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 Living Big is a whole different brand of cereal. It's definitely not, as the commercials say, your mother's Oldsmobile.
But take heart. Once you break out, once you complete basic training, you will be so incredibly amazed at the “you” that you are that you'll wonder why you didn't do this ten years ago.
Trust me on this one. You will never he happier, more energized, or more sure about who you are. Great freedom comes in taking risks, stepping outside that tiny little line that society prescribes as “normal.”
So that's Living Big in a nutshell.
Might as well buckle your seatbelts. Or better yet. Unbuckle them. Unroll the windows. Scream out at the top of your lungs, “Hey world! Here I am! And I am ready to live B-I-G exclamation point!”
It's about time for the ride of your life.
YOU WERE CREATED TO DO BIG THINGS
LIVE YOUR BELIEFS AND YOU CAN TURN THE WORLD AROUND.
—Henry David Thoreau
When you were born, you were powerfully connected to a rich, deep world, a world of magic and enchantment. You could do anything.
But then your parents got ahold of you.
“It's wrong to speak your mind,” crazy to talk to the angels, ridiculous to think you could be a painter.
Why did you believe them?
Pablo Casals, the famous cellist, once said,
Each second we live in a new and unique moment of the universe, a moment that never was before and will never be again. And what do we teach our children in school? We teach them that two and two makes four, and that Paris is the capital of France. When will we also teach them what they are?
We should say to each of them: You are a marvel. You are unique. In all the world there is no other child exactly like you. In the millions of years that have passed there has never been a child like you. You may become a Shakespeare, a Michelangelo, a Beethoven. You have the capacity for anything.
In other words, you are not here to “get by.”
You are here to create the good, the beautiful, and the holy. You're here to dance, to spread love, to write symphonies, to give birth to the very best that is inside of you. You are here on this planet to love big. To think big thoughts, to dream big dreams.
Those dysfunctional families that you love to go on and on about? You can heal them.
The crime? The overcrowding? The greed that so pervades our culture? You can change it.
You have that kind of power. But you have forgotten. You've squandered your power on meaningless things. You've bartered it away for security. You've wasted your talent by not trusting it. You've hidden your individuality for a paycheck.
There's a very wise tribe in South America. When someone in their village does something wrong—like steal a neighbor's papaya—the village gathers in a very important tribal meeting. They take the offender, place him in the middle of a circle, and begin to tell wonderful stories about him, stories from his childhood, stories that honor who he is. Remember that time that Kunta climbed the coconut tree faster than anyone else? Remember the time he made that seashell necklace for his grandmother? To them, it's obvious that if he is stealing papayas he has forgotten who he is.
That's what most of us have done. We have forgotten who we are. So now, we're going to put you in a tribal circle and remind you.
1 You are a precious child, loved beyond your wildest imagination by the Creator of all things.
2 You