A Year to Live : How to Live This Year As If It Were Your Last

In his new book, Stephen Levine, author of the perennial best-seller Who Dies?, teaches us how to live each moment, each hour, each day mindfully--as if it were all that was left. On his deathbed, Socrates exhorted his followers to practice dying as the highest form of wisdom. Levine decided to live this way himself for a whole year, and now he shares with us how such immediacy radically changes our view of the world and forces us to examine our priorities. Most of us go to extraordinary lengths to ignore, laugh off, or deny the fact that we are going to die, but preparing for death is one of the most rational and rewarding acts of a lifetime. It is an exercise that gives us the opportunity to deal with unfinished business and enter into a new and vibrant relationship with life. Levine provides us with a year-long program of intensely practical strategies and powerful guided meditations to help with this work, so that whenever the ultimate moment does arrive for each of us, we will not feel that it has come too soon.From the Trade Paperback edition. Cover......Page 1 Praise for book......Page 3 Other books by author......Page 4 Title......Page 5 Copyright......Page 6 Dedication......Page 7 Contents......Page 9 Epigraph......Page 11 Half-Title......Page 13 Introduction......Page 15 1. Catching up with your life......Page 17 2. Practice dying......Page 22 3. Preparing to die......Page 28 4. Dying from the common cold......Page 32 5. Renewing evolution......Page 35 6. Famous last words......Page 40 7. Fear of fear......Page 43 8. Noticing......Page 48 9. A commitment to life......Page 53 10. Fear of dying......Page 59 11. Fear of death......Page 65 12. The moment of death......Page 70 13. The act of dying......Page 73 14. Dying contemplation......Page 75 15. Jennifer......Page 81 16. Life review......Page 83 17. Forgiveness......Page 102 18. Gratitude......Page 107 19. Keeping a journal......Page 112 20. Altaring your life......Page 114 21. Living in the body......Page 117 22. With death just over my shoulder......Page 120 23. Letting go of control......Page 122 24. July......Page 124 25. Tom......Page 126 26. Who dies?......Page 128 27. Original face......Page 132 28. After-death experiences......Page 136 29. Beyond the house of death......Page 141 30. Return appearances......Page 143 31. Reincarnation......Page 145 32. Peter and Tim......Page 151 33. Disposing of the Corpse......Page 154 34. Finding the lotus before winter......Page 160 35. Armando and the floating world......Page 165 36. A good day to die......Page 168 37. Name that tune......Page 170 38. Aging......Page 173 39. December......Page 175 Epilogue......Page 181 Appendix: Group practice......Page 183 Author biography......Page 191 Back cover......Page 192 “Stephen Levine has worked creatively to help thousands of people approach their own deaths with equanimity, truth, and an open heart. I can think of no one better qualified to help us enrich our lives through embracing the mystery of death.”—Ram Dass “A Year to Live is a poetic and deeply passionate exploration into what creates human suffering. It is also a lyrical and generous-spirited guide to life.”—San Francisco Examiner In A Year to Live, Stephen Levine, author of the perennial bestseller Who Dies?, teaches us how to live each moment, each hour, each day mindfully—as if it were all that was left. On his deathbed, Socrates exhorted his followers to practice dying as the highest form of wisdom. Levine decided to live this way himself for a whole year, and now he shares with us how such immediacy radically changes our view of the world and forces us to examine our priorities. Most of us go to extraordinary lengths to ignore, laugh off, or deny our grief over the fact that we are going to die, but preparing for death is one of the most rational and rewarding acts of a lifetime. It is an exercise that gives us the opportunity to deal with unfinished business and enter into a new and vibrant relationship with life. Levine provides us with a year-long program of intensely practical strategies and powerful guided meditations to help with this work, so that whenever the ultimate moment does arrive for each of us, we will not feel that it has come too soon. "Contemporary spiritual teacher Sogyal Rinpoche's The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying dealt with how to use the consciousness of our mortality to live a better life. Now the author of the perennial bestseller Who Dies? tells us how to live mindfully each moment, each hour, each day as if it were all that was left."--Publisher's description The Author Shares His Experiences During A Year Of Living As If It Were His Last, And Offers A Year-long Program With Seven Different Exercises And Meditations To Help Readers Become More Deeply Engaged In Life. Stephen Levine.