Reading: #118: A Year Of Living Spiritually (Anne Bokma)

Anne Bokma spent four years writing a column about people who are spiritual but not religious; then she spent a year actually trying 24 different ideas for her book called “My Year of Living Spiritually”. “I did drumming circles, reiki, singing in choirs, and a pilgrimage to Thoreau’s pond,” she says. “I gave up booze. Did witches. Learned to read tarot cards and even did magic mushrooms!” All of which is surprising if you know Bokma’s religious heritage. She grew up in a town of 1000 people in Ontario, the daughter of Dutch immigrants in a very religious household which taught her that we are all born sinful and should not mix with those outside the culture. Bokma went to journalism school and in her 20s, left the sect: “My family was devastated by my departure… I had to struggle with my loss of family — especially my mother; I felt I’d lost my best friend.” Bokma talks with CoveyClub founder Lesley Jane Seymour, about how she reinvented herself spiritually, found her way back to a relationship with her mom, and how she designed a morning routine to change the way she approaches each new day. “None of us get to midlife without loss,” she says. “It’s a universal truth. But if you can speak honestly about loss, you can connect.”