Author: Sarah Susanka

ISBN: 978-1-4000-6531-8

You Can Purchase This Book From Amazon  

We have all asked ourselves at one time or another “Is this all there is?” We get into a routine – same time, different day, same thing over and over. Like when we eat at the same time everyday, read a book before falling asleep every night, or driving the same streets day after day to work. When we were young adults, didn’t we have dreams about how we would live as adults? Are we living them? Have we become so involved with our careers that there’s no time for anything else? Have we taken on more and more, but enjoy less and less? Is it too late to shed some of our activities to order to make room for things we’ve always dreamed of doing?

 Susan Susanka is a successful architect who, suddenly one night, asked herself if this was all there was. She was simply doing the same thing she had done for many years before falling asleep – reading a novel in bed. She claims that most thoughts like this come to those who have had a brush with disaster. But, here she was, having a life-altering experience while doing nothing more than she had every night. 

Do we know what “compose” means to an architect? It is different than what you would think and how the author uses it to illustrate a person will stay with me forever. Susanka asks how many people we know who have a face they show the world, “while just beneath the surface they’re feeling empty and frightened and not doing any of the things they year to be doing.”  “A life that’s well composed is one in which there is authenticity all the way through. A life in which you are living your passions and finding ways to express the beauty that you are.”

Are we living a too big life? Is our life truly filled “from top to toe with activities, urgencies, and obligations that seem absolute?” Are we at the end of our ropes, nothing more to give, and in need of a solution?  Susanka offers a “Blueprint for a New Way of Living.” She writes that we need to “remodel.” We need to “feel at home in our lives.” She explains what it takes to remodel – I looked at it as spring-cleaning! We need to throw out the old to make room for the new. However, you look at it, there are changes we can make to live at home comfortably in our lives.

The first step is a blueprint. “Because we tend to compartmentalize our lives – to see our working world as one thing, our home life as another, and our desire for connection with our inner nature as yet another – we don’t really live in the way we know should be possible.” We need windows in our lives to allow us to feel flow – and not so claustrophobic. Next, we need to realize what inspires us – identify “the activities and engagements that have made us feel most alive.” Moving on, we need to “identify what isn’t working.” We have to “recognize the real obstacles to living a meaningful life.” Susanka explains that we need to remove the clutter, listen to our dreams, learn to see through obstacles, improve the quality of what we have, create a place and time for ourselves, and deal with the “construction process.” When your new home (you) is ready, 

 It’s time to move in, learn to maintain, and enjoy living in the dream house (your life) you have remodeled.  It all sounded complicated – until I read about the “Not So Big Life Notebook.”

In the notebook, we need blank paper in thirteen sections – everyday routines to support my growth; strategies for engaging my everyday life differently; phrases to keep in mind; questions to keep asking myself; personal behavior flags to watch for; insights and “ahas”s; issues that seem disturning to me; subjects to inquire into; personal longings and aspirations; general musings; surprising life events that seem related to what I’m reading; and two sections for chapter 2. She relates this notebook to a “photo album” – it “will help you remember where you’ve been and what you’ve discovered along the way.”

What I discovered is I now understand a little more about designing a home and a lot more about remodeling my life. With Susanka’s insight, helpful steps, and everything easily spelled out -- I made progress the very first day and now know that I can make room for what really matters in my life. I was left truly inspired.

 The above review was contributed by: Sue Vogan: Sue is a Writer & Author of NCO-No Compassion Observed: To read more of Sue's reviews Click Here