Elisabeth Kubler-Ross
Elisabeth Kubler-Ross
Elisabeth Kübler-Rosswas a Swiss-American psychiatrist, a pioneer in near-death studies and the author of the groundbreaking book On Death and Dying, where she first discussed her theory of the five stages of grief...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionPsychologist
Date of Birth8 July 1926
CountryUnited States of America
beauty darkness light people revealed sets shine sparkle sun true
People are like stained-glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in, their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within.
burning cool dark death entering relief staring
Death is staring too long into the burning sun and the relief of entering a cool, dark room.
aids aspects choice cope death destined dying felt helped hold life miles painful people transition travel work year
I was destined to work with dying patients. I had no choice when I encountered my first AIDS patient. I felt called to travel some 250,000 miles each year to hold workshops that helped people cope with the most painful aspects of life, death and the transition between the two.
came country dying full furthest hospital last medical needed nobody patient
When I came to this country in 1958, to be a dying patient in a medical hospital was a nightmare. You were put in the last room, furthest away from the nurses' station. You were full of pain, but they wouldn't give you morphine. Nobody told you that you were full of cancer and that it was understandable that you had pain and needed medication.
according author believe ended far glorious instead lecturer spirits supposed swiss
According to my parents, I was supposed to have been a nice, churchgoing Swiss housewife. Instead I ended up an opinionated psychiatrist, author and lecturer in the American Southwest, who communicates with spirits from a world that I believe is far more loving and glorious than our own.
driveway farm flight led life plane quiet reach relaxing sleeping soothing
The simple life on the farm was everything to me. Nothing was more relaxing after a long plane flight than to reach the winding driveway that led up to my house. The quiet of the night was more soothing than a sleeping pill.
grief healing emotion
Grief will happen either as an open healing wound or a closed festering wound, either honestly or dishonestly, either appropriately or inappropriately. But emotions will be expressed.
suicide cheating school
Lots of my dying patients say they grow in bounds and leaps, and finish all the unfinished business. But assisting a suicide is cheating them of these lessons, like taking a student out of school before final exams. That's not love, it's projecting your own unfinished business
memories children real
Memories are the only real gifts we can leave our children.
mother goal generations
I didn't fully realize it at the time, but the goal of my life was profoundly molded by this experience - to help produce, in the next generation, more Mother Teresas and less Hitlers.
growth purpose life-is
Our only purpose in life is growth.
afterlife galaxy
I'm going to dance in all the galaxies.
death transition
Death is the great transition.
effort feelings suffering
We point to our unhappy circumstances to rationalize our negative feelings. This is the easy way out. It takes, after all, very little effort to feel victimized.