Renowned Buddhist meditation teacher Sharon Salzberg’s first book on meditation was Lovingkindness: The Revolutionary Art of Happiness, which she penned in 1995. Since then, she has written a book almost every two years, in addition to audio programs and countless articles. This year marks the tenth anniversary of Salzberg’s New York Times bestselling book Real Happiness: The Power of Meditation.
Her prolific writing stems from her personal practice. “I find that the most creative time I have is when I do meditation—sitting or walking. I’m not trying to resolve a dilemma or figure something out. It’s just that in the process of meditating, a greater spaciousness is created in my mind, and that’s when the creative solution or next step for something appears naturally.”
She first dove deep into Buddhism while taking an Asian philosophy course as a college sophomore in Buffalo, New York. A basic tenet of Buddhism, that suffering is part of life, served as a liberating philosophy for Salzberg and pointed her in the direction of her life’s path.
“I had a tumultuous and traumatic child hood and in my …