It is a blessing to read someone who thinks like I do. It is hard in this fundamentalist, republican strong hold to keep my eye on the bigger picture. I read a couple of chapters every night to keep me fresh and to keep inspired.

I have worked in healthcare for 28 years. I find that I have become cynical in the hopes of ever finding physicians with my similar philosophies. They do exist, and I do run into them.
But for short periods. As a nurse pracdeleteioner in a rural setting, my state board says I need a collaborative physician for prescriptive authority. I have begun to despair of ever finding one willing to work in a rural setting with my similar philosophies.

That is why it is so nice to come home to read Kitchen Table Wisdom and Grandfather's Blessings. When the mundane rituals threaten to overwhelm, I hang on for the bigger picture.

I came across you in the Sept.-Nov. 2002 IONS magazine. I was very touched by your article. I am now researching more about you and your experiences, and I am crying and laughing. Thank you, Ellen

Hello Dr. Remen,
I would like to intoduce myself. I heard you speak at my graduation, and have been very interested in your work for some time. Blessings to you always.
Wendi Broodno

I have read your books and am so looking forward to hearing you speak next March here in San Antonio. Your insights into the whole person - the interconnectedness of mind, body, and spirit - deeply resonate with me. Thank you. Donna Neilson

Your books, audio, tapes, and website articles have had a prfound effect on my life. I have read your books and listened to your tapes numerous times and have been enriched every time. As a nonprofit professional, I used your works as one of my primary resources in designing workshops and articles. Thank you for blessing my life. Sharon Gardner

Sharo

I am blessed by your book and our Grandfather's wisdom. Thanks for sharing your humanity and love.

Dear Rachel
It seems to me that your Grandfather was one of life's Special People. Thank you for sharing him with us. Thank you for your giving of yourself.
Your words touch things in me that have always been there. Sometimes they manage to reach the surface and I have experienced them.
Somehow ,as I read, I have a sense of things not yet developed, of how things might be. There is hope.
Thank you
Mary

Dear Dr. Remen,
I discovered Kitchen Table Wisdom and My Grandfather's Blessings in a small bookstore in my town. I was very touched and inspired by your poignant stories and deep wisdom. Thank you for sharing your life and experiences. I continue to reread the books and have shared them with many friends. May you continue to be blessed!

I keep Kitchen Table Wisdom in my car at all times. Whenever, I'm stuck in traffic, I pick up the book and read a short story or two. I always find inspiration in these moments.

On May 7, 2006 I was the chairman of a Synagogue committee which put on a cancer symposium led by oncologists and medical specialists. Our attendance was over 200 people, which I consider to be a success.

We are hoping in the next 18 months to attempt an additional medical program. After reading your book "My Grandfather's Blessing I couldn't imagine having a speaker other than yourself. How do we go about receiving information regarding this possibility? By the way, my wife was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in the fall of 2003 and is still battling the desease.

May your life be filled with blessings.

After

dear Rachel,

I work at a psychosocial insdeleteute for people with cancer. In the library I saw you on video (you had a cat on your lap) and it was touching. Seeing you brings out joy in me. And I am sure others have the same delightful exprience. You radiate my dear.

thank you

Coen


than

Hi Dr. Remen!
I love your books! they helped me out a lot.
I am currently a freshman in high school and I hope to become a doctor when I'm older. You are my role model and a hero to me. Thank you for teaching me; i learned so much by reading your books.
I hope i can meet you one day =)

Your books helped me make the decision to dedicate my life to medicine. You helped me see past the sterility and distance so common in modern medicine to the healing underneath. Thank you for helping me find my calling.

Thank you for reminding us that each of us is a blessing, and that our calling is to be mindful of that, to bear it out as we inevitably touch others throughout our lives. Physicians or not, we all care for each other.

Watch you last night on UCTV. You are so amazing. My daughter, mother of 4, was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis nearly 10 years ago and now they think she may have MS.
I especially loved your concept of being a blessing to all we meet. I have studied the ancient vedas where there is a saying in sanskrit "aham brahmastami" meaning we are all part and parcel of the Supreme - Sparks of the Divine. Thank you.

Dear Rachel: my sister sent me a copy of Kitchen Table Wisdom following the death of my best friend of 50 years from ovarian cancer. Thank you for your writings, I'm still grieving for Patricia but your book has helped me immeasurably to come to terms with her death and the decisions she made that brought her to that point of acceptance and the peace she seemed to have achieved.

Dear Rachel,
I fell upon My Grandfather's Blessings while browsing through the internet and it was exactly what I needed---to hear anothers' stories!! You have helped give me the courage to tell my own stories. Your stories are heart warming and so human. Thank you for selflessly sharing yourself. I see you will be coming to this area in September, I hope to hear you speak.
Blessings, Joyce

dear rachel,
I have just finished reading your books again for the umpteenth time. some people read the bible for comfort, I read rachel stories. I am a 48 year old family physician, and when I first read Kitchen Table Wisdom it was the first time I ever felt anybody understood.
for many years I taught in a residency, now I work in a free clinic. last night after again finishing My Grandfather's Blessings I decided I really need to meet you. I am making plans to come to your October workshop for physicians.
you have blessed me many times over, and I thank you.
love, janie

Rachel,

I feel so drawn to you through your writing. For years I have read and reread your work and even required it of my freshman comp students as both an example of good writing and because of the calming effect it has on students.

I just wanted to tell you how much your words have meant to me. Some day, I would love to study with you and spend time with the woman you are.

Until then, know that your words are listened to.

Peace,
Rica Garcia

Ma'am,
Thank you for your message. I have been talking to friends about 'New Medicine', where I first saw you & was very inspired. I was diagnosed with diverticulitis in '98; it ruptured I had an emergency right colectomy done. I've had periodic blockages & digestive problems, but I practice gradeleteude that it is not worse than it could've been. I retired from the U.S. Navy last year after 22 yrs of active service & my atdeleteude about life & my health constantly evolves. Listening to you has been a positive. Thank you again & 'keep on keeping on...'
Peace,
Vivien

Dear Dr. Remen:

I'd really like to express my feeligs about your book Kitchen Table Wisdom. I read the version in Portuguese which I bought by chance. It was a wonderful surprise to discover page after page that the book was so interesting and touching. I just loved it and I couldn't wait to have more "free time" to read the next story. I am a private English Teacher and like many "private' teachers I began to develop a great friendship with my students, so, sometimes, when they are depressed or "in trouble" we just sit and talk (most of the time in English) and so what would be a class turns out to be a psychologist "session". I love it. I think that my next college will be "psychology when my children finish their university. I am Brazilian, 45, married and maybe, who knows a future Psychologist!!! Now I'm going to buy your book in English so that I can share this "feeling" with my students. I'm sure they will love it!! Congratulations!

Hi. My brother has suffered from Crohn's Disease since he was about twelve years old and he is now twenty-three. I would just like to know your thoughts on the disease. I read that you have had surgery about seven times. Did the surgery really help you? Would you tell someone who also has Crohn's to consider having surgery? Thank you for your tme!

Dear Dr. Remen,
I am so grateful for your work and your books. I keep copies of your books in my desk, my den and my car. Often times, I give them away. I was wondering if you had seen the work of this physician: Dr. Janis Amatuzio. She has a book out deleteled: Forever Ours". As a pathologist, the work she has done with surviving members of the families, sounds strongly like the questions and stories which you raise for us. Thought you might like to know.
Blessings, meh

I carry at least one of her books around with me and open it at random to center myself or to have a focus for the day. Needless to say her books look pretty ragged with me carting them around. But I don't mind. I came to read her books quite a few years ago after she was featured as a "soul guest" on Gary Zukav's website and by chance I happen to read the article by her. I have given several copies of her books as gifts. I teach English/Language Arts to Eighth graders and there are times when I need to remember my real purpose. Rachel has helped me on many a day with these struggling adolescents. She has helped me to appreciate the ways that they allow me to see their hearts and to know what a privilege that is. I feel such a strong connection to her --her warmth and wonderful honesty give her writing such strong voice. In fact, some of my favorite quotes from her books are hanging on my classroom walls. I also know that she has helped me to frame my life in a way that allows me to learn every day even as I serve as teacher. Tonight, as I tried not to panic because I am not ready for the holidays, by chance I thought I would see what was on her website. And there was the article about synchronicity and the angel ornament. Indeed,synchronicity restores us to ourselves. Thank you, Rachel.

I tried to find and kill God because they said that He had taken my father away. I looked for 10 years to kill Him (and all the while He protected me in my journey). There was no road too dark or unique that I have not been down looking for God in anger and love. Recently, I shared a sacred mysterious moment being still with my mother's passing and waiting openly for her and God to make the decision. My life, as many, has been a long agonizing joyful journey for me...full of fear, pain, insecurity, hatred and anger AND awe, joy, peace, fullfillment, discovery, excitment, revelation, completion, suprise, new beginnings, twists and turns so marvelously created and intertwined that I am generally in awe. It gives me my own funny way of relating to the teenage language of "awesome", "radical", "whatever". I feel that I have come full circle now, realizing that I have always existed in the body of God as part of creation and there is no "where" to go. And now the full meaning of "sharing the mystery" is taking place. I am so deeply appreciative of you, Dr. Remen, sharing your intimate tales of personal growth, insights, strengths and truths of this great mystery of creation. I feel so blessed to have sat with you at your kitchen table and taken in your shared wisdom with tears streaming down and a smile as they rolled. I know the feeling of one tear rolling and even actually practiced one hand claping as I read your book...there is a distinct sound and sensation! Thank you so much! I feel validated connected, made whole by this shared commmunion/baptism/koan/rite of passage/doorway of love and wonder in sharing the mystery of now and peaceful appreciation of what is to come. You a living, loving blessing!
In deepest warmest connectedness with you and all of creation, Rich Moore richmoore@jps.net