I was drawn to review this book by its description as “a practical roadmap” to increase our capacity to face and “transform” today’s challenges “such as the climate crisis, oppression, anxiety, and burnout.” I missed that it was written by a well-respected meditation teacher; hence I did not anticipate the meditative emphasis.
Author Sofer guides the reader to cultivate twenty-six qualities he identifies as “essential to personal and social transformation like mindfulness, resolve, wonder, and empathy.” Ways to develop these qualities are offered. For a serious meditation practitioner, this may be a book to contemplate.

This book encourages you to linger with each chapter and then act on it. It's about cultivating twenty-six qualities that help us lead more whole lives, including Wisdom, Curiosity, Ease, Integrity, and Wonder.

It is set up as a year-long companion. Divided into four parts, with six or seven chapters in each, it allows a convenient two weeks for each of the twenty-six chapters.

Each chapter begins with (1) stories and encouragement, then proceeds into (2) reflections for “Getting Started,” (3) meditations for “Going Deeper”, and (4) actions for “Embodying [the trait]”, ending with a short section for (5) “If you have difficulties.”

I already read through the book once, but I look forward to taking my time for a second slow reading and practicing all year long.

I highly recommend this book. My thanks to Netgalley and Shambhala Publications for the review copy.

Your Heart Was Made for This: Contemplative Practices for Meeting a World in Crisis with Courage, Integrity, and Love by Oren Jay Sofer is a “guide to living a life of meaning and purpose in a time of great social, environmental, and spiritual upheaval.” This book explores 26 different qualities with suggestions on how best to integrate them into your life. I especially appreciated the chapter about attention. Some good reminders there about how what we focus our attention on truly affects our mental and emotional well-being. Thanks to NetGalley for the free digital review copy. All opinions are my own.

Excellent. Great approaches and ideas on a variety of qualities and everyone can benefit from thinking more deeply upon. Highly recommended.

I really appreciate the free copy for review!!

The organization of this text follows a really clean format that delves into 26 different qualities that we can reflect on, meditate about, and enact in our own lives. Each quality is a theme that is pretty commonly referenced in either Buddhist practice and/or other types of spiritual teachings, qualities such as compassion and forgiveness. I could definitely see how people could read one chapter at a time to digest in a slower way, engaging in the practices at the end of each chapter. It definitely lends itself well to this type of self-practice.