David Kessler, one of the most renowned experts on death and grief, takes on three uniquely shared experiences that challenge our ability to explain and fully understand the mystery of our final days. The first is "visions." As the dying lose sight of this world, some people appear to be looking into the world to come. The second shared experience is getting ready for a "trip." The phenomenon of preparing oneself for a journey isn’t new or unusual. In fact, during our loved ones’ last hours, they may often think of their impending death as a transition or journey. These trips may seem to us to be all about leaving, but for the dying, they may be more about arriving. Finally, the third phenomenon is "crowded rooms." The dying often talk about seeing a room full of people, as they constantly repeat the word crowded. In truth, we never die alone. Just as loving hands greeted us when we were born, so will loving arms embrace us when we die. In the tapestry of life and death, we may begin to see connections to the past that we missed in life. While death may look like a loss to the living, the last hours of a dying person may be filled with fullness rather than emptiness. In this fascinating book, which includes a new Afterword, Kessler brings us stunning stories from the bedsides of the dying that will educate, enlighten, and comfort us all.
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.
A guide to living life in the moment uses lessons learned from the dying to help the living find the most enjoyment and happiness.
With a perfect blend of Louise’s affirmations and teachings on the power of your thoughts and David’s many years of working with those in grief, this remarkable book will inspire an extraordinary new way of thinking, bringing profound ...
In gentle, compassionate language, The Needs of the Dying helps us through the last chapter of our lives.
After finishing this fascinating book, readers will come away with a better understanding and acceptance of the process of death and see it as a spiritual adventure, not a sad and fearful ending to life.
Beautifully written, with astonishing real-life characters and stories, this book is at its heart a celebration of our power to reclaim the dying process as a deeply meaningful one.
At a lecture, a woman named Meredith shared her story. Meredith's friends were telling her she just wasn't herself— what was going on? She explained that it was the twenty-fifth anniversary of her mother's death.
This book is the product of extensive interviews of over 1,000 doctors and nurses who have been present when cases of "post-mortem existence" have occurred. Extensive computer analyses of their observations have been made.
Written by Sir William Barrett and describing his experiences from nearly 50 years of psychical research, this book is an early collection of what are now known as "deathbed phenomena."
This carefully researched book is both startling and engaging, and is written with brio.”—Andrew Solomon, National Book Award-winning author of The Noonday Demon “In this richly documented, beautifully written, and original work, ...