Greetings. I mainly wanted to notify people that I won’t be presenting a first Saturday Workshop this month (March 5). I added a thought that I hope you enjoy.
Change of Focus
We all know that stress kills. Heart attacks are the leading killer of humans. Eliminating as much stress as possible will go a long way in prolonging a long and healthy life. Most people study Tai Chi to learn how to deal with stress on a physical, emotional, or spiritual level.
I have found it is not so much what the situation is, but how I view it and think about it. Let me give you a recent example.
This is tax season. I would venture to say nobody likes to pay taxes. It is a stressful time, with people trying hard to figure out how to avoid as much tax as possible. This year I sold the Studio building, and had some capital gains. What was I to do? Stress inducing!
I decided to change how I viewed the situation. I started thinking about all the things the government provides me. Roads, bridges, airports. Regulations for clean air, water, safe food, national security. All the beautiful parks on national, state and local level. Each week our Tai Chi group practices and enjoys a truly wonderful park provided by our local government. The federal government pays me each month in the form of social security. I have medicare if I need it. We in America live like kings of old.
There are many government policies that I disagree about, that waste our tax dollars. If I don’t like the way things are, I can vote to change them, or run for office myself. It is up to me to speak up.
After I changed my focus, I feel so much better. I am not going to pay more taxes than I should, but I thank the powers that be for what I have.