A few things that have happened in the past few days.

*Disclaimer: This post is not intended for those who consider themselves cynical.*
1. My mom showed me an episode of Ellen, which featured Wayne W. Dyer talking about his new book, Change your Thoughts--Change Your Life: Living the Wisdom of the Tao.
2. Mom said she needed to watch the episode a second time because what he said was so powerful.
3. I felt automatically drawn to it because it's reminiscent of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, The Secret, and other philosophies that hold a lot of Truth, in my opinion.
4. Mom & I went to Sam's Club (yes yes, I am referring to the same place as I recently referred to as somewhat evil, yes) & of course went to the book section.
5. We saw the book.
6. We bought the book.
7. Last night I watched the Hillary/Obama debate (& made peanut soup from Ghana!).
8. I digress.
9. I was just reading the preface, and well, I'm 'super-pumped.' (there's that phrase again, E. :)) Something I've been thinking of lately is doing the opposite of my immediate reaction, i.e. thinking, "I really want this scoop of ice cream b/c it has a gold-mine of chocolate in it" & giving it away instead, or thinking of re-routing to not walk by a homeless man, but walking right by him instead...there's just something God-like in this thought process, for me.
So anyway, in the preface, Dyer says, "One of the many gifts of the Tao Te Ching [the spiritual 2500-year old book by Lao-tzu (whom you've heard of if you've ever read any quotations, at all), whose 81 verses this book refers to] is its mind-stretching quality,...using irony and paradox to get you to look at life. If you think that being forceful is the appropriate response, Lao-tzu urges you to see the value in being humble. If action seems called for, he asks you to consider non-action. If you feel that grasping will help you acquire what you need or want, he counsels you to let go and be patient." Me: "Now this speaks to me! I should post something about this on the blog!" And then, Dyer: "What is this thing called 'the Tao?'...The Tao is the supreme reality, an all-pervasive Source of everything [sounds a little bit like God, eh?]. The Tao never begins or ends, does nothing, and yet animates everything in the world of form and boundaries, which is called.......[wait for it]........'the world of the 10,000 things.'" Sound familiar? "Okay, yep, I'm definitely posting this bad boy. Yeah."
10. Here we are. ;)