Living Big. Пэм Гроут

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СКАЧАТЬ You're not doing anyone any favors when you play small. Loving Big means recognizing who you are and why you're here.

      THERE'S MORE....

      For each attitude, I've included three sections: profiles of People Who Live Big (heretofore known as PLBs), 3 Big Questions, and Boot Camp for the Soul.

      People Who Live Big

      NEVER DOUBT THAT A SMALL GROUP OF COMMITTED CITIZENS CAN CHANGE THE WORLD. INDEED, IT'S THE ONLY THING THAT EVER HAS.

      —Margaret Mead

      People who want to paint study Picasso. People who want to play piano study Mozart. Those of us who want to live big, well, we're going to study PLBs (People Who Live Big).

      Throughout history, there have been thousands of people who have summoned the courage to follow a personal vision. People like Mary Colter, a revolutionary architect who began her career in 1902, eighteen years before women had even received the right to vote. People like Osseola McCarty, a Mississippi washerwoman, who raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for scholarships for African American kids who might otherwise not have gone to college. People like Jimmie Davis, who in his short 101 years, was governor of Louisiana and a successful country and western songwriter. People like C. J. Walker, who became the country's first female millionaire by making and selling hair products.

      To live big is to join a powerful brotherhood. It's to come face to face with Joan of Arc, Michael Jordan, Eric Clapton. It's to take on the cloak of Shakespeare, Rumi, and Oprah Winfrey, who said, “I always knew I was a hit record just waiting to happen.” It's to join a proud circle with many members from all places and times.

      The PLBs you'll find in this book are all living today. They're people I've run across in my work as a journalist. Some of them I know personally. Some of them I've profiled for magazines. Some of them I've just followed because they inspire me to “make my life extraordinary.”

      All of them are excellent models of what is possible. Scientists know the importance of role models in learning and behavior. A semanticist named Alfred Korzybski called this unique ability to learn from others “time-binding.” The knowledge gained by others binds us all together; if one person can do it, the rest of us can, too.

      You've probably heard of the Hundredth Monkey Theory. It seems that monkeys on a remote island mastered a new method of getting bananas down from trees. Before long, monkeys on other islands began retrieving bananas the same way, even though they'd had no physical contact with the monkeys who'd first mastered the technique. The theory is that if enough members of a group (in this instance, a hundred monkeys) acquire a new piece of knowledge or a new skill, it will pass into the collective unconscious and all members will acquire it.

      When one of us turns up the voltage, all of us see more clearly.

      Those who can tap quickly into the knowledge of others and who can acquire new skills, attitudes, and behaviors have a critical advantage in life. Martin Luther King, Jr., studied the life of Gandhi. Gandhi took many of his great ideas from Tolstoy. Robert E. Lee patterned himself after George Washington. The Wright Brothers received their inspiration while reading about a French inventor. John Wooden, former basketball coach for UCLA, says Ward “Piggy” Lambert of Purdue University taught him everything he knew. Einstein learned from Newton, and Newton learned from Galileo. It goes on and on.

      We are all connected. Maybe your decision to live big will be the one decision that tips the scales. Maybe you're the hundredth monkey.

      3. Big Questions

      SEEK THE HIGHEST THAT IS IN YOU.

      —Lundbergh

      Sam Keen once said that the quality of our lives is in direct proportion to the questions we ask. If we ask important questions, we'll get important answers. The universe will match us question for question, will answer whatever it is we ask.

      So why not ask big questions, think big thoughts? We must ask, “What if?” on a daily basis.

      Instead of, “How can I stretch this paycheck to the end of the month?” we should ask, “What can I give that would make me sing with joy?”

      Instead of, “What's the closing price on Janus Worldwide?” or, “How much is the shank loin at Safeway?” we can ask, “How can I grow into the loving, wise, inspiring person I am meant to be?”

      With each Big Attitude, I'm going to ask three Big Questions, questions I call miracle questions. I urge you to spend time pondering these Big Questions.

      Anything is possible, but we have to imagine it first. The more big questions we ask, the more we dare to say, “What would it look like if?” the bigger we will become. Putting your attention on something calls it into existence. We can literally reshape and redesign our lives by asking bigger questions.

      Boot Camp for the Soul

      TO CHANGE YOUR LIFE: START IMMEDIATELY; DO IT FLAMBOYANTLY; NO EXCEPTIONS.

      —William James

      I know what you're thinking. You wanted to read a book, have something to stick on your bookshelf. But if you really want to live big, you have to take action. You have to do something.

      In fact, the main problem with inspirational books (and, yes, that includes this one) is they're undertaken while sitting down. The only thing they require is mental activity.

      Now, don't get me wrong. A rich, deep mental life is key number one to a big life. But once you start asking and answering the big questions, you can't help but stand up and actually be a bigger person. Living Big by definition means taking action.

      But here's the good news. Boot Camp for the Soul, if practiced with discipline, is guaranteed to peel the calluses off your heart. It's guaranteed to modify any and all small-minded behavior. Follow the simple actions suggested at the end of each chapter for the number of days suggested and you'll be lifted once and for all out of worn-down old ruts.

      As your drill sergeant, I must warn you: Boot Camp for the Soul has some pretty “in-your-face” requirements. At first, they might look, well, a bit outrageous. Yet, they're not. All of these Boot Camp exercises are things we should be doing anyway, things we shouldn't need a book to remind us of. Some of them will be sheer terror at first. I mean, who wants to break out of old patterns, especially if it means talking to strangers and embarrassing yourself in public? But I guarantee that if you follow through, dullness and boredom will melt away. Your life will become joyous and fun. You will become a PLB.

      There's nothing the average person can't do. In fact, the big surprise is that the average person isn't doing these things already.

      Nothing in Boot Camp costs a penny. None of it takes much time. You don't even have to get up at 0500 hours. All it takes is a slight bit of willingness to do some things that might be termed “out of the ordinary.”

      But, hey, that's what we're sick of. Being ordinary.

      Yes, I know you'd probably rather write some more affirmations, visualize some more goals, and speak some more positive thoughts.

      But СКАЧАТЬ