A Year to Live: How to Live This Year as If It Were Your Last

In A Year to Live, Stephen Levine teaches readers how to live each moment mindfully—as if it were their last. Drawing on his experience helping thousands of people approach death with equanimity and openness, Levine explores what creates human suffering and offers guidance for enriching life through awareness of mortality. Levine spent a year living as if death were imminent, inspired by Socrates' teaching that practicing dying represents the highest form of wisdom. He shares how this practice radically shifts perspective and forces examination of priorities. Most people avoid or deny grief about mortality, but Levine argues that preparing for death is rational and rewarding—an opportunity to address unfinished business and develop a deeper relationship with life. The book provides a year-long program of practical strategies and guided meditations to support this work, so that when death arrives, it will not feel premature.