Sharon Salzberg’s Finding Your Way
A reading guide for our first book club of the year!
Hello, and a very happy New Year!
I’m back from my midwinter break (well, I cheated at New Year because I’m not very good at not writing), feeling refreshed and full of more ideas than I can possibly enact. As is traditional, everyone in my family is now ill, and for a while I thought I might dodge that particular bullet for once, but now I have a chest infection, so my optimism was misplaced. Even the dog is refusing to walk because she doesn’t like rain. The slowness of midwinter has not yet left my house.
But I’m raring to go. It’s going to be a busy year - I’ll also be launching the UK paperback of Enchantment in March with some live events to come, delivering my next book (brace yourselves for the angst; apologies in advance), and releasing a (long-promised) Wintering course for anyone who wants to take a deeper, more reflective dive into their own cold season. Well, those are the plans, anyway. Life generally laughs at my plans, so let’s see, shall we?
Either way, it was lovely to log back into my dashboard this week and discover that The Clearing now has more than 20,000 followers! It is absolutely awesome to have you all here.
It’s a good moment to renew my commitment to offering regular free content in this newsletter for the forseeable future. I always want there to be plenty here for everyone who wants it, regardless of means - I cannot tell you how much I value all your reads, likes and shares.
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Anwyway, enough talk of subscriptions! Let’s get on with the good stuff.
True Stories Book Club: Sharon Salzberg’s Finding Your Way
Our next True Stories Book Club is on Thursday 11th January, 7pm UK/2pm ET/11am PT. This month, my guest will be the legendary meditation teacher Sharon Salzberg, who will be joining me to discuss her latest book, Finding Your Way: Meditations, Thoughts, and Wisdom for Living an Authentic Life.
Here’s a brief reading guide to get you up to speed. Just in case this is your first book club:
Paid subscribers can join us live online for the discussion - a link and password will be posted in the Chat - and you can send in questions for Sharon by posting them in the comments.
If you can’t make it, a full replay will be available straight afterwards from the same link (or a little later in your podcast feed).
You don’t have to read the book to attend the event - but however you use it, hopefully the book club will inspire you to find some brilliant new books and authors!
About the book
Finding Your Way is a deliciously generous and accessible book to welcome in the New Year - particularly for anyone feeling frazzled, anxious, uncertain or overwhelmed.
Offering pathways into mindfulness and compassion, the book is made up of many short chapters that feature reflections, quotes, conversations and stories that are intended to help us through the everyday, even if we feel too busy to seek enlightenment.
The hallmark of Sharon’s approach is the way that she welcomes all-comers into her world, showing meditation as a nourishing part of the ordinary rather than a rarified spiritual pathway. Her warm and open voice encourages us towards self-acceptance, kindness and ease. We’ll also be touching on her other recent book (she’s astonishingly productive), Real Life: The Journey from Isolation to Openness and Freedom, which looks at how to overcome anxiety and constraint to reach out into the wider world.
Listen to Sharon’s podcast, Metta Hour.
Sharon on On Being, talking about how to take care of our world.
About Sharon Salzberg
Sharon Salzberg is a meditation pioneer, world-renowned teacher, and New York Times bestselling author. She is among the first to bring mindfulness and lovingkindness meditation to mainstream American culture nearly 50 years ago, inspiring generations of meditation teachers and wellness influencers.
A co-founder of The Insight Meditation Society in Barre, MA, Sharon is the author of thirteen books, including the New York Times bestseller, Real Happiness, now in its second edition, and her seminal work, Lovingkindess.
In 2023, Sharon released two new books: Real Life, from Flatiron Books, and Finding Your Way, a small gift book from Workman.
Sharon’s popular podcast, The Metta Hour, has amassed six million downloads and features interviews with thought leaders from the mindfulness movement and beyond.
Hope to see you there on 11th January!
Take care,
Katherine
If you think a friend or loved one would enjoy The Clearing by Katherine May, gift subscriptions are available here | Website | Buy: Enchantment UK /US | Buy: Wintering UK / US | Buy: The Electricity of Every Living Thing UK / US
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My copy of Finding Your Way arrived yesterday and it’s a truly beautiful thing.
Anyone on the fence: YOU SHOULD DEFINITELY UPGRADE. Your 2024 will be 126.9% more joyful because of it, according to complex scientific calculations I have just done, no, I'm not showing you my workings, you'll just have to trust me, and trust Science.