{"id":3624,"date":"2011-01-03T06:00:07","date_gmt":"2011-01-03T10:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.howtocopewithpain.org\/blog\/?p=3624"},"modified":"2016-11-15T20:04:57","modified_gmt":"2016-11-16T00:04:57","slug":"how-to-be-sick-book-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.howtocopewithpain.org\/blog\/3624\/how-to-be-sick-book-review\/","title":{"rendered":"<i>How to Be Sick<\/i> Book Review"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: left;\">This book is spectacular! The author Toni Bernhard developed a post-viral illness in 2001, later diagnosed as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Although she was a serious student of Buddhist meditation already, this experience challenged her body, mind and spirit to its core. What she shares in <em>How to Be Sick <\/em>is how Buddhist-inspired practices have helped her cope with her illness and its consequences, as well as continue on her spiritual journey.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>This is a book for people who will not be their old self again and for all those for whom, at least now, getting better isn&#8217;t possible. This is a book that most reassuringly says even to those people,\u00a0&#8220;You, too, are going to be okay &#8211; even if you never recover your health!&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Some of\u00a0the\u00a0challenges she faced\u00a0include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>coping with symptoms that just won&#8217;t go away<\/li>\n<li>coming to terms with a more isolated life<\/li>\n<li>weathering fear about the future<\/li>\n<li>facing the misunderstanding of others<\/li>\n<li>adapting to so many unexpected and sometimes sudden life changes<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The author reviews core beliefs in Buddhism as they pertain to her illness in a\u00a0simple and helpful way, such as that suffering is a part of life, and that our wish for things to be <em>different from the way they are <\/em>creates suffering.<\/p>\n<p>Buddhism also offered\u00a0the author ways to move away from her suffering. She explains her\u00a0coping techniques:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>finding joy in the life you can no longer lead<\/li>\n<li>how to soothe your body, mind and heart<\/li>\n<li>using compassion to alleviate your suffering<\/li>\n<li>facing ups and down with calmness and acceptance<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>For example, here are suggestions for when you&#8217;re sad and angry that you can&#8217;t do the social things you used to do.\u00a0They are not glib &#8220;just see the positive&#8221; suggestions, but grow from a deep understanding of what a Buddhist approach\u00a0can offer to heal your suffering.<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Cultivate joy for those who can enjoy activities<\/li>\n<li>Question how truthful the thoughts you may have are. Are you thinking, &#8220;I&#8217;m <em>always<\/em> going to be lonely,&#8221; or &#8220;I&#8221;ll <em>never <\/em>get out of the house again.&#8221; Are these accurate? Such catastrophyzing may be making you more upset.<\/li>\n<li>Stay in the present, rather than feeling sad about the past or worried about the future<\/li>\n<li>Move your attention to loving-kindness, compassion or calmness instead of focusing on unpleasant thoughts or pain<\/li>\n<li>Recognize the truth in the fact that we all will eventually experience a lessening of our ability to do things. Your time has simply come now. Then remember what you <em>can <\/em>still do.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>These coping skills will come more naturally to someone familiar with Buddhist philosophy and practice. However, if you&#8217;re open to them, I believe they have much to offer regardless of your spirituality. I found the exercises very practical and\u00a0clearly explained. They would benefit not just those with illness, but everyone in facing life&#8217;s challenges, and of any\u00a0spirituality. I found this to be a beautiful book, full of wisdom. Toni\u00a0opened\u00a0her heart to show her own struggle and share what saved her. This book presents not just an approach to illness but\u00a0a &#8220;life approach,&#8221; a philosophy\u00a0of greeting life. It is a book &#8211; and way of life &#8211; well worth exploring.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This book is spectacular! The author Toni Bernhard developed a post-viral illness in 2001, later diagnosed as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Although she was a serious student of Buddhist meditation already, this experience challenged her body, mind and spirit to its core. What she shares in How to Be Sick is how Buddhist-inspired practices have helped [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3624","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-1"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.howtocopewithpain.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3624","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.howtocopewithpain.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.howtocopewithpain.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.howtocopewithpain.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.howtocopewithpain.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3624"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.howtocopewithpain.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3624\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7710,"href":"https:\/\/www.howtocopewithpain.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3624\/revisions\/7710"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.howtocopewithpain.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3624"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.howtocopewithpain.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3624"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.howtocopewithpain.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3624"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}