Quotes From "Callings: Finding and Following an Authentic Life"...Part 2

I continue here with the passages that are marked in my copy of this book by Gregg Levoy:

On the "Past":

"The past contains hints about "the deeper-than-conscious goals toward which the movement of our lives is trying to take us."

* * *

"The past reminds us of our struggles with our destinies."

* * *

"By opening the inactive file...we may discover the lost opportunities of our lives."

* * *

"...our past begs the question inherent in any history: Does it have a goal?"

* * *

"The past can't be changed, only your attitude toward it can."

On "Calls" and "Callings":

"In a sense, patterns are calls."

* * *

"The dream that won't go away is a call, as is the symptom that recurs, the section of the bookstore you always go to first, and the lesson you've endlessly had to learn or are intent upon impressing on your children."

* * *

"...it often turns out that calls are echoes coming out of the chasms in our lives."

* * *

"We decline the invitation of our callings because we feel inadequate to the task, but the opposite is also true. We're afraid of our own power."

* * *

"Sometimes we're robbed of our calls by the fate into which we fell headlong at birth."

* * *

"When the brass ring comes around in life, kiddo, you'd better grab it, because it may never come around again."

* * *

"Much of the pain associated with callings comes from avoiding them, from not surrendering to them."

On "Shadows":

"...it is what we despise in people, or envy, or worship, or become obsessed with."

On "Healing":

"...once he had touched the wound in himself, he could bring healing touch to that same wound in others."

On the "Right Path":

"If it feels safe, it's probably not the right path, but if it scares you, it probably is."

On our "Power":

"It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us."

On "Conformity":

"Don't sit down in life. All through your life you're going to be asked to sit down, to conform, comply, and compromise, and it can be very deadly if you get in the habit of doing that."

* * *

"Be leery of the price of conformity. Stand up, create things, do things."

On the "Mind":

"The mind that is not baffled is not employed. The impeded stream is the one that sings."

On "Freedom":

"Until you actually make a choice, freedom is only potential energy, energy in abeyance, in waiting."

On "Other's Opinion":

"...in the course of life a small number of people will like you, a small number will dislike you, and the vast majority won't care one way or the other."

* * *

"If we look only to others to show us who we are...then the reflections we'll have of ourselves will always be distorted a little."

On "Parents":

"When we attempt to carry our parents' unfulfilled lives, we squeeze out our own."

On "Self-esteem":

"Ironically, it's a function of self-esteem that we resist our callings."

On "Insincerity":

"The most exhausting thing in my life is being insincere."

On "Timing":

"The skill that seems most essential for such leaps is a certain feel for ripeness."

On "Change":

"If you're taking chances and making changes just for the sake of not standing still, your action may be more about running away from something than moving toward something."

* * *

"Motion is not necessarily progress any more than noise is necessarily music."

* * *

"By trying to shelter ourselves from change, we isolate ourselves from living."

* * *

"An ordeal may serve the purpose of shaking us loose from our moorings in order to set us up for important changes we can't see or imagine yet."

On "Risk":

"Is the payoff worth more than the pain?"

* * *

"...the important risks we don't take now become the regrets we have later."

On "Sacrifice":

"Sacrifice is the shadow in the calling."

On "Fear":

"Fear is a signal that you're close to something vital and that your call is worthy of you."

On "Life":

"Your life mirrors what you put into it or withhold from it."

* * *

"...the purpose of life is to be defeated by greater and greater things."

On the "Secret to Success":

"You've got to ask! Asking is, in my opinion, the world's most powerful--and neglected--secret to success."

On "Best Mentors":

"The best mentors are also those who are students at the same time, other people's mentorees."

On "Great Struggles":

"Great struggles aren't inevitably followed by great triumphs and then great vacations. Sometimes great struggles are followed by more great struggles. Maybe triumph and reward ensue,and maybe not."

--Gregg Levoy

Quotes From "Callings: Finding and Following an Authentic Life"...Part 1

It seems I have spent the better part of my adult life trying to divine what my true calling in life is. When I was much younger, this search had led me to astrology, palm reading, numerology, runes and tea leaves. I have a small collection of books devoted to these esoteric arts, no kidding.

I was about to turn next to tarot cards when I stumbled upon this book by Gregg Levoy. I consider it my best find on the subject of calling and destiny. Let me share with you the passages that I marked in this book and see if you can relate to the wisdom contained therein. Actually, by selecting these quotes, I am not doing justice to Gregg Levoy’s book. If I only had my way, I’d quote everything here! That’s a measure of just how much I liked this book, which I bought on December 30, 1997. Here goes:

On “Breakthroughs”:

“The great breakthroughs in our lives in our lives generally happen only as a result of the accumulation of innumerable small steps and minor achievements.”

On “Passion”:

“Passion—or as Plato said, Eros (Love)—moves instinctively toward the creation of form.”

On “Calls” and “Callings”:

“Calls are essentially questions. They aren’t questions you necessarily need to answer outright; they are questions to which you need to respond, expose yourself, and kneel before.”

* * *

“Callings keep surfacing until we deal with them.”

* * *

“Generally, people won’t pursue their callings until the fear of doing so is finally exceeded by the pain of not doing so.”

* * *

The truest calls seem not only to keep coming back but also to make their way to us through many different channels, so we can use this as a starting point.”

On “Enemies”:

“…our ‘enemies’—whatever forces thwart us—provide us with the true tests of our spirit.”

On “Stage Fright”:

“..stage fright only happens to people who have something they desperately want to say, otherwise they don’t have enough at stake to warrant being scared.”

On “Paradox”:

“If you can hold paradox…you can hold tremendous energy within you and be a force for mediation to the world.”

On “Dreams”:

“To ignore dreams is to hide the sculptor’s tools, to tear out pages from our own stories, to drive with our tailpipes dragging on the ground. If we ignore dreams we cut ourselves off from the place from which calls emanate.”

* * *

“They’re meaning machines, and they never lie.”

* * *

“Dreams tell us how we really feel about something.”

On “Sickness”:

“ …sickness is often the soul’s way of indicating that something is missing in our lives.”

On “Chance”:

“Chance favors the prepared mind.”

On “Synchronicities”:

“Synchronicities are minor miracles, little mysteries that point to a bigger one, perhaps a central one, of which we are a part.”

On “Impulses”:

“ If you feel two impulses, go with the one that has the greatest risk for you. It will be by far the most interesting.”

On “Journeys”:

“A geographical journey is symbolic of an inner journey for which we long.”

* * *

“Spiritual journeys, like stories, have at their core a central question—as do our lives—and if we understand not even the answers but merely the questions that animate our own journeys, we’ve understood a lot.”

* * *

“At a deep level, we all associate journeying with circularity.”

On “Fear”:

“…the thing we most fear is the thing we must do.”

* * *

“Wherever our most primal fears reside….chnaces are good that beneath them lie gems of wisdom and maybe a vision or a calling.”

* * *

“Wherever you stumble—on a tree root, on a rock, on fear or shame or vulnerability, on someone else’s words, on the truth—dig there.”

On “Life”:

“…the way we spend our days is the way we spend our lives. The way we live our lives also depends on the questions we ask.”

On “Opposites” and “Contrasts”:

“..after big openings often come big closings. After highs, lows. After breakthroughs, breakdowns.”

* * *

“Intense fights often follow intense intimacy.”

On “Vision”:

“Vision, if it is anything, is your life story in action.”


--Gregg Levoy

More One-liners From "Jacob's Journey"

I bought "Jacob's Journey" in September 1995 -- a year of changes, transition and adjustment in my personal life. My father passed away in February of that year. I also reluctantly left my corporate planning work to enter the brave new world of investment banking around July of that same year. It is no wonder then that when I randomly picked up a copy of Noah ben Shea's book at National and read the sub-title on its cover, I knew I had to pay for it right away. The sub-title reads: "Wisdom to Find the Way, Strength to Carry On". Allow me to share with you what quotations I highlighted in this book because of the wisdom and inspiration I was trying to draw from it at that point in time in my life:

On living one's Life:

"Hope for the best and make peace with the rest."

On Patience:

"Patience is the shortest route on a long journey."

On Kindness:

"It is wiser to be kind than to be wise."

On Parents:

"Some parents love knowing. Others know love."

On Growing Old:

" 'Growing old' is a contradiction in terms."

On Work and Love:

"There is only work and love in life...If we are fortunate, we love our work. If we are wise, we are willing to work at love."

On Life:

"Life is a gift...Open yours."

On Fear:

"Fear makes us not only less than we might be but less than we think we are."

On being Alone:

"A man who is alone with himself is not without company."

On Success:

" Have you ever met a man whose success is not also a burden?"

On what is Valuable:

"The way to discover what is of value in life is by taking the time to treasure the moments."

On Relationships:

"A relationship is not a way for us to exhibit our strength but to find our balance."

On Children:

"...your children are a gift to you, and only expectation can find disappointment in gifts that have not yet been opened."

On Journeys:

"Wherever a man stops on his journey, the first person he meets is himself."

On Wisdom:

"Wisdom arrives when we are willing to journey to our ignorance."

On Lies:

"In the seed of a lie is a forest of deceit."

On Self:

"Only when we place too much importance on who we are do we misplace our self."

On Problems:

"Often in life, the solution to our problems comes not so much from what we start doing but from what we stop doing."

On Age:

"Age is not the mark of time but how we mark our time."

On Friends:

"A friend is someone who allows you distance but is never far away."


--Noah ben Shea