Online Book Club - The Not So Big Life

This was April's selection for Tranquility Du Jour's online book club but I just finally got around to reading it. It's a great read with a lot to digest. I'm still working through some of the exercises in my journal. Sarah Susanka uses her architect background to help us visualize moving through the various "rooms" in our lives by making subtle shifts in order to focus on what really matters to us and move away from the "bigger is better" mentality.

The Not So Big Life

Here are my takeaways:

~ Slowing down allows us to become present and able to listen to our inner wisdom.
~ Intuition is "perfectly attuned to the truth and completeness that you have the potential of becoming."
~ Overwhelmed is generally caused by the accumulation of stuff and/or speeding through our lives.
~ Anything and everything has the potential to lead to personal growth.
~ "...if you can provide the basics for yourself and your family, you do in fact have enough."
~ That "Now is the only real time that exists."
~ Meditation "is simply to show up, become alert, ...and with an open mind allow whatever arises in the mind to arise and then simply let it go."
~ Clearly express your intention, then let go.
~ Go toward that which you are rejecting.

I love this quote she used at the opening of Chapter 8:

Submit to a daily practice.

Your loyalty to that 

is a ring on the door.

Keep knocking, and the joy inside

will eventually open a window

and look out to see who's there.

~RUMI