We have eagerly awaited the moment for author and Dobbs Ferry resident Jessie Kazner to release her book Don't Just Sit There, Do NOTHING. Now that the time has arrived, all are invited to HudCo for a night to celebrate.
In collaboration with our favorite independent bookstore Picture Book, we are putting together a launch party fit for such a momentous occasion. Your ticket includes a signed copy of the book and a seat for the reading and Q&A with Jessie, along with an sound bowl healing led by Jennifer Vagios!
$30 for HudCo members, $40 for public. Proof of vaccination and masks are required.
About the Author, Jessie Kanzer
We live in a time when it is hard to know what's enough. Are we doing enough? Do we have enough? Have we watched/read/consumed enough? It seems that there’s always something more we can be doing to better ourselves or our lives.
Author Jessie Kanzer knew this feeling all too well, but when she discovered the Tao Te Ching, she was able to rebuild herself and her life by learning how to do one thing: nothing.
In Don't Just Sit There, DO NOTHING: Healing, Chilling, and Living with the Tao Te Ching, Jessie offers 47 inspirational pieces that are smart, hip, accessible, and rich with insight. They’re based on her own journey of hardship and triumph, woven together with mindfulness.
Jessie came to post-Cold War America as a child refugee from Russia, spent years battling a debilitating eating disorder and depression, and always struggled to find her true place. Then, she discovered the healing power of the Tao Te Ching—a simple philosophy from 6th century B.C. China—and she slowly learned how to rebuild herself and her life. In Don’t Just Sit There, Do NOTHING Jessie shares verses from the Tao, followed by sharp observations and anecdotes from her life that give the teachings of Lao Tzu applicability to contemporary times. Each chapter concludes with a “Do Your Tao” section that offers an actionable step, leaving the reader with a sense of grounding and fluidity.
“The Tao Te Ching constantly urges us to shift our way of seeing things, ‘See with original purity, embrace with original simplicity; reduce what you have, decrease what you want.’ This call to minimalism starts within—it is a simplification of our frantic energy, a re-focusing, which, ironically, makes it much easier to get what we want,” Jessie states. “Because when you shift the inside, the outside begins to match it.”
Praise for Don't Just Sit There, Do NOTHING
"An honest, magnificent journey of courage and insight. The unveiling of light in a way that illuminates the light in each of us. I think you will find a hero in this book. And that hero is you."
— Laura Day, New York Times Bestselling Author of Practical Intuition and The Circle
"Jessie Asya Kanzer's book is witty, wise, and wonderful. Don't just sit there, READ IT!"
—Dr. Tal Ben-Shahar, author of Happier and Being Happy
"She's at once frank, funny, poignant. I laughed out loud and nodded in agreement as I wiped away a tear."
—Jen Pastiloff, author of the national bestseller On Being Human
