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Karen Maezen Miller

Goodreads Author

Born

Santa Monica, CA

Website

http://www.karenmaezenmiller.com

Twitter

kmaezenmiller

Genre

Spirituality,Memoir,Self Help

Member Since

August 2007

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Karen Maezen Miller is a Zen Buddhist priest and teacher at the Hazy Moon Zen Center in Los Angeles. She is the author of Paradise in Plain Sight: Lessons from a Zen Garden, Hand Wash Cold: Care Instructions for an Ordinary Life and Momma Zen: Walking the Crooked Path of Motherhood. She leads retreats around the country.

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Karen Maezen Miller’s books

Average rating: 4.06 · 3,021 ratings · 473 reviews ·6 distinct works •Similar authors

	Momma Zen: Walking the Crooked Path of Motherhood 4.14 avg rating — 1,549 ratings — published 2006 — 9 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Hand Wash Cold: Care Instructions for an Ordinary Life 3.84 avg rating — 975 ratings — published 2010 — 7 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Paradise in Plain Sight: Lessons from a Zen Garden 4.36 avg rating — 390 ratings — published 2014 — 5 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Maternal Is Political: Women Writers at the Intersection of Motherhood and Social Change by Shari MacDonald Strong(Goodreads Author)(Editor), Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner(Foreword), Judith Stadtman Tucker(Contributor) 3.99 avg rating — 109 ratings — published 2008 — 9 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Blick ins Paradies: Leben lernen im Zen-Garten 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Momma Zen 1st (first) edition Text Only 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Karen Maezen Miller's Blog

only connect

Last week I met with a friend on Zoom. The caller said that she didn’t have anything in particular to talk about, but that she just wanted to keep the connection between us. I applauded her. Connection, you might say, is everything.

But you know as well as I do: these days we’ve got connection all wrong. With phones, email, texting, DMs; meeting apps instead of meetings; patient portals instead

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Karen’s Recent Updates

Karen rated a bookreally liked it The Guest by Emma Cline	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
For the rubbernecker in you. Four stars because I did not look away.
Oct 11, 2024 12:47AM ·1 like·like ·see review
Karen rated a bookreally liked it Familiaris by David Wroblewski	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
I didn’t know the Sawtelles or the dogs or even what “familiaris” meant when I picked this up on the recommendation of a friend. Turns out it means just about everything: friendship, intimacy, loyalty, family, and domestication its its most profound ...more
Oct 01, 2024 02:57AM ·like ·see review
Karen rated a bookreally liked it The Sympathizer (The Sympathizer, #1) by Viet Thanh Nguyen(Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Aug 28, 2024 08:25AM ·like
Karen rated a bookreally liked it Long Island (Eilis Lacey, #2) by Colm Tóibín	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
An odd kind of distance pervades the story in this book. You hear character's thoughts although spoken words and actions are scarce. To that end, you are stuck in the pall of uncertainty that afflicts people trapped by the decisions and indecisions o ...more
Aug 27, 2024 04:27AM ·like ·see review
Karen rated a bookit was amazing Trust by Hernan Diaz(Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
This is a very clever book, a trompe l'oeil of sorts that reveals the layers of fiction in what we take as real: money, people, power, and history, to name just a few of our collective illusions. The real rub comes at the end, when the false stories ...more
Aug 27, 2024 01:47AM ·like ·see review
Karen rated a bookreally liked it Long Island (Eilis Lacey, #2) by Colm Tóibín	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
An odd kind of distance pervades the story in this book. You hear character's thoughts although spoken words and actions are scarce. To that end, you are stuck in the pall of uncertainty that afflicts people trapped by the decisions and indecisions o ...more
Aug 12, 2024 11:53PM ·like ·see review
Karen rated a bookit was amazing North Woods by Daniel Mason(Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Unlike anything I’ve ever read: genre-defying historical fiction. The author takes a house in New England and writes utterly convincing chapters from the perspective of each occupant over centuries, replicating the style of each era. Sounds stuffy bu ...more
Aug 01, 2024 11:45PM ·like ·see review
Karen rated a bookit was amazing In My Time of Dying: How I Came Face to Face with the Idea of an Afterlife by Sebastian Junger(Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
A compulsive read about the lived experience of dying and a conscious moment of afterlife. It may be too medical for you, too spiritual, or too scientific, but it is the only account that the life-loving, risk-taking, fact-chasing Junger could have w ...more
Jul 08, 2024 06:25AM ·1 like·like ·see review
Karen is currently reading The Sympathizer (The Sympathizer, #1) by Viet Thanh Nguyen(Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Jun 19, 2024 07:28AM ·like
Karen rated a bookit was amazing Eastbound by Maylis de Kerangal	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
The last four novels I read ranged from 400-650 pages each, heavyweights in every since of the word, and yet this little slip of a novella bested them all in pacing, thrill, tension, drama, exhilaration, surprise, and yes, beauty. I heartily recommen ...more
Jun 19, 2024 07:03AM ·like ·see review

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Quotes by Karen Maezen Miller (?)

“You don't have to wait for happiness, because there's no time but now to be happy. You don't have to go somewhere else, because there's no place but here to find it. You don't have to do something else, because there's nothing more to it. You don't have to get something else, because everything you already have is enough. You just have to be happy....”
― Karen Maezen Miller, Momma Zen: Walking the Crooked Path of Motherhood

53 likes

“Your life is your practice. Your spiritual practice does not occur someplace other than in your life right now, and your life is nowhere other than where you are. You are looking for answers, insight, and wisdom that you already possess. Live the life in front of you, be the life you are, and see what you find out for yourself.”
― Karen Maezen Miller, Momma Zen: Walking the Crooked Path of Motherhood

tags: life, spirituality, zen

41 likes

“The life of a mother is the life of a child: you are two blossoms on a single branch.”
― Karen Maezen Miller, Momma Zen: Walking the Crooked Path of Motherhood

tags: children, life, motherhood, parenting

27 likes

See all Karen Maezen Miller's quotes »

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