“Following the Path: The Search for a Life of Passion, Purpose, and Joy” is an insightful book to help you clarify your calling. If you are at a crosswords in your life of if you feel in your present life you are just going through the motions, this is the book for you. It is written by Joan Chittister and her writing style is almost poetic.
Joan writes that no matter what our age, like a magnet to metal, our hearts will lead us to our true path. She describes the story of visiting an Aunt of hers that was in her 80’s and lived in a very modest, simple apartment. The Aunt’s walls were filled with large, vibrant colored paintings. Joan asked her where she got all the paintings. The Aunt replied, “I always wanted to learn to paint, so, last year I took a course”.
This story so beautifully illustrates that someday, somehow, we will listen to our hearts and find our path. Sometimes it may be the loss of a job that forces us to go deep and look for direction. This story hit home to me. I started my blog as a hobby and turned it into a career. When I look back over my life, actually back to my childhood. I always loved books, libraries, and book stores. I remember getting a typewriter for Christmas when I was five years old. My heart knew my path, it took me many decades to listen.
A favorite quote from “Following The Path”:
“The song of life is born in every soul. But the song we are meant to sing does not come to us whole. It grows in us-louder, stronger, clearer, more fully –over the years until we discover, finally that our call has been within us all the while. Learning to hear the song within us, finding the call within us, and then bending our lives to the fullness of ourselves is the key to happiness to meaning, to fullness of life.”