Letting Your Life Speak

I had the pleasure recently of reading Parker Palmer's book "Let Your Life Speak: Listening for the Voice of Vocation". It came to me at just the right time, and I recommend adding it to your "searching for the meaning of life and work" reading list. I have a new appreciation for the paradox of having Speak and Listen juxtaposed in the title. So often I think I need to do something, to act or speak in order to be effective. Yet many of my daily lessons are about the importance of listening, about being a learner rather than learned.

I appreciated a couple of the passages which I'd like to share, along with questions I've been asking myself to help move along the path of letting my life speak.

Says Palmer:
1) "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."

2) "Our deepest calling is to grow into our own authentic selfhood, whether or not it conforms to some image of who we ought to be. As we do so, we will not only find the joy that every human being seeks -- we will also find our path of authentic service in the world." And he quotes Frederick Buechner "... the place where your deep gladness meets the world's deep need."

And in return I ask:
1) Are you listening to your life and what it intends to do with you? What practices can you invite into your day to help you listen?
2) What is your deep gladness? How can you grow into that more and more to meet the world fully?