The Anatomy of a Calling: A Doctor's Journey from the Head to the Heart and a Prescription for Finding Your Life's Purpose

by Lissa Rankin

In The Anatomy of a Calling, Lissa Rankin, MD, makes a simple yet revolutionary claim: We are all, every single one of us, heroes. We are all on what Joseph Campbell calls "a hero's journey;" we are all on a mission to step into our true nature and fulfill the assignment our souls were sent to Earth to fulfill. Navigating the hero's journey, Dr. Rankin argues, is one of the cornerstones of living a meaningful, authentic, healthy life.

In clear, engaging prose, Dr. Rankin describes her entire spiritual journey for the first time-beginning with what she calls her "perfect storm" of events-and recounts the many transformative experiences that led to a profound awakening of her soul. Through her father's death, her daughter's birth, career victories and failures, and an ongoing struggle to identify as both a doctor and a healer, Dr. Rankin discovers a powerful self-awareness. As she shares her story, she encourages you to find out where you are on your own journey and offers wisdom and inspiration in the form of "Hero's Guideposts" along the way. Dr. Rankin weaves in lessons on trusting intuition, surrendering to love, and learning to see adversity as an opportunity for soul growth. Much more than a memoir, The Anatomy of a Calling guides you to make a powerful shift in consciousness and reach your highest destiny.

Genres: Nonfiction, Memoir, Self Help, Spirituality, Health, Biography, Psychology

288 pages, Hardcover

First published October 13, 2015

About the author

"Lissa Rankin, M.D., is a practicing gynecologist and the founder of The Owning Pink Center in Mill Valley, California, which is dedicated to redefining what it means to be healthy, vibrant, and alive as a woman in the twenty-first century."
- from the back cover of What's Up Down There?

"Lissa Rankin began painting in 1991, while in medical school and has been exhibiting her art in galleries and museums nationally since 2001. Trained as an OB/GYN, she brings the energy and inspiration of her patients to the art studio."
- from Lanoue Fine Art's artist profile for Lissa Rankin

Reviews

[Texjim · Rating 1 out of 5]

For those looking for the short answer I found this memoir fancifully modeled after Joseph Campbell’s “Hero’s Journey” to be absolutely awful and would not recommend it to anyone. The author is incredibly wordy and redundant including for example, an eleven page forward-introduction. The read was quite tedious.

As for the content I found it to be almost totally mush. The author constructs the dialogue to assure that potential critics would be classified as unfortunate members of the abusive establishment. The story starts out with some promise as the author recounts the real emotional turmoil of practicing obstetrics in a big city ob-department. Overwhelmed and abused, she quits the hospital practice for one less stressful beginning a seemingly never ending descent into her excessively self-absorbed downward spiral as a victim. She quits the second job rather than be fired after refusing an order to conduct a procedure she deemed a risk to the patient. Since her colleagues agreed she was right, why quit. If the boss tried to fire her the liability would have been substantial. Despite obsessing about having no income, she continued to live in the land of milk and honey ($$-Pebble Beach, Big Sur and Marin County-$$) visiting all sorts of spas and alternative practitioners to find her way. It is unclear where the funds come from or whether she uses coupons/Groupons for all these therapies and workshops. She finally finds a perfect place to practice medicine as she thinks it should be delivered. The practice is an eclectic group of health care providers who work together in a complimentary whole. Soon however she becomes concerned that the clinic staff is lax about processing samples and calling in her pharmacy orders. Unable to remedy the situation, she feels compelled again as the victim to quit. Finally, the obvious solution occurs to her and she starts her own independent practice set up just the way she wants. Through these last two iterations she suddenly discovers the time honored physiological principal of homeostasis i.e. the body heals itself. She also stumbles on the well known concept that one’s emotional well being affects their susceptibility to illness. The new practice goes well until she is distracted by her literary mission to save medicine from its evil self. It is unclear how financially successful the new practice was but intermittently neglected it is now financially barely above water. Now she has to choose between medicine and her “calling” as its literary savior. Once again she quits and closes the practice to commit full time to writing and helping others to see the light. In this regard she seems in the end to have at least been financially successful.

Being a scientist myself, I am sure I will be quickly assigned to the omnipresent “them”. However, I have always tried to keep an open mind. I practice yoga regularly and I taught for three decades in a medical school whose express philosophy was that physicians were supposed to assist the body to heal itself. The author does make some reasonable points about how most good physicians in my opinion already practice medicine. Other things she discusses give me pause. The author carries on a continuous dialogue with her outward self (Victoria), her pilot light, her ego, her small self, her gremlin, and a purple toilet named Sebastian. The result is the story of an obsessively self-analytical victim. She espouses a deterministic view of personal freedom in which everyone is interconnected and overtly guided by signs and external forces. She reads all the self-help literature, consults everyone who will listen including an astrologer, a shaman and then makes life altering decisions based on dreams, visions and chance encounters. Based on one detailed vision she uses a crystal and sage to treat and cure a clearly psychiatric patient with an undetermined hematologic disorder. She sits above the bay and uses her mind to call in a pod of whales and later a pack of wild coyotes. She leads an “unfamiliar” horse in a miraculous and spontaneous dance. She bends metal with her mind. She seems to think she is grounded in science but never makes any attempt to record or document any of these skills.
In the end is not an easy read. If you are as the author says a “woo-woo” person you may enjoy it. You can each decide whether it is worth the effort.

[Ruby · Rating 1 out of 5]

"Navel-gazing" books aren't generally my style but I was going through a vulnerable, scary time, so I bought this in desperation. Lissa is the sort of person who refers to the Universe a lot, capitalising the U and talking about how it gives her stuff and blah blah. That gets my hackles up because it is such a spoilt, westerner way of looking at things. Why would the Universe have such a preference for white, rich folks? It is SO DAFT, SELF-ABSORBED AND IGNORANT IT MAKES ME WANT TO HIT THINGS. I'm sure Lissa is a very nice woman and all.

Some people are born into horrible circumstances and pleading to the Universe is not going to help them. Here's the irony, though: this book actually reminded me of my "calling" because I want to be a person who fights for the underdog. You know, the people that the Universe hates for some reason, who were born in the wrong place or time through no fault of their own. Look into a stateless refugee's eyes and tell them to pray to the universe, why don't you? Grrrrrrr. Even so, I read the thing, probably because part of me would LOVE it if these fanciful beliefs about "the Universe" were true.

[Tegus · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book started out so promisingly, with riveting passages about a doctor attending to back to back births and her palpable, all-encompassing exhaustion. Clearly something had to change.

But I started to lose interest with each chapter in her new journey. Her quest for fulfillment came at great cost to her family and to their finances. At one point she is $200K in debt and still begging her husband to get behind yet another of her 'alternative' schemes.

After a while, her constant references to her 'Inner Pilot Light', 'Gremlin', her and her 'Universe' became trite and grating. Dropping her and her friends' websites in brackets came across as cheap marketing. After a while I began to wonder if the book's publication was just another scheme to get her out of debt. Her passages became increasingly choppy, unfocused, bizarre and frankly disinteresting.

The divorce at the end came as no surprise but saddened me nonetheless. Was this self-absorbed 'quest' really worth all the sacrifices? This was 'Eat, Pray, Love' on coke, except with a kid involved. :(

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

In fairness I didnt realize this was a memoir when I bought it. It was more about Lissa's calling then the anatomy of a calling in general. She basically explains her spiritual awakening process and the mystical experiences and synchrosnicities surrounding it, which if you've already awakened yourself may not be as much interest to you. and if you haven't awakened you probably would not relate to the actual guideposts. An overall theme was the importance of her personal calling. At one point she states, "Mine is a big calling, not that anyone's calling is any more important than anyone else's...but my journey continues to require alot of courage." Everyone's journey continues to require ALOT of courage. That is the nature of the heroes journey. Healers and teachers have incarnated in this phase of human history to help raise and shift the collective consciousness and all are courageous joureney's. It's easy to fall into the ego trap to think your perosnal contribution is more significant, but as reader and spiritual seeker myself smack dab in the middle of my own journey, I have no interest to read it from others. When it comes to researching the mind-body and energy (spirit) connection in medicine I'm going to stick with the Joe Dispenza's, Bruce Lipton's, and Gregg Braden 's of the world and save my spiritual reads on the evolution of the Soul in this lifetime to channeled material that resonates with me. I do believe this book would be of great value to anyone in the mainstream medical community that is feeling stuck, depleted, or discouraged and knows inside there must be a better way.

[Ashley Ward · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book started out strong with tangible steps on discovering your true calling, but then got too obscure for me. She lost me once she started talking about how she could bend spoons. I found as the book progressed, the "how to" steps made less and less sense.

[Sandra Massry · Rating 2 out of 5]

I abandoned this one... I hate sermons; expected more of a story

[Pamela · Rating 2 out of 5]

A difficult read. The writing is choppy, dry and depressing. It read like a sermon. Not for me.

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a bit of a mixed read for me. Lissa Rankin was an obstetrics doctor who was finding herself at work running from one crisis to another while working, with care of the patient getting left behind in the rush to put out fires. Burnt out and over it, Lissa left to search out her own way of practicing healing.

I enjoyed the telling of her story - how it was not only about her needs to be able to work in a safe and supported environment, but to provide a better experience for patients, and to be able to teach other medical professionals about how they can achieve better results for them and their patients using holistic and healing techniques.

There were moments though that the book got a little preachy about telling the reader what they should do and I kept thinking that it verged into a bit too much witchy woo hoo for me.

[Olwen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh, brave Dr Rankin, breaking ranks with the conservative medical profession to explore spirituality as an aspect of health. I bow.

I think Dr Rankin's biography would be useful for anyone currently working in health care, whether in the orthodox arms of the profession or in the complementary/alternative fields.

[Megz · Rating 2 out of 5]

This started off really good (with a lot of good things quoted from other authors) and deteriorated into a lot of repetitive biographical-turned-self-help material. It’s also very contradictory... the author insists that the Universe will “find a way” to make your purpose happen. If so, why do we need her book about finding out calling? Self-help books are generally a thinly-veiled way of converting people to think like you, but this one was a bit TOO thinly-veiled.

(I did like the Hero’s Journey analogy, which was new to me. But this was not a Rankin-original idea.)

[Nelia · Rating 2 out of 5]

At its beginning, I really resonated with this book. The author was a ob/gyn physician who had been traumatized by unfeeling senior doctors and a system that put profits over the welfare of patients. She left medicine but found a refuge in New Age beliefs that became progressively wackier. The book illustrates the confusion of the syncretism these proponents promote: Eastern gods, shamanism, the Universe and God all share equal billing.

[Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent!

[Mandi · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Universe placed this book in my lap to light my life's journey ahead of me. I'm enamored.

[Jamie Weyermuller · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyed it overall, but too wordy in general, especially the forward. I didn't think the book would ever start!

[Julie Granger · Rating 2 out of 5]

I agree with a lot of reviews that this book started out really strong and relatable and engaging and ended in a sort of preachy “here’s what you should do / be / think” way. Irony of all ironies of course — her story depicts how she moved away from the “here’s how you should do / be / think” way. The way she did this in her own book toward her readers is very subtle, but I found myself feeling and seeing the disconnect there. I think the intention was good overall with this — but I also think she was trying to do too many things in one book.

Instead of a how-to book dressed up in the clothing of a memoir - I would have loved for this to have been SIMPLY written as a powerful memoir — as her gift for storytelling is indeed incredible. With that, then allow the reader to draw their own lessons and takeaways versus telling stories AND teaching spiritual practices that fall flat when read. At least for me, spiritual lessons are best learned through experience, not by reading them from a self help book.

I suspect that was not her intention and perhaps it was the advice of an editor who recommended erring on the side of making this a self help book, not a memoir. Self help books tend to sell better than memoirs — that is unless you’re an A-list celebrity or athlete.

There was a lot of name dropping — which felt to me a bit like “look at how cool I am, being friends with these amazing people.” Also with the website dropping, etc — that was strange. I am not against marketing or plugging products and services, but that’s where this book departs from a true memoir.

I also suspect that I am not the target audience. While I am indeed a recovering healthcare provider / evangelist and have been for nearly a decade, I think this is probably better suited toward someone who is earlier on their “get of of healthcare provider jail” journey — someone who is only starting to glimpse that there is another way.

Nonetheless, Dr Rankin has a remarkable gift for writing and obviously has some mystical gifts as well, and I’m very happy for her that she has found work and a lifestyle that suits her better. It’s a great model and lesson for many others. In the right hands, I think this book could be helpful to some.

[FZ · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is about an OB/GYN who learns to surrender to the calling of God inside her to follow her life’s purpose. She’s called to her journey and tries to humanize medical treatments by starting her own medical practice. Throughout the book she have been through many difficulties such as losing her father and her interest in medicine. She also thought about killing herself to get away from the pain that medicine gives her. However, when she find out she’s pregnant, she can no longer think of killing herself. Throughout the novel she moved on to alternative medicines such as consuming a shaman and being in touch with nature’s rhythms in sacred places. She also used profound imagery when she described her feeling especially her pain. “I felt an uprising of pain, but like a shaken Coke bottle with the top still on, the pain had nowhere to go.” There’s also an example of motif: she kept talking about “the calling” throughout the text. I think the tone of the novel is more like dreary and desolate because I felt very overwhelmed reading this it. She also used metaphor and similes along with other figurative languages. I made a connection with Joseph Campbell’s heroes journey and The Alchemist because they both talked about a hero and how the universe would always help you in your journey. What I liked about this book was that she acknowledged that there would always be hardships when you step in your heroes journey, and that life never gets easier, you just get stronger. I also want to be an OB/GYN and I want “to be the kind of doctor who practices love, with a little medicine on the side.” I recommend the book for those who are looking for their calling and their purpose in life.

[Skhan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I won this book in a giveaway when it first came out. I hate to admit this but I read the first chapter and just lost interest. As someone in the medical field myself I just could not relate to the author, Lissa, but that was all about to change.

Now, 2 years later and questioning my career choices I reached for this book again. I gobbled up every page. I don't think you have to be in the medical field to gain insight or to find this book to be an amazing guidebook! It actually took me over a month to read this book. Normally I am finishing a book every week but the intensity of this book was far too great to handle all at once. I found that I had to reflect and think about what was written about every 3-4 pages. I would read a few pages and then spend an hour thinking about my life, my journey, and what I desired.

If you want to reflect on your like and more importantly if you want to find your own guiding light within your self then I highly recommend you read this book. It is fantastic!

Now I am not saying I agree with everything in the book but it is an exceptional tool for reflection!

[platkat · Rating 3 out of 5]

p16 - Talks about how we've been treating people in "the masculine" ways for hundreds of years and now we need to treat people in "the feminine" way, ignoring that gender is a human construct that leads to learned behaviors. Methods of treatment don't have genders.

p35/36 - Laments not being able to spend enough time with patients. Every doctor probably does. The system needs to change.

p124 - Dr. Kelly A. Turner's book "Radical Remission" discussed the nine things patients do to get better, not aligning with traditional medical training, which may cover only two of them. They include spiritual connection and increasing positive emotions. I believe there's something to it, but I'm still skeptical. See also "Love, Medicine & Miracles" by Dr. Bernie S. Siegel.

Overall I like that the author gives encouragement and suggested actions at the end of each chapter, but there's a lot of fluff. This makes it hard to want to pick it up after a long day. Sometimes I like a meandering, conversational style, but not for non-fiction. Taking it back to the library, perhaps checking out again when I'm in a more appropriate headspace.

[BookwormMom · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this if you can handle the swing from down-to-earth to spiritual awakening

I loved Lissa Rankin’s book, Mind Over Medicine, so it was but natural to pick up this book to learn more about her calling.

While the book narrated her own journey of discovery and enlightenment, it was also meant to help us deal with our own calling or, if we are already in the midst of trials, to take heart that these are all part of that calling.

However, while this book starts off with her challenges as a medical doctor, midway into the book she moves into the spiritual realm with shamans, fork bending experiences, and other awakening encounters with spiritual guides. Those who are still in the Ordinary World, as she calls our day-to-day lives, may not immediately grasp concepts like her reference to Divine Femininity, karass and similar terms and may actually find it a bit too much.

Read this one with an open mind.

[Dey · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a book I will reread - did the quick read because it’s a library book.

Nice structure. Rankin tells her own story using the Hero’s Journey model, and includes meditations and exercises for the reader to discover more about themselves. The structure creates suspense that otherwise wouldn’t exist - sections end in a moment of tension and then the reader is encouraged to think about their own life. This also creates a mini-practice of sitting with tension and the unknown.

I’m a total sucker for skeptics-come-to-the-soft-side kind of stories, and this certainly was one. Of course, because she eventually succeeded, this book isn’t a horrible warning. But I can certainly see how folks living through it with her must have struggled.

There are a number of bonuses available with the book through the author’s website, particularly meditations.

[Joy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Started this book a year ago but I only got the chance to finish it today (well I suddenly saw this in a hidden shelf today hahahaa)

Basically, it is kind of memoir but with guidepost and practice. It’s a rollercoaster story of Lissa Rankin, MD in finding her purpose in life. I find it hard to read, it bores me at times. It’s too lengthy and she just keep beating around the bush. It’s a good read if you finish it till the end, you’re going to get some good tips in life. But I guess reading this would make you criticize or doubt things written here, question or maybe laugh at some things yeah cause this is actually not for you if your mind is close to many possibilities, miracles and all divination.

[Ana Carolina Loia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Deeply touching and highly inspirational

This book is one of the best books I've ever read, it's the perfect reading if you're feeling out of touch with your true self and the universe. It's highly inspirational and it sparks the light within you to get in touch with what feeds your soul and to to reclaim that missing connection we often feel towards the universe and other beings.

[Alyse · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting premise. It definitely got me thinking more about emotional connections to health, but it was more alternative for my comfort. It did give me some thought about approaching medicine more holistically, doing all things with love, and an open mind.

I didn’t love the hero’s journey metaphor personally, but I did value the sentiment.

[Hanna · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lots of mess and ways to try to explain the mess away. Nothing wrong with the philosopical/spiritual stuff, but I wish she had just done something practical at some point (or even better, if her husband had!). The beginning was really readable and interesting though and maybe the franctic mess is just life & honesty & a way to cope with overly-demanding jobs.

[Lauren Florence · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was wanting to read something inspirational and this filled the bill. Rankin’s story gets a little out there toward the end, but I’ve always wanted to believe there was magic in the world. Whether you believe it all or not, Rankin’s story is one of persistence and determination, and trust in your own strength and intuition. I really enjoyed it.

[Roberta Miceli · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ugh.....this book is all over the place. When it's good, it's very, very good and when it's not, it's not. It's TOO MUCH packed into one book. It needs to be parsed out into the different sections and there's way too much detail. I'm taking an online class by the author and am sadly disappointed in her book.

[Terrish Bilbrey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Life changing information! "Type A" extremely successful doctor learns to surrender to the voice of God inside her to follow her life's path & purpose. A must read if you are in a transitional period in your life or need inspiration to follow your heart.

[Kerrie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked how she wove Joseph Campbell’s Hero Journey through her own story of reclaiming her “Calling”. It was pretty lengthy. And an experience that was very specific, and one the if anyone else were to embark upon would be completely different. But a good read.

[Jackie Law · Rating 4 out of 5]

I got a lot out of this brave, fascinating book. Thank you, Lissa Rankin - for putting it all out there. I created a blog post of my week that has a number of quotes from this book. I loved it.

http://lunawings.blogspot.com/2018/08...
some quotes in the blog post as well: http://lunawings.blogspot.com/2018/08...

[Nicole · Rating 2 out of 5]

I heard Lissa on a podcast and loved her message and work. Picked this book up as a result and slogged through it. It was so much more Eat, Pray, Love than I expected. More personal story and less guidebook/instructive exercises/thought-provoking than I wanted and expected.