Friday is Book Day on the blog, when we take a look at books – old and new — that I highly recommend you not miss. This week’s recommended reading: Life Lessons, Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and David Kessler.
“Is this really how I want to live my life? each of us at some point asks this question. The tragedy is not that life is short, but that we often see only in hindsight what really matters.”
Thus begin the backjacket notes of this wonderful, insightful, inspirational, intelligent, soothing, emotive, and informative book about our seemingly arbitrary existence…to borrow the wonderful words of Patricia Devine, a writer for The Irish Independent, in her review of this text, which she said, in her opinion “should be made compulsory.”
I agree with her. I agree with her absolutely and completely. I knew Elizabeth Kübler-Ross well. I worked on her staff in the 1980s. I found her to be an extraordinary human being with deep insight, seemingly unlimited compassion, and a level of spiritual awareness not commonly found among the peoples of the earth.
This book is full of insights. Let me share with you one of them…
“We are usually taught to be good little boys and girls, tending to the wishes of others rather than forming strong identities for ourselve. We’re not really encouraged to be independent or interdependent. We’re trained to be codependent, making others’ needs and lives important and neglecting our own. It is not a conscious choice; often we don’t know how to meet our needs for our own happiness.
“One clear symptom of this codependency is an inability to say no. We are taught to please others by agreeing to their requests…The desire to please others is a fertile ground for guilt, but not the only one. Sometimes we feel guilty when we try to assert our independence.”
This book will bring you gentle wisdom and quiet insights, expanding your mind, opening your heart, and touching your soul. It will be very difficult for you to lead a life that you do not to live after reading it. For that reason alone I urge you to find your way to this text, and to its message.