About the Book
Why are you here? What is life for? What are you meant to do? Best-selling author Robert Holden helps you go from looking for your purpose to living it. (Hint: It’s not just about you.)
“How do I find my life’s purpose?” In the 10-year run of Robert Holden’s call-in radio show, Shift Happens!, his listeners asked that question more often than any other, by far. It seems everybody is looking for their purpose, and yet we all struggle to recognize it and live it.
In Higher Purpose, Holden takes readers on an epic journey of self-discovery that includes the hero’s journey with Joseph Campbell, Carl Jung’s work on true vocation, Victor Frankl’s search for meaning, a pilgrimage with St. Francis of Assisi, the poetry of Wordsworth and Rilke, and much more. The journey has four stages:
- “The Call” explores “the calling” inside you to live a more meaningful life.
- “The Path” helps you to realize what inspires you, what brings you alive, to follow your joy, and to do more of what you love.
- “The Ordeal” tackles the inner blocks, the road of trials, and challenges you must overcome to live your higher purpose.
- “The Victory” encourages you to not betray yourself, to “sing your whole song,” and to keep on saying YES to your soul’s high adventure.
In Higher Purpose, Holden explores three distinct levels of purpose: your unique purpose, a shared purpose, and the greater purpose of life. He offers inquiries, meditations, and journaling exercises to help you live your purpose every day. And he shares stories from his own life and conversations with a host of remarkable people—Maya Angelou, Louise Hay, Jean Houston, Matthew Fox, Robert Thurman, Caroline Myss, Andrew Harvey, Wayne Dyer, Oprah Winfrey, and more.
About the Author :
Robert Holden, Ph.D.’s innovative work on psychology and spirituality has been featured on Oprah, Good Morning America, and the PBS special Shift Happens! and in two major BBC-TV documentaries, The Happiness Formula and How to Be Happy. Robert leads Living Your Purpose retreats to Assisi. He hosts a Hero’s Journey Mastermind. He has taught workshops on Purpose & the Enneagram in London, Findhorn, and Italy. His article for Oprah.com, "Discover Your Purpose," is a people’s favorite.
Robert’s services as a consultant and coach are employed worldwide by organizations and brands such as Dove & the Real Beauty Campaign, the Body Shop, IBM, Google, and Virgin. In the last two years, he has worked with Unilever on a BRAND PURPOSE mission for all of its 400 brands.
Robert has presented two TEDx talks on Destination Addiction and The Tea Meditation. He has given over 100 keynotes to industry and 50 keynote talks for I CAN DO IT! conferences worldwide. Robert is a best-selling author of 10 books, including Happiness NOW!, Authentic Success (formerly titled Success Intelligence), Shift Happens!, Loveability, Holy Shift!, Life Loves You (co-written with Louise Hay), and Finding Love Everywhere. www.robertholden.com
Review :
The best book on purpose I’ve ever read! Masterfully presented. Robert is a consummate storyteller and impassioned teacher, meticulously sequencing both for maximum effect. Accept this invitation to awaken to the very reason you’re here on Earth and to your sacred role in life. —Mike Dooley, New York Times best-selling author of Infinite Possibilities and Life on Earth
Higher Purpose is a masterpiece! This wonderful book is a luminous and original presentation that offers some of the finest thoughts ever conjured on our life’s purpose—and I expect it will serve our human journey for many generations to come. —Jean Houston, Ph.D., author of A Mythic Life: Learning to Live Our Greater Story and The Possible Human
Life is only the journey of seeking your higher purpose. Everything we experience is in service to that, for we only begin to feel the gift and power of our life when we have animated our deeper purpose. But like all the deep treasures of the soul, we require guidance to recognize what purpose really means and then how to sense its force awakening within us. Robert Holden has provided us with that precious guidebook. —Caroline Myss, New York Times best-selling author of Sacred Contracts: Awakening Your Divine Potential and Intimate Conversations with the Divine
In our demanding times, it is a blessing to hear a voice of such clarity, breadth, and depth coming our way in this spiritual memoir from Robert Holden. His life of hunting-gathering after spiritual wisdom, his wounds turned to grace, and his articulate and generous telling of his journey has birthed a book where Spirit breathes copiously! —Matthew Fox, New York Times best-selling author of Original Blessing and The Reinvention of Work
Higher Purpose is a wise, profound, and deliciously open-hearted book written by one of our most skillful and luminous spiritual guides. Inside this book you will find all the inspiration, encouragement, and guidance you need to fulfill your most empowered destiny. —Andrew Harvey, author of The Hope and Engoldenment: A Year with Kabir
If you long to know your purpose or be renewed in answering the Call of Soul’s Purpose, prepare to have your heart ignited. Robert’s depth of understanding, practical wisdom, and rich life experience weave an illuminating tapestry revealing the golden thread of purpose available for anyone to discover and activate! We can’t wait to share it with our students. It is a masterpiece! —Mary and Ron Hulnick, co-directors of University of Santa Monica and co-authors of Loyalty to Your Soul
This is a life changing book. Each page I turned captured my attention more and more. It answered some of my deepest questions about life and helped to point my inner rudder where I needed to go. I quite simply couldn't put it down. —David Hamilton, Ph.D., author of Choice Point and Destiny vs Free Will
Higher Purpose is a magical book, full of stories that go straight to the heart and speak to the connectedness of us all. As I read its pages of inquiry, insights, and gentle humor, I felt I was on a long walk in a beautiful place with a wise and trusted friend, and I didn’t want it to end. This book will stay with me and beside me for a very long time. —Liz Trubridge, producer of the "Downton Abbey" series and films
I love this book! Higher Purpose weaves a golden thread that connects you to your higher purpose, reminds you of what is important, and guides you in practical ways to live your most joyful, blissful life. —Rebecca Campbell, author of Rise Sister Rise and Light is the New Black
Robert Holden’s life and work is the epitome of living with purpose—any time I am in his company I am inspired to dive deeper into living more purposefully. His new book, Higher Purpose, is a truly heart-inspiring offering that will help you to live with a greater meaning, alignment, and service in your life. —Kyle Gray, best-selling author of Light Warrior and Raise Your Vibration
I hope Robert Holden’s beautiful books, like this one, Higher Purpose, keep reaching more and more people and aid their heart to unfurl. And in case you wanted to know: The moon, asked about her luminosity, said, ‘I am perched on a limb in the sky; I found my Higher Purpose. And you can join me there and give light to others too, ’cause dear Robert can help.’ —Daniel Ladinsky, author of The Gift and The Subject Tonight Is Love
Higher Purpose offers much-needed inspiration and nourishment for everyone who has ever pondered how to take the next step, questioned their faith walk, or doubted that their life has meaning and purpose. Every word is a blessing for all who choose to accept this gift. —Deborah Egerton, author of Know Justice Know Peace: A Transformative Journey of Social Justice, Anti-Racism and Healing through the Power of the Enneagram
At a time when so many people are hungry, even starving for meaning, purpose, passion, and aliveness, Higher Purpose shines a clear and steady beam illuminating the path ahead. If you are ready to claim your right to live a more soulful life, this rare book, loaded with wisdom and heart, will surely take you there. —Alan Cohen, best-selling author of A Course in Miracles Made Easy and Soul and Destiny: Why You Are Here and What You Came to Do
If you've ever wondered why you’re here and what your purpose is, Robert Holden’s wonderful new book not only helps you answer the question, it does it by entertaining your mind, warming your heart, and calling out to your soul that it’s time to come home. —Michael Neill, best-selling author of The Inside-Out Revolution and Creating the Impossible
