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Answering Your Call: A Guide for Living Your Deepest Purpose

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"Am I really being called or is it wishful thinking?" "If I am responding to the call, why do I still have times of doubt?" These are among the questions one normally asks when dealing with a call. John P. Schuster masterfully with these and other questions in "Answering Your Call".

The author makes a strong argument that we often don't feel fulfilled in life if we don't know our purpose. The reason we feel we have no purpose is because we continue to miss our callings when they occur. With this as his thesis he works through the process of knowing what a call is, recognizing when you are called to do something, and responding to your call. This is a fresh and insightful look at defining purpose in your life and a recommended read.

As a 'twenty-something with a clean slate', trying to balance my potential career choices with my passions and callings, this book was a refreshing reminder of what I need to consider when I am making my next life decisions. I also feel like I have several callings--which this book helped me understand.

After reading it, I can only think: "Yes, I want significance over success in my life."

The author is a great storyteller, and I will look for counsel in these pages as I move on to the next phase of my life.

I borrowed Answering Your Call from a friend. I read it. I bought ten. I gave them to my professional friends. I gave them to my personal friends and to my family. I wondered how John P Schuster knew what had been dancing around in my mind and heart.

Schuster has found not just a niche but also a gaping hole in the search for a purpose-filled life. He provides a framework for being true to yourself and for being intentional about your life choices. He provides examples and exercises to help the reader claim the courage and the insight to approach a call as a legitimate opportunity not as a coffee break fantasy.

This is a book that is warm and inviting. It is reassuring and yet it gives the reader a kick in the "Yes But" part of his or her response to taking a hard look at how we choose what to do with the time we have ahead.

John P Schuster is a gifted thinker and writer. Answering You Call wil not set you on fire but it will put one under you.

For far too many of us, the "call" is an unknown, or at best an uncertain, facet of life. As a result, the roads we travel are too often deserted, directionless or uninspiring: one of the tragedies of life. John Schuster's work creates a framework for introspection and self-assessment that helps the reader orient and energize for the journey.

This book is particularly helpful to the reader who may be searching for definition of a call, but it just might spark an internal debate even within those who are rock-solid in their vocational and avocational pursuits. Schuster poses questions that get to the essence of who we are and why we are, and therefore whether we are positioned to fully experience life's great joys.

Schuster does a wonderful job of weaving anecdotes from other travelers, philosophical views, personal reminiscences, poetry and practical exercises, all of which help the reader to examine his/her own feelings. In a non-presecriptive fashion, Schuster gently exhorts us to take the time to ask, to understand, to feel, the central call questions that are within each of us.

This work is appropriate not only to the philosophical reader, but also to the pragmatic, objective-oriented business reader who aspires to know the road being traveled, why he/she is on it, and where it might lead.

I encourage seekers to resource this book and I loudly applaud John Schuster in helping us to call for our own answers.

In times of moral confusion and national uncertainty, when (as ever) traditional ways of making sense of our purpose are undermined and challenged, we have to look hard to find markers that reassure us we are on a safe path or at least can find our way back to one. John Schuster reminds us we can discern reliable direction, and teaches us to trust the subtle signals that call us to personal meaning and fulfilling action. I like books that provide useful conceptual tools, that propose workable models for thinking about one's personal mission. I'd like every high school and college graduate to confront the ideas suggested in this book. Leave No Child Behind! I'm not big on spiritual self-help manuals, but was glad to find the light touch Schuster uses to introduce serious ideas. We see our purpose and our source of meaning as if through a veil. Schuster helps us work our way across and along the veil, deepening our ability to realize possibilities that are ever-present but seldom seen. I am grateful for his guidance, and commend him to you warmly.

As many of us do, in January of this year, I was pondering my resolutions. But this year was different for me in that I wanted to look more long term and take a "strategic" view of my life. "Am I in the right place and time for what I am doing? Should I be doing something different? Am I sabotaging my own goals by just living day to day and not stretching myself to new horizons?"

After reading John's book, I didn't have ALL the answers, but I knew that I was asking the right questions. His book gave me ideas for tools that I can and should use for my life planning and a sense of hope that I don't have to live from day to day - but could "re-discover" the passion for life I embraced years ago. I was able to write an "approach" to "what next" for my life from his inspiring ideas. I've recommended the book to several and so far all who have read it found it inspiring and challenging.

"Answering Your Call" is a thought provoking, motivating read to help you discover your calling in life and the courage and comfort to live it. As Schuster explains, "...(this book) is intended more for the person whose calling isn't always obvious than for the superstars who have an obvious and visible calling (p. 133)." He defines calls and callings, and describes some of the many callings in life. He does not suggest readers live a monk's life, but their own lives with their own callings. He never suggests what callings should be, nor judges the callings that are followed. What Schuster does is provide ideas to help readers thoughtfully determine their own callings, and describes the things that might derail those callings.

The stories and examples taken from his own and others' lives are touching and realistic. The memorable bits of wisdom are broken out, highlighted and easily accessible for review. The honesty of the message is refreshing and clear without the cookie cutter approach of self-help books. While this is a relatively easy read (you can almost hear him speaking to you), it should not be read quickly and superficially, but carefully with deep thought. Read a chapter, put it down and reflect on the questions he asks. Once you've truthfully answered the questions, go to the next chapter and repeat.

Overall, I sincerely liked "Answering Your Call," and recommend this book be a part of each person's library.

I am a student of callings and following one's passion. Mr. Schusters offers an archetypal construct that was very helpful...the elements of Saboteurs, Evocateurs and Provocateurs changed the way I have organized my own search. Excellent story teller with vivid examples plus examples from many varied arenas. Also wonderful quotes from other writers that inspire and encourage one along their own personal quest. Good addition to personal library as well as a gift for those who are seeking.

"Answering Your Call" helps one let go of negative presumptions about reality and embark on a life of authentic purpose. If you've ever wanted to protest, to share your wisdom freely, to correct an entrenched injustice, to fertilize a desperation with hopeful insight, or to heal yourself from comfortable boredom, you'll certainly find something to inspire and guide you in "Answering Your Call".

If you want more than a job, if you want to do work that adds real value to the world, then you need to read this book! John Schuster steps you through the process of finding your purpose. He outlines the obstacles, provides examples, and then tells you how to work through them. Every chapter contains exercises that will help you identify and achieve your calling. This isn't a quick, lightweight read, but a book to read, ponder, and use to make real changes in your life.