Until My Memory Fails Me: Mindfulness Practices for Cultivating Resilience and Self-Compassion in the Face of Cognitive Decline - Paperback

by Sharon Lukert (Author), Elizabeth Mattis Namgyel (Foreword by)

A definitive guide for navigating cognitive decline using mindfulness and meditation practices that includes practical advice and poignant stories from a Buddhist chaplain diagnosed with Mild Cognitive Impairment.

When Buddhist chaplain Sharon Lukert was diagnosed with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI), she turned to spiritual practice and community to help her adjust to a new and ever-shifting reality. In Until My Memory Fails Me, she shares her hard-won wisdom as a guide for anyone standing at the gateway of cognitive decline.

Through poignant storytelling and practical wisdom, Lukert offers specific ways to build resilience against the emotional swings and existential fear inherent in cognitive decline. The book includes:

• Instructions for more than a dozen mindfulness and meditation exercises, including The Handshake, Just Like Me, Open Awareness Meditation, and Tonglen (Lovingkindness) Meditation
• Practical advice on topics like understanding your diagnosis, how to talk to your medical providers, testing, dealing with bias, how to maintain communication, and managing new symptoms
• Stories, advice, and encouragement from her peers in the MCI community and her "dementia ancestors," those she worked with in her decades as a Buddhist chaplain in healthcare settings

With raw vulnerability, Lukert demonstrates how to find courage, acceptance, and compassion even as your sense of self shifts underneath you.

The first mindfulness book written specifically for people with MCI, the practices and lessons Lukert shares are also valuable for anyone experiencing cognitive decline caused by other disorders, as well as for loved ones and caregivers.

Author Biography

​​SHARON LUKERT​ is a retired Buddhist chaplain who served patients and families in hospice and hospital settings for more than two decades. She studied with Pema Chödrön for more than thirty years and is a student of the Venerable Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche. A former Buddhist monastic for three years, Lukert took precepts with Her Eminence Mindrolling Jetsun Khandro Rinpoche and Venerable Thrangu Rinpoche. She is also a former director of Gampo Abbey Monastery in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and has facilitated workshops and study groups on Buddhism, meditation, death and dying, and bereavement support in various settings.