Listen with Your Heart: Seeking the Sacred in Romantic Love [Paperback]

Eileen Flanagan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 1999

A substantive, reflective, & practical guide to finding & keeping meaningful romantic relationships founded in spiritual communion.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Flanagan's first book offers a spiritual antidote to the spate of guides based on what she calls "a consumer approach to love." Flanagan laments that "most courtship manuals speak to our fears rather than our hopes... promot[ing] manipulation rather than real loving." A Roman Catholic turned Quaker, she presents a contemplative approach to dating that rests on the concept of "discernment," the "active waiting" for divine guidance to reveal itself through a calm, intuitive certainty that one path or another is the right one to take. Some people, she explains, are "called" to singleness, others to partnership; some to parenthood, others to alternative forms of service. What is important, she asserts, is to get past social pressures and internal fears and to "change our focus from what we will receive to what we will become." While not the first self-help author to espouse taking time to develop one's inner life and outer accomplishments before entering into a relationship, Flanagan takes a uniquely spiritual view of "finding the path that will unleash the great love within us." She describes the post-dating "challenges as well as blessings" of marriage and same-sex partnerships. Using the personal stories of other women, as well as her own?she married a former priest?Flanagan offers a gentle, comforting alternative to "shopping" for a partner. Agent, Sheree Bykofsky.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Grand Central Publishing (January 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0446674486
• ISBN-13: 978-0446674485
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.3 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.7 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #735,167 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Eileen Flanagan left the Catholic Church her freshman year of college when she realized she wasn't sure she believed everything in the Profession of Faith. For several years she felt closest to God in the woods, but eventually found her spiritual home in the Religious Society of Friends (also known as Quakers) where people seek divine guidance in silence and community. Eileen writes about accessing our inner wisdom and living with greater peace and courage. In addition to writing, speaking and leading workshops, she teaches at University of the Arts in Philadelphia. A graduate of Duke and Yale, she believes that raising two children and taking care of her dying mother have taught her more about wisdom than most books she's read. Learn more at http://www.eileenflanagan.com

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars If you are really ready to ask the right questions, read on. May 3, 1999

By A Customer

Format:Paperback

If you are searching to spiritually understand yourself and how you can love better, read this book! I stumbled upon this book a few weeks ago. Within two weeks I had completed the book and filled a journal with the thougts it provoked.I felt like I was having a conversation with a close friend about everything most important to me--God, marriage, family and most importantly the love that ties them all together. This book is a page turner and a soul awakener.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A thinking person's antidote to marriage manuals March 23, 1999

By A Customer

Format:Paperback

A wonderful new book on relationships. This book is based on the assumption that there is an abundance of love and that the way into a loving relationship is to learn to be a better lover. It is a refreshing antidote to the marriage manuals which often purport a scarcity of love and a manipulation of others to get it. Flanagan also explains a process called discernment whereby we try to discover how we are meant to live, be it single, in a committed relationship, with children, etc. She skillfully weaves the stories of many people she interviewed about their own relationships (including single, married, gay, straight, young, and old) and how they discerned their way into them. It is a very engaging, readable book. I recommend it for anyone who is looking for a mate as well as for those who want affirmation for a current loving relationship.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful book to find yourself, God and your soul mate! May 15, 1999

By A Customer

Format:Paperback

Once I started reading this book, I could not leave it. I felt that God was speaking directly to me through the words of this book written by Eileen Flanagan. Finally someone of my same generation finds that the way to romantic love is growing from within, trusting God and the Universe to lead the way. In a world of consumerism, finally someone sees beyond the material and superficial world, and looks at the spiritual essence of human beings and life, in such a crucial thing as searching for one's soul mate and sharing a fulfilling life together.