A Year of Living Consciously: 365 Daily Inspirations for Creating a Life of Passion and Purpose

by Gay Hendricks

Embrace Each DayWe all want to live authentic, self-aware, and successful lives. How do we go about it? Where do we begin? In a daily map full of wisdom, inspirational quotes, and transformational exercises, bestselling author and psychotherapist Gay Hendricks sets us on a fantastic journey to personal and relationship success.In bite-size portions, Hendricks encourages understanding, self-awareness, and honesty-all vital elements in a conscious life. A Year of Living Consciously teaches us to relish the journey that results in greater self-esteem and emotional literacy, achievements that can only come from leading an examined life. Quotes from historical and literary figures reinforce the timeless importance of honesty and self-knowledge. By helping us see, comprehend, and ultimately embrace the secrets we often hide from ourselves. A Year of Living Consciously brings us into accord to create clearer understanding, genuine change, and self-realization.

Genres: Self Help, Nonfiction, Spirituality, Personal Growth

400 pages, ebook

First published December 30, 1998

About the author

Dr. Gay Hendricks has served for more than 30 years as one of the major contributors to the fields of relationship transformation and body-mind therapies. Along with his wife, Dr. Kathlyn Hendricks, Gay is the author of many bestsellers, including Conscious Loving, At the Speed of Life, and Five Wishes.

Gay received his PhD in counseling psychology from Stanford University in 1974. After a 21-year career as a professor at the University of Colorado, he founded The Hendricks Institute, which offers seminars in North America, Asia, and Europe. He is also the founder of a new virtual learning center for transformation, Gaia Illumination University.

Throughout his career, Gay has done executive coaching with more than 800 executives, including the top management at such firms as Dell Computer, Hewlett Packard, Motorola, and KLM. His book, The Corporate Mystic, is used widely to train management in combining business skills and personal development tools.

In recent years he has also been active in creating new forms of conscious entertainment. In 2003, along with movie producer Stephen Simon, Gay founded the Spiritual Cinema Circle, which distributes inspirational movies to subscribers in more than 70 countries around the world. He was the executive producer of the feature film Conversations with God, and he has appeared on more than 500 radio and television shows, including Oprah, CNN, CNBC, 48 Hours, and others

Reviews

[Kjirsten]

This is one of the books from which inspirational content is drawn for the mind/body/spirit resources my company customizes for members. Every time I get one of these nuggets, I star it as a favorite. May have to get a copy for my bedside table.

[Megan]

so far, so good. this book gives day by day things to think about to live more consciously. it's not too cheesy or preachy -- i am enjoying it.

[Mamabear]

This book has daily readings for a year. I moved it to the 'read' list because I read it every day :-) Great topics for thought and messages to put into practice, I really like it :-) As I read more of it I will probably update my rating of it!

[Angela]

I love this. I usually start reading it once a year because it is one of those page a days books and I dont' usually get all the way through but when I am reading it I feel very centered and...Conscious

[Lisa Factora-borchers]

I hate day by day books like this, but I love this one. Go figure.

[Kellylynn]

Overall this was an intriguing one, I wasn't sure if I would make it through a book with a reading a day set up.

So January was a little rough for me to fully engage. I felt like a few days were either super cheesy or almost identical to a previous one. But as I rolled into February I felt a bit more stable on reading the page of the day while I had breakfast. I started using it to take a moment and contemplate how I wanted my day to go and coupled that thought with the thought of the day.

As the months rolled on I actually enjoyed some of the readings and looked forward to them. Some of the months it did feel like a stretch to get enough in and a bit felt redundant. October was a rough one. And December did feel a little redundant but then again, it was wrapping up the years learnings and concepts.

[Thomas Zegray]

I only read one other book in my life that had the January 1-December 31 type format, it was a book about the stoics. I liked this one in particular because it forced me to open nook every day and read that days ....lesson. I would then read my other book because I was already in nook and had more time to read. I bet that the author Gay heard this from others as well. The self help genre is overrun with options but I loved the style and respected his thoughtfulness in the writing of the book. Being an author myself I give a lot of 5 stars unless for reasons I won't get into, but I would 'a year of living consciously' a 6 if I could for the reasons I stated above....

[Dey]

Did this group with a group of people in a secret FB group. It was my 2nd time through the book — first time was ~2005. I found it incredibly helpful then and somewhat helpful this time. I definitely enjoyed the group conversations we had.

Some things have not aged as well for me as my understanding of privilege, fatphobia, and neurodivergence have deepened since I first read this book. But, many of the challenges were meaningful. I’m definitely glad I did it.

[Theresa A]

Stopped forward progress

Was enjoying the book. I was getting a lot out of it. Until April 29th. Which has a hypothetical formula for the rest of your life span. It was meant to inspire a person, too, not waste time. What it told me is that theoretically, I don't even have enough time to finish the book. That I'm 119 days into the book, and I have 120 days left to live. This theory has now made me distrust all advice in the book.

[Kent R. Spillner]

Daily Meditations for Conscious Living

This book is a collection of daily meditations designed to help readers develop good habits for living consciously. Some of them felt a bit too "woo-woo" and new age-y but most of them felt useful and a few even contained interesting or useful insights.

[Karen Briscoe]

A year of living consciously will help you to achieve a higher level of success in your business and life. Inspiration and insights that transform. Karen Briscoe, author and podcast host 5 Minute Success

[Erica]

Great book to read if you want to learn how to live your life consciously. Gay Hendricks gives you little bite-sized lessons every day that will help you learn to live more in the moment.

[Sarah]

This book helped me clear the path to live in my sacred purpose. I highly recommend this if you're looking to learn to focus on your own happiness for the sake of others.

[Christy Soper]

Too many grammatical and factual errors—

[Molly Brown]

Lots of quotes that were expanded on to ponder and sometimes inspire. Some were helpful and some were not but I always enjoy a few books per year broken up for daily reading inspiration.

[David Roberts]

I really liked this book. Billed as "a one year journey to conscious living," the goal seemed a bit outrageous, but Gay Hendricks does a great job structuring a series of one day readings that do really give one a LOT to think about over the course of the year. Some of the strongest sections were when he had a five to seven day set of readings on a single subject.

Each section begins with an epigraph (quote), always of high quality, then a one page (or so) presentation of the topic for the day, and then an exercise designed to keep the topic for the day in mind. I found the readings effective and helping me gain insight into my life, and in particular my interactions with others.

Here's a pithy quote from very early in the year:

"As you go through your activities today, return often to the question “What do I most need to learn right now?” Realize that your journey is not about being right or achieving anything; it is always about learning what most needs to be learned.

Hendricks, Gay (2009-06-06). A Year of Living Consciously (p. 5). HarperOne. Kindle Edition. "

I would have probably given it a 5 if it had an index.

[Nielian]

The reader is supposed to read 1 chapter per day, which is quite common in the spiritual literature. We are supposed to feel, live and meditate about the topic, not just read it all over night an forget half of the stories :) But I was far from perfect reader and several times I read the topics of one whole month during my journey to work... I liked it that way because I just ignored the topics that did not resonate with me and only focused on the important ones at the moment :)

[Heather]

I revisit this book often...it provides a daily meditation...whenever i am working through something i read the current day's passage...and i work through thing a lot! a book that you truly get out of it what you out into it.

[Kj]

I've been reading this very slowly over at least the last two years if not four! I have appreciated many of it's insights and suggestions. A friend who bought it at the same has been sharing the ride with me.

[Pomomom]

This book provides a thoughtful perspective to apply daily. Good quotations too.

[Joni]

Another 'daily' reader. A great way to start the day!

[Danielle]

Boosted my confidence, inspired me to do more

[Javi Jara]

What a wonderful book. I am reading it for a second time. Give it a try.