This is a happiness book. ”What does death and funerals have to do with happiness?? The focus is on happiness,and living a better life,not on death. When you grow up in a funeral home as my sister and I did, you learn what's really important in life. Also includes solid advice on facing serious illness, funerals, grieving and recovery.
Noted author of the comprehensive Fifty Classics series, Tom Butler-Bowdon, offered his testimonial of "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."
After about a year of working on the book, it's now available on Amazon as a paperback and also as a Kindle e-book.
The paperback is $9.97. The e-book is $2.99.
This isn't intended to be a money making effort, but one to help the reader find more happiness in life, assuage some of the natural curiosity about funeral homes that many have, and also to provide a source of encouragement to those facing serious illness or who are recovering from the loss of a family member or friend.
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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Reviews for "It's a Matter of Life and Death"
Reviewed by Laura H.
8/30/2019
This author was able to deliver a delicate topic in an easy-to-read and very approachable manner to readers. The book's focus on life and the admonition to live the life a person has been given to its fullest was a surprise to this reader because I had been expecting a perceived grime recalling of living in a funeral home.
The confidential information was given the respect it deserved and written in a way that the author was able to relate numerous events that this reader appreciated. Telling confidential information in such a way as to let that information remain such can be quite difficult but this author did it beautifully.
The title of the book has a person assuming it is going to be about death, living in a funeral home, and the uncomfortable subject of wills, funerals, and money - but this book has so much more.
The combination of topics presented in a concise manner makes this book an easy reference for any home library and one that should be put at the top of your list to purchase if a professional who helps people with wills, healthcare decisions, or someone who is unsure when to approach such topics with their clientele.
There is much to be gleaned from this publication other than the end-of-life matters making this book a must read for all ages. It would make for a wonderful gift for anyone in your life.
This reader was given a copy of this book by the author.
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