The Little Book of Big Knowing by Michele Sammons
What's It About?
How willing are you to stretch beyond your comfort zone?That’s what author Michele Sammons asks readers at the outset of The Little Book of Big Knowing. It’s a fair question to anyone engaged in or considering a journey under the general heading of self-help. In order to help yourself, Sammons suggests, you need to do a little reaching beyond familiar boundaries and do it to whatever degree it suits you.
“Take what resonates,” she writes, “and chuck the rest, trusting, always, your own inner wisdom above all else.”
The book is subtitled, “Tiny Bursts of Insight to Wake Up Your Soul.” Let’s unpack that for a moment. The book couldn’t be described any better than “tiny bursts,” 120 to be exact. Each page offers an adage of insight, philosophy and/or wisdom to be contemplated and applied as readers see fit. The short passages are quick to digest, providing comfort, harmony and sometimes challenges that force readers to look inside themselves and deeply evaluate the message and its suggestion.
FREEDOM TO PERSONALIZE THIS BOOK TO FIT YOUR OWN JOURNEY
Then there’s that word “soul,” the spiritual essence of a living being for which religious and philosophical scholars, as well as people at large, believe hold the key to understanding and enlightenment. That is one of Sammons’ core themes, again to be interpreted and employed however the reader chooses.
In one of her early nuggets, she explains, “Your version of spirituality doesn’t have to look like my version. You have the freedom to connect, commune and enjoy your soul in any way you choose.”
In another, she writes, “It’s easy to live life on auto-pilot. Not really paying attention. Phoning it in. But only by being fully conscious in the present moment of your thoughts, choices, desires, state of being, and actions can you genuinely know who you are. Being self-conscious is being self-aware. Self-awareness is an inner listening of the soul.”
The topics covered by Sammons are too many to mention, but here’s a sampling: choices, desires, staying calm, “you’re not in this alone,” pushing buttons, celebrating, ego, needs, personal power, dreams, comfort zones, God’s grace and much more.
NEW PERSPECTIVES ON UNIVERSAL THEMES
In these strangest of times in our world, people more than ever are looking for answers, trying to make sense of it all, and searching for a voice of comfort and intelligence that they can rely on. Ultimately, a book like this is all about how it makes you think and how it makes you feel.
The Little Book of Big Knowing checks off both those boxes for me and is worthy of your consideration. Take the author’s advice on how to read this book, perhaps a few pages at a time, and maybe even some passages again and again. Think of it as a tool to find the best insights that truly touch your heart and give you a sense of peace and joy.
As you begin your journey into the soul and the self, consider the words of French novelist and essayist Marcel Proust: “The voyage of discovery is not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes.”
Thank you!