I just finished reading a life-changing book by Parker J. Palmer. Let Your Life Speak, Listening for the Voice of Vocation will forever change my inner DNA. Parker does an incredible job articulating our lifelong journey towards a question we’ve been asked since we were in kindergarten. What do you want to be when you grow up? Now in his 60’s, Parker seems to have a good grasp on this – even if it has taken him half a century!

The book is only 110 pages in length, yet provides enough wisdom to last a lifetime. I thought I’d provide you with a sneak peek into each one of his 6 chapters. My intention is to provide a little more insight into how we let our inner voice speak to who we really are – our ‘true self’ as Parker describes it.

Listening to Life

1. Before you tell your life what to do with it, listen for what it intends to do with you. The word vocation itself means, voice. Vocation does not mean a goal I pursue. It means a calling that I hear.
2. An inevitable, though often ignored dimension on the quest for “wholeness” is that we must embrace what we dislike or find shameful about ourselves, as well as what we are confident or proud of.
3. The soul speaks its truth only under quiet, inviting, and trustworthy conditions. The soul is like a wild-animal – tough, resilient, savvy, self-sufficient, and yet exceedingly shy. If we want to see a wild-animal, the last thing we should do is go crashing through the woods, shouting for the creature to come out.
4. But if we are willing to walk quietly into the woods and sit silently for an hour or two a the base of a tree, the creature we are waiting for may well emerge, and out of the corner of an eye we will catch a glimpse of the precious wilderness we seek.