Living Big

“BLOW ME AWAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can hardly sit here and write this because after reading it, I know there are BIGGER things I MUST start doing RIGHT NOW!!!!!!!!! Really Pam, it is the best you’ve ever done!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

“Every day, you are signaled and summoned to embark on a journey beyond the boundaries of all you have ever known. You need only relinquish your fears, open your heart and begin.”

–Bob Savino, As the Spirit Moves

The average American squanders his imagination, hoards his love and has no clue about the depths that exist within his own soul.

Or as the great poet Ranier Maria Rilke put it, “Most people come to know only one corner of their room, one narrow strip on which they keep walking back and forth.”

Living Big is about discovering the rest of your room.

Using inspiring examples of many big livers who know how to, as Henry David Thoreau said, “suck the marrow out of life,” Living Big encourages readers to grow up and out of their small, wimpy lives.

I believe the reason that five out of ten people in this country hate their jobs and that 17 million are clinically depressed is because they’re leading lives that are “way below them.” They’re exhausting themselves on meaningless things.

We all know the pitiful statistic about our brain power, that we use a scant 10 percent of what’s available. But what’s even worse is that most of us use even less of our love, acknowledge a fraction of our feelings and cower in the face of our highest dreams.

Therein, lies the source of all our problems. We’re living at half throttle. We’re suiting up for hopscotch when we could be performing miracles. We’re completely oblivious to our own majesty, to the fact that the very heartbeat of the Divine thrums through our veins.

Living Big is a book about finding out. It’s about hooking into the other 90 percent of our brains, about loving with every ounce of our soul, about stepping up to claim our wildest dreams.

It’s about leaping out of the limited, soul-numbing boxes that we’ve all been squeezed into. It’s not about making lots of money or having a Texas-sized house. It’s about realizing your God-given potential.

In a nutshell, Living Big is an inspirational book that teaches us how to seize the day and grow into the people we were meant to be. It includes anecdotes about dozens of big livers including:

** Jody Swarbrick, a single mom from Cedar Falls, Iowa who is lovingly raising 28 kids, 27 of whom she adopted. What’s even more amazing is all 28 of the kids have some sort of disability–from cerebral palsy to Down’s syndrome to autism. They come from Korea, from the inner cities, from South America. But she has opened her heart and her home to every one of them. Which you’d have to do because most days, she washes 17 loads of laundry.

** Patch Adams, an unconventional doctor, who demonstrates the importance of walking your own big path.

** Kenny and Julia Loggins who have turned loving big into a full-time occupation.

** Hobart Brown, an artist who healed the rift within his Northern California town, by coming up with a big idea.

** Mary Gurthrie, a mother and teacher of special needs kids who found her purpose by serving big.

** Brandon Sherwood, a furniture artist who creates big with his whimsical, one-of-a-kind pieces that tell stories and come with wonderful messages such as “Time is too precious to waste.” He puts his whole heart into every piece and loves to talk about fate, destiny and following yourown heart.

** Andrea Campbell who gives big by raising capuchin monkeys to help quadriplegics. Like the seeing eye dog program, Helping Hands, the program she started, trains these smart and adorable monkeys to comb hair, insert videos and stick things in the microwave. Best of all, her monkeys give hugs.

** Bruce and Julie Madsen who five years ago quit their jobs, bought an RV, sold their possessions and began traveling around the worldlooking for good people doing good things.

** Cathy Runyan, a mother of five, who started a program called, “Shoot Marbles, Not Drugs.” Doing everything she can to insure that the sport of marbles will have a comeback, she has written a book called “Knuckles Down” and teaches marbles to everyone from scouts troops and kids with disabilities to seniors at nursing homes. Her collection of marbles, the world’s largest, is housed is a special room in her underground house that she designed herself. To get in, you ride a slipper-slide down.

She initially got into marbles because it was the only game her brothers would let her play, but now she sees it as a great way to bring people of all ages, races and languages together. She staged the Guinness Book of World record’s largest marble tournament last summer with people of all persuasions.

But most of all, Living Big stresses that all of us have the responsibility to find that passion that makes us want to get up on the table and dance.

Living Big will inspire each man and woman to give up small living and go on to fulfill his highest destiny.

Endorsements:

Mark Victor Hansen, Co-creator, #1 New York Times best-selling series Chicken Soup for the Soul^�

“It’s time for your to LIVE BIG–here’s how. You’ll love it.”

Jennifer Louden, author of The Comfort Queen’s Guide to Life and creator of http://www.comfortqueen.com

“Living big is an art I have devoted my life to. How wondrous to have Pam’s light hearted wisdom to point out ways I can be more who I already am. Thanks Pam!”

Gail McMeekin, MSW, author of The 12 Secrets of Highly Creative Women and The Power of Positive Choices

“With this inspiring book, Pam Grout blows the lid off your limited thinking and invites you to become extraordinary. Turn off the TV, she advises, reclaim your personal power, and start spinning miracles.”

Father Paul Keenan, author Stages of the Soul and Heartstorming

“A brilliant, enticing guide to a life of adventure and purpose. Let Pam Grout escort, enthrall and, yes, nudge you, into creating a life you thought you could only dream of.”

Victoria Moran, author of Lit from Within and Creating a Charmed Life

“To read Living Big is a delight and to put its principles into practice is downright thrilling.“