Introducing a New Book Club Video Series: Composting Competition and Moving Toward Compersion
Discussing Marie Thouin's new book, "What is Compersion?" with my metamour and fellow non-monogamous relationship coach, Salina Mae
I’m so excited about this new book club video series, Composting Competition, that my metamour Salina Mae and I decided to record and share with you as we discuss Marie Thouin's new book, "What is Compersion? Understanding Positive Empathy in Non-Monogamous Relationships." Salina and I are both relationship coaches supporting people practicing non-monogamy, we both have backgrounds in somatics and mindfulness, and we’re learning how to balance everyone’s needs as we both relate to Justin McGahan, MA, PhD, a therapist supporting polyamorous individuals and couples.
Justin is Salina’s husband, and Justin and I started dating in January of 2024, which is about the same time that Salina started working with Marie Thouin as her personal coach. We’re incredibly grateful to Marie for her work in the world, and for blessing this project.
As Salina and I read and reflect on this book together, we’ll be sharing more about our own journeys to cultivate compersion as well as our struggles with jealousy.
In this first video, we discuss the book’s introduction, the foreword by Jessica Fern, as well as our intentions for the project and how it came to life:
Recording this project was inspired by the “Peek Our Polycule” online event I produced with Salina, Justin, my anchor partner Skye, and other members of our polycule as part of the Week of Visibility for Non-Monogamy.
I see this book club video series project as an opportunity to deepen trust and intimacy within our polycule, build more rapport, safety and understanding between Salina and I as metamours, and show an example of the kind of open-hearted relating that’s possible when we expand beyond monogamy and widen our scope of care to include a wider relationship ecosystem.
Some excerpts about compersion from this first video…
Thank you, Marie
We are so grateful to lean on your passion, research, and labor of love as a tool for us in such a meaningful and vulnerable way. Learn more about Marie’s work at whatiscompersion.com
Read With Us
Consider getting a copy of the book, reading along with us, and sharing your reflections on compersion and jealousy.
The two key research questions Marie asked her participants in this book are:
What is the experience of compersion?
What factors impact compersion?
I would love to hear your answers to either question in the comments below: