Everyday Simplicity: A Practical Guide to Spiritual Growth

Too often we long for a spiritual life, but dismiss it as impossible in a hectic world that hardly allows time to eat and sleep, much less to nourish and replenish our souls. But Robert J. Wicks says we all have the path to spirituality within us, if only we would follow it.

Everyday Simplicity helps us better recognize the everyday gestures of God and discover an inner peace and joy we can share with others. Wicks describes a spiritual life readily accessible to everyone. It requires opening our eyes, appreciating our lives as they are now, and developing a true sense of ourselves in the image and likeness of God. Wicks provides a clear explanation of how to develop this deeply-anchored inner life through his "little rule of prayer"--a set of practices that helps us broaden and deepen our spirituality.

Through this process we develop a better understanding of ourselves beyond the labels of the superficial world. And we become less needy and more open to people in an honest, rather than a manipulative manner. We develop a sense of freedom from the alienation and anxiety that so often clouds our awareness of a spiritual presence in our lives. It takes patience and effort to achieve a truly satisfying spiritual life. Everyday Simplicity offers a months worth of reflections, questions, suggestions and prayers to guide us on the journey.

It begins with recognizing the spiritual element in every moment and being open to new knowledge and experiences. Everyday Simplicity does not offer a simple path to enlightenment, nor does it promise a quick fix to external burdens accumulated over time. It simply shares one way to understand God--and by extension, ourselves--through daily, prayerful reflection that helps keep the apparently complex problems of our lives in proper perspective.