How can a book that talks about death and funerals have anything to do with happiness? The focus though is on life - and living a happier one - not on death.

BARRINGTON, N.J. (PRWEB) November 08, 2018

Noted author of the Fifty Classics series,Tom Butler-Bowdon says this on the cover of It’s a Matter of Life and Death: Growing Up in a Funeral Home and What I Learned Since by Lawrence J. Danks:"Larry's book combines positive psychology, motivation and memoir to provide a powerful reminder to really live while we are alive, regretting nothing. His lively reminiscences of growing up in a funeral home are not morbid, but lie in the tradition of a Zen Buddhist meditation on death: facing the great uncertainty and inevitability of death, we are reminded of the opportunity to love, and most of all, to be grateful for everything."It's a Matter of Life and Death is intended to help anyone who is:seeking happinesscurious about life in a funeral homefacing a serious illness or knows someone else who is grieving and working their way back toward recoverya health care provider, counselor, or practitioner in the funeral industry trying to help others cope with illness or lossSamples from over eighty topics include:Part I: Seeking Happiness Finding Happiness: It's about finding true gratification,not hedonism or smiley faces.Death Teaches Us to Value Life Even MoreTake the Long View: Plan to Live to Be One HundredIt's Never Too Late To Make a Difference in Your Life and in Those of OthersGet Better Sleep: It Can Make a Big DifferenceAdvice from Courageous Survivors and Physicians For Those Facing a Terminal IllnessYour Thinking Probably Needs Some ImprovementMid-Life Crisis is Not a CrisisPart II - Growing Up in a Funeral HomeMy Father, the CoronerMy Sister, the EmbalmerMy Parent's FaithThe Importance of HumilityThe Medical Examiner's Office and AutopsiesThe Critical Importance of Having a WillDo Funeral Directors Charge Too Much?Life in the Funeral HomeThe Condition of the BodyCosmetic and Presentation SkillsPart III - The Takeaway from Seven DecadesDrug AbuseGiving the Ego a RestHospice Care - It Should Often Start SoonerFinding What to Say at Viewings and FuneralsEulogies Can Be Excellent TeachersAfter Things Are Over, It Can Get Awfully LonelyAdvice from a Grief Counselor on Handling Grief and Loss and Moving AheadThinking We Understand DeathPeople Who Die Before Their TimeHonoring Those Who Died, but Honoring Yourself TooLife after the Death of a PartnerDanks says, “No one clamors to read about death and funerals,but people have a curiosity about what happens in funeral homes – even though they don’t necessarily want to live in one. A frequent question I got as a boy was, ‘How can you live there?’ It was easy. My sister and I never knew anything different than living over one. It was a blessing though. It taught us about life and about what truly matters – finding happiness and peace.”