About
Timothy Tosta is a 61-year-young Santa Cruz native, now residing in San Mateo, California. He also is one of California’s leading land use and environmental lawyers. At the age of 41, Tim was given a two-year survival prognosis as a consequence of a misdiagnosed melanoma, which had gone untreated for six years. Then the parent of three children under the age of nine, Tim was determined to find his life’s purpose and to live consciously and conscientiously in accordance with it. He studied psychology, philosophy, religion, neuroscience, human and organizational development; undertook the practices of yoga, meditation,and Qi Gong; and eventually found his way into public service as a hospice volunteer, trained by the Zen Hospice Project, at ward C-2 of San Francisco’s Laguna Honda Hospital.
Tim is a very amateur musician, playing a wide variety of stringed instruments. He delights in entertaining his hospice friends with his own poor renditions of Tin Pan Alley, country, bluegrass, and folk tunes.
In 2006, Tim began writing about his hospice experiences and lecturing to legal, business, and community groups about the changes to his life and legal practice wrought by the hospice work.
In 2007, Tim undertook training to become an Integral Coach through New Ventures West and received his certification in 2008. Tim coaches lawyers and business colleagues to live balanced, fulfilled lives.
Tim contributes regularly to the Daily Journal, California’s leading daily legal news publication, as well as to other magazines and journals. He is a frequent speaker before state and national conferences in the legal, real estate, and business communities.
Description
<p style="margin:0in 0in 10pt;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height:115%;font-family:'Times New Roman', serif;font-size:12pt;">Elisabeth was rude and selfish and demanding, and therefore had very few friends.<span> </span>When she sent out invitations to her birthday party, no one accepted.<span> </span>Her mother warned her that she needed to improve her manners and to try to get along with people.<span> </span>She told Elisabeth that she needed to use the magic word “Please”.<span> </span>So when Elisabeth went to school the next day, she thought of her mother’s advice, “What is the magic word?” and she started saying “Please” and also “Thank You”.<span> </span>She tried to become more thoughtful of others, and discovered that she was a much happier person.<span> </span>Imagine her pleasure when she returned home to find out that her new friends were all coming to her birthday party!</span><span style="line-height:115%;font-family:Arial, 'sans-serif';font-size:10pt;"></span></p><p></p>
Story Behind The Book
Timothy Tosta is an innovative, insightful and evocative speaker and lecturer. He also is a cancer survivor, a seasoned hospice volunteer, an insightful executive coach and an amateur musician. Moreover, he is recognized as one of California’s leading land use and environmental attorneys.
It is how Tim brings all of this together that hooks you. Few people in their early forties are confronted with a personal crisis that demands they take a hard look at themselves and restructure their lives to give it meaning. Fewer still have the insight, having faced a terminal cancer prognosis, to seek out, as community service, volunteer hospice work at an urban public hospital, attending to the dying from all strata of society – homeless, cognitively impaired, elderly or newly arrived immigrants. Tim has taken what he has learned from his own experiences facing death and from his work with the dying, to a broader audience, through his highly acclaimed lecture series on “Lessons for the Living” and his emotionally evocative hospice writings, Putting Things in Perspective – Stories from a Hospice Volunteer.
Now, Tim has authored #DEATHtweet - A Well Lived Life through 140 Perspectives on Death and its Teachings, published by HappyAbout Press, to rave reviews.
Reviews
<em>"In this beautiful book, the lessons are entirely about living--how to create happier, richer lives. Each tweet is lovely in itself and part of a fabric that moves me and makes me think differently about my own life."<br /></em><strong>Rick Foster, CoAuthor of 'How We Choose to Be Happy' and 'Choosing Brilliant Health'</strong>
<p><em>"Like snowflakes, each tweet is unique, perfect. With death as a backdrop, the effect of their cascading one upon the other is breathtaking!"</em><br /><strong>Megory Anderson, Author of 'Sacred Dying'</strong>
</p><p><em>"'#DEATHtweet Book01' powerfully and beautifully captures the complexities of what it means to be human: to love, to ache, to live and yes, to die."</em><br /><strong>Rev. Bruce Reyes-Chow, Pastor, Mission Bay Community Church</strong>
</p><p><em>"'#Deathtweet Book01' is a thought-provoking, and ultimately inspiring, meditation on living well."</em><br /><strong>Karen Janowski, Partner, Ecostrategy Group</strong> </p>
