A short easy to read book about living with a degenerative disease with an accepting and positive attitude using techniques of mindfulness. The Elephants in the title are the big, unacknowledged fears that you have hiding in your closet. Based on personal experience the techniques the author uses to overcome the fear of the disease and death are drawn from the Buddhist practice of mindfulness, Christian faith, and humor. ( )

I read an advance reader copy, and I've been trying to figure out what to say about it since.

The amount of wisdom contained in this book is unbelievable. Jarem interviewed Jon Kabat-Zinn, Patch Adams, Lucy Kalanthi (wife of Paul Kalanthi who wrote When Breath Becomes Air), Jean Paul Lederach, and Toni Bernhard about living with chronic illness. He comes from a Christian background, but is heavily influenced by the teachings of Thich Nhat Hanh. It's a unique spirituality that makes this book just that much more special.

His story of living with Huntington's Disease as a family member (it is genetic) and after he received the diagnosis he had expected to get is not sad or sentimental in any way. You don't feel sorry for him in any way when reading this narrative. He "transformed fear into joyful dancing."

The cover is one of the most fun I've ever seen. I would never have considered dancing with elephants as a way of going through, but Jarem not only makes it seem bearable, but a love-filled joy.

If you need some encouragement in living with joy, read this book. It will change your perspective on everything. Even if you don't have a chronic illness, I recommend this book. It's one that will stay with you and teach you something new with every page.

I love his poetry as well. It enhanced the prose in a way that blessed me. ( )

This was a wonderful and honest book written by a courageous man with Huntington's Disease, an untreatable progressive disease that caused his mother's death. Jarem chooses to live his life differently from the one modeled by his mother - to live fully until he dies - and the book is uplifting and encouraging, and puts a very positive spin on living with challenges of any kind. I will be using this beautiful book in my counseling practice. Reading it can be life changing. ( )