It's a Meaningful Life [Hardcover]

Bo Lozoff (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 6, 2000

Bo Lozoff, who has been named one of America's 100 visionary healers (Utne Reader), offers a one-of-a-kind spiritual handbook for living a meaningful--and thus joyful--life.

In an era when the "fast lane" has taken over the whole highway of life, Bo Lozoff helps each of us discover the "vast lane."The roots of happiness, he says, are not found in the search for success or self-improvement but in a commitment to a personal spiritual practice and an outward practice combined with a compassion and service to others.

Drawing on the interfaith spiritual teachings that he has practiced and taught for the past thirty years, It's a Meaningful Life presents a proven, universal path for tapping the joy and meaning in our everyday lives. From "You Can Do Hard" to "But Enough About Me," Lozoff covers such themes as the difficulty of change, the importance of "being able," and the blessing of having less. Lozoff shows how simple practices--such as a daily morning vow of kindness or a ritual to give away one item when we acquire another--can have a profound effect on ourselves and our world.

It's a Meaningful Life is rich with stories and practical lessons that can awaken everyone to a happier, more fulfilled life.

Praise for Bo Lozoff:

"He will inspire everyone who is as concerned with helping others in trouble as with their own personal improvement."--His Holiness the Dalai Lama

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Like many great teachers, it is not what he says that makes Bo Lozoff so inspiring, it is how he says it. Named one of the top 100 spiritual visionaries by the Utne Reader, Lozoff is a renowned lecturer and the cofounder of the Human Kindness Foundation, which sponsors the Prison-Ashram Project (originally started with Ram Dass).

Having spent 35 years studying interfaith teachings, Lozoff speaks with a humble authority, drawing upon the wisdom of Buddhism as effortlessly as he quotes Saint Paul or recounts stories from Judaism. As a seeker, he knows what it takes to sustain a spiritual practice, which is why half of his book is devoted to this crucial task. Although he offers practical advice, he never falters into a superficial "how to" voice. Rather, Lozoff uses a spiritually mature narrative to demonstrate how life can be a meaningful process, instead of "a climb to the top." Essays include a practice for facing fears, mantras for everyday life, and a prayer of humility.

Where the first half of the book addresses the "Inner Journey of Communion," the second emphasizes "The Outer Path Toward Community." Considering his life work, such as offering spiritual guidance to prisoners, it is not surprising that Lozoff gives equal time to living a life of service. Starting with understanding one's life calling, and moving through commitments to loved ones and the greater world, this section sings with intelligence, nudging us beyond practice and into a life worth living. --Gail Hudson

From Publishers Weekly

Lozoff, whom the Utne Reader has named one of the nation's 100 Spiritual Visionaries, has written a compelling criticism of the anomic era in which we live. In our age, Lozoff writes, we don't take the time to enjoy everyday pleasures, such as having dinner with family or watching the sun set. "Our civilization," he writes, "is in serious trouble": consumerism runs rampant, and people are increasingly estranged from one another. It is his contention that integrating simple spiritual practices into our daily lives can help make life more satisfying and meaningful. Lozoff does not prescribe certain spiritual practices that he thinks every person ought to undertake. Rather, drawing on a wealth of traditions from Tibetan Buddhism to Hasidic Judaism, the author presents an appealing pastiche of practices from prayers to breathing exercises. Readers will learn about classic mantras (Om mani padme hum, the Tibetan Mantra of Compassion and the Jesus Prayer) and more contemporary ones, such as "No hard feelings." But Lozoff's daily practices are not limited to the obviously spiritual--in his discussion of "living simply," he urges readers to get out of debt, to give away an old book when they buy a new one and to eat more home cooking. Books on how to invest life with spirituality are a dime a dozen, but Lozoff's thoroughgoing and trenchant criticism of contemporary society helps his cry for simplicity stand out in the crowd. (Mar.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Viking Adult (March 6, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0670889105
• ISBN-13: 978-0670889105
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 4.9 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,180,841 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Powerful and Practical, April 1, 2000

By 

Christian J. Bechtel (Haslett, Michigan USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: It's a Meaningful Life (Hardcover)

This book is a powerful and focused manual for living a more mindful life of service in todays hustle and bustle world. A great strength of the book is its organization which digs deeply first into strengthening our inner practice through a daily spiritual discipline and dissolving our fears. The second half of the book speaks to how we can then take this inner strength and use it to deepen personal relationships with spouses, significant others, children, and friends. What also makes this book so powerful are the "practice" sections at the end of each chapter which give the reader a practical way of incorporating spiritual disciplines and ideas into your life. The author also has an uncanny way of dissecting and blowing apart all of the excuses we make to avoid spiritual practices. The author does all of this however, while still being quite modest and sharing the various struggles that he and his family has had. The motivational clarification that the book contains on page 31 alone is worth the cost of the whole book.

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bo's books keep getting better, June 21, 2000

By 

John "john" (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: It's a Meaningful Life (Hardcover)

Bo's latest is even clearer and more poignant than his earlier books. In this latest spiritual guide Bo provides insight and valuable complementary exercises to make the reading all that more powerful and effective.

What truly amazes me is how Bo can keep writing with such relevance and power and yet never repeat his earlier books (which I also felt excelled in relevance and power...).

Rather than read as a novel, I've treated this as a workbook, savoring each point and companion exercise and then moving to the next one.

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful, spiritual study, April 3, 2000

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: It's a Meaningful Life (Hardcover)

This is a rare, exceptional book that combines thoughtful, evenhanded scholarship with practical applications. The book does a superb job of highlighting some of the common denominators present in various world religions and translating these beliefs and tenets into sound guidance for people of all faiths. I very much appreciated the author's efforts to locate common ground for all people and to use these points of intersection to teach, to educate and to focus wayward readers on fundamental truths. A good book with excellent intentions--this from a devout, practicing Presbyterian. Buy it today.