Customer Reviews

Living Big: Embrace Your Passion and Leap Into an Extraordinary Life

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Pam Grout's repeating quote is, "Is this all there is?" I know of many people who ask that same question, and go right back to watching TV. (I am also guilty of this.)

Some of the chapter titles are: "Thinking Big, Giving Big, Blessing Big, Imagining Big..." The list goes on and on. There are examples in each chapter of people who have done just that. People like you and me, people with money, or without it, people that come from hard times. People who have jumped over BIG hurdles just to help other people.

We have to learn to give and receive love, without wondering what they "want from us." Stop being so suspicious. One little thing does make a difference. Maybe not to the world, but to yourself, or someone else. Last week, there was a guy that worked at a radio station who was staying in this little tarp-covered contraption 30 feet above the ground until he received 2000 toys to donate to Toys for Tots or until 100 or so hours had passed. When I came to donate, he said, "It feels warm in there." I just had read some of the book that day, and when I made cookies for my school's workroom, I put some aside and delivered some warm cookies to him. When the security guard called him over, he had this little smirk on his face, like I was some kind of secret admirer, or stalker. That part bothered me. It's like no one can do something nice, just to be nice!! So anyway, I don't know what happened after that or what, but just one thing we do for someone else.. well.. doesn't that make us (and them) feel good?

She talks about a woman who stayed in a redwood tree and lived there two years so they wouldn't be cut down, a man who paints huge murals on every wall he can find, a woman who adopted 28 children (not Mia Farrow) and 27 of them have special needs. These are people that we don't know about, because we worship celebrities in movies or on TV. People that are famous just because their faces are bodies are familiar or beautiful to us. I am just as guilty and can be "star-struck" at times. We need to remind ourselves that what we give is what matters, not what we get. We learned this when we were little around the time of exchanging Christmas presents.

Pam Grout mentions that "last year, we spent 40 billion dollars on weight loss products, 98 percent of which did absolutely no good. With that 40 billion, we could give a million dollars a day to a worthwhile cause for the next 85 years. Maybe instead of looking for the next big diet, we should ask: What is the one thing that makes me want to get up on the table and dance? What do I ache for? How can I inject surprise, fun, and outrageousness into this day?" Losing weight gives you a temporary feeling of happiness, but it doesn't last, cause it's not as important as many other things in the world. SUV's, big houses, and lots of money is also NOT AS IMPORTANT. I think we need to be reminded daily of that. Our children, other people, humanity, those things are important, but we spent "10 minutes a day talking to our kids."

This book is wonderful. Everyone should read it, then it wouldn't just be "one person making a difference." It would be everyone working at it. I want to live big. Don't you?

Pam does a great job of mixing examples of people changing their life to ways to change your own.
The key to Living a full and meaningful life is leaving the box we have been told to stay in.
Most of us stay in our box for life, just because we are afraid of what They say and Think. The problem is They don't Think, so why should we care.
Take some of Pam's advice and break FREE and LIVE FREE. It is the only life and chance you have.

I found Pam Grout's book, "Living Big," on the bargain rack at my Barnes and Noble book store. I think I paid $7 for it. Boy, was it ever a bargain. Talk about ideas that have the propensity to be life changing...Ms. Grout's book is full of them. I keep her book by my bedside and refer back to it from time to time. The stories inside remind me how being alive can be a magical experience. Since reading it, I know in my heart that I am making a big contribution, even though I'll probably never be famous. Ms. Grout's book shows you, through example, how to take steps to live large.

Once I figure out what my passion is (I have so many to choose from), I will have all the tools available to live big! Until then, great ideas to live by in today's fast paced society. It is time to slow down and do what we love best! Makes the idea of "giving back" seem effortless.