Who: Sharon Lukert
What: an evening celebrating her new work, Until My Memory Fails Me: Mindfulness Practices for Cultivating Resilience and Self-Compassion in the Face of Cognitive Decline
Where: Pulpit Rock Brewing
When: Tuesday, 6/24 at 7pm
La Crosse author and Buddhist chaplain Sharon Lukert will give an author presentation and Q&A session followed by a book signing on Tuesday, June 24th at 7pm at the Pulpit Rock Brewing events room at 207 College Dr., Decorah. Everyone is invited to this free event sponsored by the Oneota Valley Literary Foundation and Decorah Zen Center, with support from Pulpit Rock Brewing and Dragonfly Books.
When Sharon Lukert was diagnosed with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI), she turned to spiritual practice and community to help her adjust to a new and ever-shifting reality. In Until My Memory Fails Me, she shares her hard-won wisdom as a guide for anyone standing at the gateway of cognitive decline.
Lukert’s groundbreaking mindfulness guide offers poignant storytelling and practical wisdom to build resilience against the emotional swings and existential fear of cognitive decline. It features over a dozen mindfulness and meditation exercises, such as The Handshake, Just Like Me, Open Awareness Meditation, and Tonglen (Lovingkindness) Meditation, alongside practical advice on understanding diagnoses, communicating with medical providers, addressing bias, and managing symptoms. Drawing from her experience as a Buddhist chaplain and the insights of her peers in the MCI community, Lukert provides stories, encouragement, and lessons valuable not only for those with MCI but also for individuals experiencing cognitive decline from other disorders, as well as their loved ones and caregivers.
Sharon Lukert has been living with Mild Cognitive Impairment due to Alzheimer’s Disease since her early diagnosis in 2021. She has devoted her time to understanding this condition and views her diagnosis as an opportunity for personal growth and outreach. With a background including various roles in healthcare, as a chaplain, a meditator, an educator, and meditation instructor she brings invaluable insights to her experience of living with a neurodegenerative disease. She integrates her extensive experience working with Alzheimer’s patients, decades of meditation practice, and training in emotional resilience into her life and her writing. She explains, “The book is intended to be an affirming guide to enhance a positive approach toward the emotional and spiritual aspects of facing a neurodegenerative disease.”
This event is part of Dragonfly Books and the Oneota Valley Literary Foundation’s robust author event series, which brings top-notch writers of all genres to Northeast Iowa to lead in conversations about literature and writing, and is co-hosted by the Decorah Zen Center (DZC), a project of Ryumonji Zen Monastery which fosters mindful awareness and a compassionate community through Soto Zen practice. Serving diverse lay practitioners in the Decorah area, DZC offers regular meditation, zazen instruction, and opportunities to study Buddhism’s history and practices. Through lectures, workshops, and group discussions, DZC deepens understanding of Soto Zen and encourages engagement with Ryumonji’s residential programs for further practice. To learn more about this event and other events with Dragonfly Books, visit www.dragonflybooks.com; to learn more about the Zen Center and its offerings, visit https://decorahzencenter.weebly.com.
If you find that you can’t make it to the event but would still like to purchase any books from this author talk, give Dragonfly Books a call at 563-382-4275. Our staff will be glad to reserve a book, have it autographed for you, and shipped out as needed.
