Table of Contents

Gratitudes vii

I. Listening to Life 1

II. Now I Become Myself 9

III. When Way Closes 37

IV. All the Way Down 56

V. Leading from Within 73

VI. There Is a Season 95

Notes 111

The Author 115

About the Author

The Author Writer, teacher, and activist Parker J. Palmer is senior associate of the American Association for Higher Education and senior adviser to the Fetzer Institute. In 1998, he was named one of the thirty most influential senior leaders in higher education. Author of such widely praised books as The Courage to Teach, The Active Life, and A Hidden Wholeness, 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.

Reviews

"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 Journa

"An exuberant and passionate book. I was deeply moved and I cannot,nor do I want to, shake off the haunting questions that it raises for me. This book penetrates the soul, and it will definitely stir you to explore more of your own inner territory. What an extraordinary achievement."
—Jim Kouzes, coauthor, The Leadership Challenge and Encouraging the Heart; chairman, Tom Peters Group/Learning Systems "At a time when our culture is seeking a new language for expressing the spirit in everyday life, Parker Palmer is our leading voice of clarity and wisdom. In Let Your Life Speak, Palmer continues to deepen our ways of understanding the relationships between the inner life of spirit and the outer life of action."
—Rob Lehman, president, The Fetzer Institute "In our search for authentic vocation, this book should be the starting point and deserves a prominent place in every home, school, and college. It is vintage Parker Palmer, providing his unique insight to the interconnectedness of selfhood and vocation with eloquence and personal experience."
—Doug Orr, president, Warren Wilson College