Dr. Tammie’s Book of the Month: February 2025
The Well-Lived Life: A 103-Year-Old Doctor’s Six Secrets to Health and Happiness at Every Age
By Gladys McGarey, MD, Mother of Holistic Medicine
Sometimes the right words find us at just the time we need them most. Luisa gave me this book, finding it by chance. And I thank the Universe for her moment of love and inspiration, for introducing me to Dr. Gladys McGarey and The Well-Lived Life.
Dr. Gladys, as she was affectionally called throughout her long, incredible career, wrote and published this book last year at the age of 103, just before her death. How I wish I could have had the chance to meet this incredible woman. She is my newfound hero.
Yes, what she accomplished during her lifetime was remarkable – attending medical school at a time when few women could, cofounding the American Holistic Medical Association in the 1970s and becoming one of the first allopathic physicians to introduce the use of acupuncture to Western Medicine, and pioneering a new approach to healing known as Holistic and Living Medicine. But it’s her approach to life that has moved me so deeply and resonated with the very core of my being.
Her book is full of wisdom, humor, wit, inspiration and love – but most of all her message is about turning toward life, again and again. I found myself laughing, and crying, all the way through. Her words were what I needed to hear most right now.
There are countless gems of wisdom in her book, but two continue to stand out for me: that everything is our teacher – and that we are right on time. Life is unfolding as it’s meant to. What if the longer things take, the better they are?
I’d like to leave you with Dr. Gladys’ words, as these have brought me much peace, and I share them with you in case they could be of service to you, too.
“Perhaps your connection with life has faltered just a little. Perhaps you’re struggling with the realities of the world as it is. Or perhaps you’re like most of us, somewhere in between, bouncing between higher moments and lower moments and wanting to bring them all meaning. Whichever is your case, it isn’t too late for you to turn toward the life force within you.
Whether you’ve never known it or you’ve simply forgotten, I promise that life is there, pulsing through your body and soul, waiting.”
With all my love,
Tammie
