Advance Praise for Pursuing Purpose (Foreword by Geshe Thupten Dorjee)

“This is a well crafted, gentle, and honest sharing of Dent Gitchel's spiritual journey to discovering his core values and what is most life giving for him. He invites us to follow our own heart's deepest longings and to embark on our personal spiritual journey. His hope is that we too can find that space within that is home to our true selves. Dent does not sugar coat the doubts or other obstacles to be found on this path. But, like the Buddha, he wants to alleviate suffering where it exists, invites us to come and see, and try for ourselves what he has found to be true. This first book for author Dent Gitchel garners well deserved kudos.” — Sharon Salzberg, author of Lovingkindness and Real Change

“Dent Gitchel has written a heartfelt, personal and extremely useful guide to meditation which helps to bridge the gap between ancient wisdom and modern experience.” — Ethan Nichtern, Author, Buddhist Teacher

“Dent Gitchel's Pursuing Purpose speaks to the courage and compassion that is our birthright, urging us to cultivate awareness in the warm, familiar, and patient voice of a long-sought-for kalyāṇa-mitta: the spiritual friend that Buddha said was an essential companion when learning to navigate the road of life and death. An excellent introduction to practice for beginners, Pursuing Purpose will also reawaken the mind of the seeker in seasoned meditators. I'm grateful for this book — Steve Silberman, author, NeuroTribes: The Legacy of Autism and the Future of Neurodiversity

“Where was this book 50 years ago, when I first got interested in spirituality?  Pursuing Purposeis a life companion.  The metaphor used in this book of coming home is so apt.  As a younger spiritual seeker, I had to come to grips with my desire to flee from experience and now working with students I see this yet again. 

 Dent Gitchel’s introduction to the well-considered life, amply addresses the folly of such an avoidant stance. Many of us drawn to spirituality, carry ample baggage of self-recrimination and desires to escape.  In a most considerate and compassionate manner, Pursuing Purpose invites us to the fully lived life—to come home to ourselves. Amen! Over and over, in a manner that is most supportive, the author cautions against the ever-lurking danger of using personal guidance for growth as an opportunity for self-criticism.  This is so helpful.

 This book does not promise pie in the sky, or idealized results.  Rather it offers gentle suggestions to a densely enriched fully dimensional human life.  Stocked with many instructions for self-reflection, meditation, journaling, and bringing one’s values into daily life this book can serve as a Google map for our lives.

 I recommend this book most highly both to the new and seasoned seekers of a meaning rich life, wanting to learn how to meditate or enhance it, and those wanting a value-guided healthy relationship with their emotions, and others.  This book is most of all a kind, gentle, encouragement to deepen our emotional and spiritual self-understanding not through closing our eyes to any aspect of life but rather thru full acknowledgment of our very humanity.” — Harvey B. Aronson, PhD, LCSW, LMFT, LCDC, Co-Founder Dawn Mountain Center for Tibetan Buddhism.

“I love the power and clarity of this book. Based on 30 years as a practitioner, professional and expert, Dent distinguishes Wholesome Mindfulnessas a powerful new path that you can trust. With precision and wisdom Dent walks with you step by step through “coming home to your place in the world and taking the lead in your life”. Along the way Dent generously shares from his heart and to yours. The result is the curiosity, courage and confidence to engage in the messiness of life and the word in new, wiser and more resilient ways. 

 This book is recommended for anyone enduring the crises of modern life and looking for lasting relief.” — Monica Hanson, Founding Faculty of Stanford’s Compassion Cultivation Training and Co-Founder and Director of the Applied Compassion Training (ACT) and Academy hosted by the Center for Compassion at Stanford University

“At times when even the wealthiest societies are facing turmoil and systemic crisis at unprecedented levels, most of us are feeling the urge to reorder our priorities and rethink how we want to live as a person and as a species. For this challenging process of finding and expressing what is truly meaningful and cultivating a mind and a heart that are helpful for self and others, I heartfully recommend the gentle and wise guide of Dent Gitchel in Pursuing Purpose. From his own several decades of sincere personal search, Dent distilled in this book the kind of simple and profound advice that only a good spiritual friend can offer.” — Gonzalo Brito Pons, PhD., Director of the Compassion Cultivation Training (CCT) Teacher Training Program for Spanish-speaking countries. Co-Author of the books The Mindfulness-Based Emotional Balance Workbook and Presencia Plena: Reflexiones y prácticas para cultivar mindfulness en la vida diaria.

“The warm and gentle wisdom of Wholesome Mindfulness reminds me not only why to live a life of purpose, but it gives hands-on approaches for how to get there. Through story-telling, journaling exercises, meditation, and real-world practices, this book helps me tap into my inner goodness and be a more courageous, conscious, compassionate, and values-driven human. This is a perfect book for seekers, whether experienced in meditation or not.” — Sara Schairer, founder of Compassion It

“Mindfulness, so popularly stripped down to a form of awareness, is presented here as intrinsically and deeply tied to our capacity for courage, emotional authenticity, and our unique sense of what values make life most worth living. Dr. Gitchel weaves together his years of teaching, contemplative practice, scholarship, and deep-hearted wisdom to build a practical, stepwise guide back to the self you were born to be. A necessary light for a time darkened by societal divisions and isolation.” — Matthew D. Skinta, PhD, ABPP, Assistant Professor of Psychology, Roosevelt University

“Being connected to a sense of purpose and meaning is one of the most important things we can cultivate to build resilience and emotional balance. Pursuing Purposeis, a persuasive, clarifying account of how contemplative practices such as meditation, mindfulness, journaling , and simply pausing to reflect, help motivate  us to identify and act towards the things that matter the most. Pursuing Purpose banishes any biases about meditation or mindful practices being primarily to achieve states of relaxation. It inspires and motivates us to reflect on deeper values and principles that are affecting our everyday actions, life direction and engagement with community.” — Laurisa Dill, M.Ed., Registered Psychotherapist , Mindful Leadership Trainer, Consultant and Founder of Mindful Momentum.  

 “Pursuing Purpose isn't just another book on meditation; it offers practices for mind, body, and spirit for those who are longing to "come home" to our deepest selves.  It gives us a form of mindfulness that's oriented toward cultivating a more wholesome life, from the subtle level of thoughts to the more obvious ways we interact with society.  If you've been waiting for a wise friend to walk you through the beginnings of real meditation practice, you're in luck: with down-to-earth instructions and a caring tone, Pursuing Purpose is here for you.” — Claire Villarreal, PhD, Author and Meditation Teacher

“Pursuing Purpose provides what many have been seeking for a long time: a brief, concise, and practical guide to meditation. But it is far more than a simple guide to sitting down and quieting the mind. It is at once a spiritual autobiography, a field guide to contemplative thought, a penetrating commentary on contemporary society, a workbook, and perhaps, most importantly, a reliable and authoritative friend to help you along the path of “coming home.” Whether you are an experienced mindfulness practitioner or a curious novice who wants to know more about this activity called meditation, Pursuing Purpose will provide you with the information—the wisdom, really—that you need to live compassionately and with an ever-evolving sense of your own happiness and your responsibility to the community that allows you to pursue it. I can’t recommend this book highly enough.” — Sidney Burris, PhD, Professor, Department of English, University of Arkansas, Co-Founder Tibetan Cultural Institute of Arkansas

“Dent Gitchel has written a raw and transparent book that has a foundation based on meditation and the value of its practice, but as a non-meditator, it also offers impactful wisdom regarding the fundamental importance of self-care and compassion as we navigate the trials and tribulations of human existence while offering reflective exercises and strategies for becoming comfortable with ourselves in our world full of busyness and criticism. A must read.” — John Barbuto, MA, Med, CRC