This One Wild and Precious Life: The Path Back to Connection in a Fractured World

by Sarah Wilson

Overview

Notes From Your Bookseller

A book for our times. Sarah Wilson addresses the loneliness we all feel without the social contact that defines most of us. How can we find connection with others and the outside world when most of our time is spent inside our homes? Wilson looks at the spiritual side of "aloneness" and shows the reader how fulfilling it can be.

As seen in USA Today's hottest releases and The Washington Post's 10 New Books Spotlight

“Sarah Wilson is a force of nature – quite literally. She has taken her pain and grief about our sick and troubled world and alchemized it into action, advocacy, adventure, poetry, and true love.” — ELIZABETH GILBERT

Wake up and reclaim your one wild and precious life. New York Times bestselling author Sarah Wilson shows you how in this radical spiritual guidebook, the book we need NOW.

Many of us are living with the sense that things are not right with the world and are in a state of spiritual PTSD. We have retreated, morally and psychologically; we are experiencing a crisis of disconnection—from one another, from our true values, from joy, and from life as we feel we are meant to be living it. Sarah Wilson argues that this sense of despair and disconnection is ironically what unites us—that deep down, we are all feeling that same itch for a new way of living. Drawing on science, literature, philosophy and the wisdom of some of the world’s leading experts, and her personal journey, Wilson offers a hopeful path forward to the life we love. En route, she shows us how to wake up and reconnect with life using “wild practices” that include:

·         Hike. Embrace the “walking cure” as great minds throughout history have.

·         Go to your edge. Do what scares you and embrace discomfort daily.

·         #Buylesslivemore. Break the cycle of mindless consumption and get light with your life.

·         Become a soul nerd. Light up your intellect with the arts.

·         Get “full-fat spiritual”. Have an active practice and use it to change the world.

·         Practice wild activism. Through sustained, non-violent protest we can create our better world.

The time has come to boldly, wildly imagine better. We are being called upon, individually and as a society, to forge a new path and to find a new way of living. Will you join the journey?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062962973
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	12/29/2020
Pages:	352
Sales rank:	260,544
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 7.90(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Sarah Wilson is the author of the New York Times bestsellers First, We Make the Beast Beautiful: A New Journey Through Anxiety, which redefined the mental health genre, and I Quit Sugar, along with eleven cookbooks that have been published in fifty-two countries. Previously, she was editor of Cosmopolitan Australia, host of MasterChef Australia and founder of iquitsugar.com, an 8-week program that has seen millions worldwide break their sugar addiction. In May 2018, Sarah committed to giving all proceeds from the business to charity. She now builds and enables charity projects that engage humans with one another, and campaigns on mental health, consumerism, and climate issues. Sarah lives in Sydney, Australia, is an obsessive hiker and spent eight years travelling the world with one bag.

Table of Contents

First… 1

Our crisis of connection 17

All the lonely people 18

A pub-to-pub walk: Dorset-Somerset-Wilshire, England 29

The scrolling, the bloody scrolling. 35

The C-bomb 48

The Heididorf hike, Switzerland 64

The elephant in the room 76

A path for our souls 93

A brief bridging chapter 94

The Royal National Park hike, Sydney, Australia 102

Cultivate big kindness like a Greek 106

The Samariá Gorge trail, Crete, Greece 108

Become a soul nerd 122

The Lake District hike, Cumbria, England 123

Go to your edge 136

The Julian Alps hike, Slovenia 150

Hike, just hike. 152

The White Mountain trail, Crete, Greece 165

Get full-fat spiritual 173

Joshua Tree National Park hike, California, USA 176

Now we change the world 189

Show up to your appointment 190

The Grose Valley hike, the Blue Mountains, Australia 196

Start where you are 209

#Buylesslivemore 216

St. Ives to Penzance hike, England 237

Pay attention! think! 243

The Cradle Mountain hike, Tasmania 252

Get antifragile 259

The Kumano Kodo pilgrimage walk, Japan 263

Be comfortable not knowing 272

Forest bathing hike, Topanga Canyon, Los Angeles, California, USA 282

A flâneur in Paris (in which history repeats itself) 286

Get wild 291

Wadi Rum hike, Jordan 293

Become adult 313

The John Muir Trail, Sierra Nevada, California, USA 326

Home 330

You can find more on my website* 343

Text acknowledgments 343

Editorial Reviews

10/19/2020

Anxiety and disconnection are natural consequences of overconsumptive modern life, argues Australian journalist Wilson (First, We Make the Beast Beautiful) in this vibrant take on how to build a more joyful existence and sustainable world. After describing the crises of unfettered capitalism, Covid-19, and climate change, Wilson assures readers that happiness and peace are still possible even though “human-made clusterfucks of the Anthropocene are now fundamentally too big to wrap our heads around, control or fix.” To that end, she ponders axioms to live by, particularly Erich Fromm’s call to “live life as a study of love and work.” She outlines techniques to find spiritual connection and purpose, including small suggestions (avoid mindless scrolling on a phone, for instance) and more involved practices to incorporate into one’s life (such as exploring nature, which she illustrates through many anecdotes of her own hiking trips). The author ranges widely, interspersing personal stories with interviews, scientific research, and quotes from religious texts, making for a reading experience that has the feel of an impassioned conversation with a friend: “To be clear, I am not optimistic. Unlike pessimism and optimism, hope necessitates action.” Wilson’s engaging prose and timely advice will appeal to those who enjoyed Matt Haig’s Notes on a Nervous Planet. (Dec.)

Publishers Weekly

Sarah Wilson is a force of nature – quite literally. She has taken her pain and grief about our sick and troubled world and alchemized it into action, advocacy, adventure, poetry, and true love. She’s a great teacher and a great leader, and I admire her with all my soul.” — Elizabeth Gilbert

“I’ve encountered no other book that articulates with so much passion or clarity the unique feeling of this moment in history–a time of anxiety, and often despair, but that nonetheless pulsates with the possibility of a radically different, uplifting and awe-filled future. This One Wild and Precious Life is the ideal guidebook for our long overdue journey back to nature, to each other, and to sanity in the deepest sense of the word.” — Oliver Burkeman, author of Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals

"This practical actionable, spiritual guidebook proposes a path to joy even amid pandemics, climate change, social injustice, and other profound crises." — USA Today

"Wilson explores why it's worth it to take the risk and move past the comfortable, assuring her readers that doing this is how we find meaning—and hope." — Spirituality and Health magazine

“Anxiety and disconnection are natural consequences of overconsumptive modern life, argues Australian journalist Wilson (First, We Make the Beast Beautiful) in this vibrant take on how to build a more joyful existence and sustainable world. […] The author ranges widely, interspersing personal stories with interviews, scientific research, and quotes from religious texts, making for a reading experience that has the feel of an impassioned conversation with a friend […] engaging prose and timely advice.” — Publishers Weekly

“Her thought-provoking call to action shines light on the personal fog and spiritual trauma experienced while living with consumerism, climate change, COVID-19, social injustice, and collective anxiety. […] this book is inspiring.”  — Booklist

“This may be one of the first books that culminates in the events of 2020 and offers a solution for moving forward….[ Wilson’s] stories are fascinating and her message is universal and hopeful. Readers with wanderlust will be inspired by her journey and calls to action.” — Library Journal

“Sarah Wilson is a traveler of worlds, outer and inner. And her reports from the journey are both intensely personal and germane to a sick and distracted world. In the midst of the collective malaise, she zeros in on her determination to live her life, not someone else’s, and on the work to which we are all summoned if this species is to survive. Her work is, as the world is, both wild and precious.” — James Hollis, Ph.D., Jungian analyst and author of Living Between Worlds: Finding Personal Resilience in Changing Times

“The inchoate sense that something is missing— something related to connection and community and meaning— nags at many of us. This book has some smart suggestions for how to move out of that purgatory, and perhaps, in the process, help build a world that works." — Bill McKibben, author of Falter: Has the Human Game Begun to Play Itself Out?

“The timing of this book couldn’t be more critical. Sarah takes us on a series of wild hikes around the world and shows us how inherently connected to nature we truly are, while also shedding light on how desperately we need to find a new path in our changing world. Wild and Precious speaks to my soul.”  — Emilie Ristevski, wilderness photographer @helloemilie

From the Publisher

Sarah Wilson is a force of nature – quite literally. She has taken her pain and grief about our sick and troubled world and alchemized it into action, advocacy, adventure, poetry, and true love. She’s a great teacher and a great leader, and I admire her with all my soul.

Elizabeth Gilbert

Her thought-provoking call to action shines light on the personal fog and spiritual trauma experienced while living with consumerism, climate change, COVID-19, social injustice, and collective anxiety. […] this book is inspiring.” 

Booklist

"Wilson explores why it's worth it to take the risk and move past the comfortable, assuring her readers that doing this is how we find meaning—and hope."

Spirituality and Health magazine

The timing of this book couldn’t be more critical. Sarah takes us on a series of wild hikes around the world and shows us how inherently connected to nature we truly are, while also shedding light on how desperately we need to find a new path in our changing world. Wild and Precious speaks to my soul.” 

Emilie Ristevski

Sarah Wilson is a traveler of worlds, outer and inner. And her reports from the journey are both intensely personal and germane to a sick and distracted world. In the midst of the collective malaise, she zeros in on her determination to live her life, not someone else’s, and on the work to which we are all summoned if this species is to survive. Her work is, as the world is, both wild and precious.

James Hollis

The inchoate sense that something is missing— something related to connection and community and meaning— nags at many of us. This book has some smart suggestions for how to move out of that purgatory, and perhaps, in the process, help build a world that works."

Bill McKibben

"This practical actionable, spiritual guidebook proposes a path to joy even amid pandemics, climate change, social injustice, and other profound crises."

USA Today

"This practical actionable, spiritual guidebook proposes a path to joy even amid pandemics, climate change, social injustice, and other profound crises."

USA Today

Her thought-provoking call to action shines light on the personal fog and spiritual trauma experienced while living with consumerism, climate change, COVID-19, social injustice, and collective anxiety. […] this book is inspiring.” 

Booklist

11/20/2020

Australian author Wilson (First, We Make the Beast Beautiful), best known for creating the "I Quit Sugar" movement, examines loneliness and isolation in our divided, technology-obsessed world. She takes readers on a multiyear "soul's journey" with contemplative stops at her favorite hiking and vacation spots, like an Eat, Pray, Love for COVID-rattled people. Topics covered include dating, technology, capitalism, and politics. She explores the need now more than ever for connection between humans and offers suggestions and exercises to help reconnect with others and ourselves. VERDICT This may be one of the first books that culminates in the events of 2020 and offers a solution for moving forward. Although Wilson comes across as a bit rambling and even privileged at times, her stories are fascinating and her message is universal and hopeful. Readers with wanderlust will be inspired by her journey and calls to action.—Jennifer Clifton, Indiana State Lib., Indianapolis

Library Journal