Reflective Book Club: Meditations for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman

"This is a book about how the world opens up once you realize you are never going to sort your life out." 

You could read Meditations for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman on your own (maybe you have?). It’s a quietly profound collection of reflections on time, meaning, and how to live, drawn from the strange and beautiful fact that, well, we don’t live forever. There’s a lot to discover and ponder in reading it alone — staying sane when the world's a mess;  the upside of unpredictability; the solace of doubt, for example.

Now think about reading this alongside and hearing how these short meditations land in different lives and discovering what resonates more fully in conversation.

Over six weeks, we’ll follow the Courage & Renewal Approach® to create space for both individual contemplation and protected, meaningful conversations. After an introductory session we’ll follow the book’s structure moving through four weeks of meditations week by week. In our final session we’ll pause to reflect on what has been meaningful, and consider what insights or questions we want to carry forward.

Participants will need to bring their own copy of the book, which we’ll draw from throughout the series. No need to read the book in advance, unless you wish to.

Meditations for Mortals: Four Weeks to Embrace Your Limitations and Make Time for What Counts. by Oliver Burkeman (2024). Penguin Random House.

Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash