{"id":163801,"date":"2020-08-16T14:08:00","date_gmt":"2020-08-16T12:08:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/plumvillage.org\/articoli\/how-to-deal-with-illness-and-death\/"},"modified":"2020-09-21T22:46:11","modified_gmt":"2020-09-21T20:46:11","slug":"how-to-deal-with-illness-and-death","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dev.plumvillage.org\/it\/articoli\/how-to-deal-with-illness-and-death","title":{"rendered":"How to deal with illness and death?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Sister Ch\u00e2n \u0110\u1ee9c<\/a> has been a disciple of Thich Nhat Hanh since 1986. <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

To continue our series on Pandemic Practice, we would like to offer this excerpt from a recent interview with Sr Annabel Ch\u00e2n \u0110\u1ee9c. The question was \u201cWhen we encounter illness and we’re not able to do the things that perhaps a week ago we were able to do and we feel incapacitated, how do we continue to enjoy life, or to live in a meaningful way?” This is Sr Annabel\u2019s response.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I remember I had an elder brother in the practice, Br Giac Thanh who was very sick. He had very serious diabetes, and was losing his sight. He was suffering from gangrene, kidney and liver failure, and many other things. One time a woman came to him and wanted to consult with him because she also was losing her sight. He said to her, “a strange thing is that I’m losing my sight, but every day I’m happier.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

a strange thing is that I’m losing my sight, but every day I’m happier.<\/p>Br Gi\u00e1c Thanh<\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Last year I was able to walk up the hill to the church. This year, I can’t do it. Sometimes I look back in my diary and see that I\u2019ve written down all my plans this year – where I would be now, where I would go, and then now I can’t be there. So I think something has been blocked, and I can’t do that. But as a human being we have that capacity to open up to something else. So when someone is very sick and lying on their death bed, most paths are blocked. They are no longer able to walk, to eat, to speak. But with the practice, another path is opened up. And that is the path of peace, a deep peace and acceptance. This is wonderful that as human beings, we have that capacity to open up other paths when some of our physical abilities are blocked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

when someone is very sick and lying on their death bed, most paths are blocked…but with the practice, another path is opened up.<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Once I read in a newspaper about an Australian nurse who used to accompany the dying working in palliative care. She wanted to write a book about what people regretted. So she would ask her patients, what do you regret? And most of them came up with one of five answers. The first was I did not allow myself to be happy<\/a>. The second was I worked too hard. I sacrificed other things for work. The third was I didn’t spend enough time with my friends. The next was I didn’t share enough with my family. And the last was I didn’t do what I wanted to do. <\/p>\n\n\n

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