Thoughts While Staring

I took a few minutes to sit on a beanbag and stare out the window this morning (which is quickly becoming one of my favorite pasttimes). Next to me on the bookshelf was the excellent Wayne Dyer book Being in Balance. I opened it to a random page, and here is what I read, from the chapter titled "There's More to Life than Making It Go Faster":

"Take your time. Your work isn't terribly important...your worldly duties aren't terribly important.... Make your first and primary priority in your life being in balance with the Source of Creation. Become thoughtful in your slowed-down time, and invite the Divine to be known in your life. Being the peace you desider means becoming a relaxed person whose balance point doesn't attract anxiety and stress symptoms.

"Make deliberate, conscious efforts to slow yourself down by relaxing your mind. Take a little more time to enjoy your life here on this planet: Be more contemplative by noticing the stars, the clouds, the rivers, the animals, the rainstorms, and all of the natural world. And then extend the same slowed-down loving energy to all people. Begin with your family--take a few extra hours to romp with your children, to listen to their ideas, to read them a story. Go for a walk with your most cherished loved one and say how much you treasure him or her in your life.

"Extend this slowed-down perspective outward at work, in your community, and even to strangers. Make a deliberate effort to give someone your place in line rather than hurrying to be first. Become conscious of your efforts to become the peace you desire and to live in balance, even while you're driving. As you slow your thoughts down and decide to enjoy your life more, bring your car to a stop at a yellow caution light rather than speeding on through. Consciously drive at a relaxed pace rather than in a frenzy to get somewhere two minutes sooner. Let other people into the stream of traffic by being courteous rather than right."

Courteous rather than right. What an interesting synchronicity that led me to this passage today, huh? It's like it was written for me (except the driving part. That part was written for E.).

"One of the symptoms of an approaching nervous breakdown is the belief that one's work is terribly important..." --Bertrand Russell

"The more you advance toward God, the less He will give you worldly duties to perform..." --Ramakrishna