How to Be cover art

How to Be

A Monk and a Journalist Reflect on Living & Dying, Purpose & Prayer, Forgiveness & Friendship

Preview
Get this deal Try Premium Plus free
Offer ends 29 January 2026 at 11:59PM GMT.
Prime members: New to Audible? Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Just £0.99/mo for your first 3 months of Audible.
1 bestseller or new release per month—yours to keep.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, podcasts, and Originals.
Auto-renews at £8.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly.
Thousands of incredible audiobooks and podcasts to take wherever you go.
Immerse yourself in a world of storytelling with the Plus Catalogue - unlimited listening to thousands of select audiobooks, podcasts and Audible Originals.
£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

How to Be

By: Judith Valente, Paul Quenon OCSO, Kathleen Norris - foreword
Narrated by: Pam Ward
Get this deal Try Premium Plus free

£8.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly. Offer ends 29 January 2026 at 11:59PM GMT.

£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically.

Buy Now for £7.99

Buy Now for £7.99

LIMITED TIME OFFER | £0.99/mo for the first 3 months

Premium Plus auto-renews at £8.99/mo after 3 months. Terms apply.

About this listen

The spiritual seeker's guide to living with authenticity and integrity in troubled times.

This book is a dialogue between two spiritual seekers - one a Trappist monk and the other a married professional woman. It is two people "stuttering to articulate life's universal questions from diverse contexts and perspectives." Brother Paul writes as one steeped in silence and the daily rhythms of the ancient prayer practices of monasticism. Judith Valente writes as a professional woman attempting to bring a sense of prayer and contemplation to a scattered life in the secular world.

Valente uses the story of Brother Paul's interview for a PBS documentary as a jumping-off point: When asked the purpose of the Trappist life in the modern world, he said that it is "to show you don't need a purpose." The purpose of life, he said, is life. "You're to live your life."

How to Be offers a window into two people living their lives on purpose (or not) and struggling to come to terms with the big issues everyone faces: faith, mortality, mystery, prayer, and work. It is a book that provides insight and inspiration for those walking the spiritual path - particularly for those interested in the contemplative path.

©2021 Judith Valente and Paul Quenon; Foreword copyright 2021 by Kathleen Norris (P)2021 Tantor
Christian Living Christianity

Listeners also enjoyed...

Nineteen cover art
Mindful Silence cover art
Becoming a Healing Presence cover art
Giving Up Without Giving Up cover art
Keeping the Faith Without a Religion cover art
The Enduring Melody cover art
For the Love of God cover art
The Enoch Factor: The Sacred Art of Knowing God cover art
The Power of Silence cover art
Hunting Magic Eels cover art
Thomas Merton cover art
Swami Kriyananda: Lightbearer cover art
Holy Silence cover art
Here All Along cover art
Beholding cover art
The OMG Effect cover art
No reviews yet