Thank you for requesting to preview these chaptersfrom "LESSONS FOR LIVING: SIMPLE SOLUTIONS FORLIFE'S PROBLEMS."(This is copyrighted material, but you are free toforward it to anyone you like, as long as youdon't make any changes or profit from its use.)© Dagali Press 2001# ~ # ~ # ~ # ~ # ~ # ~ # ~ # ~ # ~ # ~ # ~ #INTRODUCTION: AWAKENING MOMENTS"A mind once stretched by a new idea can never goback to its original dimensions."~ Oliver Wendell HolmesWhere in your life are you today? Are youcomfortable, or are you comfortably miserable?What lesson is life teaching you today? Can youhear the message?Most people do not hear the messages or see thelessons. Awakening moments pass them by. It may bethat the lesson is so obvious that it isoverlooked. The harried, rude clerk at the grocerystore may be your teacher today, but you are sofocused on what she/he did that you missed whatyou did. By contrast, the lesson may be soprofound that it shakes you to your core, and youlose perspective. Being fired from a job may sototally disrupt your life that chances for growthare overlooked; a collapse into despair occurs.Some people do glimpse the lesson but are so stuckin a position of wanting life to change--whilethey remain the same--that they do nothing. Lifeis trying to wake all of us to the fact that weare responsible for our own changing. To change wemust act, and to act we must see the possibilityof real choice and be willing to takeresponsibility ...