A few years ago a friend introduced me to The Untethered Soul by Michael Singer. At the time it failed to resonate with me, and I never finished reading it. But then, about a year ago, someone else mentioned the book and encouraged me to read it. After locating it under a stack of books, I started reading it again and was enthralled with it. Over the following weeks, my morning ritual included reading a few pages before a short mediation. Interestingly, the book that I couldn’t finish became the book I couldn’t put down. What I have taken from Singer’s writings is this: nothing is worth holding onto in our hearts and minds; we should not permit anything in life to get stuck in our hearts.  Instead, acknowledge it and then send it on its way through. “Don’t close” your heart is his advice.

Not only has this perspective helped me in my daily life in Dallas, but it was an invaluable lesson as I travelled in France.  My journey began with a 3-1/2 hour delay in Dallas and deplaning before finally making our way to our destination. Given this is a trip that I have been planning and looking forward to for months, I could have allowed this to ruin the beginning of my travels, but it gave me an opportunity to utilize Singer’s suggestion. Instead of developing a bad attitude because American Airlines was stealing hours of Paris from me, I decided to enjoy the extra time for movie watching and mapping out my shopping notecards. (Yes, I have organized the shopping areas by arrondissement in order to most efficiently use our time.) To get upset and irate would have done nothing to help the situation. Instead, I focused on the fact that I was relieved that I had scheduled my train for the day after my arrival rather than having the stress of missing it due to arriving late.   And, I was happy to have the opportunity to watch a couple of extra movies that I have been wanting to see.