Toni Bernhard is an American law professor and author who is best known for her work on living with chronic illness through the lens of mindfulness and other Buddhist principles.
CLEAR ALL
Chronic illness creates many challenges, from career crises and relationship issues to struggles with self-blame, personal identity, and isolation.
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I've written this piece partly because I hope it will make those of us with health difficulties feel less alone and partly because I hope it will help others understand how to communicate with us better. With that in mind, I hope you'll find it helpful.
According to the dictionary, to forgive is to stop feeling angry or resentful toward yourself or others for some perceived offense, flaw, or mistake. Keeping that definition in mind, forgiveness becomes a form of compassion.
A calm mind and even temper can help make peace with life’s difficulties.
In the book, "How to Live Well with Chronic Pain and Illness: A Mindful Guide," author Toni Bernhard addresses a broad range of topics and how the practices of mindfulness, equanimity, and self-compassion can make life as good and joyful as possible in the face of a diagnosis like Parkinson’s.
Intimately and without jargon, How to Wake Up: A Buddhist-Inspired Guide to Navigating Joy and Sorrow describes the path to peace amid all of life’s ups and downs.
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After 15 years of chronic illness and even after writing a book titled How to Be Sick, I still can feel sick of being sick. (When I use the word “sick,” I’m including chronic pain.) If you’re as intimately familiar as I am with sick of being sick, you know how unpleasant it feels.
Toni Bernhard, author of How to Be Sick, on how she uses her hound dog Rusty as her mindfulness guide.
Here’s the simplest way to practice mindfulness: stop whatever you’re doing and shift your attention to the physical sensation of a few breaths as they come in and go out of your body. This plants you squarely in the present moment.
Author Toni Bernhard shares six common things people believe about having a chronic illness that aren't true.
