I admire Willie Nelson for so many reasons, and one of those reasons is his awe for the mysteries of life. His book “The Tao of Willie”, offers us a huge amount of wisdom from many profound lessons he has learned from …in the publisher’s words…”decades of hard knocks and good bounces.”
Willie is inspiring and this is a real “feel good” book.
In the 6th century B.C., the “Tao te Ching” was written in China by the philosopher Lao Tzu. This ancient sacred text of wisdom has become a model throughout the centuries for humanity to conduct itself. Lao Tzu spent his whole life writing this one book and it is still revered in the world today.
With Willie’s awe for the mysteries of life, and his great artistry, creativity, and love for this planet ~ he is probably the ONLY person who could give us such a useful, practical guide to using the Tao in everyday life in the 21st century A.D.
“The Tao of Willie” guides us through a deep look into ourselves. And, via the “Willie Way”, the heaviness in our lives gets lifted and we become more lighthearted.
Through laughter and making us feel more free and loved, Willie shows us “the way” to happiness in our own hearts.
I cannot tell you what this book will mean to you, because that will be your own experience. But, I’m pretty sure if you take the time to read it ~ you’ll be glad you did!
I believe “Willie’s Way” is a very good way to look at life. For anyone who, like myself, has felt oppressed and had to struggle to flower into who they really are ~ this book of Willie’s has the keys that lead to the truest of happiness which can only be found inside our own hearts.
My connection to Willie and the Willie Nelson Peace Research Institute has been the single most monumental change in my life that has enabled me to become more of who and what I really am.
And, that’s because of the gracious, loving, and warm encouragement for freedom of expression that Willie offers…and is priceless!
Before I read “The Tao of Willie”, I thought I had an open heart. But after reading it, I realized that a truly open heart is an endless stream of peace.
-Here are just a few samples of “Willie’s Wisdom” from his book, “The Tao of Willie”.
-If you care too much, you’ll screw up every time.
-I believe that we ignore the law of love at the peril of our own lives and the planet we share.
-A life in the way of the Tao means living in harmony with the world and those who inhabit it. Sharing that harmony has taught me so much, and it all started with the musical home I was born into back in Abbott.
-…. one thing I learned is that the mind, rather than being the master, should be the servant of the heart.
-Everything in creation must be true unto itself.
-I’ve always loved morning glories, those lovely flowering vines that open their blossoms with the morning light. A morning glory knows nothing of the night. By day, the mystical, twinkling firefly is only a flying bug. Though they are connected by place, they are separated by time and know nothing of each other. In their own way, each is a mystery…
-…Meditation…. It’s about just being.
Sit. Listen. Breathe. Dream. Renew.
-I’ve noticed that most people spend too much time worrying about what someone else is doing or saying.
-Letting your thoughts think you into a corner, why not just let them go?
-…the incredible secret…is the word now. It is the understanding that happiness exists at just one time. And that time is now.
-The easiest mistake on earth is to forget to appreciate what you have right now.
-When the panic ~ among other things ~ hits the fan…. once you admit that you can’t control everything, then it becomes clear that sometimes you just have to let things happen…Instead of trying to make everything happen, I just get out of the way and let it happen. That’s one of the biggest things I’ve learned, and once I did it, my relationships with everybody improved.
-There is no normal. There’s only you and me….So, if I’m not normal and you’re not normal and they’re not normal ~ why in the blue blazes do we all spend so much time pretending we are?
-There is only one map to the journey of life, and it lives within your heart.
-I find it curious that wherever you go on earth, the fundamental teachings remain the same. Underlying everything is the simple idea of love.
-Doing things because they are the right thing to do ~ not just because of some tangible gain you’ve planned ~ will ultimately reward you in better ways than money, power, comfort, or fame.
-Willie says that it is not unfulfilled ambitions that keeps him going ~ but, what he does and who he is.
Be There:)
…. and as Willie might say: ALOHA!:)
Patty Ann Smith, our guest blogger, is an artist who devotes her life to creating peaceful solutions. Please check out her sites:
http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=pattyannsmith
be here now, be now here, now be here , here now be, now here be….. be here now!!!!!
You know what I think would be a wonderful thing to create? An educational site and search engine customized mainly for the members of congress.
We always want to say how bad these people are but most of them are just uneducated dolts. As such they aren’t really aware of how much damage they do when they trade off a few personal morals for cash or pork. The White House and other wrong-minded individuals or groups educate them by email and word of mouth. But what they learn is more often wrong than not.
It would be great to have a common page with a sub-section for each congressional member that crawled the web for issues both in their areas and nationally/internationally which would log, categorize, and statistically analyze all sorts of data. Including but not limited to public opinion, 100s of thousands of text books, real science and information, contact information, etc. etc. Basically bring them the web in a focused application format that is both easy to use and fun.
The way it is now each member could spend 24/7 of their entire career and still not understand what the Federal Reserve is where it came from, the policies that govern it, nor what alternatives there were to it. What global warming really is and what causes it. What the CFR is what policies and morals direct it’s nature and course, and who’s a member, etc. etc. etc.
Most congressmen are just ignorant. If they had a common and customizable application interface that took most of the work of researching things out of researching things we’d have a much more informed congressional body and allot of the mistakes and malpractices that are occurring today would have less of a chance of occurring.
It would take money from the private sector and would need to be made a big deal of as “a present from the people to the members of congress” and it would need to be kept in the buzz so to speak to keep them coming back to it and etc.
I’d be willing to devote all my time to head the project’s development, organization, and staff the initial effort if I could find funding. I’ve had some experience in this field as a game and applications designer and developer and would love the opportunity to apply my skills to something like this making it my life’s work.
We all form our opinions based on the information we have available to us and make decisions from a cost / benefit formula from those opinions. This truly is the information age and I think allot of the disconnect we see between ourselves and our congressmen is a result of the information we process – or don’t process as the case may be.
I think it would be awesome to do this in the name of Willie Nelson and any other celebrities that wanted in on it.
Yall have my e-mail address, feel free to ask any questions!
Tessy
PS: I hope no one minds that I added this comment in a few places to see if I could scare up a little more action or reaction to it.
Hello I just finished the book. It is the first book I have ever read from front to back. I believe I picked the right book to start with. I think it is a good guide to live your life by.