You must learn a new way to think before you can master a new way to be.

January 16, 2013
"You must learn a new way to think before you can master a new way to be."
—  Marianne Williamson

I used to think that there was only one way to get through boring, repetitive chores like ironing clothes, chopping the pesky ends off celery sticks, doing the 1000th crunch  and driving long distances to work—listening to music so loud and bass-booming it physically compelled the molecules in my muscles to keep chugging  whether I wanted to or not. Now that I'm older, I have a new strategy—podcasts and CDs that teach me a little something I don't really have to learn. In other words, subjects about which I would like to know more but for which I’m just not willing to do the work and practice so requisite to total mastery. For example, Italian. Listening to rolled R's and graceful alloras while driving makes me  feel just the right level of slight but satisfying self-improvement.

Everybody has one or two things they know they need to do, things that are not always fun. They are things like working out, eating five fruits and veggies a day, practicing your relaxation techniques, decluttering your stuff, working on your book, which makes you feel good but also makes you feel nervous that you perhaps can't really write. It gets harder to do them if you are one of the tired, overcommitted women who rarely has free time (and only if they "steal" it). Maybe we don't need to do them all that well. Perhaps we can slop through the 20 minutes on the elliptical trainer or stuff the kale smoothie down right before bed. This approach, of course, means forgetting the number one rule that all tired, overcommitted women base their lives on—excellence at all costs.
But happiness, thank God, is not something that requires excellence. You can be slap-dash happy. You can be lazily and incompetently happy. The emotion, in fact, improves under such conditions.Maybe the secret is a more laid-back attitute and a well-cultivated mindfulness - living in the here-and-now with a delicate portion of gratitude.

My downsizing is moving along well. I concentrate on the next baby step while avoiding thoughts about how much there is to go. I've sold four books that I do not need to dust, read or find a place for.

Some day in the future, I shall utter the words "Freedom, freedom at last".