Purpose Guides Institute Presents:
Invite your friends and family to explore Parker’s powerful teachings with you.
Parker Palmer
Finding one’s true calling, purpose, or vocation can be the journey of a lifetime for those who seek to live authentically. Instead of looking for purpose “out there” in the world, Parker Palmer invites us to listen inwardly instead. “Before you tell your life what you intend to do with it,” he writes, “listen for what it intends to do with you.” This event is about finding your purpose or vocation, not from imposing external expectations or goals, but from seeking and accepting the “true self” within, with all of its gifts, as well as its challenges and limitations.
“Before you tell your life what you intend to do with it, listen for what it intends to do with you. Before you tell your life what truths and values you have decided to live up to, let your life tell you what truths you embody, what values you represent.”
— Parker Palmer
In this special 60-minute event you’ll:
- Engage in a life-changing meditation on the question: “Is the life I am living the same as the life that wants to live in me?”
- Discover a deeper quality of listening, and learn how to cultivate the conditions in your life that inspire your soul to speak its truth.
- Gain everyday wisdom on how to live from the inside out, rather than the outside in.
- Telling stories from his own life and the lives of others, he shares insights gained from darkness and depression as well as fulfillment and joy, illuminating a pathway toward vocation, or purpose, for all who seek the true calling of their lives.
- Learn about the upcoming two-session Book Club which Parker Palmer will personally host on Thursday, June 27 & July 11 at 5:30pm PST. We’ll be discussing Parker’s book, Let Your Life Speak: Listening for the Voice of Vocation.
Praise for Parker Palmer
“Parker Palmer’s writing is like a high country stream – clear, vital, honest. If your life seems to be passing you by, or you cannot see the way ahead, immerse yourself in the wisdom of these pages and allow it to carry you toward a more attentive relationship with your deeper, truer self.”
— John S. Mogabgab, editor, Weavings Journal
“An incredibly timely call for many of us roiling in the midst of this current economic conundrum. Perhaps, times like these can be times we choose to listen -- let our lives speak -- hear what our souls are saying -- and move that way.”
— Bill Dahl, editor, ThePorpoiseDivingLife.com
“Here is a book that I wish I had read twenty years ago on that perennial Christian conundrum faced by so many: what is God's will for me in my vocational life?”
— Daniel B. Clendenin, editor, JourneyWithJesus.net
“Let Your Life Speak is the best book available to anyone asking serious questions about vocation. Palmer has many profound things to say about the deep calling of authentic selfhood, burnout, embracing mystery, the power of true presence, the soul’s truths, the inner issues inherent in leadership, the spiritual journey inward and downward, and the different seasons of life.”
— Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, founders, SpiritualityandPractice.com
About Parker Palmer
Parker J. Palmer is senior associate of the American Association for Higher Education and senior advisor to the Fetzer Institute. In 1998, he was named one of the thirty most influential senior leaders in higher education. He is the author of such widely praised books as Let Your Life Speak, The Courage to Teach and To Know As We Are Known, he holds a Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley. He is a member of the Religious Society of Friends (Quaker) and lives in Madison, Wisconsin.
