What do you think?
Rate this book
Spiritual Serendipity: Cultivating and Celebrating the Art of the Unexpected
The word serendipity was coined by the eighteenth-century British writer Horace Walpole, who defined it as "that quality of mind which, through awareness, sagacity, and good fortune, allows one to frequently discover something good while seeking something else." It is an attitude of mind and heart that attracts and enhances joy. As a mental approach, serendipity can energize your life by enabling you to balance spontaneity and structure and allowing you to harness time, not manage it. As a spiritual quality, serendipity can create a bridge between your will and the will of the Divine, allowing your life to be guided and open to change. Now, New York Times bestselling author Richard Eyre offers up a delightful and poetic book that shows you how to develop this serendipity of the spirit, how to relish rather than resist change, and how to move from where you are to where, perhaps, God wants you to be.
224 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1988
2 people are currently reading
77 people want to read
About the author
Richard Eyre
104 books29 followersWriters, lecturers, and grassroots and media catalysts, Linda and Richard Eyre's mission statement: "Our vision is to FORTIFY FAMILIES by celebrating commitment, popularizing parenting, glorifying grandparenting, bolstering balance, and validating values." Their latest efforts in these directions are their new books (The Happy Family [St. Martins Press], Empty Nest Parenting [Bookcraft], and The Book of Nurturing [McGraw Hill]) and their regular appearances on The CBS Early Show. Richard's new book, The Three Deceivers: How our obsessions with ownership, control and independence are ruining the quality of our lives, will be published next year.
Richard is president of a management consulting company and a ranked senior tennis player. He was a "mission president" for his church in London, and a candidate for Governor of Utah.
Richard and Linda have nine children (one of every kind) and live in Washington, D.C. and Salt Lake City.
Richard is president of a management consulting company and a ranked senior tennis player. He was a "mission president" for his church in London, and a candidate for Governor of Utah.
Richard and Linda have nine children (one of every kind) and live in Washington, D.C. and Salt Lake City.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
July 20, 2020
3.25 stars
A fan of other works by Richard Eyre, I picked this up at a used book sale. It is basically a little manual encouraging readers to be more flexible in their quest for success and spirituality.
It’s a quick read that bounces around between story telling and random prose, and sometimes the format feels clunky. Over all it’s an easy read, so for a quick little dose of inspiration it works just fine.
I pulled away a few really good nuggets and love the premise of making ourselves aware of the goodness that comes in our path. It’s about allowing God to show us and reward us along the daily path, rather than knocking ourselves trying to make things go the way we plan them to.
The problem was that there is also a lot of repetition, way too much background babble, and it fills like you are reading filler for about 1/3 of the book.
I’m glad I read it, and my highlighted quotes will be happily saved in my reading journal, but as this is the beginning of a sort of series on spirituality I don’t have much of desire to read the rest.
A fan of other works by Richard Eyre, I picked this up at a used book sale. It is basically a little manual encouraging readers to be more flexible in their quest for success and spirituality.
It’s a quick read that bounces around between story telling and random prose, and sometimes the format feels clunky. Over all it’s an easy read, so for a quick little dose of inspiration it works just fine.
I pulled away a few really good nuggets and love the premise of making ourselves aware of the goodness that comes in our path. It’s about allowing God to show us and reward us along the daily path, rather than knocking ourselves trying to make things go the way we plan them to.
The problem was that there is also a lot of repetition, way too much background babble, and it fills like you are reading filler for about 1/3 of the book.
I’m glad I read it, and my highlighted quotes will be happily saved in my reading journal, but as this is the beginning of a sort of series on spirituality I don’t have much of desire to read the rest.
June 25, 2024
2.5, some good nuggets of wisdom and a good message (be flexible in your planning and develop this attitude toward both life in general and your spiritual journey, make overall goals instead of specific plans, sometimes the winds take you where you didn't plan or expect, roll with it and trust your higher self.) The retelling of the story of the 3 princes was very enjoyable!
January 8, 2012
Spiritual serendipity was written in 1983 but was one of the most applicable and timeless books I've read in a long while. Richard Eyre's advice need to be taken by the vast majority of today's contemporary adults.
Built on the principles of watching, thinking, listening and praying, this book did for me exactly what it promised it would do at the beginning which was to change my perspective or paradigm of the people, circumstances and events in my life which ultimately determine how I feel.
It comprises of explanations and applications of the two subsets of Serendipity which were Mental Serendipity(sagacity, watching,thinking,being sensitive,slowing down,external influence) and Spiritual Serendipity(praying for confirmation,listening for answers,asking for guidance,internal influence) and the inter-relatedness of both things or perhaps the dependence of Spiritual Serendipity on Mental Serendipity.
At one point, he rightly said that Spiritual Serendipity was the bridge from Mental Serendipity to God. Spiritual Serendipity thought me to see the unexpected as opportunity and unintentionally caused me to think more positively. It, in effect, made my life better.
Built on the principles of watching, thinking, listening and praying, this book did for me exactly what it promised it would do at the beginning which was to change my perspective or paradigm of the people, circumstances and events in my life which ultimately determine how I feel.
It comprises of explanations and applications of the two subsets of Serendipity which were Mental Serendipity(sagacity, watching,thinking,being sensitive,slowing down,external influence) and Spiritual Serendipity(praying for confirmation,listening for answers,asking for guidance,internal influence) and the inter-relatedness of both things or perhaps the dependence of Spiritual Serendipity on Mental Serendipity.
At one point, he rightly said that Spiritual Serendipity was the bridge from Mental Serendipity to God. Spiritual Serendipity thought me to see the unexpected as opportunity and unintentionally caused me to think more positively. It, in effect, made my life better.
March 13, 2012
I had a hard time getting through this one; in fact, I didn't actually finish it. I enjoyed the fable of "The Three Princes of Serendip," but not so much the author's commentary on it. Though the premise was good, I felt the author kept saying the same things again and again. I felt like I got the gist of the book by reading the first 100 pages, I didn't feel the need to continue through the last 120!
Want to read
December 30, 2008I am returning to this book right now because there is a lot of uncertainty in our future, and it is one of the factors that is helping me stay positive and hopeful. I feel like we are being led an a great adventure, and that following intution and inspiration will lead us to be right where we are meant to be. That is even more exciting and blessed than achieving our best laid plans.
June 26, 2009
The subtitle of this book is "Cultivating and Celebrating the Art of the Unexpected." While interesting, especially the retelling of the Fable of Serendip (the former name of Sri Lanka and the place name that forms the root of the word "serendipity"), this book didn't have much to offer that seemed new or particularly insightful.
June 25, 2008
One of my all-time favorite books!
September 30, 2008
A wonderful help for enriching your life.
February 13, 2015
I appreciated this perspective. loved the story of "the Three Princes of Serendip". Too much poetry. Think their book Lifebalance may be more what I am looking for.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews