This blog comes from the intersection of my professional and personal life for which there has often been a blurry boundary. As I tell my students, I know that I’m reading for work because I have a pencil in my hand. I get to teach the works that I love as a professor of literature.

However, I reached a time in my life when I could no longer read for pleasure—except for one book, Jane Austen’s Persuasion. I was so anxious from family crises that I couldn’t process any other story. At the same time, I started reading about Buddhism. And suddenly, I made a connection. Austen and the Buddha understand the causes and cure for suffering in much the same way: mindfulness. 

The blog will explore anxiety, Buddhism, and the amazing Austen characters who navigate a world that is surprisingly similar to ours. Through Elizabeth, Emma, Anne, and more, we can gain insight into how we tend to create our own suffering and how we can stop. 

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