Mid-October 2016 Newsletter

Hello, and a magical Mid-October to you!
Welcome, or welcome back, to my newsletter. The photo above shows me enjoying the music at the start of an energy workshop, already feeling the excitement of what we'll learn. I hope you're excited about what you're learning, too.

Today's issue has an article on moving forward without straining so much. Enjoy!

Many of us were taught that the harder we work at something, the more we'll accomplish. "Put your nose to the grindstone!" we're told, or "Roll up your sleeves and get to work!", or "You earn your daily wage by the sweat of your brow". While we can't just lie around all day and expect our responsibilities to take care of themselves, I do think we've been programmed to work harder rather than smarter. I have certainly been guilty of this myself. When I was in elementary school, in the days before personal computers and printers, if I made one mistake on my homework I would carefully re-write the entire page! Yes, I had a bit of a perfectionism problem, I admit. Yet what would have been so bad about crossing out the error? And what else might I have done with that extra time?

Years later, when I taught school myself, an earnest girl student regularly handed in homework which was as full of white-out as numbers and letters! She might have been more efficient than I was (and wasted less paper), but I could just feel her worry about a possible mistake. And as you might expect, she had a nervous personality, and wore thick eyeglasses, a perfect picture of "trying too hard".

Being persistent has its good points, seeing a project through to completion. We've all heard that quitters never win. Yet if it seems you're not making progress, it may be time to change direction. As a computer programmer I was responsible for working with the developers of a library system to store our code, which had one problem after another. After a couple of months of frustration, I finally abandoned this tool, deeming it unusable for us. Three separate people told me they were surprised I didn't reach this decision sooner!

An old friend often asks "Are we having fun yet?". This can be annoying when I'm focused on getting something done, and he seems to only care about enjoyment, but I have to admit he has a good point. If you're working more and enjoying it less, at a project for yourself or someone else, take a break and re-evaluate. Maybe the stubborn horse in the image who won't budge needs to be enticed forward with a carrot, or tickled! There is often an easier way to do something, if we just look for it. And don't forget to ask for help, or advice, from those who have done it before.

It's my belief we were put here to learn and grow and connect with others. Part of that learning is about how to get things done with a minimum of time and effort. Then we're free to go on to accomplish something else, or enjoy a pleasurable activity. One of my personal goals is to spend most of my time doing things I want to do, either because I enjoy the doing, or I'm looking forward to the result. Is there an area of struggle in your life now which you could transform into a playful game?

To read about approaching vision exercises without struggle, click here.

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Please send me your questions and comments
Let me know what you've wondered about concerning energy medicine or vision or dreams. I'll be glad to write a short article addressing that topic. Thank you to those who have sent me questions, or see a question you asked me in a private session written about here. You're helping many other people! Enjoy the second half of your October. I'll write again in a few weeks. Take care!