The Five Invitations

I recommend this book to everyone I know, because it really is as the subtitle suggests—a way to be more fully alive by remembering that we are all going to die! Something that really helped me was the chapter on how to “find rest in the middle of things.” I don’t know about you, but my life is filled with a lot of responsibility, including being a caregiver for my 94-year-old mom. Then there’s everything happening in the world that adds to increased stress levels. Since reading this book, I’ve had more rest, from getaways to 10-minute walks to one… show more.

Especially in its opening pages, I kept wishing I’d written this book. For me, it felt full of wisdom, as opposed to facts and knowledge.

Like several of my other favorite authors on dying, Ostaseki’s experience is grounded in hospice and Buddhism: He co-founded the Zen Hospice Project in San Francisco and is a renowned Buddhist teacher. I first heard him speak a few weeks after he had his own close brush with death, and he came across as deeply caring and charismatic. His work with dying people led him to develop these guidelines—the “five invitations”—that also apply to the… show more.