Welcome to my website about my book, How To Be Sick: A Buddhist-Inspired Guide for the Chronically Ill and Their Caregivers. Foreword by Sylvia Boorstein.
I fell ill on a trip to Paris in 2001 with what the doctors diagnosed as an acute viral infection, but I never recovered. I wrote this book while bed-bound – on my back, laptop on my stomach, notes strewn about on the blanket, printer within arm’s reach.
My goal in writing it was to help and inspire those who must meet the challenges posed by any chronic illness or condition: coping with the relentlessness of symptoms; weathering fear about the future; coming to terms with a life of relative isolation; facing the misunderstanding of others; dealing with the health care system; and, for a spouse, partner, or other caregiver, adapting to so many unexpected life changes.
The book contains easy-to-learn tools and practices to help people live skillfully, maintain equanimity, and even find joy despite the profound changes in their lives. Each tool and practice is illustrated with examples from my own experience, so the book is also highly personal.
Although our bodies may be sick or otherwise disabled, our minds can be at peace.
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This book is available in
all eBook formats. |
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Praise for How to Be Sick:
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"Everyone should read this book—and I plan to buy a copy for everyone I love." |
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Lizabeth Roemer, co-author of
The Mindful Way Through Anxiety |
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"Toni Bernhard offers a lifeline to those whose lives have been devastated by illness, and shows us all how to transform suffering into peace and even joy. A beautiful book filled with grace, humor, and humanity." |
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Lynn Royster, Director of the
Chronic Illness Initiative at DePaul University |
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"A immensely wise book. Health psychology has been poisoned by the view that the best way to approach illness is through a muscular, militant resistance. This books shows otherwise. Bernhard reveals how letting go, surrendering, and putting the ego aside yield insights and fulfillment even in the presence of illness. This is a major contribution." |
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Larry Dossey, MD, author
of Healing Words |
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| "How to Be Sick is a heavenly messenger, reminding us of our own vulnerabilities and the transformation of the heart and mind made possible through them." |
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Joseph Goldstein, author of A Heart Full of Peace and One Dharma |
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| "Toni Bernhard has written a beautiful and heartfelt account of chronic illness and inner transformation. Her immense courage is present on every page. Truly worth reading." |
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Sharon Salzberg, author of Lovingkindness: The
Revolutionary Art of Happiness
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| "Toni Bernhard’s hard-won wisdom dealing with chronic illness teaches us how to be kind to ourselves, to counter negative thoughts about our life and our health, and to live fully in the present—neither regretting the past nor fearing the future. Who among us couldn’t use these life-affirming skills? Bravo!" |
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Susan Milstrey Wells, author of A Delicate Balance: Living Successfully with Chronic Illness |
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| "A unique and creative adaptation of spiritual practice to the challenges of chronic illness. How To Be Sick is a wise, compassionate book that will help those who are ill, their family and friends--and all of us--live well." |
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Dorothy Wall, author of Encounters with the Invisible: Unseen Illness, Controversy, and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome |
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