or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering
Sell Us Your Item
For a $0.53 Gift Card
Trade in
More Buying Choices
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
Tell the Publisher!
I'd like to read this book on Kindle

Don't have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here, or download a FREE Kindle Reading App.
Sorry, this item is not available in
Image not available for
Color:
Image not available

To view this video download Flash Player

 

Callings: Finding and Following an Authentic Life [Paperback]

Gregg Michael Levoy
4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (61 customer reviews)

List Price: $14.95
Price: $10.52 & FREE Shipping on orders over $25. Details
You Save: $4.43 (30%)
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
In Stock.
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. Gift-wrap available.
Want it Tuesday, May 21? Choose One-Day Shipping at checkout. Details

Formats

Amazon Price New from Used from
Paperback $10.52  
Audio, Cassette, Audiobook --  
Image
Save on Popular Books This Summer
Browse our Bookshelf Favorites store for big savings on popular fiction, nonfiction, children's books, and more.

Book Description

September 8, 1998
How do we know if we're following our true callings? How do we sharpen our senses to cut through the distractions of everyday reality and hear the calls that are beckoning us?

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, have a child) or to be something (more creative, less judgmental, more loving). While honoring a calling's essential mystery, this book also guides readers to ask and answer the fundamental questions that arise from 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 yes? What happens when we say no?

Drawing on the hard-won wisdom and powerful stories of people who have followed their own calls, Gregg Levoy shows us the many ways to translate a calling into action. In a style that is poetic, exuberant, and keenly insightful, he presents an illuminating and ultimately practical inquiry into how we listen and respond to our calls, whether at work or at home, in our relationships or in service. Callings is a compassionate guide to discovering your own callings and negotiating the tight passages to personal power and authenticity.

Frequently Bought Together

Callings: Finding and Following an Authentic Life + Transitions: Making Sense of Life's Changes, Revised 25th Anniversary Edition
Price for both: $22.89

Buy the selected items together


Editorial Reviews

Review

"Gregg Levoy has written about the nature of guidance with a ringing clarity."

-- Caroline Myss, Ph.D., author of Anatomy of the spirit

"Gregg Levoy offers ... a strong clarion voice."

-- Clarissa Pinkola Estes, Ph.D., author of Women Who Run with the Wolves

"Wonderful! [Levoy's] material is both spiritual and practical."

-- Larry Dossey, M.D.. author of Healing Words --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From the Inside Flap

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

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, have a child) or to be something (more creative, less judgmental, more loving). While honoring a calling's essential mystery, this book also guides readers to ask and answer the fundamental questions that arise from 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 yes? What happens when we say no?

Drawing on the hard-won wisdom and powerful stories of people who have followed their own calls, Gregg Levoy shows us the many ways to translate a calling into action. In a style that is poetic, exuberant, and keenly insightful, he presents an illuminating and ultimately practical inquiry into how we listen and respond to our calls, whether at work or at home, in our relationships or in service. Callings is a compassionate guide to discovering your own callings and negotiating the tight passages to personal power and authenticity.


Product Details

  • Paperback: 352 pages
  • Publisher: Three Rivers Press (September 8, 1998)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0609803700
  • ISBN-13: 978-0609803707
  • Product Dimensions: 6.3 x 0.9 x 9.2 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (61 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #27,381 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Authors

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

I'll have to admit that I'm a fairly big reader of self-help books. Robert F. Weir  |  6 reviewers made a similar statement
I enjoyed Levoy's writing style and the examples he gave illustrated his points beautifully. R. Feretti  |  7 reviewers made a similar statement
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
81 of 83 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Hearing a call... May 10, 2003
Format:Paperback
Hearing a call is a very difficult discernment process. Sometimes the call is clear, but the path is not. Sometimes the path is clear, but the desire is not. Gregg Levoy has done an exceptional job at being an in-print spiritual director for those seeking an entrance into the process of finding a true calling and a more authentic life.

What is right for me? and Where am I willing to be led? are the two essential questions -- Discernment requires that we ask these two questions continually and devotedly.

As Levoy says, 'people won't pursue their callings until the fear of doing so is finally exceeded by the pain of not doing so.' I have found this to be very true. It took a very long time to discern my call to the priesthood, and yet more time to decide that it is something I must do at all costs (and the costs have been heavy). Yet, I cannot imagine myself doing anything differently and being in any way fulfilled.

'The truest calls seem not only to keep coming back but also to make their way to us through many channels.'

Levoy integrates so much material here, from spiritual masters and the scriptural traditions of many religious faiths to modern psychology and artistic/cultural experts.

Perhaps the greatest chapter for me was that on 'Finding Clarity', in which Levoy says that 'there is such a thing as thinking too much about a calling.' As Emerson said, sometimes it is best to let the bird sing without trying to decipher the song. 'A calling is ultimately mysterious, and the process of discernment is always a bit of a guessing game.'

Levoy's guidance, in cooperation with others in my community, helped me to see a change of mindset, a change of events, a change of personalities were all converging to tell me something that I had closed my mind to, or, more accurately, had closed my heart to. So, I began to pray, even if only subconsciously, and the path began to materialise before my eyes.

'When I pray, coincidences start to happen. When I don't pray, they don't happen.' - William Temple

It also taught me that I couldn't wait for 'someday' -- how we spend our days is how we spend our lives, according to the apt observation of Annie Dillard.

And finally, it made me face what it was to keep saying no. There is a cost, and eventually God will get you anyway -- Jonah (remember Jonah and the great fish?) said no, but eventually had follow his call anyway. I learned that one source of my fear: 'One of the frightening prospects of saying yes to a calling is that you may find out who really supports you and who doesn't.'

Figuring out how to bring my call into being was the final task, and Levoy provided wisdom here as well. 'You cannot cross a chasm in two small jumps', he quoted Lloyd-George as saying; I was forced to create a response to my call, one that did not exist before.

Thus, not too long after discovering this book, I became Father Kurt, and I owe much to this book for that. But please, don't assume that it will tempt or trap you into a ministerial role--it is an excellent guide for discernment, and discernment is one of the most personal tasks for any human being. Prepare to be enlightened.

Comment | 
Was this review helpful to you?
48 of 48 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Good advice that can come from within June 11, 2000
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I'll have to admit that I'm a fairly big reader of self-help books. Many of the "to-do" lists in self-help books are useful, I found this book an internal to-do list. Instead of outward activities that many books ask you to partitipate in to make progress, this author advises looking to your most inner thoughts, your dreams, your conscience, in order to find what you really want out of life. It works. Listen to your quiet moments, pay more attention to your third sense and record the things that occur in your dreams. There is a direct relationship between all of these thoughts and the things that will make you happiest. Interesting thought in the book ... "What did you want to do when you were seven?" Think about it and the level of satisfaction you are getting our of life now.
Comment | 
Was this review helpful to you?
56 of 57 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars This book is a calling! March 26, 2001
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
This book is geared for anyone who is doing what life tells them to do..and still doesn't feel right. It reminds us to not ignore that subtle voice that will not leave us when we are not doing what the universe wants us to be doing. It reminds us that our intuition is there to help us find our path in life and that if we ignore the messages we will have a significant price to pay. Having been in the wrong career for 11 years, this book has inspired me to not only quit my job, but to follow that intuitive voice that has been hounding me for years. This book is perfect for anyone who "knows" that something needs to change in their life. I also will be throwing out a multitude of similar books that can't even touch the level of material in this book. Don't even hesitate to buy this one!! And no, I don't know the author and have never written a book review before.
Comment | 
Was this review helpful to you?
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book
Very insightful reading. Well worth the price I paid! Opened my thinking in numerous ways. Still have some left to read but am enjoying the book immensely.
Published 16 days ago by Deborah C. Stinson
4.0 out of 5 stars Great Tool for Determining your Life Path
This book is a great tool for defining your mission in life. I have owned it for many years and periodically return to it for periodic "tune-ups". Read more
Published 24 days ago by Lisa Crittenden
3.0 out of 5 stars Verbose
I think there is a lot of GREAT information in this book, but he spends so much time quoting other people that it's hard to get to the heart of the matter. Read more
Published 1 month ago by B. Lee
4.0 out of 5 stars Uplifting
This book is a great read. Each chapter provides the reader with the necessary tools to uplift themselves. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Lala
5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful writing
This is not just another "be authentic" book -- it's beautifully written, and covers many subjects. Read more
Published 1 month ago by revangelica
5.0 out of 5 stars Surprisingly Splendid
I don't usually read "self help" books but this was required for a career counseling class I took. I was skeptical at first. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Samantha Reis
4.0 out of 5 stars good book
Good book to use for meditating on your life. Brings up good questions about life and how you are called to your gifts.
Published 3 months ago by Aud Teg
4.0 out of 5 stars very good
This book needed to be edited. It is more inspiring than organized, though it is very inspiring. I agree with what the 5 star reviewers said, it just needs to be better... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Laura
5.0 out of 5 stars This is not just a book...it's a journey into yourself!
I have never written a review on Amazon although I have been reading them for years. Now has come the time, because I feel that Gregg Levoy has created a master vehicle for all of... Read more
Published 15 months ago by Ronnie Dunetz
1.0 out of 5 stars Not authentic....an oxymoron
Funny, that the book about living an authentic life is quote after quote after quote from already famous people. Read more
Published 16 months ago by Lovejoy
Search Customer Reviews
Only search this product's reviews


Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store

If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store. Learn more

Forums

There are no discussions about this product yet.
Be the first to discuss this product with the community.
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
 



So You'd Like to...


Create a guide


Look for Similar Items by Category