NOW: Equanimity | Intention | Legacy | Peace & Grace
Don’t insist on going where you think you want to go.
Ask the way to the spring.
Rumi
Soul Journeys
Second Wind
by Bill Thomas, MD
An insightful look into facing the second coming of age for the post war generation now facing their late life years. Dr. Bill Thomas is an inspirational and a long-time advocate for changing the way we view nursing homes and care of our elders through the GreenHouse Project. In this book he presents developmental opportunity to reshape the lives of elders and our society by learning to learn to go slower, go deeper, and be more connected to themselves, their loved ones, and other members of their community, they can find the wisdom, happiness, and fulfillment that comes with a life that is in balance.
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Aging With Wisdom
by Olivia Ames Hoblitzelle
Hoblitzelle offers seven nurturing guidelines to being attentive to the gifts that grow more valuable with age: spiritual orientation, practice of silence, practice of mindfulness, practice of stopping, finding the sacred in the commonplace, meditation, and the practice of gratitude.
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On the Brink of Everything
by Parker J. Palmer
A book of reflections on what we can learn as we move closer to “the brink of everything.”
Drawing on eight decades of life — and his career as a writer, teacher, and activist — Palmer explores the questions age raises and the promises it holds. “Old,” he writes, “is just another word for nothing left to lose, a time to dive deep into life, not withdraw to the shallows.”
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Reverence: Renewing a Forgotten Virtue
by Paul Woodruff
An examination of an ancient value that anchors our wholeness, enables us to view living with awe for something greater than ourselves and enables us live fully as a result.
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Man’s Search for Meaning
by Victor E. Frankl
Between 1942 and 1945 Frankl labored in four different camps, including Auschwitz, while his parents, brother, and pregnant wife perished. Frankl argues that we cannot avoid suffering but we can choose how to cope with it, find meaning in it, and move forward with renewed purpose.
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The Long View of Living
A fool sees not the same tree as a wise man sees.
William Blake
Bill Moyer’s (Last) Journal
Guest: author Barry Lopez
Journalist Bill Moyers chose author and naturalists Barry Lopez to be his last guest on the Bill Moreys Journal. Together they offer a moving and poignant conversation about the core nature of humanity aid what gives our life meaning
Kindness & Gratitude
Three things in human life are important.
The first is to be kind.
The second is to be kind.
And the third is to be kind.
Henry James
Anam Cara
by John O’Donohue
This poet, author and philosopher whose life ended suddenly and too soon left a legacy of celtic wisdom and a model of life lived as kindness made visible. “For too long we have believed that the divine is outside us” .
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TedxSF
Gratitude
Louie Schwarzburg
Time-lapse photography has been the passion of Louie Schwartzberg for a lifetime. In this talks he introduces his project on gratitude and happiness described through the eyes of a child and an older man.
Gratitude
by Oliver Sacks
During the last few months of his life, he wrote a set of essays in which he movingly explored his feelings about completing a life and coming to terms with his own death.
“It is the fate of every human being to be a unique individual, to find his own path, to live his own life, to die his own death.” Together, these four essays form an ode to the uniqueness of each human being and to gratitude for the
gift of life.
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Life’s Journeys According to Mister Rogers:
Things to Remember Along the Way
by Fred Rogers
With sections titled Who You Are Right Now, Loving and Being Loved, and Guided Drift, Fred addresses the scope of human transitions. It all comes down to knowing we’re valuable, and that we’re worthy of that value. As Fred would say, “You don’t have to be anything more than who you are right now.”
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Mindfulness & Meditation
Crater Lake, Crater Lake National Park, Oregon, USA
4000 feet (1,219 meters) deep. The deepest lake in North America and the seventh deepest lake in the world.
Full Catastrophe Living
Using the Wisdom of Your Body and Mind to Face Stress, Pain, and Illness
by Jon Kabat-Zinn
Medically proven mind-body approaches derived from meditation and yoga to counteract stress, establish greater balance of body and mind, and stimulate well-being and healing. Learn to manage chronic pain, promote optimal healing, reduce anxiety and feelings of panic, and improve the overall quality of your life, relationships, and social networks.
Find the book at your local library or click here to order it online.
Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction Program (MBSR)
University of Massachusetts
The concept of mindfulness in medicine is based on clinical evidence through the work of Jon Kabat-Zinn. The program uses techniques to cultivate a different relationship between the person and the things that challenge their life.
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Online MBSR Course
Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction Program (MBSR)
Take the eight-week MBSR course for mindfulness online through Sounds True
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Mindfulness & Loving Kindness Meditations with Julie Lawrence Chippendale
GO HERE and then scroll to the bottom of the page to discover five brief and lovely meditations.
Mindful Yoga for MBSR with Julie Lawrence Chippendale
Beyond Thinking: 
A Guide to Zen Meditation
By Zen Master Dogen
Edited by Kazuaki Tanahashi
Spiritual practice is not some kind of striving to produce enlightenment, but an expression of the enlightenment already inherent in all things: Such is the Zen teaching of Dogen Zenji (1200–1253) whose profound writings have been studied and revered for more than seven hundred years, influencing practitioners far beyond his native Japan and the Soto school he is credited with founding. In focusing on Dogen’s most practical words of instruction and encouragement for Zen students, this new collection highlights the timelessness of his teaching and shows it to be as applicable to anyone today as it was in the great teacher’s own time. Selections include Dogen’s famous meditation instructions; his advice on the practice of zazen, or sitting meditation; guidelines for community life; and some of his most inspirational talks.
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How to Meditate
by Pema Chödrön
Pema Chödrön is treasured around the world for her unique ability to transmit teachings and practices that bring peace, understanding, and compassion into our lives. With How to Meditate, the American-born Tibetan Buddhist nun presents her first book exploring in-depth what she considers the essentials for a lifelong practice. The book is also available was an Audio CD narrated by Pema. She has written and recorded extensively on various teachings of Tibetan Buddhism. She shares her own struggles with wit and penetrating commonality with personal lives.
Find this book and recording along with many other valuable resource on this site: Sounds True
Thich Nhat Hanh – Plum Village
Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh is a global spiritual leader, poet and peace activist, revered around the world for his powerful teachings and bestselling writings on mindfulness and peace. He is the man Martin Luther King called “An Apostle of peace and nonviolence.” His key teaching is that, through mindfulness, we can learn to live happily in the present moment—the only way to truly develop peace, both in one’s self and in the world.
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Light in the Shadows
Meditations While Living with a Life-Threatening Illness
by Hank Dunn
An ordained health care chaplain, Hank Dunn has collected a series of essays / meditations to ponder written by various authors on the subject of living with life- threatening illness.
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Zenchantment Meditations
Find meditation sessions with quiet music beautiful images of Japanese gardens on the Zenchantment channel on YouTube or go to the Enchantment website.
Minding the Body Mending the Mind
by Joan Borysenko, PhD
From the studies at the Mind/Body Clinic in Boston provides tips on how to take control of your physical and emotional well being. A classic book the stands the test of time.
Find the book at your local library or click here to order it online.
Attending: Medicine, Mindfulness, and Humanity
by Ronald Epstein, MD
Epstein was awestruck by another surgeon’s ability to avert an impending
disaster, slowing down from autopilot to intentionality. An exploration of how doctors think, what matters most, safe, effective, patient-centered, compassionate care.
Find the book at your local library or click here to order it online.
Spirituality
Spirituality is the aspect of humanity that refers to the way individuals seek and express meaning and purpose and
the way they experience their connectedness to the moment, to self, to others, to nature, and to the significant or sacred.
Concensus Conference, 2009, Puchalski, JPM, 2009
Spring at Stonehenge. copyright 2006 JBolane All rights reserved
Living Buddha, Living Christ: 20th Anniversary Edition
by Thich Nhat Hanhn
In lucid, meditative prose, Thich Nhat Hanhn explores the crossroads of compassion and holiness at which the two traditions of Christianity and Buddhism meet, and he reawakens our understanding of both.
Find it at your library or order it online
Midwife for Souls
Spiritual Care for the Dying
by Kathy Kalina
The author shows how to support one’s Catholic faith and the power of prayer in ministering to a dying person. Includes prayers and comforting scriptural passages for the dying and their loved ones.
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Living an Examined Life
by James Hollis, PhD
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Institute for Jewish Spirituality
The institute believes that leaders who engage in Jewish spiritual practices that are grounded in mindfulness are better equipped to contribute to building Jewish communities that are vibrant, resilient, and wise; they are able to meaningfully address the brokenness of our world. Many resources on this site.
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Spiritual Care Programme
Online courses for professionals and family caregivers
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Global Network for Spirituality in Healthcare
The George Washington School of Medicine & Health Sciences
This network of health care professionals was formed to enhance the provision of quality comprehensive and compassionate care to patients and families through the integration of spirituality into health systems.
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Spirituality and Health Online Education Resource Center
A discussion of the role of spirituality in helping a person through illness or dying, this video demonstrates the value of chaplains in helping people who are suffering with illness and death
Theology Medicine and Culture
Duke Divinity School
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Center for Spirituality & Healing
University of Minnesota
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Continuing Essential & Ongoing Conversations
A Friend in Need
This video was funded by the Pennsylvania Department of Aging and produced by the Take Charge Partnership.
Define What Matters Most to You – Talk With Loved Ones and Care Providers.
Even when life is in balance with or without disease or frailty as a factor, it is important to continue having essential conversations about your end of life wishes. If you have not prepared your Advance Directive it is a good time to start. Go to the Advance Care Planning section of this website for step-by-step instructions and resources.
Why is it So Difficult to Talk About End of Life Wishes – PBS NewsHour
Read the article
Barriers to End of Life Conversations
by Jamie Santa Cruz – Today’s Geriatric Medicine
Read the article
The Conversation Project – a comprehensive resource for end of life conversations
Paying Life Forward
I slept and dreamed that life was Joy.
I awoke and found that life was Service.
I served and discovered that Service was Joy.
Rabindranath Tagore
The Chicago Lighthouse
An inspiring organization in Chicago which celebrates and provides services, access, and inclusion for people with disabilities. Check out the beautiful and artfully painted lighthouses displayed along Chicago’s Michigan Avenue. Learn more
Pay It Forward
by Catherine Ray Hyde
The story of a young boy who believed in the power of kindness and demonstrated how to make it tangible. Do a good deed for three people and ask each of them to “pay it forward” to three others who need help.
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It’s in Every One of Us – Written and Performed by David Pomeranz