Callings: Finding and Following an Authentic Life

A ""calling"" may not come in the form of a booming voice from the sky, complete with lightning flashes and claps of thunder. Levoy, a workshop leader and adjunct professor of journalism at the University of New Mexico, suggests that callings are in fact everywhere, waiting to be heard and acted upon. Through informal yet encouraging anecdotes and advice, Levoy guides readers to recognize and pursue their callings in work, relationships, lifestyle choices and service to others. Callings can come through many different channels, including physical symptoms, ""synchronicities"" (events that are connected to one another in time), intuitions, dreams-even fortune cookie messages. All one need do is recognize them, and take action. Combining the psychology of self-actualization with spirituality, he calls on readers to do what their souls have long been telling them to do. For Levoy, realizing one's own potential and awakening to callings makes it possible to do virtually anything, from quitting one's job to saving the whales. Not doing so, he claims, can lead to maladies from restlessness and depression to physical illness: ""We cannot refuse with impunity."" In the crowded field of books about letting go and listening to the heart, Levoy's guidance and encouragement reward those willing to lend an ear to their conscience. Author tour. (Oct.)