Hello

It’s been several months since I emailed you with News and Updates on my website. The main reason for the delay is that I’ve been busy writing a new book.

Although I’ve been teaching meditation most of my adult like, run retreats, hosted local groups, made videos on the subject, and produced an online course, I have never written down all that I teach and have discovered. So I decided it was time to put it all together in a book. It’s provisionally titled How to Meditate Without Even Trying, the same as my online course, which I know some of you have taken. But it will cover much more than the course.

The book focuses on the practices I’ve found most helpful for quietening the mind, being more present, and nurturing the inner calm so many of us long for in our busy lives. It offers simple ways to make meditation easier, more effective, and also more enjoyable.

I’m excited by the way it has come together, and I’ve very much enjoyed the process— which is not always the case with writing a book. I have now completed the second draft, which is close to the final version. There’s a few more edits to do, and a bit of polishing, then I hope it will be done.

I’m not sure of the publication date yet, that depends on publishers. It will be sometime in 2025. Needless to say, I’ll let you know when it’s available.

PeterBot

My personal chatbot, PeterBot, continues to amaze me. For those not familiar with PeterBot, it’s a Chatbot, like ChatGPT, but one with access to all my writings, talks, recordings, and videos from the last fifty years. So you can ask a “virtual me” questions on any aspect of my work.

To my initial surprise, it started coming up with better answers than I would given—probably because it had all my work at its “fingertips” (so to speak), whereas I tend to think about only one or two aspects at a time, and I may also have forgotten some things that I’ve said or wrote. In addition, PeterBot’s answers seem to be improving with time,

There are now 1200 people who’ve used it, and, from the feedback I’ve received, most are similarly impressed.

If you haven’t tried it yet, give it a go. It’s at peterrussell.com/peterbot

I’m now on Substack

As you may have noticed, this is coming from Substack, which offers more benefits than a simple email list. You can share posts with others, access past content, leave “Likes,” and more.

Since you were subscribed to my previous email list, I have automatically subscribed you here. As always, you can unsubscribe anytime (see below).

I plan to post articles here regularly. So stay tuned.

Peter