Title: What Really Matters: 7 Lessons for Living from the Stories of the Dying
Author: Karen M. Wyatt, M.D.
Publication: Select Books, 2012
My Star Rating: 5 stars out of 5 = I Love It
My Summary Statement: Fantastic Book Which Lives Up to Its Title – Inspiring – Heartwarming
While working as a hospice physician, Wyatt repeatedly saw the dying struggling with the same seven issues. Realizing the struggle then choosing to let it go or to choose to forgive allowed the patients to move on and release old pain which helped them open their heart and find peace before letting go and passing away. She then realized that the living (including herself) hold onto negativity in their lives due to these same issues and she wrote this book to help the living learn from stories of the dying and make changes now so that we can be free and live more joyfully while alive and well. Also processing through these lessons while dying helps the person let go and pass on peacefully.
The book centers on addressing each of the seven lessons: suffering (embrace your difficulties), love (let your heart be broken), forgiveness (hold no resentments), paradise (dwell in the present moment), surrender (let go of expectations), and impermanence (face your fear). Each of these lessons, if learned, will bring peace into your daily life and will make your time on Earth more joyful.
Every chapter contains stories of patients that Dr. Wyatt worked with. These are moving and nearly all brought tears to my eyes. The inclusion of these stories helps illustrate the point. I found some of the stories so tragic and “big” that it made my own struggles pale in comparison. This made me think, “If they can forgive for what happened to them, then I can forgive also.”
I found the book engaging and interesting to read; it was never boring.
The overall point of living, Wyatt feels and explains gradually through the book which culminates at the end, is to become more spiritual and to live our lives with purpose, living in the moment and appreciating life while we are healthy and alive.
This is not a religious book per se, it is highly spiritual. There are quotes from Jesus Christ and a few references to The Bible but there are quotes from other religions so it is not a purely Christian book (and may not be Christian enough for some people's tastes). It seemed to me that there was a little of every religion in there, including some Zen quotes about living in the moment and some famous philosophical quotes from around the globe and going back thousands of years.
A couple of times there were references that seemed a bit too new-age-y to me such as saying that peaceful dying people had a glow around them which seemed to me to reference auras, but who am I to judge? Dr. Wyatt has been around more dying people than I have, maybe some of them do radiate energy that is visible to the naked eye.
I urge everyone to read it with an open mind and see what you can learn from it. I learned some things and it made me think about some other things so I found it worthwhile reading. I found this book enlightening and it also echoed what I have already learned from being around elderly and dying people, and what I’ve seen while sitting vigil at the bedside of dying relatives. I appreciated this book and feel the world would be a better place if people read it and applied these lessons to their lives. A couple of times there were references that seemed a bit too new-age-y to me such as saying that peaceful dying people had a glow around them which seemed to me to reference auras, but who am I to judge? Dr. Wyatt has been around more dying people than I have, maybe some of them do radiate energy that is visible to the naked eye.
This would also make a good book discussion group book since there is a lot to talk about.
Disclosure: I received a review copy of this book from the publishing agency for the purpose of reviewing it on my blog. I was not paid to write this review. For my blog’s full disclosure statement see the link near the top of my blog’s sidebar.