Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times (Unabridged)
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4.4 • 88 Ratings
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
THE RUNAWAY NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - AS HEARD ON NPR MORNING EDITION AND ON BEING WITH KRISTA TIPPETT
“Katherine May opens up exactly what I and so many need to hear but haven't known how to name.” —Krista Tippett, On Being
“Every bit as beautiful and healing as the season itself. . . . This is truly a beautiful book.” —Elizabeth Gilbert
"Proves that there is grace in letting go, stepping back and giving yourself time to repair in the dark...May is a clear-eyed observer and her language is steady, honest and accurate—capturing the sense, the beauty and the latent power of our resting landscapes." —Wall Street Journal
From the bestselling author of the New York Times bestseller Enchantment: Awakening Wonder in an Anxious Age, this is an intimate, revelatory exploration of the ways we can care for and repair ourselves when life knocks us down.
Sometimes you slip through the cracks: unforeseen circumstances like an abrupt illness, the death of a loved one, a break up, or a job loss can derail a life. These periods of dislocation can be lonely and unexpected. For May, her husband fell ill, her son stopped attending school, and her own medical issues led her to leave a demanding job. Wintering explores how she not only endured this painful time, but embraced the singular opportunities it offered.
A moving personal narrative shot through with lessons from literature, mythology, and the natural world, May's story offers instruction on the transformative power of rest and retreat. Illumination emerges from many sources: solstice celebrations and dormice hibernation, C.S. Lewis and Sylvia Plath, swimming in icy waters and sailing arctic seas.
Ultimately Wintering invites us to change how we relate to our own fallow times. May models an active acceptance of sadness and finds nourishment in deep retreat, joy in the hushed beauty of winter, and encouragement in understanding life as cyclical, not linear. A secular mystic, May forms a guiding philosophy for transforming the hardships that arise before the ushering in of a new season.
Customer Reviews
Nice Book
I purchased the audio book. I thought it was well organized and so pleasant to listen to. If you are going through troubling times, this is a nice read (or listen) and can help explain some of your physical and mental reactions to life’s inevitable shocks and stresses. It provides some different ways to deal with acute turmoil but mostly it acknowledges the need to pause, disconnect and winter. Wintering for healing is on your timeline not what others think the timeline should be.
One of the best books of our time
This book came to me at the precisely perfect time. I was already deeply entrenched in my own version of wintering. I found the similarities of the authors experience of wintering to my own to be uncanny, as I too, became ill (injured) and had to retire from my career far earlier than anticipated in order to heal. The time period that ensued was a stunning life review that brought me through a winding pathway with many twists and turns of grief, anger, fear, depression and despair. It was through this “winter” that I began to recognize its significance and importance to my life as a whole. I am incredibly grateful to have had these experiences validated so eloquently through the words of Katherine May.
The audiobook came second to reading the hard copy. I wanted to have it spoken to me… and it was so beautifully read.
I can’t recommend this book enough… especially to women post 20’s. It is an affirmation of the many ways that humans are figuring out how to exist during such a poignant time on this planet. It is an a testament of the relationship between humans and nature and how very important it is for humans to admire and respect the ways of nature— for they are a direct reflection of reality in it’s finest hours.
Just what I needed 💙
This audiobook is the first “adult age” book at 39 that was just for ME. And it brought every bit of what I needed as a woman, as a mother, sister, daughter, all of it. I even bought my sister a copy because I enjoyed it SO so much!
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