Saturday, July 31, 2010

Quote It Saturday 7/31 and a New Book!

Today's quote is from a wonderful new book written by one of our own!  I am very pleased to give you a first glimpse into Toni Bernhard's inspiring new book, How To Be Sick: A Buddhist-Inspired Guide for the Chronically Ill and Their Caregivers.  I have posted a full review of the book on my book blog, but I wanted to share a bit more about it with you here.

Although Toni doesn't write a blog herself (how could she when she's written a whole book??), I'm sure many of you will recognize her as a frequent visitor and commenter on many CFS blogs, including mine.  Toni is always supportive and encouraging, and I've felt a real connection to her ever since "meeting" her through my blog.

Her book explains how to be well in your mind when your body is sick.  She explains how some basic Buddhist principles can be applied to a life with chronic illness to bring more peace and joy into life - who couldn't use that?

My copy of her book is filled with dog-eared pages and underlined passages, with pages of notes tucked inside, so it's hard to choose a single quote, but I think this brief excerpt will give you some idea of her Buddhist approach to living with chronic illness:

...our life is always all right.  There's nothing wrong with it even if we have terrible problems.  It's just our life.
          - Toni Bernhard, How To Be Sick

There, don't you feel better already?  Her book teaches us how to accept our life as it is, how to live in the present moment, find joy, and banish destructive thinking.  I found it thought-provoking and inspiring, and I'm already trying to put some of her suggestions into practice in my own life.

The official release date of Toni's book is September 1, but it can be pre-ordered.

Hope you're all having a wonderful weekend.  We're leaving in a few minutes to go pick up our boys from their sailing week with their grandparents, so life returns to normal here.  I'm suffering a bit from a herx reaction to my Lyme treatment, but it's all right because this is my life, right?  I'm looking forward to seeing my boys.

4 comments:

Renee said...

Great quote for me today too, Sue with herxing increasing bone and nerve pain....It is my life today :) And it is a GOOD LIFE....
I preordered Toni's book a month or two ago and am looking forward to reading it in Sept. She has done us all proud!

Leanne said...

ahh now that sounds a good book!

katy said...

I will definitely add it to my 'to read' list. Thanks for sharing about it. I have studied Eastern philosophy for many years and have used many of the tenets to rejoice in the good times and to cope with the difficult times, including living with CFS.

There is much to be said for acceptance. (Never to be confused with giving up...more a matter of not wasting precious life energy on fighting things that are not within your abilities to change. Saving the energy for things you do have some control over.).

I find the Eastern outlook and the slower, measured, alive and in the present moment pace to be very comforting. I relax and breath deeper every time I hear/say...'everything is just as it should be...'.

Sorry to hear you are herxing...hope you feel better soon.

katy said...

While I was reading your review on your book blog, another favorite saying/example came to me. It was by Thich Nhat Hahn in his book Peace Is Every Step (I think).

He wasn't speaking of illness in particular but I think it fits. He said something to the effect that instead of being angry with ourselves (and our bodies for letting us down) and mentally beating up on them, we should be kind to ourselves.

We should wrap ourselves/the image of our self as a small child in our loving arms and comfort them tenderly. Just as we would rock and comfort a small child that was suffering, frightened, and in pain, we should nurture our selves this way.

This is a rough paraphrase...it's been a while since I read it but I love the image and try to practice it.