• The Five Invitations

  • Discovering What Death Can Teach Us About Living Fully
  • By: Frank Ostaseski
  • Narrated by: Frank Ostaseski
  • Length: 12 hrs and 16 mins
  • 4.8 out of 5 stars (727 ratings)

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The Five Invitations  By  cover art

The Five Invitations

By: Frank Ostaseski
Narrated by: Frank Ostaseski
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Publisher's summary

Death is not waiting for us at the end of a long road. Death is always with us, in the marrow of every passing moment. She is the secret teacher hiding in plain sight, helping us to discover what matters most.

Life and death are a package deal. They cannot be pulled apart, and we cannot truly live unless we are aware of death. The Five Invitations is an exhilarating meditation on the meaning of life and how maintaining an ever-present consciousness of death can bring us closer to our truest selves. As a renowned teacher of compassionate caregiving and the cofounder of the Zen Hospice Project, Frank Ostaseski has sat on the precipice of death with more than a thousand people. In The Five Invitations, he distills the lessons gleaned over the course of his career, offering an evocative and stirring guide that points to a radical path to transformation.

The Five Invitations:

  • Don't wait
  • Welcome everything, push away nothing
  • Bring your whole self to the experience
  • Find a place of rest in the middle of things
  • Cultivate "don't know mind"

These Five Invitations show us how to wake up fully to our lives. They can be understood as best practices for anyone coping with loss or navigating any sort of transition or crisis; they guide us toward appreciating life's preciousness. Awareness of death can be a valuable companion on the road to living well, forging a rich and meaningful life, and letting go of regret. The Five Invitations is a powerful and inspiring exploration of the essential wisdom dying has to impart to all of us.

©2017 Frank Ostaseski (P)2017 Macmillan Audio

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What listeners say about The Five Invitations

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

A wonderful resource for caregivers, patients

If there is one book that I can recommend for care givers, patients, or any person looking to expand their compassion, this is it. It is a true gift.
Reading The Five Invitations has changed my life in ways that I can never adequately explain.
My own experiences with death, loss, grief, despair, and helplessness unfolded in my mind and heart in a completely new way. My inner critic is becoming less loud, less controlling.

I have been open to new experiences that I never would have been open to and now my life, or at least my views on my life, have been profoundly improved.

I had been a Chicago Police Officer in 2010 when I got into a car accident at work. Although my injuries were orthopedic in nature, nothing life threatening, there were many complications during numerous surgeries. I developed a condition called CRPS or RSD. It is a horrifyingly painful disorder and is referred to as 'the suicide disease'. My boys were 2 and 3 at the time. To control the CRPS to prepare for surgery, doctors placed an endwelling morphine catheter in my back. I was in the hospital for over a month and was sent home with the catheter still there. A nurse would check on me in 3 days they said. Long story short, I developed bacterial meningitis but couldn't tell because I couldn't feel anything. I couldn't stay awake. I couldn't talk. I was hallucinating. I was taken to the hospital in ICU and isolation for weeks. I had to make a will so that my boys could be taken care of.
I survived, but was essentially nothing more than a skeleton, still with active CRPS who was unable to do anything but scream or put myself into a coma with pain pills.

The person that I was before the accident didn't exist anymore. I didn't know who I was, or if there was anything left inside of me that was worth being.

Getting better took years. More surgery, another bout of meningitis, kidney disease from the medicine, and absolutely no idea who I was, made recovery tough.

I discovered meditation. I stopped letting doctors dictate what had to happen to my body. I stopped all medication and got a medical cannabis card. After 5 years in bed, I got up.

Many events happened. Divorce, death of my mother, autism diagnoses for both of my young boys, all of these circumstances were difficult. Meditation got me through some of that, but I was terrified. Afraid to really live, but certainly better than I had been. I heard your delightful conversation with Sam Harris on the "Waking Up" podcast. I bought your book before the interview ended.

Your book really showed me that I was creating much of my own suffering and that I could live more authentically, more openly, and more lovingly. So I did.

Since reading your book I have met someone and fallen in love. He lives in Denver and I live in Chicago, but we see eachother very often. He is moving here in July. My boys adore him and his daughter. His daughter adores my boys and I.

This New Year's we all spent a week in Boulder together. It took some special modifications and a lot of patience, but I snowboarded (down a mountain!) for the first time in my life! I hadn't been outside in snow for over 7 years!!! I was so afraid that the cold would aggravate my CRPS, I stayed inside. Yet here I was, completely exhilarated, snowboarding down a mountain.
Welcome everything! Push away nothing!

My copy has been shared and enjoyed with over 25 residents at a retirement center where I volunteer.
Thank you, Frank! Thank you for what you have given me, what you have shared. Maybe one day we will meet and I can share some of the remarkable stories of people who I gave your book to!

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42 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

I'm so glad I got this audiobook and not the book

First, I think this book got into my top 5 favorites of all time. It was a fantastic journey to listen to this. I felt I got connected with Frank and with the stories he shares, with some of the emotions they had, with my emotions.

I highly recommend it.

Also if you want to live this experience the second time differently - I recommend you listen to this book on 1.5x-1.6x. Frank's voice gets filled with even more compassion, a familiar sad-calm-optimism,

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8 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Stunning and insightful!

I bought this book as a way to understand and reframe my relationship to death. It helped fill me with more compassion towards and less fear about the process of dying. It helped open my eyes to see there is no "one" way to die, no "best" and "perfect" way to die. Beautifully written and read. I cannot count how many times I cried while listening to this. The stories were touching, teaching. I could feel myself there in these stories as Frank recited them. Frank's reading was soothing and gave the content even more depth. The insights were profound and yet ordinary and easy to grasp. I found myself crying at the end because I was sad the book had finished. This will be a repeated listen for me!

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4 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Another great book

Another great story teller.
I will be revisiting this one again at least once.
We could all be so fortunate to have someone around like Frank when our time comes.
Great insights on how to be with someone who is dying or has passed.
Thank you Frank for your knowing experience and your wise, honest not knowing.

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4 people found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

worth the effort

I'm intrigued by books about dieing. Not so much the dieing part but the living part that often accompanies the dieing process. I want to have a better idea of what may happen and the feelings and emotions that go along with this process; for others and ultimately for me. This book does a very good job of illustrating several circumstances of loss and grief. I gave the book 4s all the way across the board primarily due to my own biases. While I agreed with most of the premises, I felt uncomfortable at times with the underlying liberal view of Got and culture. Having said that, I think the book is very much worth reading or listening to.

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3 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Live now the lessons of death

Being in month five of hospice, the wisdom shared resonated deeply with my own experience.

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    5 out of 5 stars

Profound book, truly an enlightened book!

Thank you Frank, this is a beautiful and powerful book! One of the best books I’ve ever read/listened to! I put this book up there with Eckhart Tolle’s book “A New Earth” when it comes to books about mindfulness, awareness and being one with impermanence. This book is simply radiant!

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    4 out of 5 stars

Powerful for those facing losing a loved one!

I read an average of a book a week. Only a handful of books do I know that I will re-read and study. This book is one of those books. I first listened on Audible, which I highly recommend. The author reads the book and his voice was soothing and brought the stories to life because I could hear his tone and his inflections of voice. I then bought a copy of the book so I could mark it up and study it in more depth in the coming months. I highly recommend this book especially if you are facing the death of someone you love.

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    5 out of 5 stars

Life-changing

Ostaseski identifies the essential qualities of a fulfilling life by embracing the dark along with the light. His approach is both refreshing and insightful. This book changed how I feel about death and what is important in life. Living fully aware, sober, appreciating the little things, in the present moment, loving without restraint, forgiving both inwardly and outwardly, having the courage to experience the full brunt of our fears, and to find a place of rest in the middle of it all in quiet thankfulness.

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Wonderful book!

This is a beautifully written book full of wisdom and the author’s voice is smooth like honey. :) After listening to it, I’m now going to buy a copy to share with loved ones.

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