Featured Articles
Unfaithful
by Deborah Grassman
Liv Fun: Vol 5 – Issue 1
“Oh, wow!”
According to his sister, and reported in The New York Times, those were the words Steve Jobs exclaimed just before he died.
Is it possible to discover that “Wow!” earlier in life? Could aging connect to that “Wow!”, offering something we need? Have we gotten too arrogant or controlling to realize that aging has something to teach us? Why do we fail to trust the aging process or fail to trust ourselves to navigate aging?
“It takes a lot of courage to grow old,” my 90-year-old mother often said the last few decades of her life. Rather than cultivating courage, however, most of us resist aging, cheating ourselves of the opportunity to learn from experience.
“We’re all going to die,” we say without allowing that truth to plumb the depths of our souls where its mysteries are revealed.
I have been fortunate. As a nurse practitioner, I’ve cared for more than 10,000 dying people over my 30-year hospice career. These patients have been my teachers. They have taught me things I could learn nowhere else. They have taught me the secrets of “dying healed,” a concept that seems oxymoronic in an “anti-aging” culture.
When given a terminal diagnosis, a person’s perspective shifts dramatically. Some people wilt with fear and dread. Others use terminal illness as an opportunity to grow. “Cancer was the best thing that ever happened,” some have said. “It woke me up. Now I know what’s important and what’s not.”
Whether someone wilts or awakens, the realization is the same: “My life matters.” That’s the paradoxical truth that death bears, and the earlier we realize that, the sooner we can “live healed.”
Liv Fun
by Leisure Care
Winter 2016
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Unfaithful
by Deborah Grassman“Oh, wow!” According to his sister, and reported in The New York Times, those were the words Steve Jobs exclaimed just before he died. Is it possible to discover that “Wow!” earlier in life? Could aging connect to that “Wow!”, offering something we need? Have we gotten too arrogant or controlling to realize that aging has something to teach us?
The Sky Is Falling
by Brad Jensen
Do you remember the children’s story about Chicken Little and Foxy Loxy? The Brothers Grimm tale starts when an acorn inexplicably falls and hits Chicken Little on the head. Panicking and believing the “sky is falling,” she sets out to tell all her friends. We’re then led on a madcap tour as Chicken Little and her friends scurry around telling everyone near and far that the sky is falling.
Taking it on Faith
by Elana Zaiman
Do you trust your doctors? Do you believe in your body’s ability to heal? Does prayer play a part in your healing process? Dr. Larry Dossey, internationally known in the field of spirituality and medicine, has been gathering research in these areas for years, and he has discovered that an affirmative answer to these questions is essential to the healing process.