What does it mean to live a contemplative life? How does someone become contemplative? Does being contemplative mean sitting around thinking about God all day? Does it require living a simple or even austere life, like a monk or a nun?

Roger Owens challenges readers to expand their definition of contemplative living to encompass all ways of seeking to be more open, available, and responsive to God. God may be found just as easily in an office cubicle, a donut shop, or a laundry room as in a monastic cell.

In Everyday Contemplative, Owens presents seven characteristics of contemplative living: longing, attention, patience, playfulness, vulnerability, nonjudgment, and freedom. One ingredient he considers essential to the contemplative life is sharing it with others, and this book invites readers to discover the joys of contemplative living.