I am Lewis Richmond, Buddhist author and teacher and author of three published books and the soon to be published AGING AS A SPIRITUAL PRACTICE: A CONTEMPLATIVE GUIDE TO GROWING OLDER AND WISER (Gotham Books, a division of Penguin USA, January 2012).
BOOK JACKET COPY:
The national bestselling author of Work as a Spiritual Practice presents a user’s guide to aging well and making every year fulfilling and transformative.
On the road that anyone fortunate enough to have lived this long must take, the first truth of aging is also the first truth of Buddhist teaching: Everything changes. In Aging as a Spiritual Practice, Buddhist priest and meditation teacher Lewis Richmond helps us understand how the transformation can bring new possibilities, fresh beginnings, a wealth of appreciation and a depth of gratitude that profoundly affects how our lives proceed.
Richmond offers an inner roadmap for aging, acknowledging the fear, anger, and sorrow many people experience when they must confront the indignities of their aging bodies and the unknowns associated with mortality, as well as explaining the four key stages of aging:
- Lightning Strikes (the moment we truly wake up to our aging)
- Coming to Terms (comparing ourselves now to how we once were)
- Adaptation (letting go of who we were and embracing who we are)
- Appreciation (acknowledging that “This is my life, I have no other”)
Regardless of whether you are enjoying growing old, hating it, or in denial, each chapter is filled with relatable anecdotes, includingRichmond’s own experience of illness, aging, and transformation. Guided meditations and contemplative reflections help us to see that while we can’t escape life’s essential problems, we can change our understanding about them and enjoy the process.
Incorporating illuminating facts from scientific researchers, doctors, and psychologists on aging’s various challenges and rewards;Richmondexplores the tandem of maintaining a healthy body and healthy relationships infused with an active spiritual life. Using this information, we can pay attention to our own experience of aging through the lens of our emotions, and adapt accordingly, inspiring opportunities for a joy that transcends age.
ADVANCE PRAISE FOR AGING AS A SPIRITUAL PRACTICE:
“This book guides us in navigating aging and reaping the blessings of happiness, openheartedness and inner freedom. Lewis Richmond writes from the radiance of his own discovery—he is fresh, clear and wise.”
—Tara Brach, Ph.D., author of Radical Acceptance
“As someone who recently turned 70, I ate up Lewis Richmond’s words. The book is fun and enlightening. I’ll never forget some of the stories and the sharp formulas the author uses to remember how to age with some pleasure. The Buddhist point of view is especially fresh and useful. There’s some Zen in all of us, deep down.”
—Thomas Moore, author of Care of the Soul and Writing in the Sand
“Embedded as our culture is in the fantasy of control and management, our deepest distress rises from being separated from natural process, and our inevitable failure to manage, even defeat aging and mortality. Lewis Richmond offers a practical, step by step set of attitudes and practices which open the reader to philosophical maturation, a proactive engagement with the meaning of one’s changing state, and the attainment of personal dignity through our shared journey into mystery.”
—James Hollis, Ph. D., Jungian analyst and author of What Matters Most: Living a More Considered Life
“Thoughtful, truthful, loving, Lewis Richmond helps us bring attention to the mystery of aging with great kindness and wisdom.”
–Jack Kornfield, author of A Path with Heart
“Life can be challenging at any age and spiritual practice can be beneficial at any age. However, as Lewis Richmond makes crystal clear, these benefits may be especially important and valuable with aging.”
—Roger Walsh MD, Ph.D., University of California Medical School, author of Essential Spirituality: The Seven Central Practices
My book WORK AS A SPIRITUAL PRACTICE is being reiussed June 2011 as an e-book. Look for it on Amazon Kindle or wherever e-books are sold. My other books HEALING LAZARUS and A WHOLE LIFE’S WORK are available in multiple editions–see the sidebar at right to purchase.
“Living and Aging as a Spiritual Practice” is the name I give to my work of many years to apply what I have learned from the Buddhist meditation tradition to all aspects of ordinary life. I began this work in 1999 with the publication of my first book,
Work as a Spiritual Practice: A Buddhist Guide to Inner Satisfaction on the Job, and continued with my second book Healing Lazarus, published in 2002 which recounts my struggles with a devastating neurological illness, and continued with the publication in 2004 of A Whole Life’s Work, which examined the spiritual aspects of the various stages of a human life, from childhood to old age.
Since early 2009, I have been exploring the overarching theme of spiritual practice in daily life on my Living and Aging as a Spiritual practie BLOG, which you can visit here. I am also a keyboardist and composer, and have produced several albums of MUSIC TO GROW OLDER AND WISER BY. For more information visit the MUSIC page of this website.
For more information about my already published books–the national bestseller Work as a Spiritual Practice, the award-winning healing memoir Healing Lazarus, and A Whole Life’s Work. Please see the books page of this website for more information.
