There are a mix of movies listed below. Some are just great for some catharisis, if you feel like you need to cry and just can’t, pop one in the dvd player or stream these and get the Kleenex.
Other movies are about living with dying and what a person or family goes through during the process.
And still others are about people learning to live after a loss.
These will be categorized at some point, but until then we wanted to get a partial list up.
Movies
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close* (just added)
The Way* (just added)
Clara’s Heart (just added)
Regarding Henry (use as a parallel for starting a new life after loss)
My Girl (children’s loss)
Music
Audiobooks
Boorstein, Slyvia. The Courage to Be Happy: Jewish/Buddhist Teaching Stories on Gratitude, Compassion, and Mindful Awakening. © 2000. (Tapes)
Chiarella, Gael. P.M. Yoga Meditations: Guided Meditations for an evening of relaxation and restful sleep. ©2001. (CD)
Dass, Ram et al. Spiritual Perspectives & Practices for Daily Life. ©1992 (Tapes)
Gass, Robert. Spirit in Sound: Chant. © 1999. (CD)
Kabat-Zinn, Jon. Wherever You Go, There You Are: Mindfulness Meditation in Everyday life. 1994. (Tapes)
Nhat Hanh, Thich. The Art of Mindful Living. © 1991. (Tapes)
Podcasts
Books — Illness & End-of-Life Care
The Zen of Living and Dying: A Practical and Spiritual Guide. 1998. Philip Kapleau. Shambhala Publications.
Books – Grief
Faith: Trusting Your Own Deepest Experience. 2002. Sharon Salzberg. Riverhead Books.
Transcending Loss: Understanding the Lifelong Impact of Grief and How to Make it Meaningful. 1997. Ashley Davis Prend Berekley Books.
*Grieving Mindfully: A Compassionate and Spiritual Guide to Coping with Loss. 2005. Sameet Kumar
*A Time to Grieve: Meditations for Healing After the Death of a Loved One. 1994. Carol Staudacher. HarperSanFrancisco.
How to Go On Living When Someone You Love Dies. 1991. Therese Rando. Bantam Publishing.
*Unattended Sorrow: Recovering From Loss & Reviving the Heart. Stephen Levine. 2005. Rodale Books.
Swallowed By A Snake. 2000. Tom Golden. Golden Healing Publishing. (Men & Grief)
*How We Grieve: Relearning The World. Tom Attig. 1996. Oxford University Press. *The Heart of Grief: Death and the Search for Lasting Love. Tom Attig. 2000.
*When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times. 1997. Pema Chodron. Shambhala Publications. The Places that Scare You: A Guide to Fearlessness in Difficult Times. 2001.
*Awakening from Grief: Finding the Way Back to Joy. 2003. John E. Welshons. InnerOcean Publishing.
*Lessons of Loss: A Guide to Coping. Robert Neimeyer. Center for the Study of Loss and Transition. Memphis,TN
I Wasn’t Ready to Say Goodbye: Surviving, Coping, and Healing after the Sudden Death of a Loved One. Brook Noel & Pamela Blair. 2000.
Healing Through the Dark Emotions: The Wisdom of Grief, Fear, and Despair. 2003. Miriam Greenspan.
Attig T. The Heart of Grief: Death and the Search for Lasting Love.New York:Oxford Press: 2000.
Bertman S. (ed). Grief and The Healing Arts: Creativity as Therapy.Amityville,NY: Baywood Publishing Co., 2000.
Klass D. The Spiritual Lives of Bereaved Parents.Philadelphia: Brunner-Routledge, 1999.
* some of my favorites to share with people
Books — Meditation
Ashley-Farrand, Thomas. Healing Mantras. ©1999. ISBN # 0345431707.
Bennett-Coleman, Tara. Emotional Alchemy: How the mind can heal the heart. © 2001. ISBN # 0609607529.
^Bodian, Stephan. Meditation for Dummies. ©1999. ISBN # 0764551167.
Bstan-‘dzin-rgya-ntscho, Dalai Lama XIV. An Open Heart: Practicing compassion in everyday life. © 2001. ISBN # 0316989797.
Chodron, Pema. When Things Fall Apart: Heart advice for difficult times. © 1997. ISBN # 1507621608.
. Start Where You Are: A guide to compassionate living. © 1994. ISBN # 0877738807.
. The Wisdom of No Escape and the Path of Lovingkindness. © 1991. ISBN # 0877736324
. The Places That Scare You: A guide to fearlessness in difficult times. © 2001. ISBN # 1570624097.
^Gawain, Shakti. Creative Visualization. © 1978. ISBN # 0553241478.
^ . Meditations: Creative Visualization and meditation exercises to enrich your life. © 1991. ISBN# 0931432685.
^ . The Creative Visualization Workbook. © 1995. ISBN # 1880032759.
Levine, Stephen. Guided Meditations, Explorations, and Healing. © 1991. ISBN # 0385417373.
Nhat Hanh, Thich. Teachings on Love. © 1997. ISBN # 0938077961.
. Being Peace. © 1987. ISBN # 0938077007.
. Present Moment, Wonderful Moment: Mindfulness verses for daily living. © 1990. ISBN # 093807721.
. The Miracle of Mindfulness: A manual on meditation. © 1975. ISBN # 0807012017.
. A guide to Walking Meditation. © 1985.
. The Blooming of a Lotus. © 1993. ISBN # 0807012238
^Rossman, Martin. Guided Imagery for self-healing.
Salzberg, Sharon. Loving Kindness: The revolutionary art of happiness. © 1997. ISBN # 1570621764.
Suzuki, Shunryu. Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind. ©1993. ISBN # 0834800799.
Trungpa, Chogyam. Shambhala: The path of the warrior. ©1988. ISBN # 0877732647.
^ Less spiritually-based books for those who aren’t interested in a spiritual connection to meditation.
Have you seen The Descendants? That is a beautiful movie and perfect for your list.
I haven’t but I will check it out. Thanks for the suggestion. I hope that others will follow suit and share their favorite movies related to grief, illness, dying, etc.
I will make sure to get The Descendents on my Netflix queue for when it comes out on DVD.
One of my favorite books on meditation is as follows:
The Art of Living: Vipassana Meditation
ISBN-10: 0060637242
Thanks for sharing William. I need to get back to updating my resources page and list things by topics… will add it…
BTW, I started using Lotus Bud on my iphone and I am enjoying it. It will randomly sound a mindfulness bell if you like. Or you can use it as an end chime in a timed sit. And a few other features… there is a lite version that is just a mindfulness bell and for a few $$ you can get a more tricked out version.
I tried app called Bloom* but it felt like it was going to be too much work on the front end … I just don’t have a lot of time right now… If I get around to using it, I will let you know about it…
Thank you. I will give it a go.