As I sit up in bed with a large cup of coffee, just enjoying a peaceful Saturday morning, I'm reading a book by Wayne Dyer called: Change your thoughts-Change your life. I am no stranger to this book. I've read it many times and usually finish the book, turn it back to page 1, and start reading it again. Yes, I usually have at least 3-4 books going at a time.
The book is worn, many pages have yellow highlights and ink pen underlines. Many pages have personal notes in the margins or at the bottom of pages as mental reminders of the mental clarity or message imparted to me while reading the verse of the day.
In the book, author Wayne Dyer takes each of the 81 verses of the ancient text, Tao Te Ching, and writes a brief commentary of his interpretation of the verse and ends the daily reading with a suggestion of how to "Do the Tao Now".
I find that reading only one verse daily allows me to meditate on it and notice the happenings around me that make the ancient words of wisdom, spoken by Lao Tzu some 2500 years ago real and alive today. I notice similarities to King Solomon's words of "there is nothing new under the sun" as written in the Bible's Old Testiment book of Ecclesiastes.
Today I was struck by Wayne's commentary on verse 41, wherein he states " Less effort is actually easier - work gets done when you lighten up internally and let yourself be moved along by the ceaseless Tao, rather than by setting goals or meeting standards set by others".
As a person who used to have 3 To Do Lists (#1 Will be done before I leave work today, #2 Would be nice to get done before I leave work today and #3 Would be nice to get done somday when I have a spare few minutes or hour) and a Personal Assistant who met me in my office promptly at 8am each morning with his pen and legal pad and then again at 4:30pm to see where we were on our lists and which items would get cross off as complete, moved to tomorrow's schedule or to a different list, I find that retirement and age have mellowed me.
I no longer operate with multiple lists. I recognize something needs to get done and I walk past it, some would say procrastinating, until I feel like doing it. With this new style of task completion I no longer feel pulled, anxious or stressed completing a task. Instead I know that once I feel like doing it, it will be a breeze, get done quickly and with great attention to detail, but until then, I just wait to feel like it. When the urge strikes, it feels effortless to complete the task.
This is a new luxury for me. I sometimes wonder what my life would look like if I had always been this laid back. But, as the Bible teaches, there is a time for everything.
As I sit here contemplating that thought, I'm also reminded that my life has been as it has been, which is exactly as it was supposed to be, it was all perfect. I'm just in a new, relaxed season and I love it.
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