Which Way Should I Turn?

Many things occur to me while I am out walking. Here's another one. This morning I noticed that the leaves were falling off the trees as I walked by. The song "Turn,Turn,Turn," sung by the Byrds, popped into my head. It brought to mind that everything changes. Nothing stays the same. The seasons always change and so do we. Change does not have to be a negative thing.

I have been feeling very anxious and afraid lately because I am doing many new things. It came to me that there is nothing wrong with this. Change is bound to happen and it is OK to be afraid. It just isn't OK to stop moving forward. I also decided if I just put one foot in front of the other and don't look too far ahead, I stop feeling so overwhelmed and I am better able to take action.

After writing the above portion, I started to feel better. Want to know why? It was because I received  encouragement and support from friends of mine in my Tribe. (Email me if you want to know more about a Tribe.) It was great. I no longer felt alone in this process of learning new things. So the lesson I learned today is that if you are afraid or worried, tell someone and get some help. This is a simple idea but one that I think many people are resistant to. We don't want to feel weak or appear stupid. Too bad! If I appear stupid at least I am doing it for a good cause. I am trying to improve my life and in doing so I may make some mistakes. But, it is better to try and fail then never to try at all. Thomas Edison said, "I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work." I guess I am working on my first thousand ways that don't work. Hopefully, by asking questions and getting help, I won't have to go through 10,00 ways that don't work. I hope the same for you.





In case you want to be inspired by Thomas Edison you could read The Wizard of Menlo Park: How Thomas Alva Edison Invented the Modern World.

Or maybe you would prefer to listen to some vintage tunes.
Essential Byrds CD

What, Me Worry?

The funniest thing happened in church about a month ago. It was my daughter's birthday and the tradition is that the congregation sings Happy Birthday to the birthday person if their birthday falls on that exact Sunday. Well, I was really looking forward to this. It doesn't happen very often. I made sure she was in the church Sanctuary at just the right time. I even left the choir loft to go find her. So I am sure you can guess what happened. The pastor did not have the congregation sing. I was sitting in the choir loft wondering if I should somehow signal the pastor. Or maybe I could get my husband to remind the pastor. (My husband is the choir director at our church.) I was so busy trying to figure out how to make this happen that I could barely pay attention to the songs, prayers and sermon.

Does this ever happen to you? Do  you worry and worry and try to control things to get them to turn out exactly as you want? I do, much too often.

This is not a recipe for good mental health. I often tell people that we have to relinquish attachment to the outcome. This is a Buddhist philosophy, I believe. The idea is to do the best you can at your task and then let the rest go. I am not in charge of all that happens. This is both a relief and a disappointment, but in the long run, I think it's more of a relief. I can let go of the weight of always being in charge. What a good idea! I think we should all try it.

One thing I use to help me relax is meditation.  If you are new to this idea and would like to try a breath meditation, just click on my store and you can download an audio breath meditation for free. Let me know what you think.