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Life Lessons: Two Experts on Death and Dying Teach Us About the Mysteries of Life and Living Paperback – August 12, 2014

by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross (Author), David Kessler (Author)

4.7 787 ratings

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Ten years after Elisabeth Kübler-Ross’s death: “An inspiring…guide to life, distilled from the experiences of people who face death” (Kirkus Reviews)—the beloved classic now with a new introduction and updated resources section.

Is this really how I want to live my life? Each one 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.

In her first book on life and living, Elisabeth Kübler-Ross joined with David Kessler to guide us through the practical and spiritual lessons we need to learn so that we can live life to its fullest in every moment. Many years of working with the dying have shown the authors that certain lessons come up over and over again. Some of these lessons are enormously difficult to master, but even the attempts to understand them can be deeply rewarding. Here, in fourteen accessible chapters, from the Lesson of Love to the Lesson of Happiness, the authors reveal the truth about our fears, our hopes, our relationships, and, above all, about the grandness of who we really are.

Print length

240 pages
Language

English
Publication date

August 12, 2014
Dimensions

5.5 x 0.6 x 8.38 inches
ISBN-10

1476775532
ISBN-13

978-1476775531
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"This is a thought-provoking book, one which in my opinion should be made compulsory. It is insightful, inspirational, intelligent, soothing, emotive, and informative about our seemingly arbitrary existence." -- Patricia Devine, The Irish Independent

About the Author

Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, MD, (1926–2004) was a Swiss-born psychiatrist, humanitarian, and co-founder of the hospice movement around the world. She was also the author of the groundbreaking book On Death and Dying, which first discussed the five stages of grief. Elisabeth authored twenty-four books in thirty-six languages and brought comfort to millions of people coping with their own deaths or the death of a loved one. Her greatest professional legacy includes teaching the practice of humane care for the dying and the importance of sharing unconditional love. Her work continues by the efforts of hundreds of organizations around the world, including The Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation.

David Kessler is the world’s foremost expert on grief. His experience with thousands of people on the edge of life and death has taught him the secrets to living a fulfilled life, even after life’s tragedies. He coauthored On Grief and Grieving and Life Lessons with Elizabeth Kübler-Ross and You Can Heal Your Heart: Finding Peace After a Breakup, Divorce or Death with Louise Hay. He is the author of Finding Meaning; Visions, Trips, and Crowded Rooms; and The Needs of the Dying, praised by Mother Teresa.

David’s work has been featured in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Business Week, and Life Magazine, and on CNN, Fox, NBC, PBS, and CBS. David has served on the Red Cross Aviation Disaster Team and has volunteered for decades as a Los Angeles Police Department Specialist Reserve Officer. He lectures for physicians, nurses, counselors, police, and first responders and leads talks and retreats for those dealing with grief.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Scribner; Updated edition (August 12, 2014)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 240 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1476775532
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1476775531
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 7.5 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 0.6 x 8.38 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #79,851 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #68 in Sociology of Death (Books)
- #273 in Grief & Bereavement
- #291 in Love & Loss

Customer Reviews:
4.7 787 ratings

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Elisabeth Kubler-Ross
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Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross earned a place as the best-loved and most-respected authority on the subjects of death and dying. Through her twenty-three books, as well as her key role in starting the hospice movement and years working with terminally ill children, AIDS patients, and the elderly, Elisabeth Kubler-Ross brought comfort and understanding to millions coping with their own deaths or the death of a loved one. Dr. Kubler-Ross, whose books have been translated into forty-four (44) languages, passed away in 2004 at the age of seventy-eight. Before her death, she and David Kessler completed work on their second collaboration, On Grief and Grieving. The Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation continues her work in: hospice, palliative care, and grief around the world. See www.EKRFoundation.org for more information.
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David Kessler
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David Kessler is the world’s foremost expert on grief. His experience with thousands of people on the edge of life and death has taught him the secrets to living a fulfilled life, even after life’s tragedies. He coauthored On Grief and Grieving and Life Lessons with Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and You Can Heal Your Heart: Finding Peace After a Breakup, Divorce or Death with Louise Hay. He is the author of Finding Meaning; Visions, Trips, and Crowded Rooms; and The Needs of the Dying, praised by Mother Teresa.
David’s work has been featured in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Business Week, and Life Magazine, and on CNN, Fox, NBC, PBS, and CBS. David has served on the Red Cross Aviation Disaster Team and has volunteered for decades as a Los Angeles Police Department Specialist Reserve Officer. He lectures for physicians, nurses, counselors, police, and first responders and leads talks and retreats for those dealing with grief.
In addition, David worked with the late actors Anthony Perkins and Michael Landon. The founder of the cancer support group The Bogeyman in the Closet, he lectures on living life fully in the face of cancer.
A frequent guest on The Dr. Oz Show, David has also appeared on CNN, NBC, PBS, Fox, and Entertainment Tonight. He has written for The Boston Globe, the San Francisco Chronicle, Anderson Cooper 360°, and Oprah.com. David has volunteered with the Red Cross, and he also serves on the board of the Farrah Fawcett Foundation. For more information on David and live events, please visit www.Grief.com
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4.7 out of 5

787 global ratings

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Zoeeagleeye

One of the Best Spiritual Guides Around

Reviewed in the United States on April 7, 2015

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I will flat out say that I've been around the world and back in a spiritual fashion 100 times or more, read every major and hundreds of minor spiritual writers/writings, have studied spiritual works since the age of 10 some 50 years ago, and this book stacks up with the best of them. I will also tell you that if you think it is uninspiring and trite or contradictory -- that only tells us the low level of your spiritual understanding, or perhaps the high level of your resistance to change. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross was not only one of the great ladies of science and education, she was one of the great human beings to ever grace the 20th century. She was at once formidable in intellect, determined in will, indefatigable in service, but also had one huge golden heart and a soul that blessed everyone she came in contact with. Am I selling her too highly? No. I'm quite aware she had her faults and flaws -- thank god, because otherwise she would not have become the great teacher we all knew her to be. We all know the greatest teachers speak from experience. EK-R was relentlessly honest. In this last book she spoke as she died of her resistance to patience and how difficult, even with all that she knew, it was to forgive certain things. I loved her for her humility and understanding. She understood me -- a similarly flawed human being -- and she will understand you, too.

This book is not only for the beginner. Oh my god, it is so excellent for the beginner! I promise you that if you re-read it every five years or so, you will see with stunning accuracy and dazed delight how much you have grown. But this book is also a refresher course for advanced students of life. There's not a sentence wrong, no missteps, no concepts that chafe. Even after all I have been through and learned I found myself copying out sentences from her chapter on "Surrender." A little over-confident I am? (Imitating Yoda here.) Then I must kindly remind myself that as Richard Bach wrote about wondering if you've learned what you needed to, if you've achieved your purpose: "Here is a test to find whether your mission on earth is finished: If you're alive, it isn't." (From "Illusions.") I may just live to 100!

This is one of those books you can read straight through if you prefer to, or you can dip into it a little bit here or there, skipping around from chapter to chapter according to your needs and interests. Co-written by David Kessler, a lesser light, but still a light, the book serves multiple purposes. In my opinion Kessler's writing is a bit more pedestrian than K-R's with not quite the inspired authority she brings to it, but the various points he raises and stories he tells are worth reading.

This is a book to treasure, and I beg you as a lover of truth (both you and me) if you find the book "less than," chalk it up to a bit of immaturity on your part. But don't judge yourself. Smile and say, "I'll get there," and put the book away for a few years. You'll be glad you did. It's a keeper.

13 people found this helpful

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Niki Collins-queen, Author

Powerful and wise!

Reviewed in the United States on July 1, 2012

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Elizabeth Kübler-Ross joins with David Kessler in their book "Life Lessons: Two Experts on Death and Dying Teach Us About the Mysteries of Life and Living" to guide us through life lessons and live fully in every moment.
"Life Lessons" is Elizabeth's eighteenth book. It's a special gift as it's the last book she wrote before her death in 2004. She had a stroke on Mother's Day in 1995 that left her paralyzed and next to death's door for many months. But she did not die. She says she's still learning the lessons of life. God is shrewd; her head was not affected by the strokes. She can't use her left leg and arm but she can talk and think. It's her final lesson. She must work on receiving, on learning to say thank you. To be nurtured rather than nurturing. Throughout her life, she gave and gave, but never learned to receive. She must learn patience and surrender.
Elizabeth says each of us has a Mother Teresa and a Hitler. The Mother Teresa is the best in us and the Hitler is the worst in us. The goal in life is to find the best, get rid of the worst and be authentic by standing in our truth. Admitting we have the capacity to be inauthentic and carry negativity is essential so we can work on the problem and release it. It's not always easy to find out who we are authentically. The reality of the world is that some relationships don't work out; there are supposed to be disagreements and disappointments.
David says the grandest kind of perfection of who we are includes being honest about our dark side and imperfections. Elizabeth says the windstorms of life, makes us who we are. We are here to heal one another. Most of us spend a lot of energy keeping a lid on our unfinished business. We want unconditional love. To be loved for who we are rather than what we do or don't do. However, when we feel unloved, it is not because we are not receiving love; it's because we are withholding love from ourselves and others. Love has to come from within. We can't solve all our loved ones problems but we can try to be there for them.
In working with the dying and the living it became clear to Elizabeth and David that most of us are challenged by the same lessons: authenticity, love, relationships, loss, power, guilt, time, fear, anger, play, patience, surrender, forgiveness and happiness. The fourteen chapters reveal the truth about theses topics, show we are put on the earth to learn the lessons, we are not alone and we are all connected. Also to watch love grow and to see how relationships enrich us.
I attended one of Elizabeth's five-day Living, Dying and Transition workshop in the early 80s. It had a profound effect on me and changed how I viewed the world. She showed us how everyone has the capacity to love others unconditionally and that it is our unfinished business that keeps us from doing so. In her workshop she created an environment where we were encouraged to express our hurt and rage in an atmosphere of love and acceptance, so we could be done with it. Feelings were not talked about but felt. If sad, we cried; if angry, we were given a rubber hose and an old telephone book and told, "Have at it!" I was skeptical about what this outpouring of negativity would accomplish. Yet it worked. I was amazed how angry, depressed people transformed themselves into radiant, loving persons right before my eyes. I realized in this workshop that we are all connected and that our life stories are much the same.

20 people found this helpful

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Sassy

Exceptionally helpful book

Reviewed in the United States on December 30, 2020

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The book is well written and it covers each of the topics well, though it is a slim book. It was an immense help to me after three months of grief. I read EKR's book on Grief and Grieving over those three months and this was the perfect follow-up book for heading yourself in a good direction in a new life and regaining your authenticity as a person. I have given copies to others who haven't had a loss for the wonderful lessons that it offers. Simply written, two conversations from EKR and DK, authors, that offer things they learned from patients at the end of their lives - what really matters, what to let go of, how to greet life with an open heart. It's worth the read and has become a bedside staple - I continue to re-read it to reinforce the lessons.

4 people found this helpful

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Sandra Csont

Helping us to decern the mysteries of the afterlife

Reviewed in the United States on March 7, 2024

very inlightening

Reviewed in the United States on January 9, 2024

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This book arrived when expected. It’s is very good condition. The packaging was perfect. I ordered this a replacement for one I gave away years ago. I have not re-read it but wanted a nice copy and this one is. This edition was
Listed as Used but does not appear that anyone has ever read it. The publication is 2000 with minor scuff marks on the cover.

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Amber

Amazing!

Reviewed in Canada on July 23, 2023

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This is a go to book for me any time I have a question about life and living or death and dying. Well written and profound.

Rebeca

The most precious thing

Reviewed in Brazil on August 15, 2022

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This is the type of book I wish my parents would had given to me in a young age, bc it’s full of precious lessons that I know if I had known before, I wouldn’t had to go through some hard and burdensome experiencies in my life.
But honestly, I’m so glad to finally find this book and for giving so much joy and peace to my heart! I owe Elisabeth and David so much for teaching me a lot in the past few days even when im almost to be 30 soon. This book made me feel alive, less depressed and fulfilled my heart with that feeling that I can do anything and that now is not too late. 😭♥️

(ps: sorry for any grammar mistake, cuz english is not my first language)