lao-tzu is a Chinese legendary and
historical figure who is considered to
be the founder of Taoism Taoism is the
philosophy that teaches us how to live
in harmony with the world the word Tao
itself means the way the pattern and
substance of everything that exists so
is also credited as the writer of Taoism
most sacred texts tell take Jing it is
packed with his remarkable wisdom and
messages of peace resilience and living
cohesively that reminds us what really
matters in life
he's a central figure in Chinese culture
but his words can apply to people all
over the world so here are 10 important
lessons that we can learn from Lao Tzu
number one look with him and you will
find everything you need Lao Tzu says
knowing others is intelligence knowing
yourself is true wisdom mastering others
is strength mastering yourself is true
power we live in a culture that's geared
towards doing succeeding crushing it
making more whether it's money or of
ourselves
these actions from the Taoist
perspective are considered Yang and are
based on outwards and external movement
the Chinese concept of yin and yang
describes nature in dualities with two
opposite complementary and
interdependent forces in other words two
halves balancing together that make a
whole yin and yang always flows and
changes with time
one aspect increases as the other
decreases and this balance continues as
a pattern in nature just like nature
human life - is all about balance and to
maintain this balance we need to spend
time cultivating our Yin which is our in
experience we need to slow down reflect
and just enjoy being without having to
do anything practices like meditation
Qigong and mindfulness can help us slow
down so that when we do need to act move
in the world and create we have a deeper
and more valuable reservoir of energy
and balance to draw from
number two by letting go you become free
according to Lao Tzu by letting it go it
all gets done the world is won by those
who let it go but when you try and try
the world is beyond the winning
enlightenment means to lighten the
burden of life in this world and to
lighten the darker aspects of human
character but how then do we lighten
ourselves how do we lighten our burdens
and lighten our characters the key is to
examine our attachments those things
that we cling to in our minds so
strongly that we cause pain to ourselves
and others this examination this self
watching can begin with understanding
the three kinds of attachment attachment
to recognition attachment to security
and attachment to control relying on
power to achieve what you want to
achieve means you aren't relying on the
towel it's important to understand that
developing a stance of non-attachment
is not the same as being callous or
uncaring in fact losing your attachments
makes you freer to open up your heart
even wider it's like being able to see
the world from a higher perspective
instead of only loving those to whom
you're most attached your self family
your religion your political group and
your country your heart can grow to
embrace the whole world to be content is
to be happy with what you have and to be
happy with what you have is to be rich
number three let go of your labels if
you truly want to know yourself
according to Lao tzus teachings he who
defines himself can't know who he really
is
labels of what you call yourself in your
head they're tags that you attached
yourself to describe the person you
think you are we have labels for
ourselves such as a super dad a
successful businessman a loser our
good-for-nothing and so on we put
ourselves in boxes trying to define who
we are
we do it to others and we do it to
ourselves whether positive or negative
what we whisper to ourselves every day
has a great influence on our sense of
self and dictates the direction of our
thoughts and actions
the problem with labeling is we only see
fragments which have been defined by our
own experience and perspective of the
outer world
let's say you or someone else may have
given you a label you don't want
anything to do with maybe because it
reminds you of past mistakes you've made
or floors who are trying to coexist with
by not labeling yourself you can flow
freely from experience to experience
emotion to emotion without being chained
down to any one way of thinking it's so
much easier to move on from a mistake
when you don't carry it along with you
number four pay no attention to evil and
it will crumble away as Lao Tzu teaches
give evil nothing to oppose and it will
disappear by itself according to Taoism
we all have our personal spiritual
planetary body which they call young son
it takes in pre heaven essences and
processes them pushing them into your
soul and your soul will deliver it to
your physical body here giving you your
full potential for life in reality a
Taoists cultivates mainly around two
things one is to strengthen and repair
the bridge between the young son and
themselves here in the physical world by
doing so they can live a better life and
reach their full potential the second
part of Taoism cultivation is to
conclude by giving back to the yunsun
for more to come in the future good is
anything that flows with the way of the
Tao meaning the johnsons flow to your
body anything that helps and flows with
what your young son is doing or leading
you towards is good evil is the opposite
which is anything that puts resistance
to stops interferes with drags or
damages your flow from the towel is
considered evil good things help you to
grow and empower you bad things will
destroy you or break you up into pieces
and push you to death evil or good is
not always good or bad we must see the
whole situation to determine if it's
good or bad knowing what is evil to you
is important as a Taoists because you'll
then understand what's not good to do
for yourself and what's going to harm
you in the long run if you can live your
life purely and devote your time to the
betterment of yourself and the others
around you evil can't touch you however
evil never disappears and you can't
ignore it the best that you can do is to
be stronger than the evil temptations
are
you and you'll beat them number-5
kindness and compassion for others will
always win in the end
to quote Lao Tzu kindness inwards create
confidence kindness in thinking creates
profoundness kindness in giving creates
love there's a beautiful metaphor for
the virtue of unconditional kindness
that we can learn from water as a river
flows across the land it nurtures all
living things that it comes across all
the plants and animals benefit from the
water of the river once it's done its
work water moves on without waiting for
recognition or praise when one practices
compassion they gain great insight into
themselves the Tao Te Ching says that
the sage puts others before himself and
by putting others before himself he puts
himself first when one puts others
before themselves showing compassion to
one another what they get out of it
isn't just a deep insight into the
nature of suffering but also deep
insight into their own nature the
practice of compassion helps to
strengthen our relationships with others
it helps deepen our connection to the
world at large it's something that seems
to be a sign of weakness but in fact is
a sign of strength
number 6 be yourself without caring what
others think Lao Tzu says care about
what other people think and you will
always be their prisoner nothing can be
more time and energy wasting than being
overly concerned about what other people
think of us there's nothing wrong in
wanting others to like us or to think
whether of us but it should not be done
at the expense of our integrity we have
to get on with the tasks at hand in life
and make our own decisions based on our
highest thoughts not the thoughts
generated through the filter of approval
sinking and people-pleasing if we take
our own decision based on our highest
intuitive thoughts and certain people
disapprove we shouldn't really pay that
much attention to them our business to
get on with the business of life is
guided by our own consciousness not by
the opinions of other people in our
circle when you're in accord with the
towel you will do your own job and then
stop leave others opinions alone
don't go against the current of the
towel instead go with the flow of it
accept yourself believe in yourself
because if you do you won't have to try
to convince others be content with
yourself because if you are you don't
need others approval number seven wisdom
and strength come from remaining humble
as we learn from Lao Tzu the wise man is
one who knows what he does not know
there's a story in the liao su a book of
Taoists parables written around the same
time as the tech out ching it's the
story of a pair of twins they look the
same talk the same belong to the same
family but one is loved trusted and
promoted by others while the other is
not he wears nicer clothes eats better
food and lives in a nicer home the
successful twin treats the unsuccessful
twin with undisguised arrogance because
he falsely believes he's earned his
success saying maybe there's just more
in me than there is in you they both
meet master Tong Cole who says when you
say that one man has more in him than
another you mean only that they're not
equally gifted what I mean is something
different from this the unsuccessful
twin has more worth than luck you have
more luck than worth your success is not
due to wisdom nor is his failure due to
foolishness both are from heaven and not
from man yet you are presumptuous
because you have more luck while he is
ashamed though he has more worth neither
of you perceives that things must be as
they are the truth is that the great
power of Tao can only be obtained with
great love and great humility one should
always be impeccably humble because it's
the humility that guarantees great
victories over oneself it's the basis of
the correct achievements in the
transformation of the soul you should
agree with tell completely if you do
this only partially this will result in
a dangerous breakdown because only
complete humility is the cure for the
disease called pride sadness and anger
are companions of pride whereas calm and
joy a companions of impeccable humility
number eight change is inevitable so
embrace it even if it seems
uncomfortable in the words of Lao Tzu
new beginnings are often disguised as
painful endings we resist and often
resent change but change is key to life
because despite change being seemingly
painful it's forever necessary most of
us tend to settle into our comfort zone
we're afraid of change or something new
we tend to get used to the rut and
routine and begin to treat that at the
sole option available to us a sort of
mental complacency sets in and we don't
want to alter that maybe because we no
longer hope for better things well maybe
because we live in the belief that every
ending is painful and doesn't always
lead to something better every change is
important and every change is meaningful
in and of itself what seemed negative or
painful in the beginning may turn into
something new in a new beginning in a
new way in a new direction a new
opportunity a new life or even a new you
change often paves the way for something
better and if not better at least
different in change lies life's momentum
and progress number 9 learn to follow
first if you ever wish to lead according
to Lao Tzu if you want to govern the
people he must first place yourself
below them if you want to lead the
people you must learn how to follow them
to understand this let's look at Lao
tzus comparison between rivers and seas
and hundreds of streams rivers and seas
are more powerful than streams
they're larger deeper and stronger
without water flowing in from hundreds
and thousands of streams rivers and seas
wouldn't be what they are rivers and
seas can be powerful because they're
ready to receive similarly from the
perspective of Tao leadership a leader
is more powerful than their people but
their powers derived from their people
they need their people to feed them both
physically and metaphorically otherwise
they only have their own resources to
draw from just like rivers and seas a
good leader must be ready to receive to
receive water from streams rivers
CAES stoop low to harness energy from
their people a leader positions
themselves lower as well in order to
receive they pay attention and listen a
leader follows before they're followed
number 10 always go with the flow in our
final piece of wisdom from Lao Tzu we
learn when nothing is done nothing is
left undone
why is a Chinese concept central to
Taoism which roughly translates to the
action of non action or action without
intent it says that rather than fighting
against the conditions in our lives we
should allow things to take their
natural course well many of us wake into
our day with multiple to do's stacked on
our list and a sense of urgency to get
things done it's powerful to consider
that there's a natural order in
everything we do if we tune in and
follow the order things get done
effectively efficiently and without
extra effort if we go against the order
it takes extra time and energy to get
things done and in some cases nothing
will get done no matter how hard we try
let us take writing for example if you
feel uninspired and tired don't force
yourself to write a perfect chapter
instead recognize the direction of
nature and take care of yourself maybe
go for a walk then when you feel
inspired and motivated take advantage
and write with great ferocity and
determination this is what war means
recognizing the forces of nature and
acting accordingly some people
intuitively interpret non-doing as
something passive laid-back or lazy in
the eyes of Tao there are often times
for action but if no action is needed
based on the laws of nature then doing
anything may be overdoing it it's all
about realizing when our efforts are
being useful and when they're being
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