Letting Go of Frustrations

I have been reading Wayne Dyer's latest book, Change Your Thoughts, Change Your Life. It's his interpretation of the Tao Te Ching. It has a ton of words of wisdom in it and I have been trying to put it into practice although it has not been easy.

One of the things I am becoming aware of is the fact that I get easily frustrated when I am in a slow line at the store or behind a slow car on the road. It seems that I am always in a rush to get somewhere and invariably I get stuck behind someone that is not in the same hurry as I am. Actually, after reading the book, I am developing awareness of the fact that I am frustrated several times a day. I am also learning from this book to not pass judgment on these people, to surrender and let it go. Not easy to do but I am working at it.

Another issue that comes up is when people try to copy what I am doing ( and they end up doing it much better than me), whether it's things that I have done to my house or my art and etc. Copying is supposed to be the greatest form of flattery but I have trouble seeing it that way. I realized it has its roots in my past. There was a lot of sibling rivalry growing up and jealousy was a big part of it. I'm beginning to see that it's all about my issues and my insecurities. This has been the hardest concept to grasp. According to Dyer's Tao, our society is built on outdoing everyone else and being "noticed". By choosing the path called the "wisdom of obscurity", it allows you to eliminate competition and retreat into quiet strength. This releases your need to be more anything in the eyes of others.

I am also learning about "less is more" that I don't need to have so many materialistic things. Another teaching of the Tao is that success is really about the person who is centered and can have peace and harmony in the face of chaos and turmoil. I would love to get to that point. There are so many great teachings in the book that can help one live a happy, meaningful and peaceful life. You can be sure, I will be reading this book many times over.

Is It All Overkill?

I spent the weekend on a home tour going through beautiful houses some worth up to a $1,000,000.00 to get some ideas on what to do with my rather modest master bedroom and bath. I have to say that even though the houses were impressive and very nicely decorated, it just didn't do a whole lot for me. Some of the houses had 5 to 6 bedrooms with their own private baths. It seemed a little excessive. The one 7000 square foot house had tons of storage, it was unbelievable! The storage room had so much shelf space, you probably could have put a couple years supply of food in there and still have room left over. I did see one master bedroom that had a library separated with french doors that I liked and that could perhaps work in the space that I have although on a much smaller scale.

I spent 16 hours cleaning out my spare bedroom and most of the closets in the house. I think I ended up with 30 garbage bags of items. Most of which will go to the Goodwill or some outfit like that. 50% of my clothing that was in my closet and in my drawers ended up in those bags. I am not one to spend a lot of money on clothes, yet I did have items that were not worn very much.

Which brings me to this PBS show that I saw on Wayne Dyer. He was promoting his new book, "Change Your Thoughts, Change Your Life."He talked about the excesses we have in our life and that we should really think about simplifying. According to him, we only use about 20% of everything we own. The 80% just sits there and takes up space. A couple of years ago he sold his townhouse complete with all his possessions including his awards, books and many other things that were of great value to him.




Anyway, it did get me thinking about whether or not I really needed all these things to make myself happy and also if it was necessary to remodel my bedroom. I'm not sure I will take it as far as Wayne Dyer did but I do want to declutter my life. I will be reading his book.