Archive for March, 2010
Accepting ‘What Is’
Posted by: | CommentsHere’s a great quote from Eckhart Tolle on Accepting ‘What Is’ ….
“The shift in consciousness happens the moment you say ‘yes’ to what is, because the entire structure of the egoic mind-made self lives on resistance and opposition and on making the now into an enemy.” Eckhart Tolle.
Contemplating this quote takes me back to time when my father was dying. He had throat cancer and I spent a lot of energy being in an emotional turmoil about it, resisting/resenting the fact of his illness as strongly as I could. I spent a lot of time reading about his illness, researching options etc. It was exhausting.
Accepting ‘What Is’ is Powerful
Then I remember one day, just lying down and letting myself accept that he was so ill. Instead of this being hugely depressing and emotional, I was shocked at the calm it brought. From then on, I still did lots of his behalf, but the energy was completely different–I moved from a place of lovingness for him, not from any fight or drive for a specific outcome. After all, who was I to say what my father’s life was about?
Acceptance is a choice!
It’s a powerful thing to know you can let something be. It reaffirms that you are big enough. That you have what it takes to simply abide. Simply abiding is what all great people learn to do. They abide until the right moment comes, then they take action with great skill. They can do this because they haven’t wasted all their energy reacting here, there and every where.
Try it. Accepting ‘What Is’ will help you move with the flow of life.
The Paradox of Choice
Posted by: | CommentsI’m reading The Paradox of Choice, Why More is Less by Barry Schwartz. Fascinating book. Schwartz contends there are 2 types of people: “Maximizers” and “Satisficers”.
Let’s say one of each type is out shopping for a sweater. They both have an idea of what they want, but when they find what they are looking for, they act differently. The “Maximizer” thinks, “Oh, this is nice, but maybe I can find it cheaper at another store.” Or, “Maybe there will be one I like better if I keep shopping.” The “Maximizer” doesn’t let him or herself buy the sweater that’s there, but moves on to look further.
The “Satisficer”, on the other hand, sees the sweater and promptly buys it. Why? Because “Satisficers” know that “more” is often “less”. They refuse to be seduced by the idea of a better deal. And if it turns out that something was cheaper somewhere else, they are not upset because they know that chasing after it would cost them time and effort and there’s more to life than a good deal.
I have something else to add. I think that the “Satisficers” of the world might just be happier people who don’t get so much of their happiness from outside themselves–therefore, they would be less likely to give much energy to going for something ‘out there’.
Think about those people who have to have things “just so”. They do that because they believe that will make them feel better. People who already feel good don’t have to bother with all that. They can be happier with what is.
We live in a time of abundant choice. We have all experienced clicking through dozens and dozens of channels on the TV and finding nothing on. Maybe we are finally coming to the realization that more isn’t necessarily better. That would be good– good for the environment and good for our levels of happiness.
If you want some ideas about how to do that more effectively, contact me. email karen
If you want to check out the book, click on the image:
LAST CHANCE FOR A GOOD DEAL:
Last year I took an awesome Website Creation Workshop. Christina Hills ran it and used a tele-seminar format plus videos and handouts to show people how to create and run their own web site. I not only redid my main site, but I created this one. All by myself! And I’m no techie!
If you’d like to make your own site, learn easily how to add photos, audio, video etc, check out this URL. Do it fast, the class starts Tuesday march 30th.
