January | 2015 | The Curious Autodidact

January 31, 2015

Mindfulness as a Way of Life

Filed under: book related,helpful hints — Honilima @ 2:34 pm

Author Ellen Langer: Mindfulness into Daily Life

If you are thinking of dipping your toe into meditation and mindfulness begin by listening to Ellen Langer’s recent appearance on the Diane Rehm Show out of D.C.

Langer, a Harvard Professor of Psychology, presents the power of positive thinking in the most practical of ways. Her book Mindfulness is a delightful handbook to living in the precious present moment and is celebrating being in print for over 25 years.

Another author of merit is Jon Kabat-Zinn, Professor of Medicine emeritus at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, who has written many books. Check out this 60 Minutes segment he is featured on with Anderson Cooper who a very moved by his work on this feature that explains his work clearly for even the simplest among us to grasp.

January 23, 2015

Books to Cope with Aging and Aging Friends and Family

Filed under: book related,helpful hints — Honilima @ 7:12 am

My Mother Your Mother: Embracing “Slow Medicine” the Compassionate Approach to Caring for your Aging Loved Ones by Dennis McCullough

Counting on Kindness by Wendy Lustbader

Facing Death Finding Hope by Christine Longaker

Where did I leave my Glasses? by Martha Lear

Where Did I Leave My Glasses?: The What, When, and Why of Normal Memory Loss

January 7, 2015

Cost of Hope: Amanda Bennett’s Book Should be Required Reading

Filed under: book related,end of life,media related,women heroes,Word Related — Honilima @ 3:01 pm

Image result for google image "cost of hope"

How can you not consider Amanda Bennett a hero after listening to her fifteen minute Ted Talk? She is a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist who has worked for the Wall Street Journal and the Oregonian.

Her talk follows her book entitled “The Cost of Hope” about her journey with her husband in the last chapter of his life and the ridiculousness that surrounds end of life over treatment in America. She urges everyone to come to grips with the fact we are all going to die and the cost to everyone for the over treatment that often doesn’t add to one’s quality of life at the end.

If you want to listen more here she is on the Diane Rehm Show out of Washington DC, in 2012, talking to Diane whose husband soon would have his own end-of-life struggle in 2014.

My friend Maryanne made this book the last one she read and thanked me for sending it along to her. She asked me to “keep up the good fight”, and I indeed have tried to keep the dialogue about death a natural part of life not something hidden. Indeed it is one of the few commonalities we will all share no matter what your education, background, or home address.