Exactly what I needed to read and reflect upon during a dark and difficult time. ( )

The full title of the book includes the phrase, "Listening to the Voice of Vocation," which could mislead one (such as me) into thinking the book was about careers. But the book is really not about carreers, but about hearing and responding to your personal calling.. In spite of its short length, it is full of ideas and observations about connecting to our inner selves, the inner core of our being that helps give meaning and fulfillment in our lives.
An example of the kind of thinking found in this book comes from this question it poses, "Do you waste time on anger, or invest it in hope?"
The book is about growth and change, realizing that change is neither easy not fast, but instead recommends, "Changing as slowly as ripening fruit." The kind of personal change that is like ripening fruit is usually called "growth," and this book presents some excellent ideas about the change that develops only through growth.
In short, it is a wonderful and insightful read and I am very glad to have experienced it. ( )

I read this book a few years ago as part of my spiritual journey. It felt too simplistic for me. Initially, I thought it was because of the difficult part of my journey at the time. However, I've since read other stuff by Parker and thought back about this book, and I stand by my initial impressions that while this book might be good for some people, it doesn't have the depth necessary for people struggling with large issues. ( )

I ran across this book at work - they have adopted the Blue Zone Project and this title was on the extended reading list. It is a small book about 120 pages and I couldn't put it down. It explained God's purpose in creating us as individuals and how he gave us passion from the beginning that people and life tend to drill out of us thus causing us to doubt who we are and what we were made to do. -- There is a section about the author's bout with depression and ties it back into denying who we are.

There was also a new concept introduced that is used by the Quakers called a Clearness Committee which is a small group of trusted friends that help clarify your real problems by asking simple questions to direct you to a solution of your own making (read on pages 44-45).

Great read for college ages and above - it helped me remember what my true love is and now i'm finding ways to use it as a vocation.

Vocation does not come from a voice "out there" calling me to become something I am not. It comes from a voice "in here" calling me to be the person I was born to be, to fulfill the original selfhood given me at birth by God. (p10)

From the beginning, our lives lay down clues to selfhood and vocation,though the clues may be hard to decode. But trying to interpret them is profoundly worthwhile - especially when we are in our twenties or thirties or forties, feeling profoundly lost, having wandered, or been dragged far away from our birthright gifts. (p15)

DEPRESSION - ...many young people today journey in the dark as the young always have, and we elders do them a disservice when we withhold the shadowy parts of our lives. When I was young, there were very few elders willing to talk about the darkness; most of them pretended that success was all they had ever known. (p17)

By surviving passages of doubt and depression on the vocational journey, I have become clear about at least one thing; self-care is never a selfish act - it is simply good stewardship of the only gift I have, the gift I was put on earth to offer to others. (p30) ( )

Not at all my kind of book. I’m sure the author is a well-meaning, decent guy, but when his “slough of despond” comes at a time when people are begging him to join college boards of directors, the disconnect between his life and most people’s realities is just too large to ignore. ( )