"It''s a Matter of Life and Death: Growing Up in a Funeral Home and What I Learned Since" provides insights from positive psychology and offers help to those facing serious illness and to those who are recovering from the loss of a loved one. The emphasis is on living, not death.
Noted author of the Fifty Classics series, Tom Butler-Bowdon, offered his testimonial on It's a Matter of Life and Death saying:
"Larry's book combines positive psychology, motivation and memoir to provide a powerful reminder to really live while we are alive, regretting nothing. His lively reminiscences of growing up in a funeral home are not morbid, but lie in the tradition of a Zen Buddhist meditation on death: facing the great uncertainty and inevitability of death, we are reminded of the opportunity to love, and most of all, to be grateful for everything."
Available as an Amazon paperback and also as a Kindle e-book. (Kindle e-books can be viewed on tablets and phones, as well as on Kindle devices.)
The paperback is $9.97. The e-book is $2.99.
It's a Matter of Life and Death is intended to help the reader find more happiness in life,satisfy some of the natural curiosity about funeral homes that many have, and also provide a source of encouragement to those facing serious illness or who are recovering from the loss of a family member or friend.
It's a Matter of Life and Death can help anyone who is:
seeking happiness
curious about life in a funeral home
facing a serious illness or knows someone else who is grieving and trying to work their way back
a health care provider, counselor, or practitioner in the funeral industry trying to help others cope with illness or loss and is seeking an additional or indirect way to convey positive messages
seeking a varied discussion guide of what matters in life and what death can teach us
looking to give a gift of life and what to value
Table of Contents
Part I - Seeking Happiness
Finding Happiness: It's not about hedonism and "smiley faces", but finding true gratification
Death Teaches Us to Value Life Even More
Take the Long View: Plan to Live to Be One Hundred
It's Never Too Late To Make a Difference in Your Life and in Those of Others
Have a Purpose
Get Better Sleep: It Can Make a Big Difference
Advice from Courageous Survivors and Physicians For Those Facing a Terminal Illnes
Your Thinking Probably Needs Some Improvement
"Mid-Life Crisis" is Not a Crisis
The Need for a Love of Someone or Something
Part II - Growing Up in a Funeral Home
My Father's Routine
My Sister, the Embalmer
Jack - Our Most Valuable Player
My Father, the Coroner
Starting in Life and in the Funeral Business
My Parent's Faith
The Importance of Humility
Who Decides Which Funeral Director?
The Medical Examiner's Office and Autopsies
Pre-Planning Funerals
The Critical Importance of Having a Will
Having a Living Will – An Advance Health Care Directive
Do Funeral Directors Charge Too Much?
Life in the Funeral Home
The Condition of the Body
Cosmetic and Presentation Skills
Funeral Home "Humor"
Part III - The Takeaway from Seven Decades
Drug Abuse
Giving the Ego a Rest
Hospice Care - It Should Often Start Sooner
Highly Memorable Funerals
Finding What to Say at Viewings and Funerals
Eulogies Can Be Excellent Teachers
The Funeral Meal
After Things Are Over, It Can Get Awfully Lonely
Advice from a Long Time Grief Counselor on Handling Grief and Loss and Moving Ahead
Thinking We Understand Death
My Classmates' Deaths
People Who Die Before Their Time
Honoring Those Who Died, But Honoring Yourself Too
Life after the Death of a Partner
Improving Perspective after a Loss
Recommended Self-Help Reading: Over thirty terrific resources to help you!
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Fun Tidbits and Trivia about each state.
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Lined and Unlined
Fun Tidbits and Trivia about each state.
Journaling can help improve mental health and happiness, provide a creative outlet, and give a perfect place to record life's precious events. Grab your journal today.
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