Perfect Endings

DEATH AND DYING / SPIRITUALITY "Robert Sachs shows us not only how dying is a part of living, but also how it is possible for us to prepare for our own death and--as caregivers to others dying--how we can help them with this polar process." --Dr. Lopsang Rapgay, author of The Tibetan Book of Healing "In Perfect Endings, Robert Sachs invites us to the real world of dying people and the significant individuals caring for them. He helps us know there is a greater power orchestrating life and death, and that our part is to listen, learn, and support with nonjudgmental love." --Catherine D. Edgar, M.A., Hospice Counselor Written with lucidity and compassionate understanding, Perfect Endings shows how the death experience is an expansion into a wider dimension of our core being. As we move through our dying process, all the strength and wisdom we have gained in a lifetime is called forth. This is a time of quickening in which the final stages of living work themselves out as we step into our death and what lies beyond. No matter how it appears, it is, in fact, our finest hour--our perfect ending. Robert Sachs explains how he uses the Tibetan practice of phowa, or conscious dying, to aid this process in his own counseling practice. Written as a series of stories that allow us to be privy to the inner workings of the dying process of individuals with whom Sachs worked as a professional hospice counselor, each case illustrates a particular aspect of the transformative process that led each person to his or her own interior landscape. Journeying in tandem with these souls, Sachs presents different solutions to the task of letting go of life and provides valuable guidance for caregivers, family members, and those who are facing death themselves. ROBERT SACHS is a member of Sogyal Rinpoche's Spiritual Dying Network, a Licensed Independent Social Worker, and a member of the American Massage Therapy Association. He is the author of The Complete Guide to Nine Star Ki, Health for Life: Secrets of Tibetan Ayurveda, and Rebirth into Pure Land. He lives in California.

Foreword

Preface

Introduction

1 My Father

2 Pain as the Path

3 Living in Radiance

4 "Not The Same Person Anymore"

5 Time and Timing: A Case of Auspicious Coincidence

6 Practical Matters

7 Moments of Imminence

References

Resources