Customer Reviews

Deliberate Acts of Kindness: Service as a Spiritual Practice

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WONDERFUL!! The world needs this now more than ever! Good stuff about boundaries, and levels of service, and how it figures in religious traditions, as well as how to figure out whether the alleged call is of the heart or of the mind.

Reading this has helped me sort out intriguing doubts and questions I've been having about some of the service I've seemed called to lately. I got both clarity and affirmation from this wise guidance that I'll not only use myself, but to help coach clients.

What's more, the material is beautifully organized, and expressed with the delightful, tongue-in-cheek irreverent and eminently readable wisdom that is Gould's trademark as a writer.

From the tzedakah of Judaism to St. Benedict to Buddhism's dana and Hinduism's seva, Meredith Gould highlights the significance of good works in all spiritual/religious traditions.

This is a very nifty--and practical--book! She holds our hands as she guides us along the journey of doing good--the upside and what she calls the "shadow side of service." She teaches us when and how to say yes or no, how to manage volunteer assigments, and even <gasp> how to recognize burnout and what to do about it.

She writes with great and gentle humor, warning newcomers to community work of booby traps they may trip over while on the path to kindness and self-fulfillment.

This is a tips book for people who seek to aid their communities in any way they can and for people, already active volunteers, who wish to probe further into what they and their organizations can accomplish.

What a treasure.

And there's some stuff I want you to know about me and my book.

First, if you know anything about book publishing, you know that it's like elephant gestation. IOW, it normally takes at least two years before a book *idea* makes it into print. I'm telling you this because I happen to think it is very cosmically weird that I proposed this book *way* before the horrific events of 9/11/01.

This leads neatly to my next point: I'm a sociologist by education and training,which certainly led me to suspect that service would be the Next Big Important Thing after decades of unrelenting "Me" focus. Especially among aging Baby Boomers like moi.

As for identifying service as a spiritual practice, I credit years of traipsing the path to spirit and...well...I explain more in the "Foreword."

I hope you enjoy reading my book and that it inspires you to get involved in--or deepen your existing--service to others.

This well-written and beautifully designed little book delivers a lot of surprisingly deep insights wrapped in wonderfully quirky humor that makes it much more accessible than most other books of this kind. What's more, while the focus of the book is on how to become involved in meaningful volunteer work, in fact it has much broader application: not just how to be a successful volunteer, but how to be a successful human being. It is one of those rare books that I know I will come back to again and again.

A thoughtful, *funny* look at service as a spiritual practice! How many authors would write about being "tenderized" after a total meltdown of mind, body and spirit? Or gently remind you to listen for the "call waiting" of service? No pious prose here. But lots of gentle, tender, thoughtful help along your own way-- from recognizing the beep from your higher self to making sure that service stays within healthy boundaries to tips to fight burnout. A great book for anyone exploring commitment or already involved with a cause.