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Ram Dass has been in the consciousness-raising business since the 1960s, and he uses his self-awareness in the wake of a stroke to meditate on the topics (as flagged in the subtitle) of aging, changing and dying.

He turns ideas about disability, frailty, decay, pain, dependence, and other "bad" consequences associated with aging and turns them over and over and over in the rock-tumbler of his mind, producing beautiful objects for our consideration. His book testifies to the power that our attitudes have for framing our experience.

One of my favorite passages occurs in the final pages. Dass describes the importance of leading people--leading ourselves--towards healing rather than curing. A person experiencing the hard changes of aging can learn to accept and even embrace their "next chapter" and find peace, wisdom and even joy in these hard moments. Because he had a stroke, he has some direct experience with reframing a very difficult series of events that led to dramatic changes.

For anyone struggling to move through the next chapter of their aging process, I highly recommend this book. Dass serves (in his own words) as an advanced scout, finding a path to peace and mapping it for others to follow. I usually just read library books, but I will probably find a used copy online to keep at the house so that I can loan it to others and so that I can inhabit his attitude of peaceful acceptance as I move through various age-related changes.