1. Sickness
What is the message?

2. Your experience of illness
Checking In
Your experience of illness
Bill leads – 5 minutes
Illness that you have or have had or
What was it like to “Choose one common disease each day: cancer, stroke, pneumonia, heart attack, dementia/Alzheimer’s and reflect on how you would live with this if it happened to you.”

3. We all should .... Eat right Exercise Manage stress
Get the right amount of sleep
The truth is we are not going to be able to avoid all illness
Bill leads - 1 minutes
Diet, exercise, stress, ... faith

4. When did you realize that illness and injury can happen to you?
Ayya leads – 3 minutes
What’s your story

5. Experience of Illness WHAT ARE YOU ATTACHED TO?
ANXIETY: CAUSE, TREATMENT, OUTCOME
EXISTENTIAL WORRY: WHY ME
INCONVENIENCE
DEPENDENCY
LOSS OF CONTROL
UNCERTAINTY
WHAT ARE YOU ATTACHED TO?
Bill leads – 3 minutes

6. A wise patient Learns from any illness Examines assumptions
Discerns between wants and needs
Does what they can to stay healthy
Utilizes verifiable information
Prepares for dependency by living a life of kindness
Bill leads - 8 minutes (total 20 minutes)
Wise pt mindful of little illnesses learns and grows wiser. Is mindful of assumptions about doctor, illness, self. Recognize WANT is different from NEED. Does what they can to stay healthy. Looks critically at source of information: fact, opinion, hidden agendas.

7. Navigating the Medical System
How to talk to your doctor
How does your doctor best receive input?
Taking notes and verify that what you heard is what was said
Electronic communication before a visit
Goals of the visit
Bring or send the info the provider needs/wants, i.e. test results
Being part of the medical and support “team”
Bill leads –5 minutes (total 25 minutes)
electronic communication before a visit – goals of the visit, bring the info the provider needs/wants, i.e. test results, find out how the provider best receives input, taking notes and verify that what you heard is what was said

8. The Role of Caregiver Assessing what the patient needs from you
Respecting that this is a very emotional process
Pacing yourself – knowing your limits
Assembling a team
Steve can take the lead here - 5 minutes

9. The message of sickness
Am I relating to this as a problem?
Acknowledging fear, worry ... and caring for the heart
Do what you can and then let go
Mindfulness of the body
Being with feeling as feeling
Arising and ceasing
Not me, not mine, not myself
Urgency for spiritual awakening
Ayya – 8 minutes
For states of mental suffering – not letting them invade the mind and remain

10. From Suffering to Peace
Knowledge and vision of things as they really are brings peace
Going way beyond coping
Ayya – 2 minutes

11. Practices for Awakening
Forgiveness for ourselves and others
Loving kindness and compassion for ourselves and others
Letting go of attachment to possessions, people and who we think we are
Serenity meditation – developing joy, happiness and tranquility
Insight meditation – seeing the way things actually are
Keeping a journal of kind and generous actions
Developing faith
Ayya leads – 2 minutes
Should end at 45 minutes

12. Meditation Ayya Santussika Should end at 55 minutes
Mindfulness of the body
Our constantly changing health/illness
Body scan

13. Ground Rules 25 minutes Confidentiality Mindfulness of time
The “no enlightenment rule”
Showing up
25 minutes

14. Small group discussion
What did you discover as you reflected on how to live with common illnesses?
What did you discover as you meditated on letting go of roles, abilities, or independence?
25 minutes

15. Discussion
30 minutes

16. Parting Instructions What makes your life worth living?
If you knew you were going to die one month from today, what would you do?
Chant the 5 recollections
Meditation: Contemplation of your own death or charnel ground contemplations from the Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta
Readings
Filling out “5 Wishes”
Bring images of death and dying … and spiritual development
10 minutes