Barbara Becker > Quotes

“In the perfect ecology of a tree, the dead become the heart of the living, and the living nourish the enduring essence of the dead.”
― Barbara Becker, Heartwood: The Art of Living with the End in Mind

“It is not your responsibility to finish the work of perfecting the world, but you are not free to desist from it either.”
― Barbara Becker, Heartwood: The Art of Living with the End in Mind

“This is how we go forward, step by step, infusing darkness with light.”
― Barbara Becker, Heartwood: The Art of Living with the End in Mind

“You might think sitting with someone who is dying means you will be having big conversations about the meaning of life,” a hospice chaplain had advised me. “Wrong! Sometimes, all that’s called for is to just show up and watch Jeopardy! together.”
― Barbara Becker, Heartwood: The Art of Living with the End in Mind

“The French author Jules Renard once wrote: If I had my life to live over again, I would ask that not a thing be changed, but that my eyes be opened wider. Wider, I would add, to every reality—not just to the happiness but to every heartache too.”
― Barbara Becker, Heartwood: The Art of Living with the End in Mind

“Point me to the sky above. I can’t get there on my own.”
― Barbara Becker, Heartwood: The Art of Living with the End in Mind

“Let me respectfully remind you Life and death are of supreme importance. Time swiftly passes by and opportunity is lost. On this night the days of our life are decreased by one. Each of us must strive to awaken. Awaken. Take heed. Do not squander your life.”
― Barbara Becker, Heartwood: The Art of Living with the End in Mind

“No mud, no lotus,” she said, quoting Thích Nhất Hạnh again. “Out of the muck of life, beauty will emerge.”
― Barbara Becker, Heartwood: The Art of Living with the End in Mind

“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is.”
― Barbara Becker, Heartwood: The Art of Living with the End in Mind

“There is, in our culture, a way in which the things that most need to be said are often the least likely to find expression. The death of an adult is difficult enough, but the loss of a child—a “what could have been”—is taboo.”
― Barbara Becker, Heartwood: The Art of Living with the End in Mind

“Sometimes, as the great masters have taught, we have to die before we die if we want to truly live.”
― Barbara Becker, Heartwood: The Art of Living with the End in Mind

“Jizo Let me respectfully remind you Life and death are of supreme importance. Time swiftly passes by and opportunity is lost. On this night the days of our life are decreased by one. Each of us must strive to awaken. Awaken. Take heed. Do not squander your life.”
― Barbara Becker, Heartwood: The Art of Living with the End in Mind

“We can do extraordinary things when we lead with love.”
― Barbara Becker, Heartwood: The Art of Living with the End in Mind