Product Description

"In returning and rest you shall be saved." - Isaiah 30.15. When was the last time you had a real day off? Ditched the 'to do' lists. Switched off the phone. Had a lie-in. Sat in the bath until the water went cold? Most of us live at break-neck speed. Busy lives - work, family, friends, endless tasks - leave us with little time to sleep, never mind stopping and reflecting. We urgently need to stop imagining everything is so urgent. We need to learn to nurture our inner slob. In this generous, life-affirming book, full of practical wisdom, Stephen Cottrell invites us to slow down and stop...and breathe. This work contains 12 chapters: tackling the difficult business of stopping, through to where God fits in, and offering a beginners guide to sitting still! Start an adventure of self-discovery, play and renewed creativity that will improve the way you see life and help you catch a glimpse of God.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #22091 in Books
• Published on: 2007-05-18
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 96 pages

About the Author
Stephen Cottrell is the Bishop of Reading. He is one of the Emmaus authors and has written Travelling Well and Praying through Life for CHP.

Customer Reviews

A lovely lovely look at the gift of stepping back
Many of us today are bowed down by our need to be busy, productive people. In hurrying around, Cottrell (the bishop of Reading)'s thesis is that we miss out on being the complete humans God wants us to be. Rather, if we chilled out more, we'd be happier as a result.
So far, so obvious, you might say, but Cottrell makes his points with choice stories, depth of understanding and yet a light touch, which make this short book a delight, and a much-needed prompt. Superficially, he's just saying "take it easy once in a while"; at a deeper level, he's saying that God is present to us, if we'll only stop to take him in.
If you're an agnostic or atheist, enjoy this Christian take on how you might approach life in a different way (and really suck the marrow out of it.)
If you're a liberal Christian, take this as manna from heaven, reminding you of what you've always guessed about God's purpose for each of us.
If you're an evangelial Christian, read this to understand where liberals are coming from, and why they too want to share Jeussu Christ with the world.
Sure, it isn't perfect; it's a bit vague and waffly towards the end, but there's so much good here, that's a tiny quibble. When I put the book down, I sat still in a chair for 15 minutes and prayed. It was wonderful.

Small, practical, and fun
I bought this book on a whim over a year ago and read it at the time. It inspired me to recenter my life (although not as much as I'd hoped) then. Since then I've read it several times including over the last few days while travelling in the USA - Stephen clearly presents a cogent argument for how refocusing our life outside ourselves (and on Jesus) helps us live a more fulfilled life.

Thoroughly recommended.

A missed opportunity
I knew this book was about Christianity when I bought it but it would be easy not to realise. Consequently I was intrigued to see how far an atheist could 'go along' with the book and whether I could still take a positive message away.

The title and packaging suggest that this book was attempting to reach beyond the traditional audience for religious literature and to attract an audience keen on self-help who might find the practical message helpful and therefore be willing to consider the spiritual message too. I read this at the same time as 'Happiness' by Matthieu Ricard which whilst clearly suffused with Ricard's Buddhist faith provides a message for all.

Unfortunately Cottrell had only just begun to discuss how pausing and reflecting might change your life for the better before he switched to the importance of a belief in Jesus Christ. He never really took up his initial point again.

I could see the book being helpful to someone who is already a Christian or pretty much ready to become one. A longer, subtler book might have had something to say to a wider audience.