My Year of Living Spiritually: From Woo-Woo to Wonderful--One Woman's Secular Quest for a More Soulful Life
In 2017, Anne Bokma embarked on a quest to become a more spiritual person. After leaving the fundamentalist religion of her youth, she became one of the eighty million North Americans who consider themselves spiritual-but-not-religious, the fastest growing “faith” category.

In mid-life she found herself addicted to busyness, drinking too much, hooked on social media, dreading the empty nest and still struggling with alienation from her ultra-religious family. In response, she set out on a year-long whirlwind adventure to immerse herself in a variety of sacred practices—each of which proved to be illuminating in unexpected ways—to try to develop her own definition of what it means to be spiritual.

In My Year of Living Spiritually, Bokma documents a diverse range of soulful first-person experiences—from taking a dip in Thoreau’s Walden Pond, to trying magic mushrooms for the first time, booking herself into a remote treehouse as an experiment in solitude, singing in a deathbed choir and enrolling in a week-long witch camp—in an entertaining and enlightening way that will compel readers (non-believers and believers alike) to try a few spiritual practices of their own. Along the way, she reconsiders key relationships in her life and begins to experience the greater depth of meaning, connection, gratitude, simplicity and inner peace that we all long for. Readers will find it an inspiring roadmap for their own spiritual journeys.

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My Year of Living Spiritually: From Woo-Woo to Wonderful--One Woman's Secular Quest for a More Soulful Life
In 2017, Anne Bokma embarked on a quest to become a more spiritual person. After leaving the fundamentalist religion of her youth, she became one of the eighty million North Americans who consider themselves spiritual-but-not-religious, the fastest growing “faith” category.

In mid-life she found herself addicted to busyness, drinking too much, hooked on social media, dreading the empty nest and still struggling with alienation from her ultra-religious family. In response, she set out on a year-long whirlwind adventure to immerse herself in a variety of sacred practices—each of which proved to be illuminating in unexpected ways—to try to develop her own definition of what it means to be spiritual.

In My Year of Living Spiritually, Bokma documents a diverse range of soulful first-person experiences—from taking a dip in Thoreau’s Walden Pond, to trying magic mushrooms for the first time, booking herself into a remote treehouse as an experiment in solitude, singing in a deathbed choir and enrolling in a week-long witch camp—in an entertaining and enlightening way that will compel readers (non-believers and believers alike) to try a few spiritual practices of their own. Along the way, she reconsiders key relationships in her life and begins to experience the greater depth of meaning, connection, gratitude, simplicity and inner peace that we all long for. Readers will find it an inspiring roadmap for their own spiritual journeys.

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My Year of Living Spiritually: From Woo-Woo to Wonderful--One Woman's Secular Quest for a More Soulful Life

My Year of Living Spiritually: From Woo-Woo to Wonderful--One Woman's Secular Quest for a More Soulful Life

by Anne Bokma
My Year of Living Spiritually: From Woo-Woo to Wonderful--One Woman's Secular Quest for a More Soulful Life

My Year of Living Spiritually: From Woo-Woo to Wonderful--One Woman's Secular Quest for a More Soulful Life

by Anne Bokma

Paperback

$22.95 
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Overview

In 2017, Anne Bokma embarked on a quest to become a more spiritual person. After leaving the fundamentalist religion of her youth, she became one of the eighty million North Americans who consider themselves spiritual-but-not-religious, the fastest growing “faith” category.

In mid-life she found herself addicted to busyness, drinking too much, hooked on social media, dreading the empty nest and still struggling with alienation from her ultra-religious family. In response, she set out on a year-long whirlwind adventure to immerse herself in a variety of sacred practices—each of which proved to be illuminating in unexpected ways—to try to develop her own definition of what it means to be spiritual.

In My Year of Living Spiritually, Bokma documents a diverse range of soulful first-person experiences—from taking a dip in Thoreau’s Walden Pond, to trying magic mushrooms for the first time, booking herself into a remote treehouse as an experiment in solitude, singing in a deathbed choir and enrolling in a week-long witch camp—in an entertaining and enlightening way that will compel readers (non-believers and believers alike) to try a few spiritual practices of their own. Along the way, she reconsiders key relationships in her life and begins to experience the greater depth of meaning, connection, gratitude, simplicity and inner peace that we all long for. Readers will find it an inspiring roadmap for their own spiritual journeys.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781771622332
Publisher: Douglas & McIntyre Ltd.
Publication date: 03/21/2020
Pages: 240
Product dimensions: 6.00(w) x 8.80(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Anne Bokma is an internationally recognized award-winning freelance journalist who specializes in writing on spiritual topics. She’s the “Spiritual but Secular” columnist for Broadview (previously the United Church Observer) and her articles have appeared in many of Canada’s leading national magazines and newspapers, including the Toronto Star, Canadian Living, Best Health, Reader’s Digest, Today’s Parent, MoneySense and Chatelaine. She is a dynamic public speaker and the founder of the popular 6-Minute Memoir “speed storytelling for a cause,” a charitable series of events which brings together storytellers to share tales on a theme. She lives in Hamilton, ON.

Table of Contents

Introduction 13

January: Waking Up 19

A new morning routine, reducing screen time, meditating with Andy and channelling Clarice

February: Creating Sacred Space 35

Buddha bling, curious crystals, the sweet smell of essential oils and a makeshift home altar

March: The Rigour of Ritual 49

Failing at faith and marking a booze-free secular Lent

April: The Quiet Centre 67

Cultivating silence, kinder self-talk, drifting in a float tank and a treehouse timeout

May: Into the Woods 82

Forest bathing, tree climbing and a pilgrimage to Walden Pond

June: Finding My Voice 92

Checking out community choirs, a professional voice lesson, singing at the side of the deathbed and on the edge of the Atlantic

July: Tripping 108

Heavy breathing magic mushrooms and a cosmic rebirth

August: Finding My Tribe 132

Cast out, back in the pew, marching in the street, protesting Bill Cosby, storytelling and dancing with witches

September: Supernatural States 157

Chakras and shamans, psychics and soothsayers

October: Stopping for Death 180

A final goodbye, death over dinner, picking a coffin, visiting a green cemetery and planning for the end

November: The Ultimate Spiritual Practice 206

Giving up on prayer and focusing on gratitude

December: Letting Go 223

Keeping Christmas simple, a special visit, "magic" tidying, an ending and a new beginning

Acknowledgements 242

Resources 245

Suggested Reading 247

Works Cited 249

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