The Book of Mindfulness: Finding Mindfulness in Unexpected Places

Greatwoods Zen and the Charlotte Center for Mindfulness have partnered to offer a unique and engaging book club exploring mindfulness as it appears—sometimes intentionally, sometimes unexpectedly—through literature.

Each month, we read and discuss books where mindfulness is a major theme. These may be classic mindfulness texts, or works of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, mythology, biography, autobiography, or personal memoir. Again and again, examples of presence, awareness, and insight emerge in literature—often in surprising ways. Discovering these moments together can be a special delight.

Each gathering begins with a short meditation, followed by a group discussion of our monthly reading.

Current Reading Theme
For our upcoming gathering, we’ll be reading The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin.

Both a powerful evocation of Baldwin’s early life in Harlem and an honest examination of the consequences of racial injustice, the book is an intensely personal and provocative work that has become a classic of American literature. When published in 1963, it galvanized the nation, gave voice to the emerging civil rights movement, and continues to illuminate the complexities of race in America today.

The book is available through the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library and is also included in several collected works by Baldwin. If you have a library card, you can listen to the audiobook on Hoopla. It can also be found online at affordable prices through sellers such as ThriftBooks or eBay.

Questions
Mike Davis – [davismj001@gmail.com](mailto:davismj001@gmail.com)
Will Ritchey – [wjritcheydesign@gmail.com](mailto:wjritcheydesign@gmail.com)

Dana / Donations
This offering is supported by generosity. If you feel moved to contribute, you’re welcome to donate to either or both partner organizations:

Greatwoods Zen:
https://www.greatwoodszen.org/dana
Charlotte Center for Mindfulness:
https://www.ccmindful.org/donate.html

Location TBD. Please mark your calendars — final details will be shared closer to the date.

For updates and future offerings, you can email Michael Davis at [davismj001@gmail.com](mailto:davismj001@gmail.com) to join The Book of Mindfulness newsletter.

All are welcome—whether you’ve read the whole book, read a few passages that caught your interest, didn’t have a chance to open the book at all, are new to mindfulness, new to book discussions, or simply curious. We look forward to practicing and reflecting together.