Rate this book

How To Be Sick: A Buddhist-Inspired Guide For The Chronically Ill And Their Caregivers (2010)

by Toni Bernhard(Favorite Author)

4.25 of 5 Votes: 3

ISBN

0861716264 (ISBN13: 9780861716265)

languge

English

genre

Memoir & Autobiography

publisher

Wisdom Publications

review 1: I've been living with chronic illness my entire life: I was born with a genetic immune deficiency which has worsened with age. Along with the immune deficiency, I have several other auto-immune conditions as well as a chronic pain syndrome. To look at me, you'd never know how sick I am: I look perfectly fine on the outside. People like me are said to have "invisible illnesses." We are often misunderstood by family members, friends, even health professionals (for those of us with rare conditions, like me). Trying to live a full and happy life despite my health challenges is my greatest struggle. It's even more profound now that I'm a mother: I don't want my daughter to see me as a sick person. I want to be the best that I can be for her, and have the most positive ou... moretlook possible. So it was with excitement that I read Toni Bernhard's How to Be Sick. I read an article written by Toni online and loved her writing style and message. I immediately bought her book and I simply devoured it. This book spoke to me and affected me deeply. I am a Christian and was a little leery of the fact that this book is Buddhist-inspired. I didn't know what that meant, really. All I knew about Buddhism is that practitioners meditate. That was it! Toni gently educates the reader by applying Buddhism's principles to how to live peacefully with chronic illness. The main concept of this book is how to alleviate the mental suffering that accompanies chronic illness. Common examples of mental suffering are: asking why is this happening to me, being envious of healthy people, and being uncertain about the future (when will I relapse, will this treatment work, fear of testing and doctor visits, and fear of being unable to attend family events, etc). These issues are all things I struggle with in my every day life. So, to read a book that teaches me specific ways to address these fears was a true gift. I loved that Toni gives so many practical examples throughout the book. The examples really drove the points home and made me feel like I could start applying what I learned right away. There is a great section at the end of the book with bullet points of what to do in certain situations. I loved that! As soon as I finished How to Be Sick, I turned back to page one and got my highlighter ready. Now I'm reading the book a second time and really making a study of this insightful, life-changing guide. I can't say enough good things about this book. If you have anyone in your life who is chronically ill, or a caregiver, I would highly recommend How to Be Sick!
review 2: Bernhard has been practicing these habits long enough that her writing has a calming, devotional feel to it; that alone has a healing effect on me during a very stressful time lately.While I've approached Thich Nhat Hanh's teachings on mindfulness several times throughout my life - and have been deeply nourished each time - it is a profound relief right now to approach similar ideas through the specific lens of someone who has faced a lot of the same issues I face being chronically ill. Our illnesses and our social location are very different; I don't, for example, remember her ever naming money as a stressor in the book, which sets our experience quite distinctly apart. But Bernhard addresses very specific life changes and new skills needed by many of us facing chronic illness, and gives insights and suggestions that are profoundly nourishing. For this I am very grateful. While Buddhist in nature, these concepts and tools also reflect truths from the fields of cognitive behavioral therapy and Christian incarnational theology, for readers who care to approach them through that lens.The biggest stumbling block for me is the same stumbling block I have approaching a lot of Buddhist writers (and other writers for that matter), and it involves the nature and source of suffering. One theme Bernhard returns to several times is the idea that no one is to blame for the suffering we face in being sick. I can relate to this in that I didn't cause my illness, and I can relate to the fact that there is a great deal of suffering and ill health that no one is to blame for. But there IS a great deal of poor health that is the direct result of unjust systems. There are whole networks of communities that are at far greater risk of adverse health and early death because they are treated as less than human by those with power and wealth, sometimes even being able to name specific actions and decisions of those in power that caused or contributed to their illnesses. I still struggle to find a nourishing and calming spirituality while acknowledging the reality of just how much human beings are harming one another. None of this negates the power of the book as a whole for me; this is a perennial issue that I struggle with and it's not a part of everyone's worldview. Even amidst the few tools in this book that directly approach the idea of a lack of blame, I can find suffering that I can address and minimize. Overall, I find a lot of techniques here to help me treat myself and others well. less

Download links for: How to Be Sick: A Buddhist-Inspired Guide for the Chronically Ill and Their Caregivers

Advertising