My Background
(in Case You're Curious)

On a side bar, I once saw on Oprah the story of this Unity Church minister who decided to create a no-complaint bracelet to help people become more mindful of (and, consequently, change) their frequent whining habits. The idea was that you were supposed to try to stay complaint-free for 21 days in a row (!!!). So, you would begin by wearing the bracelet, say, on your right wrist. Whenever you caught yourself verbalizing a complaint (not just thinking about it, as that probably would happen every five minutes or less, but actually choosing to complain out loud), you would have to change your bracelet to the other wrist, and start your count all over again from day one. Well, it sounded like a good enough idea. So, I decided to give it a try, along with my friend and business partner Susan, who happens to be a "Nuyorican" (Puerto Rican from New York) with an attitude (in the mocking and sarcastic sense of the word). We used rubber bands instead of special bracelets, and tried to help each other by pointing it out whenever we heard the other one say something that qualified as a complaint or whining comment. Needless to say, by the end of the day, after having changed the rubber band countless times and being at each other's throat in resentment and frustration, we realized this was a lot harder than we had ever imagined it would be. I mean, just the computer issues we had in the office that day caused tens of band switches. Sue had a particularly hard time at it, and pretty much got to the conclusion that she would have to change her entire personality, culture and the way she related to herself and the world to be able to pull it off. After that first day, we never spoke about the experiment again.

Considering how averse I am to change (and a bit OC, to top it off), it's a wonder I have actually been able to recreate myself to the extent I did. How averse to change can I possibly be, you ask? Well, to give you an idea, the last couple of times I moved, I took Polaroid photos of my decoration pieces, so that I would be able to lay them out in the new place EXACTLY the same way they used to be displayed in the old one. Lately, I've managed to get rid of some things and move a few others around. Now, THAT'S change.

Believe me, though: With all the change that took place, I still have a long way to go. A friend of mine once said something like: "You can live life or you can take the workshop of life; it's your choice." Going straight for the workshop door, always choosing the hard way to learn and to do pretty much everything: that's me. I believe, and then I doubt and I doubt and I doubt again. The few times I was able to stop worrying about something and surrender to the Universal ebbs and flows were the times when the problems either dissolved or the solutions appeared very easily. Despite that, I keep choosing the hard way, resistance, more often than I like to admit to myself.

Lately, I've managed to get rid of some things and move a few others around. Now, THAT'S change.