Everyday Sacred: A Woman's Journey Home [Abridged, Audiobook] [Audio Cassette]

Sue Bender (Author, Reader)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 1995

Sue Bender captivated audiences with her wonderful ability to uncover the special meaning of everyday experience in Plain and Simple. In Everyday Sacred, Bender once again captures moments from her own life that speak powerfully to listeners' shared longings to make every day truly count. Simultaneous harcover release from Harper San Francisco. 2 cassettes.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

When Sue Bender proudly announced to a friend that her first book, Plain and Simple had made it to the New York Times bestseller list, her friend immediately shot back, "But what number on the list are you?" Bender was shocked, realizing that nothing we accomplish seems like enough in our overly pressured world. In Everyday Sacred we follow Bender on her quest to make every moment enough. Cleaning a desk, sipping cappuccino, making computer connections, and appreciating freshly painted walls all become opportunities to satiate one's life with sacred encounters. The end product reads like an Amish quilt--simple vignettes sewn together to create a comfortable lifetime companion. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

From Publishers Weekly

The Zen monk's begging bowl is the pervasive image in this author's continuing spiritual journey she began recording in her bestselling Plain and Simple, in which she described her time living among the Amish. Here, she tells how, back home amid the more mundane experience of her daily life, she accepted the challenge of finding meaning by daily proferring the beggar's bowl to be filled with the sacredness of everyday life. The lessons and stories that fill her bowl are related to Bender's life-ordinary events seen with fresh eyes and offered as simple ways for busy people to incorporate reflective periods into their lives. The simplicity that made her earlier book appealing is also evident here. Illustrations. $100,000 ad/promo; author tour.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Audio Cassette
• Publisher: Audio Renaissance; Abridged edition (November 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1559273666
• ISBN-13: 978-1559273664
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (37 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,849,957 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #42 in Books > Books on Cassette > Biographies & Memoirs > Women
  • #81 in Books > Books on Cassette > Health, Mind & Body > Relaxation & Meditation

More About the Author

Sue Bender is the author of Plain and Simple: A Woman's Journey to the Amish. The book was a New York Times bestseller.
A fascination with Amish quilts led Sue to live with the Amish in their seemingly timeless world, a landscape of immense inner quiet. This privilege, rarely bestowed upon outsiders, taught her about simplicity and commitment and the contentment that comes from accepting who you are. In that inspiring book, Bender shares the lessons she learned while in the presence of the Amish people.
In Everyday Sacred: A Woman's Journey Home, Bender speaks to our longing to make each day truly count. She chronicles her struggle to bring the joyful wisdom and simplicity she experienced in her sojourn with the Amish back to her hectic, too-much-to-do days at home. Bender discovers for herself, and in the process shows us, that small miracles can be found everywhere - in our homes, in our daily activities and, hardest to see, in ourselves.

Profiles and interviews with Ms. Bender, as well as book excerpts have been published in countless national publications including Reader's Digest, The Washington Post, Ladies' Home Journal, The Chicago Tribune, The Utne Reader, and W Magazine. She has also appeared as a guest on dozens of radio and television shows.

Born in New York City, Sue Bender received her BA from Simmons College and her MA from the Harvard University School of Education. She taught high school in New York and English at the Berlitz School in Switzerland. She later earned a Masters in Social Work from the University of California at Berkeley. During her active years as a family therapist, Bender was founder and Director of CHOICE: The Institute of the Middle Years. In addition to being an author and former therapist, Sue Bender is a ceramic artist and much sought after lecturer nationwide.

She lives in Berkeley, California with her husband Richard, and is the mother of two grown sons.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

84 of 87 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A circular route, June 8, 2001

By 

atmj (Rochester, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Everyday Sacred: A Woman's Journey Home (Paperback)

This is an interesting book as the author warns at the begining that there really is no beginning or end. She's right. I found myself while reading the book dutifully from beginning to end, often going back and rereading sections.

THE AUTHOR REVEALS HER INSECURITIES AND THEY ALL SEEM SO FAMILIAR. However, what got me, was that the author was not a young woman. She is in her late 50s, early 60s. So much for outgrowing them. Well, I had hoped. She examined these insecurities and failings in a sense from a view, I had not expected; as if they were assets. Now that's a thought. She had difficulty accepting this notion at first and the book subtly pushes this to the forefront again and again. Fascinating.

THE AUTHOR'S RELATIONSHIP WITH HER ADULT SON IS MARKED WITH MIS-COMMUNICATIONS THAT DOMINATED THEIR PREVIOUS INTERATIONS. However, by turning off the critic to herself, she was more accepting and could "hear" others better. This greatly helped her and her son communicate on a new level. Any parent who has children making that change from child to adult could really use help here. Any help.

THERE ARE PARTS OF THIS BOOK THAT MADE ME LAUGH OUT LOUD AND OTHERS THAT WERE POIGNANT. The author relates a story, where she hires a professional organizer and within moments of this woman starting to do her job, pays her to stop and leave. The author realized that she did not want to have her organization methods changed, but wanted a different outcome using the same methods... Don't we all. Change requires...Change.

THERE ARE SO MANY WONDERFUL POINTS MADE IN THIS BOOK, A REVIEW, SHY OF RECREATING THE BOOK, CAN'T DO THEM JUSTICE. The best a reviewer can say is Read this book, read it slow and think about it. It is very Zen Buddist in philosophy and gives great weight to the day to day things. However, unlike "Sweeping changes" a book centered in Zen philosophy around house cleaning and maintenance, this book does not focus so much on day to day activities directly, but the philosophies of day to day relationships with people. The word Synchronicity comes to mind here.

I PLAN TO RE-READ THE BOOK IN A MONTH OR SO. Books like this change in time. Next time I could write an entirely different review because different things will catch my eye. It is hard to write a book you can come back to over and over and in this the author has done a magnificent job.

28 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Simple *and* Powerful!, August 21, 2000

By 

shootingstar "shootingstar" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Everyday Sacred: A Woman's Journey Home (Paperback)

This book is excellent. Sue Bender has an intimate way of writing--you feel like you're hearing from a good friend. I especially appreciate how she takes you through her thought process. She doesn't just serve up her insights--she shows you how she got there and in doing so takes you along for the ride. So you get to arrive at the same insights with the author; rather than just listening, you get to participate. This is warm, inspiring, lovely writing. Reading it was both illuminating and calming, and a true pleasure. I plan to share this great little book with all my friends.

21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Sometimes you can tell a book by its cover, February 17, 2002

By 

"aubrigail" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Everyday Sacred: A Woman's Journey Home (Paperback)

What can I say? I love the cover of this book! The cover art is so beautiful in a simple way. Just looking at this book brings me joy, which is why I don't have the heart to line it up on a bookshelf!
Fortunately, I controlled my love for the cover design enough to actually open the book. The words and stories match the simple beauty portrayed on the cover (or is it the other way around...forgive my photographer biases) Sue Bender writes in an open and friendly way. Her stories are beautiful and inspirational. I believe that any reader would be able to find themselves somewhere among the pages.
While reading, I felt like I had made a new friend. I also appreciated the wisdom and experience that comes with her age. I am used to reading younger authors, but when I read Bender's work I couldn't help but think that "this lady knows what's going on."
Her desire for self knowledge and exploraiton are also very inspiring.
I would recommend this book for anyone who has found their way to this page, and I'm greatly looking forward to reading Stretching Lessons (I'll let you know what I think of that one, too!)