Conspiracies of kindness : the craft of compassion at the bedside of the ill Cover Image

Book

Conspiracies of kindness : the craft of compassion at the bedside of the ill / Michael Ortiz Hill.

Summary:

This book is written for anyone who takes the matter of compassion seriously. In such a time as we live, this book proposes that compassion is a craft and thus can be learned and practiced like cultivating crops or raising animals. The refinement of compassion, like any true craft, is life's work. The transition to caring for the ill is as fierce as any tribal rite of initiation, though few speak of it as such. From listening to the stories of doctors and nurses, three intertwining themes emerge that define the struggle to keep the heart open. First, there is staggering within the reality of suffering, the sheer mass of unanswerable needs. How does one sift through overwhelm and find the person of the other, as well the presence of oneself? How does one gracefully discern what can be given and what cannot? What is the place of kindness and generosity towards oneself?

Record details

ISBN: 9780972071864
ISBN: 0972071865
Physical Description: 160 pages ; 23 cm.
Publisher: Topanga, CA : Hand to Hand Publishing, 2010.

Content descriptions

Formatted Contents Note:

Preface -- Acknowledgements -- About the Cover -- Introduction: The Heart of the Matter -- Step One: Self-Compassion -- 1. How the Light Gets In -- 2. Being Beloved -- 3. Regards Yourself with Kindness -- Step Two: Compassion for Another: 4. Thresholds -- 5. Compassion Is an Action -- 6. Joy of Your Joy, Sorrow of Your Sorrow --7. I-It and I-Thou -- 8. Letting the World Change You, Conversation with Heather Walkins, RN -- 9. Hasten Slowly -- 10. Honoring Thresholds: Conversations with Rabbi Carla Howard -- 11. The Hospital Village -- 12. Grace and Graciousness -- 14. Smuggling Beauty -- 15. Finding Beauty in Unexpected Places -- 16. The Illness Runs Through Everybody, Conversations with Robert Carroll, MD -- Step Three: Radical Empathy: 18. Idiot Compassion -- 19. Narcissism -- 20. La Familia and Radical Empathy -- 21. The Kindest of Buddhas -- 22. Surviving Something No One Should Survive -- Step Four: Living Compassion: 23. Kindness Is a Spirit -- 24. Love is the Only Medicine I know -- 25. Without Thinking About Compassion, It Flows, Conversation with Jalaladin Ebrahim -- 26. Awakening to Who You Have Become -- 27. The Presence of Everyday, Conversation with Katherine Brown-Saltzman, RN -- 28. The Serenity Prayer and the Three Faces of Living Compassion -- Conclusion: The Best You Can Ever Do.