Dr. Bernie Siegel, former assistant clinical professor of surgery at Yale and multiple book author, is a champion for patient empowerment and the choice to live fully and die in peace.
For many, Dr. Bernard Siegel—or Bernie, as he prefers to be called—needs no introduction. He has touched many lives all over the planet. In 1978, he reached a national and then international audience when he began talking about patient empowerment and the choice to live fully and die in peace. As a physician who has cared for and counseled innumerable people whose mortality has been threatened by illness, Bernie embraces a philosophy of living and dying that stands at the forefront of the medical ethics and spiritual issues our Society grapples with today. In May 2011, Bernie was honored by the Watkins Review of London, England, as one of the Top 20 Spiritually Influential Living People on the Planet. He continues to break new ground in the field of healing, supporting changes in medical education to “humanize” medical practice.
Bernie was born in Brooklyn, NY. He attended Colgate University and Cornell University Medical College. He holds membership in two scholastic honor societies, Phi Beta Kappa and Alpha Omega Alpha and graduated with honors. His surgical training took place at Yale New Haven Hospital, West Haven Veteran’s Hospital and the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh. He retired from practice as an assistant clinical professor of surgery at Yale of general and pediatric surgery in 1989 to speak to patients and their caregivers.
In 1978 he originated Exceptional Cancer Patients, a specific form of individual and group therapy utilizing patients’ drawings, dreams, images and feelings. ECaP is based on “carefrontation,” a safe, loving therapeutic confrontation, which facilitates personal lifestyle changes, personal empowerment and healing of the individual’s life. The physical, spiritual and psychological benefits which followed led to his desire to make everyone aware of his or her healing potential. He realized exceptional behavior is what we are all capable of.
Bernie, and his wife and coworker Bobbie, live in a suburb of New Haven, Connecticut. They have five children and eight grandchildren. Bernie and Bobbie have co-authored their children, books and articles. Their home with its many children, pets and interests resembled a cross between a family art gallery, museum, zoo and automobile repair shop. It still resembles these things, although the children are trying to improve its appearance in order to avoid embarrassment.
In 1986 his first book, Love. Medicine & Miracles was published. This event redirected his life. In 1989 Peace, Love & Healing and in 1993 How To Live Between Office Visits followed.
Bernie’s realization that we all need help dealing with the difficulties of life, not just the physical ones, led to Bernie writing his fourth book in 1998 Prescriptions for Living. It helps people to become aware of the eternal truths and wisdom of the sages through Bernie’s stories and insights rather than wait a personal disaster. He wants to help people fix their lives before they are broken, and thus not have to become strong at the broken places. Published in 2003 are Help Me To Heal to empower patients and their caregivers and 365 Prescriptions For The Soul, in 2004 a children’s book about how difficulties can become blessings, Smudge Bunny, in 2005 101 Exercises For The Soul and out in the Fall of 2006 a prescriptions for parenting book Love, Magic & Mud Pies. Published in 2008 Buddy’s Candle, for children of all ages, related to dealing with the loss of a loved one, be it a pet or parent, and published in 2009 Faith, Hope & Healing with inspiring survivor stories and my reflections about what they teach us. Also out is Words Swords, Bernie’s poetry and chance to write and react with your own. In the Fall of 2011 A Book of Miracles was published with amazing stories and in September 2013, Bernie’s latest book, The Art of Healing, was published. www.BernieSiegelMD.com
Click here to download the PDF transcript of this interview
Having it all is not about striving for perfection, or about living our lives according to someone else’s standards or expectations (we’ve done that for far too long).
It’s not about working ourselves to a state of exhaustion, spreading ourselves too thin, or trading inner peace and contentment for outer trinkets of success.
Been there. Done that too.
Having it all simply means having access to all of yourself, in any moment you choose it, and in every aspect of life that is important to you.
Learn exactly how you can “Have it All Too”
Right at this moment, no matter how you are feeling, no matter how in debt you might be, no matter how old you are or how much you weigh, and no matter what the condition of your relationships might be, you have the power to re-create yourself and your life exactly the way you desire it to be – and quite frankly, the way you deserve it to be.
Regardless of how big a gap exists between what you want and what you currently have, within you is the ability to effortlessly and joyfully bridge that gap in virtually every aspect of your life.
You can have it all, how you define it, how you want it. You do have the power to create it.
