Frank Ostaseski shares how his series of strokes and the sudden switch in roles from caregiver to care-receiver have deepened his understanding of the surprising ways vulnerability can unlock personal resilience and cultivate compassion for oneself and others. In his conversation with Courtney E. Martin, the Zen Hospice Project co-founder speaks about the loss of identity in the setting of illness and why he’s more interested in discovery, not recovery.

Caring for people who are dying can be an intense, intimate, and deeply alive experience. It often challenges our most basic beliefs. It is a journey of continuous discovery, requiring courage and flexibility. We learn to open, take risks, and forgive constantly. Taken as a practice of awareness, it can reveal both our deep clinging and our capacity to embrace another person’s suffering as our own.

“The part of you that knows you are afraid is not afraid.”

—Frank Ostaseski

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