"Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything."
George Bernard Shaw
This quote is so important because I think it really sums it up, and naturally that likely figures into part of why he chose it. But the point rings true. If you believe you will also screw up then you will. You will create endless circumstances for failure and even when something good happens you will refuse to see it and thereby sully it.
As I continue to read on Dyer mentions the paradoxical nature of the advice given in the Tao Te Ching. This part really strikes me because it hits him with my situation. It urges that when you feel the need to do something that you should in fact do the opposite...
"One of the many gifts of the Tao Te Ching is its mind-stretching quality, especially in the way that Lao-tzu uses irony and paradox to get you to look at life. If you think that being forceful is the appropriate response, Lao-tzu urges you to see the value in being humble. If action seems called for, he asks you to consider nonaction. If you feel that grasping will help you acquire what you need or want, he counsels you to let go and be patient."
I can't say that I think that the reversal of one's thoughts on the appropriate action is always appropriate - afterall people are often told to follow their instincts, that initial "gut-reaction". So perhaps looking at this advice as referring to that which you may be overdoing or is the result of over thinking, then it seems to ring more wholly true. But other than that I think that it does have a lot of merit. I often find myself, especially in my current situation, wanting to push things in some way too much. The bottom line with me is that I am impatient for some kind of answer, be it a verbal one or a physical one. I just don't want to wait. But really rushing things has no good purpose and deadlines really are something imposed mostly on us by the social standing rather than true necessity. (With the exception of certain instances if something isn't done by a certain time it won't be the end of the world or even a big deal.) There is definitely something to be said for slowing down and one could say that that is part of the purpose of illness in some cases - to slow you down and catch you attention to something you've been ignoring. This thought leads me to desire to share this thought with my healing center's blog which I believe I will do shortly before I continue reading. Life isn't about getting to the end, but relishing the journey. It's about the moment, the now as that is all that is promised to us anyway...
Upon finishing the preface I almost am ready to dive into the reading of the first verse, however I have decided that at least for now I will take a break from it and do something else - after all it is my intent to be getting through my to do list while I have free time with little one asleep.
