Sam Harris, Love of My Life

When I discovered the audiobook, I was smitten. I now tend to gravitate towards the “reading” experiences that involve literary nuggets, spoon-fed to my ear drums. I’ve tried to like books, I really have. Hardback or paperback, they never seem to actually make it out of my backpack. This love of the audiobook was especially true when I heard Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality Without Religion, a book written and narrated by the neuroscientist, philosopher, and auditory dreamboat, Sam Harris.

If you want to truly experience the intellectual massage that is Sam Harris’ velvety, butter voice, then please, take a listen.

At first listen, I knew I was having a come-to-Harris-moment:

“Our minds are all we have. They are all we have ever had. And they are all we can offer others. This might not be obvious, especially when there are aspects of your life that seem in need of improvement — when your goals are unrealized, or you are struggling to find a career, or you have relationships that need repairing. But it’s the truth. Every experience you have ever had has been shaped by your mind. Every relationship is as good or as bad as it is because of the minds involved. If you are perpetually angry, depressed, confused, and unloving, or your attention is elsewhere, it won’t matter how successful you become or who is in your life — you won’t enjoy any of it.”

He was describing exactly how I had been feeling, explaining everything to me in such captivating and crazy-intelligent detail. As the words echoed through my ears, I wanted to pause and linger on every other sentence, savoring this man’s academic research and life experience.

It’s become my go-to for times when I need to center myself and feel delightfully insignificant.

Not to go all Hare Krishna on you, but this dude is my favorite.