Conversations with Calliope

Conversations with Calliope

JOE: Good morning Calliope.
CALLIOPE: Good morning Joe. How are you today?
JOE: Feeling better in general and more optimistic.
CALLIOPE: To what do you credit these developments?
JOE: Mostly to Guy Finley's book, The Essential Laws of Fearless Living, which I read this weekend.
CALLIOPE: What did you discover reading it?
JOE: I tend to live in my thoughts. I came to realize that I become lost in them and let them distract me.
CALLIOPE: Distract you from what?
JOE: From living in awareness of myself, my experiences and life rather than thinking and evaluating it.
CALLIOPE: How does awareness improve your state of wellbeing?
JOE: By stepping back from what consumes me and being aware of what I am thinking, I can free myself from the anxieties which were beginning to cripple me.
CALLIOPE: What anxieties have you identified?
JOE: Worry about whether my writing is good enough, whether I have anything worthwhile to say and whether I can write in a way which makes my writing accessible to others. In sum, I worry whether I am good enough.
CALLIOPE: Sounds like a waste of time.
JOE: It is. Worrying about what might be has never led me anywhere positive. I remember seeing my father worry about just about every possible tragedy. I saw how it crippled him and kept him from enjoying life.
CALLIOPE: It's always easier to see what others are doing wrong.
JOE: Right. I have also come to an awareness that the things we criticize in others are usually what bog us down the most in our own lives. This process is something I will work on today and let you know of my progress tomorrow.