Allowing - Living a Peaceful Life
by Nancy Pritchard,  June 10, 2008

May's meeting of Living a Peaceful Life (a study of the Tao Te Ching) was an enjoyable, lively and entertaining event.  Our topic was 'allowing' events to be as they are without feeling the constant need to control life's variables.  The more we can 'allow' events to be (especially events we have little or no control over) the less stress we experience.  Peace is able to enter our lives on a more regular basis. 

I have a friend, we'll call her Marti, whose son is a high school junior.  For the past three years, Marti has been religiously checking her son's grades online.  What has this effort accomplished?   Battles mostly, when the grades dropped below Marti's designated level of acceptance.  Did the arguments make a difference in her son's school performance?  Not really.  His grades may have improved for a week or two, but soon the lackluster school performance reappeared without fail.   

In an attempt to follow Taoist philosophy, Marti decided to practice allowing in this area of her relationship with her child.  So she deleted her weekly reminder to 'check son's grades' that relentlessly continued to pop up on her Outlook - week after week after week.  Marti explained that she experienced a wonderful feeling of a weight being lifted from her shoulders when she did this.   She had finally given up control - OF SOMETHING SHE'D NEVER HAD CONTROL OVER IN THE FIRST PLACE!! 

The Taoist message is simple - the more you are able to allow, the more peace is able to flow into your life. 

Nancy Pritchard is the facilitator for the Tao Study Group, 'Living a Peaceful Life', at The Healing Way in Frederick, MD. For the date of the group's next meeting, see the online Calendar of Events.

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© 2008, Nancy Pritchard