What is still Real?
Listening to a recording of the online book club with Sharon Salzberg. Grasping more nuggets of wisdom…..
Real Change
Sharon Salzberg
Published Date: September 2020
Published By: Flat Iron Books
Month Read: October 2020
I participated in a live book club discussion with the author over 3 Friday evenings. Each one hour session included a meditation, Sharon’s thoughts on specific chapters of the book and a question and answer section at the end. Participants were able to ask questions through a chat box that were answered by her. She wrote this book before the pandemic began with a strong influence from the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, FL where she provided meditation sessions with those impacted afterwards. She did rewrite the preface as the original one no longer fit the world we were living in.
Some key take aways from the book club sessions:
This book contains tools that we can use when we find ourselves in the midst of change.
Focus on inner change as that spreads outward in our ability to connect with others.
Advice from Sharon - Set boundaries, take care of yourself, recognize how you handle change, be kind and create community
“You feel what you feel” - There is no right or wrong way to feel. Acknowledge the emotion, feel the emotion in your body and choose one small step to take to make change.
Know that the emotion and feelings are real but the thoughts associated with them may not be true.
The “point is to not suffer” - What is your relationship to suffering?
Loving Kindness (Metta) - “Take in the Joy, Look for the Good, Be intentional and spread this feeling to yourself and others.
I could list a lot more and will keep coming back to this book to work through times when I feel a need for change.
This year has been strange. There has been lots of change and we know that we need more change but struggle with how to go about it. Sharon Salzberg starts with assessing herself by asking “What is still real?” Despite all the changes, there are still parts of us, our lives and our world that are still real and can give us a solid foundation to start.
How do you deal with Change - small or large?
