Book Review; My Year of Living Spiritually. - Anne Bokma.
“From Woo Woo to Wonderful. One Woman’s Secular Quest for a More Soulful Life.”
Anne Bokma is an award-winning journalist, speaker, writing workshop leader and author. She is the mother of two grown daughters and makes her home in Hamilton, Ontario, where she is an active member of the First Unitarian Church.
Her memoir, My Year of Living Spiritually: One Woman's Secular Quest for a More Soulful Life, is the winner of two Hamilton Literary Awards.
This delightful book reminded me of “Eat, Pray, Love”, but instead of a journey that took Elizabeth Gilbert around the world, Anne Bokma embarks on a journey to find more meaning by investigating a variety of spiritual practices. Throughout this quest, she re-evaluates important relationships and finds herself.
She began this year-long trek in 2017, decades after leaving the fundamentalist Dutch-Calvinist Reform Church, which resulted in alienation from her family. Before this 12-month experiment, she was unhappy and unfulfilled and realized that she needed community and more significance in her life.
Bokma’s writing style brings the reader along for the ride with honesty, humour and courage. The book is divided into the 12 months of the year; each chapter depicts a different theme, including a night of magic mushroom hallucinations, dancing with witches, exploring solitude and mingling with nature.
What struck me the most in this book is the term “spiritual but not religious” (SBNA), which describes my spiritual beliefs. SBNA moves away from organized religion and doctrine and is usually associated with something larger than ourselves-what I like to call the divine. That “something” can range from music, art, meditation, nature, poetry, or yoga-ways of going within and joining mind, body and spirit.
Some of the practices she discovered deeply resonated with me: morning routine, magic mushrooms (kidding, no way after a rather wild experience many decades ago), forest bathing, sacred space, and gratitude are all regular parts of my sadhana. This is perfectly summed up in one of my favourite quotes from the book;
“Silence can restore our energy and help us better understand ourselves. Our souls suffer when we are disconnected from ourselves. One way to restore the connections is by turning our attention inward.”
As the book concludes, Bokma has made changes in some key relationships and, most importantly, the relationship with herself by finding more purpose, peace, and presence.
I found this book inspiring, provocative, and cathartic and highly recommend it. I know that I will read it again and again.
With love and peace.
Anita
