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by Patty Ptak Kogutek Ed D. (Author)
"A Change of Habit" recounts a spiritual journey starting when a religious eddy hurled seventeen-year old Patty into a convent in the 1960s. Her deeply embedded guilt drives her to obey the Catholic Church, please her earthly father, and say "yes" to her heavenly Father. But in the convent, she fails to find happiness in religious rites, and rules. Her time in the convent parallels changes wrought in religious life by Vatican II, including changes of names and attire. After leaving the convent following seven years of service, she assumes she can pick up her life and move on. But once the religious habit comes off, long-practiced habits of poverty, chastity, and obedience dog her into married life. Finally facing the reality mirror, she breaks from the debilitating patterns learned in the convent. In finding true spirituality and finally listening to the God within, she shakes the destructive habit of guilt. Her story speaks to like-minded "guilt sponges", offering hope on their personal spiritual quests. Patty shares the "7 Secrets to Guilt-Free Living" learned on her journey, giving her the freedom and permission to follow her heart. "A Change of Habit" is not the story of a girl breaking from the convent to live happily ever after; the story's uniqueness hinges on how ingrained duty lodges. This story of personal reinvention and empowerment that takes place over forty years shows that it's never to late to change one's future.
