Sunday MARIA SHRIVER With...
The journalistadvocate on her favorite day of the week and how she finds peace in the midst of a very busy life
Maria Shriver, 62, was born to
do things: Her dad, diplomat and politician Sargent Shriver, founded the Peace Corps. Her mom, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, sister to President John F. Kennedy, founded the Special Olympics. Maria herself has racked up top broadcasting awards and served as California’s first lady (in 2011, she split from then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger) and launched the Women’s Alzheimer’s Movement. And now, in a new book, I’ve Been Thinking: Reflections, Prayers, and Meditations for a Meaningful Life (out Feb. 27), the NBC News contributor hits pause. She recently talked to Parade about the softer tempo of Sundays and the joys of being still. Your new book is about the quest for meaning. Why this topic? A lot of insight came to me in midlife, when things start to happen, sometimes in rapid succession as they did for me. Your mom gets sick, your kids have issues, you lose your job, you lose your marriage, your mom dies, your dad dies. Everybody’s going to have twists and turns in life, no matter how good you are or who you are—and how you navigate them makes a difference.
What would you most like your grown kids to take away from this book? That I’m a survivor and they are too. It’s OK to fall down. Your circle— faith, family and friends—will lift you up. I also want them to see that you can be loving even when you’re hurt and graceful even when you don’t feel it.
Did you tap your journalism skills for your book? Yes. I turned a lot of my questioning onto myself and in doing that opened more of my interior life.
You seem so naturally meditative for a busy person. I’m not! If you had told me 10 years ago that I could sit in the quiet for 15 or 20 minutes every morning, I’d have told you that you were out of your mind because I couldn’t sit still for a minute. Now when I go to bed, I look forward to getting up to meditate.
Why did you name your digital newsletter “Sunday Paper”? On Sundays you have a different tempo. People don’t call. You absorb information differently.
What’s your typical Sunday like? It’s my favorite day of the week because it combines a lot of what I love: church (my own or a Bible group my son has), the farmers’ market, exercise, talking to my brothers and food. It ends with a big family dinner with my kids and whoever they want to bring.
What are you most optimistic about in the fight against Alzheimer’s? I’m super excited that people like Bill Gates and young neuroscientists are jumping into this space, and about how we’re using technology to track data and look beyond what hasn’t worked.