What Dying People Want Quotes

“He had so completely focused on the opening of light that it never occurred to him to look for freedom in the darkness.”
― David Kuhl, What Dying People Want: Practical Wisdom For The End Of Life

“primary importance of touch is as an antidote to isolation and despair.”
― David Kuhl, What Dying People Want: Practical Wisdom For The End Of Life

“pain is part of life. The only way you can feel absolute joy is to feel pain. You don’t know what joy is until you’ve felt pain, and you can’t feel happy for someone for being at peace unless you know how much they’ve suffered.”
― David Kuhl, What Dying People Want: Practical Wisdom For The End Of Life

“had responded to the specific symptom, the possible disease, whereas Dr. Bient would have responded to the person.”
― David Kuhl, What Dying People Want: Practical Wisdom For The End Of Life

“Birth——————————————Death Think of this line as representing your lifetime. Place an X on the line to indicate where you believe you are at present. That is, if you believe that you have lived half of your life, place the X midway between Birth and Death. If you believe that you have lived two-thirds of your life, place the X two-thirds along the line. Once you have placed the X on the line, take note of your feelings. Do you have a sense of relief? Of anxiety? Of fear? Or a realization that much of your life has passed? Next think of six significant events in your life: examples would be meeting your spouse or partner, the birth of a child, the death of a friend, an exciting vacation, a failure, a good financial investment, graduation from university, the birth of a grandchild, a car accident. Number the events 1 through 6 and place the numbers on the line between your birth and the X. What emotions do you feel about each of those events? What about the emotion you feel about your life as a whole? Are you satisfied with the life you have lived? Do you wish that some things had been different? Are there events that ought to have been placed on the line but because of the pain they caused you omitted them? Focus on the line between the X and Death. How might you best embrace life in the time that remains?”
― David Kuhl, What Dying People Want: Practical Wisdom For The End Of Life

“too many people wait too long to begin the inward journey of learning who they are, what the meaning of life might be for them, the value of relationships and of spirituality.”
― David Kuhl, What Dying People Want: Practical Wisdom For The End Of Life

“the real wishes and perspectives on quality end-of-life care, for those who participated in a survey, consist of five domains: having adequate pain and symptom management; avoiding inappropriate prolongation of dying; achieving a sense of control; relieving burdens; and strengthening relationships with loved ones.”
― David Kuhl, What Dying People Want: Practical Wisdom For The End Of Life

“I’m depressed, very much so, because I can’t live. I can’t live and I can’t die, and that’s depressing.”
― David Kuhl, What Dying People Want: Practical Wisdom For The End Of Life

“Our understanding of physical pain is not complete. Our understanding of psychological and spiritual pain is even less well understood.”
― David Kuhl, What Dying People Want: Practical Wisdom For The End Of Life

“The only resolution we can offer is to sit in the presence of the one who suffers and, as much as is possible, to suffer along as the patient does.”
― David Kuhl, What Dying People Want: Practical Wisdom For The End Of Life

“The people who responded to the questionnaire reported that their number-one concern was the grief their death would cause relatives and friends.”
― David Kuhl, What Dying People Want: Practical Wisdom For The End Of Life

“Ours is a time-conscious society. Ours is also a death-denying society.”
― David Kuhl, What Dying People Want: Practical Wisdom For The End Of Life

“Ours is a time-conscious society.”
― David Kuhl, What Dying People Want: Practical Wisdom For The End Of Life

“learning that they have a terminal illness is akin to the bottom falling out, of being in deep water, uncertain as to how you will get to shore, a shore that is not visible. Anxiety and fear are part of the experience.”
― David Kuhl, What Dying People Want: Practical Wisdom For The End Of Life

“Waiting very much adds to people’s suffering, and with waiting comes a loss of control.”
― David Kuhl, What Dying People Want: Practical Wisdom For The End Of Life

“The experience of living with a terminal illness includes a great deal of waiting.”
― David Kuhl, What Dying People Want: Practical Wisdom For The End Of Life

“In the context of our lives we often wait. We may even forget to appreciate the present because we are waiting for some event in the future. We tolerate the mundane features of our work in anticipation of a vacation months away, the cramped space of a small apartment in the hope of more space in the future, or the inconvenience of a longdistance relationship with the hope of living together in due course.”
― David Kuhl, What Dying People Want: Practical Wisdom For The End Of Life

“Do I embrace living, or do I prepare to die?”
― David Kuhl, What Dying People Want: Practical Wisdom For The End Of Life

“Dying is hard work—not the physical part, but that part which is the inside of me, the work about who I am, who I have been, and who I will be.”
― David Kuhl, What Dying People Want: Practical Wisdom For The End Of Life