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Article:
Make Your Life Easier by: David Wood 'Have you read the Art of War?' someone asked me once. Fighting someone to get your way is definitely a valid strategy. But you don't need me to tell you about that one - we've all been arguing and manipulating to get our own way since we were born! And you may have noticed - often when you push, the other person pushes back! Wars have been fought, relationships lost, and many ulcers create with this kind of energy. This article is about the opposite approach - the art of fun surrender! Now many people who know me know I'm not usually the first person to use this approach! In fact I can often be a real control-freak. However, I've been noticing quite often lately how much fun it can be to surrender - and often you don't lose a thing!!! So, call this 'observations from a novice'... Surrender 1 I was getting very frustrated with pedestrians in Byron Bay. They cross the street anywhere they like, often without warning - it's like they think the whole of Byron is a mall! So there's been a power play evolving: they walk across the street in the face of my oncoming car, and sometimes I swear they even ~slow down~ to show me they have the right! So I drive right up to them - to make the point that I've got right of way, and they should at least ~look~ if they are going to stroll across the road. This week I decided to try something new: I decided that pedestrians have the right of way in Byron. That these are their roads, and they get to do what they want with them. In fact, I decided I'm lucky to be able to drive around Byron at all! So how different do you think my experience was yesterday in the car? I drove much slower, I watched for people everywhere. I even slowed down and waved people across when I could see they were thinking of darting across the road. Much more fun! Surrender 2 My partner Bronwyn cleans the kitty litter. I was ~stunned~ when she looked like she was about to throw the cat poo over the balcony onto our lawn! When I said 'What are you doing!!??
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