My Book (available now in paperback)

and a little story on how it came to be.

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Hello, dear ones,

I wrote a book in 2020 called Heart Minded, the paperback version is coming out on February 7th and is available for pre-order now (with a lovely discount online at Barnes and Noble until January 27th.)

I didn’t know how to write a book. I fumbled through the whole thing. I even went a bit mad. You could find me walking at dusk, through muddy fields, talking to myself. In the throws of writing it, I woke up one night to see a black panther sitting beside my bed, watching me, yawning, and then disappearing. Was I dreaming? I must have been, but I still don’t know the answer. My ribs burned with unbearable heat right over the heart, 24 hours a day, for months. Like the very skin containing it was tearing. It was an intense time. All this to say, I went into the dark belly to catch this book, or better, the dark belly came up to the surface for me to see it all. I pulled out the shadowy bits by the ankles so we didn’t have to live with these parts running recklessly around, bruising us from the inside. After I submitted the first draft to my editor, she said this book was for a very “sad and depressed reader.” We didn’t want that; we couldn’t bear to admit there was that part inside us, could we? But I wanted to go there, I wanted to say—look! You are made of all these parts! Shame be gone! Let nothing be hidden any longer! Help these abandoned parts belong! You are made for this reckoning! We all are. Hold my hand. You’ll be happy you did. There is joy in this life for you, love too, plenty of it, come over this bridge to find it with me. We’ve spent too long denying our experience. Time we outgrow this divided way and make friends with ourselves. Especially our hearts!

I want us to sprout wings from our wounds. To find joy in everything, in the glory of all of it. Especially the depressed and sad parts of each us. Your mettle, the spirited and resilient way you move through life, comes from looking at the entire spectrum of your humanity. The jubilant one in you lives hand and hand with a twisted, contorted darkness. I find that beautiful now, more than ever, for this side of me I have rejected has taught me everything I know about compassion and full-bodied living, love, care, fearlessness, and genuine reward in the name of truth. It has made me who I am, and I love being in the process with it daily.

That was the initial seed the book grew from— my wish to show others how beautiful all parts of us are. How necessary, how beloved. It is far more polished and orderly than its first few drafts, but I love its simplicity now. It’s approachable and warm and easily eaten bite by bite.That is the short version of how this book came to be. I hope you love it. I hope it came or has come when you needed it most. I hope you can feel me with you, holding your hand.

love,

Sarah

SALE January 26th and 27th:

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/

use code at checkout for 25% off book :

PREORDER25

*the discount is only for the paperback pre-order.