When I think of someone with a courageous heart, a clear mind, and a deep sense of wisdom, I think of Katherine Jenkins, the author of the book and blog Lessons from the Monk I Married. I met Kathy through our mutual friend, Sharni, another beautiful writer. Immediately, I found her to be warm, caring, and wholly confident in her essence. We started reading one another’s writing and cheering for each other along the way. I’m so proud and pleased to know her and now you have the chance to know her, too. Her book arrives into the world today.
In this year when I am exploring my own leap into a new phase of my life and career, I’m spending a lot of time drawing inspiration from people like Kathy who took a leap and never looked down. She took a leap for love, which might just be the most frightening kind of leap of all. I am fascinated by her story of meeting her husband, then a monk in a Korean monastery, by chance and the many years of back and forth emotions that they both felt. They would spend short periods of time together and then long stretches of time apart. And despite the hardship, they always found their way back to each other.
None of it was easy and their path was not apparent nor inevitable. It was rocky, long, and exceedingly difficult. Eventually, Kathy left. She closed the door and meant it. She went inside to find the true seed that lived inside her own heart, the seed that exists without any outside influence. And in the midst of that clear-eyed discovery, her love took a leap, too – right into their new life together.
And the road doesn’t end there. This doesn’t mean that it was smooth sailing from that moment on out. The road was still rocky, long, and exceedingly difficult. They both had to maintain their individual commitment to find a way forward together. They struggled with finding employment, building a business, getting to know one another as a true couple, forging friendships together, and eventually making the move from Korea back to the Pacific Northwest of the U.S.
Their perseverance and ability to remain open and honest, with themselves and with each other, is staggeringly beautiful and inspiring. If you need to believe in love, dreams, and the quest for a life infused with meaning, Kathy wrote a book for you. Author Anne Lamott wrote the wise words, “Toni Morrison said, ‘The function of freedom is to free someone else,’ and if you are no longer wracked or in bondage to a person or a way of life, tell your story. Risk freeing someone else.” And that’s just what Kathy did.
Lessons from the Monk I Married is now available on Amazon and at retailers everywhere.
Christa Avampato 