Over the weekend, my mother and her partner
visited and we spent the day walking around Harvard Square. We
popped into a few bookstores, and I bought Dr. Wayne W. Dwyer’s
new book called Change Your Thoughts—Change Your Life: Living the
Wisdom of the Tao. Now I’ll admit to being a self-help book
junkie, but this book has some really interesting insights into
eastern thinking. Dwyer’s book basically translates the work of
Lao Tzu. One section that really struck me was called ‘living
with flexibility.’ In the words of Lao Tzu:
The flexible are preserved unbroken.
The bent become straight.
The empty are filled.
The exhausted become renewed.
The poor are enriched.
The rich are confounded.
Change the way you see the storms of your
life.
This particular quote really stood out to me. I feel that there are
two sides to every coin. We can play out the story of our lives as
the hero or the victim—it’s simple and yet so complicated. In
terms of fighting for family equality, I think it’s easy to get
bogged down and feel like this is an endless fight. But on the
other hand, we could also say that we’re further than we have
ever been and we can see gay marriage coming soon hopefully in
California and New York. I give my mother oodles of credit for the
way she views the storms of her life; she’s definitely met some
resistance after coming out and I’m still working towards the day
that everyone in her family celebrates this event. But instead of
focusing on the negative, she sees that she has a fabulous partner,
two kids who adore her, and a home that allows her to kayak
everyday. In the midst of our ever-crazy, non-stop society I
challenge you to change the way you see the storms of your life. It
might just make a world of difference.