Quest for Presence Book 1: The Map and Radiant Forces

“The new model of time offered here is rich and beautiful enough to offer real transformation for you.” – Dr. Roger Jahnke

Learn to move from managing time to truly loving time. Any time... like NOW.

Imagine this journey starts out with a treasure map. Your life then unfolds. You get curious about the unfolding itself. You lay the map aside. At that moment you realize the need for “making it in life” is quite different from your ability to fully embrace your brief time here with all its treasures.

Quest for Presence (Book 1): The Map and Radiant Forces uses science, philosophy, poetry, personal memoir, and self-help exercises. Book 1 follows from the prequel and AMAZON BEST-SELLING "The Connoisseur of Time: An Invitation to Presence.“ Download the free e-book from www.presencequest.life.

More About The Collection

The five-book collection, Quest for Presence offers a systematic and poetic solution to the problem of time compression and its impact on spiritual health in modern society. The book presents a brand-new vision of time and how we need to approach our understanding of time in more wholesome, empowered, and healthful ways. It does so with a step-by-step logical map, easy-to-use exercises, and many personal stories.

Over the past century, every society has been subject to an increasing work pace, less leisure time, and greater separation from nature and time for spiritual reflection. These forces, along with growth in short-term and push-button technologies, have led to social estrangement, exhaustion, sleep disorders, and disease. The Opioid Epidemic in the United States is a result of pharmophilia; people “pushing through the pain” and reliance on yet another pharmaceutical quick-fix. It comes as no surprise that recently, in May 2019, the World Health Organization designated “burn-out” as a medical condition.

Most people – including health professionals and researchers – blame these problems on a single root source – Stress. In response, they look to lifestyle methods for resilience, mindfulness, and wellness to help. Unfortunately, at best, the diagnosis of stress is only partly correct; at worse, it is misguided and ultimately side-steps the underlying issue.

The problem is not one of stress. It is one of time. Specifically, we have been enculturated into a view that weds personal sense of time with clock-time as a commodity. As the pace of life has increased, it is no wonder that we are stressed.

In Quest for Presence, Dr. Joel Bennett follows up on his two previous books “Time and Intimacy” and “Raw Coping Power” by presenting a complete road map to help us find personal and social solutions to the time problem. Quest for Presence provides a new language of time to empower us to get off the treadmill. We are implored to see time as a wholesome, positive, and health-giving force. The book is designed for personal and shared use.

Ultimately, Quest for Presence serves as a guidebook that can be picked up at any point and read to glimpse one or more empowering ideas. As an example, The Time Adjustment Protocol, described in Book 1 provides four key recommendations that are echoed throughout the rest of the collection. Life is short and Dr. Bennett wants us all to make the most out of it.

The Time Adjustment Protocol

1. You are already here; you might as well make the most of it (while it lasts).
2. Don’t take any of it too seriously, except for a regular and dedicated practice that enhances your spirit, sense of meaning or purpose, or joy.
3. Every moment you have the opportunity to see things as they really are.
4. Stay focused on taking positive steps toward your objective and then sit back and enjoy the journey of your life.

Joel Bennett, PhD, is president of Organizational Wellness & Learning Systems (OWLS), a consulting firm that specializes in evidence--based wellness and e-learning technologies to promote organizational health and employee well-being. Dr. Bennett first delivered stress management programming in 1985, and through the efforts of over 400 resilience facilitators and coaches who have been trained in OWLS' evidence-informed curriculum as well as consulting in South Africa, Italy, and Brazil, OWLS programs have since reached over 250,000 workers across the United States and internationally. OWLS has received over $6 million in National Institutes of Health funding for workplace well-being research, and their programs have been recognized as effective by independent bodies, including the US Surgeon General.OWLS consults on Integral Organizational Wellness(TM) approaches that combine leadership, champion, team, and peer-to-peer strategies: nudging the true culture of health. Joel is the author of 50 peer--reviewed research articles and chapters and has authored or coauthored eight books, including Heart-Centered Leadership (with Susan Steinbrecher), Raw Coping Power: From Stress to Thriving, Your Best Self at Work (with Ben Dilla), Well-Being Champions: A Competency--Based Guidebook, Time and Intimacy, Preventing Workplace Substance Abuse, and The Connoisseur of Time.Dr. Bennett has served in advisory and board roles for various organizations including Magellan Health; Aetna; the National Wellness Institute; It's Time Texas, Work Healthier Advisory Committee; the Academy of Management Division on Management and Spirituality; the Global Wellness Institute; the International Foundation of Employee Benefits Plans; and the State of Texas Primary Prevention Planning Committee (Preventing Sexual Violence).In 2022, he received the William B. Baun Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Wellness Institute for his contributions to the professional field of wellness. He also received the Positive Leadership Award from the Positive Leadership Institute for forward--thinking management practices that help employees, teams, and organizations thrive.Joel lives in North Texas with Jan, his wife of twenty-eight years, and around the corner from his wonderful son, daughter-in-law, and grandchildren, who call him "Obi." He hopes that one day he will become a Jedi Knight or something.