Finding value in our days

In 2003, Patti Digh’s stepfather, Boyce, was told he had lung cancer. He lasted 37 days. After caring for him in his final days at home, Digh asked herself: “What would I be doing today if I only had 37 days to live?”

One thing she decided to do was start a blog, www.37days.com, in which she wrote stories from her life, and what those stories taught her, for the benefit of her daughters, Emma (now 16) and Tess (now 5).

A sample: Always rent the red convertible. Let go of the monkey bars. Redefine normal.

The blog led to “Life is a Verb: 37 Days to Wake Up, Be Mindful, and Live Intentionally” (Skirt Publishing, $19.95), recently nominated by the Southern Independent Booksellers Association as one of the books they’ve most often recommended to customers.

Digh speaks today at the Georgia Cancer Foundation’s Celebration of Life, and Monday night at the Georgia Center for the Book. But we caught up with her recently at her home in Asheville, N.C., where Tess was home sick from school and Digh was slightly winded from rushing to get the phone while carrying laundry upstairs.

Q: This book emerged out of your blog, which is of course the dream of every blogger. How did that happen?

A: The publisher came to me. My intention was not to write a book and my intention was not to get a large audience for my blog. My intention was very one-minded, to write these stories down for my girls. It’s been a great lesson for me in the power of the single intention. Had I gone after blog readers and a publisher, I’m not sure this would have had the kind of life that it has.

Q: Do you see “Life is a Verb” as a self-help book?

A: My friends all laugh because I so recoil from the self-help category. But it is actually a book that helps people. My publisher says this is sort of a new category, part inspiration, part how-to, part memoir.

Q: There’s so much about mindfulness in the book. Did you get that from Buddhism?

A: People ask that a lot. I lived in Sri Lanka when I was 16 as an exchange student and studied with Buddhist monks. So while I wouldn’t consider myself a practicing Buddhist, I think it’s just how I see the world. There’s been a lot of people who have responded from a spiritual place.

Q: And yet you’re not writing about what is usually called spirituality, let alone religion.

A: We wait for these great moments in our lives: anniversaries, graduations. What I came to is the idea we should have awe for breakfast preparation or doing the laundry, imbuing everyday activities with a sense of reverence. Those things that we call mundane are actually the soul of who we are.

Q: Do people in your own life expect you now to be in a Zen-like state of calm?

A: If you talked to my immediate family they would laugh and laugh at that question. At first I got kind of weirded out that I was going to show up at readings and disappoint people, because I don’t speak like I write in the book. I show up as just this middle-aged woman. But there’s a lot of response to the normality. Here’s this person struggling with raising children, clutter. So if its possible for her to achieve this kind of understanding, then I can too.

EXCERPT

“What one thing could you do that would start you on the road to greater wholeness, to your real life? Can you do it for just 37 days? Because, as writer Annie Dillard reminds us, ‘How we spend our days is how we spend our lives.’

“Perhaps it’s something simple like cleaning out one drawer every day in your house for 37 days. Perhaps writing one haiku every day for 37 days. … Or eating five fruits and vegetables a day or writing for 10 minutes each day or walking for 10 minutes a day or writing a postcard to a friend each week. … Whatever it is, however small, just do it. Just for 37 days.”

AUTHOR APPEARANCES

Patti Digh

> >Speaking at Georgia Cancer Foundation Celebration of Life luncheon and fashion show. 10:30 a.m. today. InterContinental Hotel, 3315 Peachtree St. Tickets: $75. Information: 770-640-5529.

> >Reading and signing “Life is a Verb.” 7:15 p.m. Monday, Decatur Library, 215 Sycamore St., Decatur. Free.

SELF-HELP HITS

Self-help is a category created by publishers that encompasses a staggering variety of approaches and topics. Here is a small sampling of self-help books that have broken through to different audiences.

> “The Last Lecture,” by Randy Pausch (2008). Popular professor at Carnegie Mellon, dying of pancreatic cancer, gave a lecture in 2006 titled “Achieving Your Childhood Dreams” that became a huge YouTube video and a book.

> “The Secret,” by Rhonda Byrne (2006). Phenomenally popular, somewhat controversial best-seller about envisioning yourself as successful to achieve wealth and happiness.

> “The Purpose Driven Life” by Rick Warren (2002). Pastor Warren’s frequently gifted guide to living a better Christian life is now famous for its opening line (“It’s not about you”) and the millions of Christians who have used it as a study guide.

> “Who Moved My Cheese?” by Spencer Johnson (1998). Extended parable of a mouse in a maze (that’s you, in your life) teaches that change is inevitable, and your attitude determines whether it’s a blessing or a curse.

> “All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten,” by Robert Fulghum (1988). Unitarian minister posits that simple truths are the most important.

—- Phil Kloer