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Answering Your Call

Answering Your Call

by John Schuster
Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers
Release Date: February 2003
ISBN: 9781576759592
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Book Description

So many people today feel "called" to find more in their lives beyond the usual definitions of success, to live lives of purpose and meaning. Answering Your Call is aimed at people who know they are on the planet for a reason and want more than encouragement-they want to get precise about it.

Answering Your Call provides exercises that appeal to our practical side as well as inspirational examples from history and literature. It is a spiritual how-to book, not on how to pray or meditate, but how to discern what it is that the world needs you to do.

Table of Contents

  1. Cover Page
  2. Title Page
  3. Copyright Page
  4. Preface
  5. Introduction You Are Called
    1. DIFFICULTIES OF THE CALL
    2. MULTIPLE CALLS
    3. SOURCES OF THE CALL
    4. HOW TO READ THIS BOOK
  6. PART I Getting Started with a Calling
    1. What Is a Call? 1
      1. Working Definitions
      2. RESPONDING TO THE CALL
      3. CALLS AND THE TIMES OF OUR LIVES
      4. EXERCISE: THINKING ABOUT THE NATURE OF CALLS
    2. Common Calls 2
      1. CALLS BOTH OBVIOUS AND SUBTLE
      2. The Working Quadrant of Calls
      3. COMMON CALLS
      4. GIVING THE ROLE MUCH MORE THAN YOU THOUGHT YOU HAD
      5. EXERCISE: REVIEWING YOUR CALL HISTORY
    3. Mightily Believe You Have a Calling 3
      1. LISTENING PAST THE SOCIAL NOISE
      2. MAKING MONEY AND THE SOCIAL DRUMMER
      3. GOING BENEATH THE NOISE
      4. MAINTAINING PURPOSE WHILE MANAGING THE DOLDRUMS
      5. THE MONASTERY VERSUS THE DOLDRUMS
      6. FOCUSING ON THE LIMITLESS WITHIN YOUR LIMITING CONDITIONS
      7. Exercise: Heeding Your Inner Voice and Believing When the Evidence Is Sparse
      8. PART I Summary
  7. PART II Breathing Depth into Common Calls
    1. Endure the Saboteurs 4
      1. HIGH PURPOSE ATTRACTS THE DEMONIC DESTROYERS
      2. LEARNING THE SIGNS AND PATTERNS OF SABOTEURS
      3. AN EARLY LESSON IN SABOTAGE
      4. A MASTER SABOTEUR
      5. THE DAMAGE SABOTEURS INFLICT
      6. LESSONS TO LEARN
      7. FIGHTING YOUR SABOTEUR SELF: THE ULTIMATE BATTLE
      8. EXERCISE: REFLECTING ON SABOTEURS AND THEIR IMPACT
    2. Pass On the Evocateur’s Gift 5
      1. CALLING FORTH POTENTIAL
      2. THE COACH AND THE NO-DRIBBLE, NO-SHOOT POINT GUARD
      3. LASTING MEMORIES, LASTING LESSONS
      4. TAPPING THAT WHICH LIES DORMANT
      5. A WRITER’S EVOCATEUR
      6. GIFTS SURFACED: PASSING IT ON
      7. EXERCISE: DEEPENING YOUR APPRECIATION OF EVOCATEURS’ IMPACT ON YOUR LIFE
    3. Provoke the Stifling 6
      1. BATTLES FOUGHT
      2. MARY HARRIS: PROVOCATEUR EXTRAORDINAIRE
      3. WHAT PROVOCATEURS DO
      4. GUIDELINES FOR EVERYDAY PROVOCATEURS
      5. PROVOKE WHEN YOU HAVE LITTLE AUTHORITY, SPONSOR PROVOCATEURS WHEN YOU HAVE IT
      6. EXERCISE: PROVOKING WITH SKILL AND COURAGE
      7. PART II Summary
  8. PART III Keeping Focus for the Long Term
    1. Go Gently Against the Ego 7
      1. MANAGING FALSE MESSAGES
      2. THE EGO IN DISGUISE
      3. LEANING INTO FEAR
      4. THE FUN FACTOR
      5. COOPERATING WITH THE EGO
      6. EXERCISE: REFLECTING ON EGO CONTAINMENT
    2. Work the Veil 8
      1. EVOCATEURS REVISITED
      2. A SANDWICH DREAM-WEAVER
      3. A CHORUS OF CALLS
      4. WELCOMING YOUR CALLS WITH BALANCE
      5. EXERCISE: WORKING THE VEIL
      6. PART III Summary
  9. Appendix Questions in Interviews for Answering Your Call
  10. Notes
  11. Index
  12. About the Author