Excuses Begone - Introduction

Reading through this I note he mentions another one of his books and in fact the first one that I bought of his - Change Your Thoughts - Change Your Life:  Living the Wisdom of the Tao.  As with this one I haven't read it but bought it and even started it with the intention of finishing it, so his mentioning serves as a reminder...I'll set the goal thusly.  I will spend part of Wednesday reading the preliminaries in that text and then move on to the individual "chapters" and reflect on one a day or every few days or something like that.  (Last time I did every few days, giving it time to "sink in" and it seemed to work well.)

There is also a lot of mention of Ego, which reminds me of the thoughts of Evolutionary Reiki, the Ego, and Fear and how they inter-relate.  The Ego fears change and expansion so clings to it's outmoded thinking rather than letting go and releasing.

As I noted in a conversation I had with one of my best friends earlier when I was referencing The Secret and it's explanation of the Law of Attraction, the book does an okay job with explaining the law and how it works but it does not really help to get people to the place where they can really use it.  Namely, while it tells you to "ask, believe, and receive" you must do each of these things from a positive standpoint not just in general.  Doing so with a negative or even neutral mindset will yield mediocre results at best and that's likely one of the main problems people have with the text.  It touches on ways to see that you are being positive or negative by analyzing your feelings but does not help to change those feelings.  And the small amount of advice it offers is the "hard way" with no concrete direction (just try and try again).  Which can obviously and easily leave someone discouraged.

Dyer immediately goes and addresses that his previous work, while good and contemplative merely tells you what to think, but not how to get there from negative thoughts.  Thusly this book's premise.

I know from my conversation that I have a number of negative thought patterns that are based in excuses that I need to work through.

***

Revisiting this reading what catches my attention this time around is the pairings he mentions.  About learning to be soft, flexible, detached, and humble.  It makes me think of when someone tells you you're trying too hard.  Instead of live and let God, you are trying to force things and often this results in you setting barriers and hindrances in your own way.

The other part that really catches my attention is the statement of being content rather than ambitious.  I have a bit of a mental struggle with this when I think of the business research I've been doing lately.  It all focuses around analyzing your market, your competition, and of maximizing your potential.  But I see that in being happy with what one has it allows for more happiness.  When you are ambitious in the general sense of the worse you are saying you need more something or something else, implying that what you have isn't good enough.



...contemplate yourself being surrounded by the conditions you wish to produce...