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“What’s your excuse?” Dr. Wayne Dyer
asks in his new book
Excuses Begone! How to Change
Lifelong, Self-Defeating Thinking
Habits.Everybody
has excuses and Wayne has heard them
all. “In my role as a counselor,
teacher, and parent,” he says, “I’ve
heard many reasons people use to explain
an unhappy existence . . . and almost
all of them fall into one huge category,
which I call ‘excuses.’” What are these
excuses for not living the happy,
fulfilled life of your dreams? They
range from "I Can’t Afford It" to "I
Don't Deserve It" to "There Will Be
Family Drama." Here's what Wayne has to
say about the number one, most popular
excuse—"I'm Too Busy":
I invited visitors to my Website to
e-mail me their excuses for not living
at their highest levels. In essence, I
was interested in the excuses
they
have used in their lives. "I'm too busy" easily topped the list.
If you're overextended, know that you've
chosen to be in this position. All of
the activities of your life, including
those that take up huge portions of your
time, are simply the result of the
choices you make. If your family
responsibilities are problematic, you've
opted to prioritize your life in this
way. If your calendar is crammed, you've
decided to live with a full schedule. If
there are way too many small details
that only you can handle, then this,
again, is a choice you've made.
Surely, one of the major purposes of
life is to be happy. If you're using the
excuse that you're too busy to be happy,
you've made a choice to be busy, and in
the process, you've copped out on living
your life on purpose. If you've
substituted being busy for actively and
happily fulfilling your destiny, you
need to reexamine your priorities. Here
is my mentor, Thoreau, on unexamined
priorities: "Most men [or women] are
engaged in business the greater part of
their lives, because the soul abhors a
vacuum, and they have not discovered any
continuous employment for man's noblest
faculties."
Don't let your soul languish in an
unfulfilled vacuum. Instead, begin to
examine just how you prioritize your
life. All the details that occupy it
keep you from a destiny that you're
aware wants your attention. Contemplate
these encouraging ideas to counter the
"I'm too busy" excuse:
-
I know that I'm not a bad parent if
I don't arrange my life to be
available to chauffeur the children
every day until they're adults.
-
I'm allowed to say no to requests
that keep me from having time to
pursue my life purpose.
-
There's no such thing as "a place
for everything and everything in its
place."
-
There's no right way to do anything.
-
I can have it my way because there
are no absolute universal rules.
It isn't my purpose to delineate all of
the ways in which you can unload this
excuse category. Practicing delegating,
getting others to help out, and taking
time for yourself are all possibilities
as well. Henry David Thoreau is right
when he says that there are nobler
faculties you need to pay attention to,
in addition to all of those other
details that occupy your life. If you
fear the part of your soul that's
calling you to a higher place, then
you'll probably continue to haul out
this particular excuse.
Change this pattern by never saying or
implying that you're too busy. Just drop
it, and replace it with the following
affirmation:
I intend to take time for myself to live
the life that I came here to live, and
to do it without ignoring my
responsibilities as a parent, spouse, or
employee.
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