Dancing with Elephants: Mindfulness Training For Those Living With Dementia, Chronic Illness or an Aging Brain (How to Die Smiling Book 1) Kindle Edition

I read an advance reader copy, and I've been trying to figure out what to say about it since.

The amount of wisdom contained in this book is unbelievable. Jarem interviewed Jon Kabat-Zinn, Patch Adams, Lucy Kalanthi (wife of Paul Kalanthi who wrote When Breath Becomes Air), Jean Paul Lederach, and Toni Bernhard about living with chronic illness. He comes from a Christian background, but is heavily influenced by the teachings of Thich Nhat Hanh. It's a unique spirituality that makes this book just that much more special.

His story of living with Huntington's Disease as a family member (it is genetic) and after he received the diagnosis he had expected to get is not sad or sentimental in any way. You don't feel sorry for him in any way when reading this narrative. He "transformed fear into joyful dancing."

The cover is one of the most fun I've ever seen. I would never have considered dancing with elephants as a way of going through, but Jarem not only makes it seem bearable, but a love-filled joy.

If you need some encouragement in living with joy, read this book. It will change your perspective on everything. Even if you don't have a chronic illness, I recommend this book. It's one that will stay with you and teach you something new with every page.

I love his poetry as well. It enhanced the prose in a way that blessed me.

I was diagnosed with aggressive brain cancer a year and a half ago. I've read a large stack of books about living with serious illness. This one was, by far, the most helpful and the most enjoyable one of the stack. Every chapter gave me practical wisdom I could apply in my own life, and also good stories to laugh with and savor. One of my favorite practices that I borrowed from the book was taking a healing walk with an ancestor. Since learning of the practice in the book, I've done it many times. I highly recommend this book for anyone who is living with serious illness, anyone who loves someone who is, and anyone who is aging and thinks they might die someday! Cultivating practices and an attitude to help us die smiling is about the best gift I can imagine.

Bought both hardback and digital copy of Dancing with Elephants, by Jarem Sawatsky, PhD; With my dementia symptoms, reading requires extra time and extra tools, so I have only completed the first six chapters. So far, this book is not just profound in an esoteric way, but with important applications to the life of each Person With Dementia (and those who care about them). “Honey, you go on to bed; this book is just so profound that I need to keep reading.”” Yup; when reading this book that was what I told my husband.

This is a book for facing disease and aging in a ‘healing’ way; the clarity to help each of us learn about loving, letting go, and living in the present moment. If I were able, I would read it like a quality textbook; quick scan, then very slow thoughtful digestion of each chapter. Filled with jewels of thought, Jarem’s words reflect many of my friend’s thoughts on what are the most crucial actions and attitudes for best well-being after diagnosis … with excellent suggestions for follow-up.

Congratulations on this book, Jarem!
Truthful L. Kindness

This is a very amazing book to read. It made me look at things in a different light! I started thinking about my "elephants" and how I could/should face them! I do have many elephants! I like that he calls them elephants! It makes it sound, although it's may be big, it is possible to find a way to dance with it, rather that get mad at it! I really recommend this to the elderly (of which I am). You can gripe, cuss, rant and rave and make you and everyone else around you upset.... OR you can just dance with it! There are things in life that we can't change no matter what we do.....so just "dance"!!!! .

Dancing with Elephants: Mindfulness Training For Those Living With Dementia, Chronic Illness or an Aging Brain (How to Die Smiling Book 1)
By Jarem Sawatsky

WOW!

Just…wow!

I am a 52-year-old woman with a history of Dementia in my family. It is a fear, of mine, that I too will come down with this disease. Especially now when I can’t remember the names of my grand-children or the names for kitchen tools or office supplies. (I’m told this is very normal at my age…but still…)

I have read a few, more science-y books on Alzheimer’s and dementia. Some I’ve actually understood. None of them did I enjoy. THIS BOOK, however, Dancing with Elephants was a JOY to read.

Dr. Sawatsky is an incredibly talented writer. His humor and wit are woven all throughout this book in such a way that it never takes away from the seriousness of the topic and yet, you—the reader—are left with a smile on your face and hope in your heart.

He touches on several different subjects, not just dementia. Chronic, terminal illnesses for example. He himself has been diagnosed with Huntington's Disease—a terminal diagnoses in which the brain cells are slowly destroyed stealing away the vestiges of who the bearer is and was. It’s a devastating condition. And yet, Dr. Sawatsky is facing it with dignity, resolve, planning and humor. Through his writing, I have feelings of sorrow for him and his loved ones. Yet, I do not pity. I can only hope to face my own end—whenever it may come—with as much wit and wisdom, temerity and courage.

I do not—at this moment in time—have dementia. I may never get it. Who knows. However, the other facet of this book is the fount of information just on aging in general. This book is filled with passages, stories and information that brought me both joy and comfort along with a great deal of information that I can use and understand.

In addition, Dr. Sawatsky’s spiritual underpinning was a delight to see in his writing. Though his background is in Christianity he also leans toward Buddhism and the teachings of Thich Nhat Hanh a Vietnamese monk. (While I personally do not follow Buddhism, and am a very conservative Christian—and all that entails—I am wise enough to know there are wiser men and women than I.) Thich Nhat Hanh’s teachings are of peace among human beings, human rights and giving… Those teachings are both astute and beneficial. Following your heart to the benefit of others as well as yourself is a main theme in Dancing with Elephants, one that touched my own heart and moved me with emotion.

I am not usually a “self-help” kind of reader. Yet, I’m so glad I stepped out of my comfort zone to read this book. It HAS helped me to focus on the things that matter in my life. Not my weaknesses or fears. I am concentrating on the joy in my life. My husband, my kids, my grandkids, parents, siblings and so forth. THEY are what’s important. If I age gracefully…or not so much…it doesn’t matter. If I can find humor and joy, comfort and peace in all my circumstances, that’s what matters.