So last night I went to an Institute class, it is on World Religions. There are three rules in the class:
When Studying religions,
1)Ask a believer, not a skeptic or critic of that religion.
2)Compare the bests of your religion to the best of that religion. Don't focus on the negative, but look for the good in all things.
3)Don't be afraid of Holy Envy - it's ok to take the truths you learn from these other religions - truth is universal and we can all learn from each other and gain a new perspective. Truth unites all who accept it.

Anyway I really love those "rules", and I'm enjoying the class! Last night we studied about Taoism. It was so fascinating. There is a belief in Taoism called Wu-Wei (I think that is the correct spelling) It translates into "no action" or to allow or accept the natural order of things. Like water - it goes with the flow, it follows the path it has been placed upon, it is malleable, yet it is powerful enough to cut through, or change, rock, given time. So Wu-Wei does not mean to do nothing, rather it goes along the train of thought to not try to force a situation, but instead to let it happen - work, live, but don't try to control everything - if changes need to be made give it time, don't try to force things to change right away. I'm afraid that I'm not very good at making this as clear as I would like to. But oh well, Wu-Wei! I love that word. :-)
The more I learn the more confident I become in myself (those who know me, know that confidence was never a strength of mine), and I gain a brighter perspective on life. Anyway I'm done for today.

Good Day

Today has been a pretty good day so far. I got up earlier than I normally do to take my sister to the trax stop. We were running a little late, but we got there in time. I came home and spent a little time with my dog Abby, she's a beagle mix, and loves attention. It's always hard to leave her alone. We spent time outside, and she kept trying to sneak off into the neighbors yard. For the most part she is pretty good at listening to me when I call her back over, but there are those moments when something is too enticing; like the new dog across the street, a cat, or some invisible thing down the road. Anyway after we went outside for a little while we came back inside and both had our breakfast. I had some time while eating to read my scriptures. The past little while I've realized how important it is to focus on the things that really matter, and as I read today I felt again the importance of this. So often we focus on these issues that try to tell us they are more important, and we believe them; like having a perfect yard, or watching a favorite t.v. show, or whatever it might be, and the moment we're in passes us by, we grow older, as do our family and friends, and we lose opportunities. Living, true living, isn't about driving a really nice car, or buying that big boat, it's not even about our jobs, (though I know they are what help us afford to live) but it's about family, it's about learning to gain control over ourselves, and not give into every impulse or emotion we have; it's about giving and helping others; it's about giving up the mundane so as to come to know Christ; quite frankly it's about sacrifice. There are going to be moments that are difficult, and moments that we may feel that we just don't know what to do, and our inclination will be to run and hide, to take the easy road, but then we will lose out on the opportunity of learning about who we really are, we lose the chance to become our best selves; we don't really live. So as I read my scriptures today and thought of the responsibilities I have and the challenges that lie ahead I became determined to not give up, to be unceasing in doing what is right, and not give into the inclination to run away when things get difficult. That is why I picked Alecto-Adrasteia to be my blogger name: Alecto means "unceasing" and Adrasteia means "not inclinded to run away". So even though nothing extremely exciting happened today I feel alive. I'm living my life, and I'm not running away from it and with it comes an excitement and joy that just can't be compared to.