How To Find Meaning In Your Life Before It Ends

What does it really mean to be a grown up in today’s world? We assume that once we “get it together” with the right job, marry the right person, have children, and buy a home, all is settled and well. But adulthood presents varying levels of growth, and is rarely the respite of stability we expected. Turbulent emotional shifts can take place anywhere between the age of thirty-five and seventy when we question the choices we’ve made, realize our limitations, and feel stuck— commonly known as the “midlife crisis.” Jungian psycho-analyst James Hollis believes it is only in the second half of life that we can truly come to know who we are and thus create a life that has meaning. In Finding Meaning in the Second Half of Life, Hollis explores the ways we can grow and evolve to fully become ourselves when the traditional roles of adulthood aren’t quite working for us, revealing a new way of uncovering and embracing our authentic selves. Offering wisdom to anyone facing a career that no longer seems fulfilling, a long-term relationship that has shifted, or family transitions that raise issues of aging and mortality, Finding Meaning in the Second Half of Life provides a reassuring message and a crucial bridge across this critical passage of adult development.

Poses an argument for living a spiritual life that is not dependent on religion, explaining that an acceptance of philosophical spiritual traditions and values does not require practitioners to embrace the existence of a higher order.

In this groundbreaking new work, David Kessler—an expert on grief and the coauthor with Elisabeth Kübler-Ross of the iconic On Grief and Grieving—journeys beyond the classic five stages to discover a sixth stage: meaning. In 1969, Elisabeth Kübler Ross first identified the stages of dying in her transformative book On Death and Dying. Decades later, she and David Kessler wrote the classic On Grief and Grieving, introducing the stages of grief with the same transformative pragmatism and compassion. Now, based on hard-earned personal experiences, as well as knowledge and wisdom earned through decades of work with the grieving, Kessler introduces a critical sixth stage. Many people look for “closure” after a loss. Kessler argues that it’s finding meaning beyond the stages of grief most of us are familiar with—denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance—that can transform grief into a more peaceful and hopeful experience. In this book, Kessler gives readers a roadmap to remembering those who have died with more love than pain; he shows us how to move forward in a way that honors our loved ones. Kessler’s insight is both professional and intensely personal. His journey with grief began when, as a child, he witnessed a mass shooting at the same time his mother was dying. For most of his life, Kessler taught physicians, nurses, counselors, police, and first responders about end of life, trauma, and grief, as well as leading talks and retreats for those experiencing grief. Despite his knowledge, his life was upended by the sudden death of his twenty-one-year-old son. How does the grief expert handle such a tragic loss? He knew he had to find a way through this unexpected, devastating loss, a way that would honor his son. That, ultimately, was the sixth state of grief—meaning. In Finding Meaning, Kessler shares the insights, collective wisdom, and powerful tools that will help those experiencing loss. Finding Meaning is a necessary addition to grief literature and a vital guide to healing from tremendous loss. This is an inspiring, deeply intelligent must-read for anyone looking to journey away from suffering, through loss, and towards meaning.

Does life have meaning? Is it possible for life to be meaningful when the world is filled with suffering and when so much depends merely upon chance? Even if there is meaning, is there enough to justify living? These questions are difficult to resolve. There are times in which we face the mundane, the illogically cruel, and the tragic, which leave us to question the value of our lives. However, Iddo Landau argues, our lives often are, or could be made, meaningfulwe've just been setting the bar too high for evaluating what meaning there is. When it comes to meaning in life, Landau explains, we have let perfect become the enemy of the good. We have failed to find life perfectly meaningful, and therefore have failed to see any meaning in our lives. We must attune ourselves to enhancing and appreciating the meaning in our lives, and Landau shows us how to do that. In this warmly written book, rich with examples from the author's life, film, literature, and history, Landau offers new theories and practical advice that awaken us to the meaning already present in our lives and demonstrates how we can enhance it. He confronts prevailing nihilist ideas that undermine our existence, and the questions that dog us no matter what we believe. While exposing the weaknesses of ideas that lead many to despair, he builds a strong case for maintaining more hope. Along the way, he faces provocative questions: Would we choose to live forever if we could? Does death render life meaningless? If we examine it in the context of the immensity of the whole universe, can we consider life meaningful? If we feel empty once we achieve our goals, and the pursuit of these goals is what gives us a sense of meaning, then what can we do? Finding Meaning in an Imperfect World is likely to alter the way you understand your life.

What do you say to someone who has been diagnosed with a terminal disease? How can you help someone who knows they are dying, or people who have just said goodbye for the last time to someone they love? You want to help, but how can you be sure you aren't doing more harm than good? What should you say about God, heaven or prayer? How specific should you be about what they are experiencing physically or what they want medically? Author Patrick Shawn Riecke answers these questions, after twenty years of helping the sick, dying and grieving. You will encounter the best ways to talk with people in what he calls Phase Three--life's most difficult moments. Riecke has not only helped countless people personally as a hospital chaplain and pastor, but also leads a team of chaplains doing this work daily, and gives regular seminars helping others know how to talk with Sick, Dying and Grieving People. With references along the way from Being Mortal by Atul Gawande, Father Richard Rohr, recent research, ancient literature, personal anecdotes, and three customized case studies developed specifically for this volume, you will find a complete handling of this topic. However, you will not find a technical handbook--but rather a page turning easy to read book that sometimes feels more like a novel or memoir than non-fiction. The rich and breathtaking stories will help you unfold your full potential to really help people in Phase Three. You want so badly to help. Click to purchase either the Kindle or Paperback version today so you can confidently Talk with Sick, Dying and Grieving People in a way that is certain to help. Included in this volume: Compelling stories of ultimate suffering and overwhelming significance Must-do actions for those who want to help Traps to avoid so you can be successful at making a difference Three case studies of hurting people and how to help His Three Phases of Spiritual Growth Practical tips for leaders who care about people in grief, trauma or crisis Five Help Sheets full of practical tips A postscript from the author on his own experience of Baby Death Are you ready to really help? Buy this book today to start making a difference.

From bedside etiquette and practical decisions to caring for oneself in the midst of caring for another, this compassionate resource for caregivers of someone terminally or chronically ill offers an abundance of guidance and support. Original.

#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.

Would you like to find meaning in your suffering? Learn how to pass your legacy from one generationto the next! Inside How to Find Meaning in Your Life Before it Ends you discover ways find meaning as you face your own mortality. You will be inspired by compelling case studies. The dynamic list will help you find meaning in ways that are both profound and practical. 34 Words to Express 33 Actions to Take 34 Gifts to Provide Rev. Patrick Riecke, author of How to Talk with Sick, Dying, and Grieving People, knows suffering. After more than twenty years in pastoral ministry and leading a team of hospital chaplains at a trauma center, Riecke is a recognized voice on suffering, grief, and finding meaning. Book Patrick Riecke to speak for your next Conference, Event, or workshop at PatrickRiecke.com. For more free content, videos, and advice on helping people who are sick, dying, or grieving, sign up for Patrick Riecke's newsletter at www.PatrickRiecke.com. When you sign up, you will receive access to the five helpsheets in the back of this book, and several video trainings where Riecke explains how to talk with the sick, dying, and grieving. "Life does not mean something vague, but something very real and concrete." -Viktor Frank