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A few months ago, I wrote of how a small piece of lint taught me a big lesson.  Basically, I discovered by the small act of  picking up a piece lint, I felt a rush of peaceful and powerful energy that remained with me for days.  The lint was bright white, the carpet was dark green.  That little piece of lint irritated me every time I walked past it, yet it took me several days of tiny little zings of irritation before I willfully made myself stop and pick the darned thing up.   The relief of seeing just a stretch of green carpet was almost magical.  Since then,  I am doing the inner work of consciously being aware of when something is negative or irritating and then taking the empowering step of changing it.  It sounds easy, but for me it can be difficult.  I find that more often than I’ve even realized, I am so locked in the thoughts in my mind that I will unseeingly walk right past obvious things, tolerate minor (and sometimes major) annoyances,  and feel uncomfortable without fully realizing it. I’ve  even been startled to realize that my thought is  “that’s just how it is and will always be” rather than “I have the power to either change it or change my attitude toward it; where do I start?”.

I got another perspective on this same subject when I was reading a book by Jeffrey A Wands, Knock and the Door Will Open – 6 Keys to Mastering the Art of Living.  In Key #4, Bring More Prosperity Into Your Life, he refers back to a self-assessment list that was an exercise in an earlier chapter of the book.  In the list, you were asked to write down the things you wanted to change, no matter how small or large.  He then asks you to look for the ones that in reality are easy to change.

Here is what he says: “If, for example, you said, “I hate my hair,” just stop wasting all that negative energy and go get a haircut or color it or straighten it or curl it.  Why would you spend so much time agonizing  – and therefore being negative – about something you can fix  so easily? If you’re too afraid to change something that simple, you’ll never be able to access the positive energy you need to change the things that really matter.”

That last sentence hit me with force.  I’ll repeat it: “If you’re too afraid to change something that simple, you’ll never be able to access the positive energy you need to change the things that really matter.”

So.  We can learn to face the large fears and to make the large changes by simply beginning to find the courage to begin changing the small things in life that we are tolerating.  I realized from this that reaching goals, becoming prosperous, and leading a simple, joyful life are really just learned skills and habits.

It all starts with recognizing what we would like to change, even if at the moment we think it is unchangeable.  Acknowledging the problem, changing our perspective to “what if I could change this?” and then to “how can I change this?” is really just a matter of consciously changing your habits.  Changing your habits will change your life.

It’s an awesome feeling.

In love and peace,

Patti

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