April Book Club Chat: The Big Leap by Gay Hendricks
Today's book club chat is about this powerful read: The Big Leap by Gay Hendricks. This book changed my life. His points are easy to follow and even easier to integrate.
"Life is at its best when love, money, and creativity are growing in harmony." - Gay Hendricks
I love this quote from the beginning of the book. The question then begs, "How?" And 'The Big Leap' is the answer. As he points out, the problem is we have a limited tolerance for feeling good. We know how to feel pain - we have an entire brain center dedicated to it!
Which is why his initial three questions sparked my interest -
"Are you willing to increase the amount of time every that you feel good inside?
Are you willing to increase the amount of time that your whole life goes well?
Are you willing to feel good and have your life go well all the time?"
I'm certain you said, 'yes!' Me too. Well, having read the book now, how did you do? Let's explore this further. Join in by leaving a comment below. Please note that comments are public.
1.) He writes, "In the face of so much evidence that life hurts and is fraught with adversity on all fronts, having a willingness to feel good and have life go well all the time is a genuinely radical act." What do you think of this?
I had to really stop and think about this - and I totally agree with him. It is a radical act. To actually love your life IS a radical act. To spend your day figuring out more ways to feel good instead of why you feel bad will change your life. What do you think?
2.) What do you think about his description of "upper limits"?
Think of an upper limit as that glass ceiling you've inadvertently placed on your life. This one is universal. We all have upper limits and they're all invisible to us. My upper limits used to do with success and money. Every time I would reach a peak of success "something would happen..." I put this in quotations because you know what I'm talking about. We aren't conscious or aware, I should say, of our upper limits. They aren't obvious and they're always masked as just unfortunate circumstances. Here's a BIG secret: there's no such thing as unfortunate circumstances. This can be an entire article so I won't dive in too much here. If you want to know WHY then tune into my free call on May 14th.
3.) Do you live in your Zone of Genius?
This was a major theme from the book and my favorite. His description of living and working from a place that also helped you let go of 'get-oriented' goals is very appealing. I applied this to my work right away and cut back on things that weren't fulfilling anymore. I cut out all the 'should's' from my work and as left with a business I absolutely love. How did you apply the Zone of Genius to your life?
Thanks for joining me for April's book club! I'll leave you with this quote from the book:
"Long ago you made a handshake deal with the universe that you wouldn't hold back. It's easy when you're comfortable to forget the deal you made with your soul to use yourself fully."
In light, love, and books,
Andrea
P.S.
There is not a book club selection in May while I focus on my Conscious Living for Mindful Entrepreneurs month! I'll be sure and make up for this with a really good read in June. Who doesn't love summer reading?