Real life wisdom for living life in balance and with heart.
Rachel tells her stories openly, with compassion and great warmth.
I have given this book to friends and family and carry its lessons in my own life. A lovely read, not at all preachy. Each chapter is worth savoring.

The author shares some inspirational stories of the lessons her grandfather, a Rabbi taught her as a child that served as building blocks for the rest of her life, as a Dr. and then a counselor. Whether you read this from cover to cover, because it is delightful and insightful, or take it story at a time over a period of time, it is a wonderful book. There are important life lessons for us all. Some will make you laugh, others cry, and others to say, "Oh wow!"

This is one of the best inspirational books I've read in a long time. I love it so much I'm buying it for friends! It is so full of wisdom...rich, rich, rich.

I happened upon this book by chance, and it is quite possibly the best book I've ever read. If you are looking for a book to inspire you and give you a positive outlook on life, this is it. It is incredibly refreshing and easy to read. Rather than one long story, it is a bunch of short stories, which makes it great for reading a little bit at a time. It has really helped me remember what is important in life. After reading this book, I can't wait to read other books by this author.

What a wonderful thing it would be if we all had a grandfather like Rachel Naomi Remen had. Since we don't, the next best thing might be to learn the lessons and experience the blessings by having her share her stories about him with us. She does so in a beautiful, almost under stated way that is never intrusive and leaves us with a feeling of deep appreciation. These are very human and moving parable like stories that enrich our connection to each other in almost imperceptible ways. Although this is definitely not a how to book, the stories may effect how we live our lives. Thank you to Dr. Remen.

I'm working toward a Thanatology degree and although this book is not required reading, it should be!!! So many thought-provoking ideas are presented. This book is both enjoyable, educational, spiritual, a true blessing. Thanks for sharing your grandfather's blessings!!!

Full of insight and wisdom that is seen far too little in the literature of today. This is a very inspiring book.

I first encountered this book at work. As I work for a religiously affiliated healthcare system, we often begin long meetings with a "reflection". One of the meeting attendees read a long excerpt. Afterward, I instantly went to the nearest bookstore and bought a copy.

The stories of strength, hope and blessing from Dr. Remen's patients brought me to tears many times. Better yet, I have gained further insight into the blessings offered me and how to receive the blessings I previously did not recognize as well as the importance of blessing life and learning to see.

At Christmas, I purchased 6 additional copies here, and sent five of them to family and friends. The last copy I sent to my grandfather's young oncologist, with hope that she will read this book and learn how to really listen to her patients, share her blessings and receive those of her patients.

Read this with leisure. Read with love.

I found this book filled with amazing stories of faith, hope and love. Especially wonderful is a prayer the author shared with the reader. I have found it a real eye-opener, with original ideas and much hope for our future.

Through her close relationship with her grandfather, the author, even though she was raised in an atheistic home, gleans understanding of the value of spirituality and learns to respect the spiritual side of life. The importance of her family, especially her grandfather and the impressions she received from him, are aptly reflected in her choice of title and in the many stories she shared within this book.

The grandfather was a patriarchal figure, depicted as having a personality as firm and strong as an oak tree, its roots sunk deep into the richness of his faith in God. His vital influence upon the author's life are evident, for the memories of him that she shares consist of deep questions and wise insights, yet she was only seven years of age when he died. Although her family did not share his beliefs, in his strength of conviction, he taught her from a young age the purpose of a life, the reasons for joy, and the acceptance of self as God's beloved handiwork.

Her family was remarkably well-educated, with numerous medical degrees among them, and she would follow in their footsteps. Despite their lack of acceptance of a human being's need for spiritual fulfillment, her family exuded an acceptance of each other, which closely parallels the unconditional acceptance that God offers to believers. When the author was faced with a life-altering disease, her family and the faith of her grandfather became a refuge for her. She grew especially close to her mother during this period, seeing for the first time her mother's strength, and respecting it. This experience would provide her with compassion, understanding, and insightful strategies to help others who were faced with pain, disappointment, and grief.

It is interesting that the author never married and never gave birth to children of her own, yet within herself, faith and trust in the overseeing eye of a loving God was birthed, and she was filled with a sense of belonging. Although she began her career as a pediatrician and was very successful in that field, she was drawn to work in the area of counseling others, because this is where she felt she belonged. In being willing to listen to others' sorrow and sympathize with their pain, the author offered her patients a sense of belonging to a greater plan, where everything happens for a reason, just as the blood and sweat of childbirth results in a beautiful new life.

The author, while embracing her grandfather's faith, did not ever make a concerted effort to discern the underlying reasons for that faith. Maybe it is because her grandfather died before he could teach her the fundamental doctrines that formed the basis for his great strength as a spiritual leader. As I read the book, I realized that the author was open to many philosophies that had the scent of spirituality, but she failed to seek wholeheartedly for Him who is the Author of life and the Designer of the eternal spirit. I also felt that some of her stories, while very moving, were more sentimental and anecdotal to her personal journey, rather than being a gem of wisdom that a reader could apply to his own life.

I was deeply moved and inspired by this book. I bought 3 more copies and gave them to friends and family.

I love this book - it's absolutely beautiful. The stories can help you grow. I would recommend this treasure to anyone.

Easy to Read, Much food for thought.....Life lessons for all of us to learn and use. Short chapters with a new theme in each. Can read short snippets at a time.

I feel bad. Apparently, I'm only the 6th person out of 47 people to give this book anything less than a 5-star rating. And there's only one reason I did that. As a writer myself, I feel that there are too many stories in this book. Some of these little narratives just aren't as powerful or focused as others. And I would have left them out. But please don't let that get in the way of your enjoyment of this wonderful work. It is every bit as inspiring, uplifting, and profound as most of the other reviewers say it is. I especially like the common theme I see running through most of the pieces presented here. And that's the idea that the wholeness of an individual not only includes his or her health, talents and accomplishments, but his or her pain, suffering, shortcomings, and illnesses, too. In life we are called to embrace it all, and resist nothing. And that is the key to a life that is truly fulfilling and rewarding.

Steven Lane Taylor, author of Row, Row, Row Your Boat: A Guide For Living Life In The Divine Flow

I have found My Grandfather's Blessings to be among the most moving books I have ever read. Each brief story can stand on its own. The author relates a simple incident, as many of us have lived, but then goes on in a simple and succinct manner to reveal a deeper meaning within the experience. Ms. Remen does not talk down to the reader, but rather sweeps us up into the experience with her. Upon finishing this book, I immediately ordered five more and sent them out to friends.

A friend recommended this book to me, but I wasn't that interested in reading it because the title sounded too sentimental. I took a chance on it anyway and found it to be one of the best books I've read in a long time. It's not sentimental at all. It's a series of true accounts from the author about what it really means to be connected to one another and what it really means to be a human being--open, vulnerable, and accessible. Death too is included in our human experience, meeting it with trust and intelligence. It's a book you can take your time with, savor, and pass along to a true friend.

This has to be one of he finest and most worthwhile books I have had the pleasure o readin. In it, the author recounts dozens o personal exoeriences not only with her wonderful gandfather, but withmany patients whom she cared for in her medical practice. These accounts are often so moving that I would urge anyone who picks up this book to be prepared to shed more than a few tears! If, like me, you have fallen into the habit of considering life boring or arather jaded, then this book will soon give you a new perspective! It's a wonderful experience, in a world full of egotism to find an author who actually shows us how wonderful people can be and ofen are! It is impossible to come away from reading this book unmoved.

Dr. Remen is a remarkable physician with a unique practice. She has a very caring and down-to-earth style, and her experiences as a patient no doubt make her a more caring doctor.

This book is filled with interesting stories of compassion and realization of the human potential (both of Dr. Remen and her patients, through her help).

I think the strengths of the book are the impressive stories. All of the stories are powerful. There is also some good writing here, like how foxes in the dark vanish "like smoke." Where this book is a little weak is the "interpretation" part of the stories, where Dr. Remen sometimes gives her spin on what each story means. Some of the stories don't have this part, and are the stronger for it. Dr. Remen's compassion and advocacy for her patients shines through the narrative, and the digression only softens the impact. Character development, where it has a chance to unfold, is what I found added the most meaning to each story. Her understanding of her patients is inspiring.

I got this book for "Chanukah" from a patient's wife. Our oncology office covers much of the same ground as in the book, and I found myself smiling in recognition at many of the stories.

Rachel Remen's extraordinary book " My Grandfather's Blessing" is about blessing life through service. Not through the service that is dramatic or larger than life, but through the simple ordinary actions we can do for others. She says, "Big messages come in small packages. All it may take to restore someone's trust in life may be returning a lost earring."
Remen says, "Survival is about safety living is about risk." Her stories show us how to choose life. Her pearls of wisdom include:
"Living is a matter of passion and risk. Of finding something important and serving it...of doing whatever is needed in order to live out loud. Caring deeply makes us vulnerable.
If you carry someone else's fear and live by someone else's values, you may find that you have their lives.
Our vitality is rooted in our integrity. When we do not live in one piece, our life force becomes divided." She says people's lives are often changed by significant illness as they gather strength when they change their values.
"It is surprising how easy it is to forget that every life matters, that we are each one of a kind and worthy of unconditional love.
The Hebrew word "L'chiam" which means "To Life!" seems less about celebrating life and more about the wisdom of choosing life.
People die in character in much the same way they have lived.
Spiritual experience is not taught; it is uncovered, discovered, recovered.
People of vision may first need to abandon their resentment of the way things are in order to begin repairing the world.
Helping and fixing wounds people-service heals.
It is hard not to see the person you are helping as someone weaker than yourself, someone more needy.
Seeing yourself as a fixer may cause you to see brokenness everywhere. We can strengthen or diminish the life around us.
A helping relationship may incur a sense of debt, but service, like healing is mutual.
We strengthen life any time we listen generously or encourage someone to find meaning.
In befriending life, we do not make things happen according to our own design. We uncover something that is already happening and create conditions that enable it.
In the face of that which is beyond healing...all we can do is bear witness so no one need suffer alone.
I've spent many years learning how to fix life, only to discover...that life is not broken.
The denial of a common vulnerability is the ultimate barrier to compassion.
Hell is where people have forgotten how to bless one another.
The molecules in you and me...are secondhand, borrowed for the occasion and returned when outgrown.
All things can be made holy. Buried in the mundane and even the most difficult is a spark of God.
Silence is a place of great power and healing. Silence is God's lap.
When we grow in wisdom and love we become a blessing to those around us and a light in this world."

Dr. Remen doesn't need another 5-star review, but these stories are so wonderful. Just as strong as Kitchen Table Wisdom. I have to admit to bias, because Dr. Remen wrote a beautiful blurb for the back of my book The Art of Getting Well. But I would have loved her anyway.

David Spero RN www.art-of-getting-well.com

When perusing through several books on Kabbalah, I am greatly regretful that I had no influence from a Rabbi. My earliest encounter with Reformed Judiasm was far from the mystical perspective of Kabalah! When our Baptist Suburban Church toured into Atlanta to worship with Rabbi Sugarman's Temple, we had a double privilege of hearing one of the erudite Rabbis and one of the best cantors of Atlanta. Haskell Boyer was long noted as the former student of my own Vocal Coach!

Our young people were deeply impressed with the inspiring ritual of Rabbical Language, the reading of TORAH in Hebrew,especially by the Hebrew vocalizing of the Yiddish Lyrics. It was surely a contrast between that worship and the Kabbalah. And yet Rachel Naomi Remen writes in her Introduction,that her Grandfather taught her "that the Holy may speak to you from its many hidden places at any time. The world may whisper in your ear, or the spark of God may whisper in your heart. My grandfather showed me how to listen."

Imagine if you will what a Miracle may have been granted to us by having a Rabbi of Kabbalah for a grandfather. If we could have spent our growing years being inspired by the mystery of reading the TORAH and chanting those awesome Psalms in their original sounds from the Hebrew scripts. One of several that Dr Remen quotes: "Blessed are Thou, O Lord Our God, King of the Universe..." Following that text she names her "grandfather, a man of many blesings." Of course those blessings were prescribed generations ago by the great teaching rabbis."

One of her most interesting Chapters is "Keeping It Together." As part of a project she asked 73 physicians to rank the same list of 21 life-values twice... First, according to what was most important to them in their work, and then according to what was most important to them personally. Her list included values such as admiration, control, wisdom, love, power, compassion, happiness, fame, success and kindness. None of the doctors made two lists of the same ranking. In one case, kindness was number 2 on their personal list, yet 11 or last on their working list. Overall the doctors were dismayed, they did not find it possible to live by the same values personally, but strongly valued as their work-values. Finally her conclusion was stated by one man, "as life diminishes you!" He added that it comes only with your permission. I have done this line of questions with prison inmates. They pointedly responded much the same!

There are several principles that jump out in Dr Remen's lovely account of written blessings. Upon moving from her university atmosphere, she summarizes..."Symbolism is the language of the unconscious mind; It is the deep wisdom that is part of how we are made." It was on this page that I noted her use of numerous adverbs: instantly, occasionally, personally, thinking, sharing, knowing...all participles and adverbs of action. My sense is that she likely practises effective Pastoral Counseling which is deeply healing for her patients!
Retired Chaplain Fred W Hood

Of the hundreds of books I have read, I consider this one of the very best. By way of background, I am a Board-certified clinical dentist with 17 years experience and three years of post-doctoral training. This collection of essays explores the value of our contributions to life, and the value of life's contributions to us. Although Dr Remen is an experienced oncologist, she has found most of her lessons by observing "the mysterious simple things," including her beloved grandfather's gentle and loving suggestions.

These stories almost seem mystical in their value and goodness. They are wise and profound, despite (rather than because of) her clinical skills (medicine and medical business have usually emphasized competence and quickness rather than anything akin to compassion).

I read one chapter of her book each day, along with my religious readings, and rarely finish the chapter without a tear in my eye and a glimmer of insight. She is a superb teaacher and I'd recommend her book to anyone who wonders how they are ever going to show caring or kindness in the kind of world they live in.

This book just keeps getting better and better! The stories are great - it's a good book to keep next to your bed and read one or two stories before going to sleep.
ANYONE who needs some rejuvenation - especially people in the medical or helping professions, NEEDS a copy of this book!