The Nature of Things: 24 Stories About Embracing Reality

Self-professed Southern Buddhist Catholic Galloway has reported for NPR’s All Things Considered and is an instructor at the Institute for Conscious Being. Here, she reflects on her life and shares her personal path to dealing with a “D- (death, divorce, disease, downsizing)” life. She was raised as a Catholic but turned to Buddhist practices to gain perspective about her life; she also joined a 12-step program that she credits with enabling her to accept and not resist reality. This memoir has 12 chapters with themes such as awareness, honesty, and practice, each featuring two stories revealing how Galloway learned these lessons. In “Awareness,” Galloway realizes that her meltdown at McDonald’s had nothing to do with her son’s Happy Meal, but was about her own rage toward her mother’s late-stage degenerative dementia. In “Honesty,” Galloway shares her early childhood dream of becoming a saint and how she was punished for praying in a chapel; years later, after her second marriage failed, Galloway felt cynical about religion but still turned back to spirituality. In “Practice,” Galloway learns to accept responsibility for her actions after dealing with a car crash at a Buddhist monastery. These relatable stories of hardship are funny and moving and will appeal to those who are open to Galloway’s guidance. [em](BookLife) [/em]