Callings

How do we know if we’re following our true callings? How do we sharpen our senses to cut through the distractions of everyday life and hear the calls that are beckoning us?

Callings is the first book to examine the many kinds of calls we receive, and the great variety of channels through which they come to us. A calling may be to do something (change careers, go back to school, start or leave a relationship, move to the country, have a child) or calls to be something (more creative, less judgmental, more loving). You may be called toward or away from something, called to change or renew your commitment to something, or called to return to a place or pursuit in an entirely new way.

Whether your interest in callings is personal or professional, and whether the calls you hear are great trumpetings or the more common daily summonses to pay attention to your intuition, you will find this beautiful book an inspiration. It's a compassionate guide to discovering your own callings and negotiating the tight passages to personal power and authenticity.

Callings draws on the hard-won wisdom and powerful stories of people who have followed their own calls, to show the many ways to translate a calling into action.

While honoring a calling’s essential mystery, the book also guides readers to ask and answer the fundamental questions that bloom in the presence of any calling:

• How do we recognize it?
• How do we distinguish the true call from the siren-song?
• How do we handle our resistance to a call?
• What happens when we say no?
• What happens when we say yes?

Callings is a Selection of BOOK OF THE MONTH CLUB, QUALITY PAPERBACK BOOKS and ONE SPIRIT BOOK CLUB

Callings has been used as a text in:

• The Doctor of Management Degree in Organizational Leadership, University of Phoenix.
• The course entitled "The Art of Meaningful Work", Indiana University.
• A course called "Leadership Challenge," offered through the College of Business at the University of Texas/San Antonio.
• A course called "Finding and Following Your Life's Calling," and a course called "Personal and Social Responsibility", both at Boston College.
• A program called Professional Practice and Experiential Learning at the University of Cincinnati
• An Honors Program class (in Management and Accountancy) at the University of North Carolina/Asheville
• The Transformative Language Arts program at Goddard Graduate Institute, Goddard College, VT.
• A course called Career Counseling (part of the Masters Program in Counseling Psychology) at Sofia University, Palo Alto, CA.
• The course entitled “Personal and Professional Identity and Renewal”, Certificate Program in Spirituality, Health and Medicine at Bastyr University, Seattle, WA.
• A course entitled "Spirituality and Leisure" at DePaul University's School for New Learning in Chicago.
• A course entitled "Transformative Arts Seminar" at John F. Kennedy University near San Francisco.
• The Certificate Program in Individual and Organizational Coaching at the Hudson Institute, Santa Barbara, CA.
• A graduate psychology program called Mindfulness-Based Transpersonal Counseling at Naropa University in Boulder, CO.
• A course entitled "Career Development" at Red Rocks Community College in Denver, CO.
• A weeklong retreat at Esalen Institute in California called Right Livelihood Quest, facilitated by Simon Goland, in which the book is "required reading."
• The Chaplaincy Institute of Maine's 2-year program for Interfaith chaplains.
• A course entitled "The Call to Ministry," in the Masters of Divinity Program, Unity Church, Kansas City, MO.
• Callings is also rated among the "Top 20 Career Publications" by the Workforce Information Group (based on sales and usage).