I delved into the third chapter of The Tao of Inner Peace today. The themes touched upon were embracing mystery (not seeking to reduce everything to a rational formula), intuition, oneness, dynamic balance (the oppisited on yin and yang), cyclical growth (all our lives are collections of cycles large and small) and harmonious action (living with natual patterns in the world and in ourselves). What this book is causing me to be increasingly aware of are the simple aspects of my life, the things which could be changed with ease in order to greater facilitate my growth as a person. Thought on these things has led me to decide on some important, but not outwardly noticable, changes in the way I will approach life. I must create the proper environment to fulfill my creative goals. It will not happen over night, but I must make deliberate steps to ensure it will.
Affirmation
I now know my life is peaceful and harmonious.
I follow the Tao.
I am one with all there is.
I balance the forces of yin and yang.
I flow with the cycles in life.
I honor the energies within and around me.
I respect myself and the process.
I harmonize with nature and all others in my world.
I accept greater peace in my life now.
And so it is.
I also began to read Meditation & Dreamwork, a much thicker volume with a different, but complimentary, approach to personal growth. I stopped short of doing the first meditation in it, as I did not feel that it was a proper time to do so today. I do intend to continue to read further in both books each day, and to space them out to allow me to truly absorb what they are saying. I usually read stories, and I approach that very differently. Stories flow like films for me, and I am carried along with them in a much different way. While they may alter my life, they do so in subconscious and subtle ways, at least initially.