A Review of "Heartwood: The Art of Living with the End in Mind" by Barbara Becker

A Review of "Heartwood: The Art of Living with the End in Mind" by Barbara Becker 
CU Anschutz; by Darcy Campbell, AGNP-D, ACHPN; 5/14/24 
This year, one of our [small group] readings was the book, Heartwood; The Art of Living with the End in Mind, by interfaith pastor Barbara Becker. The book is composed of small vignettes from her life that explore death and dying. Many of her experiences as a hospice volunteer are captured as well. Her book was to be about death, but she learned that in writing about death she really explored what it means to live. Heartwood is the inner core of a tree. While dead it does not decay as it is supported by the outer living rings of the tree. Becker, describes Heartwood as the ideal metaphor for our life, “where life and death cannot exist separately from each other.” ... Working in palliative care, we too are forced to look at our own mortality.