Welcome to Untangle, the podcast from Five Star App Meditation Studio.

I'm Patricia Carpice, co-founder of Meditation Studio and your host on Untangle, along with

my co-host every other week, Ariel Garten, co-founder of Muse, the brain sensing headband.

Join us each week as we introduce you to authors,

experts, and thought leaders who share their stories on how meditation and mindfulness practices

have the power to change our lives. Today's guest is Frank Astasaske, author of the book

The Five Invitations, What Death Can Teach Us about Living Fully. He's also the co-founder of the Zen Hospice Project, a beloved Buddhist teacher, and founder of the META Institute in Northern California, where he trains health care clinicians and caregivers.

He's the leading voice in the end-of-life care movement.

This is one extraordinary man.

The Five Invitations is really about how we can show up and be more fully present and engaged in every moment. It's not always easy, especially

when we're challenged with death, loss, breakups, and all the things that take us to our edges.

But he shows us how he does it and he distills

so much wisdom about how we can focus more on what matters most every single day. When we get to

the end of our lives, the two most often asked questions are, did I love well and am I loved? It's all about love, not all the stuff

that cluttered our daily mind space or fills our busy days. His five invitations remind us of this

and of how we can live rich lives inviting in all of our feelings and emotions, pushing away nothing. And we realize

then that this rich life is truly filled with 10,000 joys and 10,000 sorrows, and we can be with them all.

When we accept this, when we don't wait for things to be perfect, we truly have the opportunity to live full lives and to love deeply.

His teachings will open your heart, touch your soul, and teach you a thing or two about your capacity for love.

I don't think you'll be able to put his book down.

Before we get started, just a little reminder to check out our app, Meditation Studio,

with Meditations designed to help you with many of life's challenges and to inspire you just when you

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