The Tao of a Woman

By Michele Ritterman

Dr. Michele Ritterman's latest book The Tao of a Woman (2009) is a tool for us to carry with us to move from the symptom trance to the healing stance. From Trance to Stance, is her latest understanding in a therapy of shifts, as occur in martial arts, instead of labels of people and visions of individuals as damaged, as opposed to wonderful, unique works in progress, like Michelangelo's Prigioneri series. WE ARE ALL WORKS IN PROGRESS! The goal of psychology is to help create a HUMAN FRIENDLY SOCIETY that caters to the bio-rhythms and other real and natural needs of the human organism.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Apr 1, 2015
• ISBN: 9781483552149

Book preview

know.

I

The Gift

The Gift

The Gift is what we are offered in life.

It is neither what we asked for nor what we want.

The gift is to be admired from all angles, but we do not have to pick it up. Don’t accept a bomb.

How we will use our gifts is a mystery.

We never know where a gift will come from.

The happy life is a process of exchanging our gifts with other people and with the environment.

Greatness is often associated only with giving. If we never took in air or food, we would die. Why is it different with our spirit? What if we associate Greatness with one who knows both abundance and humility of spirit, who gives with generosity and receives, from The Other, with grace?

1. Giving

Some say that to give

is the greatest good.

I say:

reciprocity

is the higher form

of love.

If giving is good,

isn’t give

and let give

better?

2. On the Need to Be Liked

If you want people to like you,

give them a chance

to dislike you

for who you really are.

Then,

if they like you, you

will know that they

really like you.

3. Expectations and Wonder

Don’t expect

anyone

to think like you do

about anything.

Might not your favorite shade tree

block

your neighbor’s light?

This is the stance

from which

mutual curiosity

may follow.

4. The Giver and The Gift

When you are offered a criticism,

leave that gift on the table

so you can admire it from all angles.

before you decide whether to pick it up.

A gift may tell you more

about the giver

than about yourself.

When my son was four,

he gave me,

for my birthday,

a shiny, bright red truck.

Often people give what

they love best or what

they want or need.

If there is love,

it is in the act itself.

You can appreciate the act

and decline the gift.

5. On Receiving Criticism

Welcome criticism!

Be sincerely hopeful that

you’ll find in it a surprise

or a buried treasure.

It is unfortunate

that most criticism

falls short of the mark.

But … be hopeful!

6. A Lasting